The blog

We are all head­ing some­where, whether we know it or not. The chance that we end up where we intend to increas­es if we clear­ly spec­i­fy where we are going; in terms of our per­son­al selves and lives, or our career and busi­ness. If you are in charge of a busi­ness of some sort, then you are most like­ly famil­iar with for­mu­lat­ing a long-term vision stat­ing where you want to go and what you wish to achieve for the next few years.

One step at a time
When the vision is in place, the work of step by step attain­ing and real­iz­ing it begins. Every­thing that needs to be done through­out the years to come are for­mu­lat­ed grad­u­al­ly, bit by bit, day by day, as to-do-tasks on our to-do-list. Struc­ture is the tool we use to get the work done as eas­i­ly and smooth­ly as pos­si­ble, but there are short­cuts we can take. We do not need to do every­thing our­selves. We could receive some help, and even with­out express­ly ask­ing for it. 

Spread your vision
Sure­ly you ave noticed how peo­ple around you are eager to help, give you good advice (some­times with­out being asked to do so) and pro­vide you with tips and point­ers on prod­ucts or ser­vices which have made their lives eas­i­er. Most of us like the feel­ing of help­ing anoth­er. It feels good and mean­ing­ful to do some­thing good for some­one else.

This is exact­ly why you should tell out­siders (peo­ple out­side of your busi­ness, that is) about your vision. It isn’t suf­fi­cient to write about it on the ​”About Us”-page on your web­site, but you need to tell peo­ple your­self when you meet them. The vision there­fore needs to be phrased in a brief, spe­cif­ic and catchy way. In the March/​April 1995 edi­tion of the Har­vard Busi­ness Review, John P Kot­ter writes:

”… if you can’t com­mu­ni­cate the vision to some­one in five min­utes or less and get a reac­tion that sig­ni­fies both under­stand­ing and inter­est, you are not yet done …”.

The world is small­er than you think
Soon you will see how you are receiv­ing help and assis­tance you could only dream of and from the most unex­pect­ed peo­ple. Some­one con­nects you with a per­son who could poten­tial­ly be very valu­able to your busi­ness. Some­one else gives you a per­son­al intro­duc­tion to a com­pa­ny you have want­ed to have as a client for a long time. As it so hap­pens, your lunch date from a ​”for­mer life” worked in a line of busi­ness which you know very lit­tle about and she is more than hap­py to tell you all about it so, hence help­ing you on your way to suc­cess in the field. Anoth­er acquain­tance knows some­one on the oth­er side of the world, who in turn has a whole net­work of peo­ple who have done sim­i­lar jour­neys as the one you are cur­rent­ly mak­ing in terms of your career, and who love help­ing new­com­ers progress.

Do this

1. Take out your vision and sum­ma­rize it in a few sen­tences which would be your reply if some­one asked you a ques­tion such as ​”where do you see your­self in ten years?”. It does not mat­ter if these sen­tences do not com­prise every­thing the vision con­sist of, you can save the rest of it for the con­ver­sa­tion that most like­ly fol­low your ini­tial state­ment. When I receive this type of ques­tion, I answer along the lines of ​”On the 29^th of March 2016 I will have at least one client on every con­ti­nent.” I have many oth­er things to say as well about the book I have writ­ten, lec­tures I give and oth­er strate­gies I have to reach this vision, but this sen­tence sums it all up.


2. Now think about in what con­texts you could tell peo­ple about your vision. Is it:
   • dur­ing lunch­es with people
   • dur­ing cock­tail parties
   • dur­ing meet­ings with clients or suppliers
   • when giv­ing presentations


3. If you want to, decide when the next time you will talk about your vision will be. If it is dur­ing an occa­sion which you have booked in your cal­en­dar already, cre­ate a reminder that will remind you to men­tion or dis­cuss your vision a few min­utes before the event starts.

All roads lead to Rome, but some take you there faster than others
If you tell oth­ers about your vision, either your per­son­al vision or that of your com­pa­ny or busi­ness, you will be pre­sent­ed with short­cuts to real­iz­ing it. You will need to do less work and since oth­er peo­ple enjoy help­ing, it is a win-win. Progress with greater ease and enjoyment.

Where are you striving?
What is your or your busi­ness’ vision? Tell me!