Vision *

A company vision usually aims to present what the company should be about, instead of company mission that aims to present what/how a company should work to fulfill the vision.

Defining company vision

A company vision will usually be set by the company leadership and should affect the decisions about:

• Defining goals for the company in the long term.

• Defining best practices in product management.

• Defining best practices in project management.

• Defining best practices in the work space.

• Profiling new hires for the company.

Goals and company vision

Ideally a company vision should always be a little beyond the reach of the company, or something that that will be an eternal ongoing effort. It should be something that everyone can agree with, and tries to move the company closer to, each and every day.

Work force and company vision

The company vision should allow all workers to know how their work is contributing to advance the company closer to its ultimate goal. They should innately respect this vision when doing day to day tasks or when planning work goals, serving as examples of everyone in the company.

Common examples of Vision Targets

Being number one

• Make it so the company name is a near synonymous with a product, service or users need:

  • Google - easy web search.

  • MacDonald - easy fast food everywhere.

  • Uber - easy car rental.

Being innovative

• Eliminate pain points our users encounter in products our competition provide:

  • Ipad / Ipad - UI redesign to work without mouse/pen.

  • Netflix - acess to movies series without leaving home.

  • 3M - products like velcro that solve a problem in new ways.

• Create products or services that are easier to use, functionally or intuitively:

  • Ipod and Itunes - easy access to music.

  • Mobile stores - easy access to content for the mobile device.

  • Steam - easy access to software or games for the PC.

• To allow innovation in a company the leaders should be able to point an end goal, but not be afraid to say they don't have all the answers and so are willing to listen to the answers others offer in ask the questions that will allow others to fill the blanks. One of the key decisions is determining when is the right moment to unveil the "vision in progress" and then what are the the gaps that need to filled. trusting then in crowd-sourced wisdom +/- direction.

Empowering the user

• Facilitate how our users can solve a need or problem:

  • Amazon - simplify shopping.

  • Paypal - simplify paying.

  • Tripadvisor - simplify travel planning.

• Provide ways for our users to reach their audience or clients:

  • Youtube - presenting videos.

  • Twitter - sending text messages.

  • Twitch - live streaming events.

Becoming synonymous with a type of product/service

• Nintendo - Family friendly games.

• HBO - Adult TV programming.

• Rolex - luxury products.

Promoting social responsibility

• Improving our worker conditions:

  • Disney - offering benefits to promote healthy habits.

  • Netflix - offering 52 weeks of paid parental leave.

• Reducing Carbon footprints:

  • Disney - aiming to reach zero waste and greenhouse gases in all company products/services.

  • Bosch - Investing 50 percent of its R&D budget in technologies supporting conservation and environmental protection.

  • Johnson & Johnson - using renewable energies for all the company energy needs.

• Helping those in need:

  • IKEA - Donations to help bring clean electricity to communities in India and East Africa.