First Written Saturday, May 25, 2002 Revised & Updated Sunday, October 05, 2008 Vision Statement Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity" -- Charles Mingus - French Writer, Courtesy of Verba Volant Translation Service, France In the article on "Goals and Goal Setting" first published on January 23, 1999, we had mentioned about the confusion that prevails in people regarding Goals, Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Objective and Signature. Goals are specific and always measurable, missions are a statement of intent and objectives are of a strategic nature. Vision is a statement of the long term goal of a company. A signature is a small tagline that normally indicates the company's core competence or values or both.  We are reproducing below a "Vision Statement" of a Chennai, India based company and displayed in their reception. "Our Vision is to become a world class organization. The hallmark of this vision has to be total customer satisfaction. This can be achieved only by offering products of consistent quality at a competitive price, meeting delivery schedules and commitments." When you read the above statement, it is apparent that Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives have all been mixed up. The Vision is also vague. Who does not want to become world-class player? In which field ? Sometimes, you have to state the obvious. Sometimes doing so, can make the statement look very ordinary and mean nothing. It is better not have any statements than to have one such as above. Vision is always a long-term statement of goal an organization hopes to achieve. In some organizations the "Quality Policy" is also mixed up with either Vision or Mission Statements . Please see the article titled "Is Quality Policy Statement Necessary ?" The Vision statement has to be developed in a workshop with participation of all concerned.  It should be short, simple and easy to remember. Some people quote the famous Pepsi statement "Beat Coke" as an example. Unfortunately, this is a long term objective which has been around for a very long time. This is not a vision statement. Probably "Become the number one soft drink company in the world" would be better.  When Microsoft started about 25 or 30 years ago, they said "A computer on every desk". They do not make computers but their operating system runs on 80% of the world's personal computers. This statement was right on target and they became the most valuable company in the world, till they were dislodged recently by Coke. In terms of various criteria for a vision statement this comes closest. There are two way of looking at this opportunity. One is to stifle them with anti-trust laws and the other is to come out with a cheaper, better and easier to understand operating system. Forget the bugs, security flaws and crashes. The fact, that "Windows" is most user friendly, remains. Even 80 year old grandmas' can use it.  Can anyone think of anything else other than "Intel inside". The best of it all. Apologies to AMD, Motorola, Cyrix and others. Sir John Harvey Jones vision for ICI, '21st Century Chemical company, today' is one of the good examples. Sir Colin Marshall's vision for BA, as the 'The world's favorite airline' is a good statement but sounds pompous and typically British. Since it was coined quite sometime back, what is the latest position ? Has it been achieved ? However, how far it has been achieved or not, is a matter of debate, especially after the 2005 strike by the workers, in sympathy with the sacked workers of a catering company. I know quite a few people who have taken a promise never to fly on it again after the ordeals they underwent. Added on August 23, 2006: I read a few days ago that BA has been voted the best international airlines in a recent poll. The findings are that they were voted the best by first class passengers, though the business and economy class passengers were not that appreciative. This obviously means that there is a strategic shift in its positioning and BA wants to become the Rolls Royce of the airlines industry and focus on first class passengers. Added on October 11, 2007 - The Fortune ranking by industry in March 2007 puts British Airways 4th after Continental Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. It is ranked just before the KLM Group. However, we rate KLM Group better than BA. It appears that BA may have to change their statement because it is no longer true or a fact. The success of airlines to a large extent depends upon the hub. In Europe, the best airport is Frankfurt, followed by the smaller Schipol in Amsterdam. In Asia, Changi in Singapore and for Africa/Middle-East, Dubai International Airport are the best. No wonder that Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, KLM and Emirates are popular with travelers.  Jan Carlzon's vision for the Scandinavian Airline System, 'the preferred airline of the business traveler' is extremely focused on a market niche. Jack Welch's vision that GE should be "Either number 1 or 2 in any business it is in" is a powerful statement. However, if there are only two players in the industry like Boeing and Airbus, what should be the statement ? I have always believed that the 'biggest is not the best'. The limitation is that it focuses on size or volume. Let us the take the case of aircraft engines business. We have GE, Pratt & Whitney belonging to the United Technologies Group and Rolls Royce. Who is number 1 ? Who is number 2 and who is number 3 in that business, in terms of quality and reliability ? United Technologies may not be very big by Fortune standards but we rate it as the best managed and number 1 company in the world on our MMG rating scale.  