During your strategic planning process, you should develop a vision statement that’s far reaching but attainable. If you attain it in a shorter amount of time, congratulations! But if you don’t push your thinking out far enough, you find yourself being too tactical in your strategic planning.
Visions are also referred to as big, hairy, audacious goals, or BHAGs, a term made popular by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their Harvard Business Review article, “Building Your Company’s Vision.”
Because seeing what other organizations aim for is always fun (and educational), here’s a variety of vision statements:
Chemtura: To grow a global portfolio of leading specialty chemical businesses, committed to innovation and the creation of value for our stakeholders.
DuPont: To be the world’s most dynamic science company, creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, and healthier life for people everywhere.
Heinz: To be the world’s premier food company, offering nutritious, superior tasting foods to people everywhere.
National CASA: In changing the course of children’s lives, we envision a changed society. To achieve that vision, in partnership with the CASA/GAL network nationwide, we make two promises to every child who has a CASA or guardian ad litem volunteer:
We will work with our network as a highly functioning team to ensure that every child finds a safe, permanent and nurturing home — with their own families where possible or if not, in adoptive families that respect their culture and connections. While we work together toward a long-term solution, we will make each child’s current well-being a top priority — at home, at school, and in their communities.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure: A world without breast cancer.
Novo Nordisk: To be the world’s leading diabetes care company.
Pershing General Hospital: To become the provider of first choice for our community by being a leader in rural healthcare and offering innovative technologically advanced services.
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic: For all people to have equal access to the printed word.
North Slope Borough School District: We envision our students graduate prepared and qualified to excel as productive citizens in the world, and able to integrate Iñupiat knowledge and values with Western ways.
Our curriculum is culture-based, our attendance rate is above the state average, our parents and community members are committed to education and meaningfully engaged, more of our teachers are our own graduates and speak Iñupiaq, and our schools reflect who we are as people.
Mattel: To be the premier toy brands — today and tomorrow.
McDonald's: To be the world's best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile.
Amazon: Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.