Strategic Vision

After a steadfast and unimpeachable adherence to integrity, the most essential quality demanded of and one of the most prevalent, essential hallmarks of leaders is Strategic Vision.

Vision is simply a vivid description of the enterprise and stakeholders at some point in the future. It captures the future you want to create for the community of stakeholders you wish to impact. It provides direction and motivation. It drives the direction and strategic goals.

Strategic vision can be defined as an ability to view the organization in the long-term, from the top, and toward the outside. It is long-term, as differentiated from the day-to-day operations. That is not to say that the leader is not concerned with immediate performance, but it is to say that a higher calling is to focus on the future, on where the organization is going and not just where it is today.

By strategic, I mean an idea that is crafted, articulated, and supported by the leadership of the organization. The idea carefully considers the impacts on both the external and internal environments of the organization. A strategic idea is embedded in the future of the organization, and will influence the vitality of the organization over time. The idea is strategic if it involves the organization’s resources. It is strategic because by definition its genesis is above the “operational” level (day-to-day or short-term activities).

Therefore, strategic vision is how we conceive of the enterprise sometime in the future that directs and motivates behavior over time. One of the most important behaviors indicating strategic vision is strategic planning.

It is a view from the top, and what is called the strategic level. This is in contrast with the tactical level where functions and processes are executed. At the strategic level, objectives are reconciled with resources, and plans are developed that enable the organization to most efficiently utilize the resources to achieve goals. Resources and effort are prioritized at this level. It is at this level that planning takes place to enable the organization to exploit external opportunities, to counter threats. It is at this level that leaders evaluate their organization’s strengths and weaknesses, and then make plans and take steps to enhance and exploit the strengths, and minimize and reduce the weaknesses.

And, importantly, leadership is strategic because it is outwardly focused. Leadership is concerned with the environment within which the organization functions, flourishes, and survives. It is concerned with being a system within a larger system—a system of systems—in which the organization out of necessity interacts with others—to deliver product, to secure resources, to establish partnerships, to defend against threats, and to exploit opportunities. This cannot be done by looking solely inwardly.

Leadership is strategic when it is aware of, cultivates, maintains, and nourishes organizational culture—that potentially ephemeral and subjective quality that defines the informal attributes of the organization.

And, finally, leadership is strategic because as a positive consequence of its outward focus, it strives to facilitate organizational learning, adaptation, and evolution. This enables the organization to succeed in the long run, when the environment within which it lives changes.