John Kennedy's vision statement for NASA in 1960 that "Put a man on the Moon by end of the decade" is another excellent example.   A vision statement should have an achievement orientation which cannot be easily done by ordinary mortals. At the same time it should have a practical orientation. Jan Carlzon knew that SAS could never become the biggest or the most favorite airline of the world. Similarly, it would be downright foolish of any OS Developer to have the vision of becoming bigger than Microsoft. A vision is not a wild day dream. A vision statement should not mention any competitor's name or refer to any competition, either directly or indirectly.  A vision statement which is not simple and understandable is of no use. The vision statement should not focus on money, as it leads to adopting short cuts. Finally, a vision statement not linked to principles and values does not last long, even if achieved. The vision, mission statements and signature are all very important and all the people in the company should be aware and capable of explaining them. Many organizations make this mistake. A signature must be understandable to all, as otherwise why have it ? The signature of the Indian IT major, Infosys, a globally respected company, is  an example of a good signature. It reads, "Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values". One need not be a genius to decipher it. In our research we found that Individuals and Individual driven organizations who are focused on achievements make an impact. The large and so called professionally managed organizations, do not. They grow and prosper because of their sheer size and momentum. Beneath the size, you have large layers of inefficiency. I would like to add that all these statements do not have any meaning, if the organizations do not live up to it. This is where an organization's 'Credo' comes in. Organizations have public and social responsibilities.  Organizations are accountable to all stakeholders. An organizational credo will guide all members on basic principles and values it stands for. This credo must be available with every employee. The founder of J & J, Robert Wood Johnson popularly known as 'General' Johnson formalized such a credo way back in 1940s for all his employees. This is probably the first known statement of its kind. I have not come across a better written credo and such a document can be adopted by any organization because of its universal appeal. It was this credo that guided J&J during its 'Tylenol' crisis. Footnote added on May 30, 2006: When I wrote the above article in May 2002, it was not based on knowledge of any formal theory but was based on common sense and experience. I am presently writing a series of pay articles on 'Leadership' and happened to come across the views of the great management guru Dr. Charles Handy. While it is about Leadership & Vision, some of the principles annunciated by him are given below: The Vision Thing: Handy associates an effective leader behavior with an ability to develop a vision. He sets out five conditions, which in his view needs to be met, if visionary leadership is to be effective. They are: The Vision has to be different. It has to be a new story, almost a dream The Vision has to make sense, challenging but capable of being achieved It must be understandable and stick to people's minds The leader must exemplify the vision by his or her behavior and display commitment Finally, to be successful, the vision has to be a shared one While I do not have the scholarship of the great man, I have covered almost all the points mentioned by him in my article in a simpler manner. Except for point number 1, I agree with all others points. J P Kotter, on the other hand does not agree with Handy. He asserts that the vision need not be an original and a new story or be different. In his view most business vision are often mundane and consists of ideas that are well known. According to him, the vision must meet the needs of all stakeholders and must be easily turned into a strategy to make an organization more competitive. I fully agree with him. Business leadership is totally different from Political leadership. At the end of the day, a business is a commercial organization with a profit motive. All good business practices are fairly well known and documented. Under the circumstances to come up with a dream could end up as a day-dream. Written  by Madhavan T Gopalachary Please click here for the Vision Statements of Global top 10 as per MMG Brands rankings. The views, opinions and interpretations are personal. Sponsorship does not mean that the sponsors endorse them. Editorial Policy © Copyright, Oct-08 . www.madgopes.com . Without prejudice. All rights reserved www.mmgindia.com is the official website of Madras Management Group, Chennai, India. www.madgopes.com and www.mmg.name are personal websites and all editorials are published under their banner to retain editorial independence. We would highly appreciate feedback from readers and it may be sent to ipr@mmg.name.