A New Lens on Mission and Vision

Robert A. Goldberg

I help leaders manage change. In this role, I often facilitate processes to establish an organization's mission and vision. The feelings I encounter in doing this are frequently contradictory. On one hand, people are well aware that mission and vision can provide direction for the future, help motivate and energize people, and lead to committed action. On the other hand, the same people report that they have found mission and vision work to be hollow and academic—in short, a waste of time.

What's wrong? I think the traditional understanding of mission and vision, and how they relate, is flawed and needs to be reframed. In what follows, I aim to provide leaders with some clarity about mission and vision and to present a new lens on them that, although requiring more courage, will yield better outcomes.