Vision: how leaders develop it, share it, and sustain it - includes related articles

Business Horizons, Sept-Oct, 1994 by Joseph V. Quigley

5. Have you personally worked with any of these companies recognized for their outstanding vision?

Yes, I have: IBM and SmithKline. I worked with IBM in the days of Tom Watson, Jr. This was in the 1960s, when IBM was clearly the most valuable company in the world. I also worked with SmithKline in the early 1970s in the creation of its vision-- which took it from a $400 million company to a $4 billion company in ten years.

But most of my assignments are with corporations or organizations that face or have just faced a strategic crisis. Sometimes that crisis is survival itself, or renewed growth after a period of drift, or the development of a new vision and aspirations. Outboard Marine Corporation, Briggs & Stratton, and Brovvning-Ferris Industries are companies I have worked for in some phase of crisis.

Sometimes the crisis is evident and sometimes it is visible only to the leader or leaders. Our usual assignment is to serve the leader and the leadership group as a catalyst or counsel in addressing that strategic crisis.

Vision is not just something for the corporate legends and Fortune 500 companies. It is for all organizations, large and small, that aspire to dramatically improve their performance and make work meaningful to their people. And any organization can create such a vision.