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Covey Has It Right: Start With the End in Mind

If you know where you want to go, you’re halfway there. That’s the concept best-selling author Stephen Covey describes when he talks about starting with the end in mind. Suggesting that you work in a backward direction may sound odd, but it’s absolutely necessary to move you forward in the right direction.

Starting with the end in mind is a perfect principle to apply in decision making. In fact, it’s the founding premise for MBO, or “managing by objective.” The term objective often gets thrown around like a piece of strategic code, but it simply means “the end result.”

For example, all parents want to raise their children to become self-sufficient. Starting with the end in mind, in this case, means defining what self-sufficient means, picturing it, perhaps describing it, and then determining what key decisions must be made on the road of parenthood to arrive at self-sufficiency.

You can apply the same technique. Picture yourself sitting with your colleagues, all gathered to decide how to improve your company’s customer-service image. Starting with the end in mind could mean making a list of words you would like loyal customers to use in describing your sales representatives. Or it could be news headlines you would like The Wall Street Journal to publish about your company’s superior service.

This clear vision of what you ultimately want to happen is the foundation for good decision-making because it keeps you focused. It keeps a group on track when it starts to veer off course. As the ideas start flying, you’ll be in the driver’s seat when you ask: How does that help us achieve our vision?