Metaphors of strategy: Strategy as vision

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” – Steve Jobs
Sight is a valuable sense attached to the lives of human beings. However, there are unsighted people who function alongside the sighted and sometimes even more effectively. The blind and deaf Helen Keller reminds us that, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” She suggests that vision may include sight but they are not necessarily synonymous. Her statement is relevant to individuals and corporate entities. No matter how good a company is, it would typically have a vision to fuel its strategy and market interactions. This article unveils five perspectives of strategy as vision.

Imagination

Albert Einstein adds to Helen Keller’s perspective: “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”Business ideas begin in the imagination of individuals and are translated to productive action. Strategy opens with the imagination or the preview – in the words of Einstein, himself a master of imagination – of what can be brought to reality. To imagine is to have or form a mental idea of something. It is from the mental that we derive a business entity up and running. The implication of this fact for leaders and strategists is that project initiation is birthed in the imagination. Whether it is a new enterprise, product, service or the extension of what already exists, it all commences in the imagination. Today’s greatly admired companies and products began in the imagination of people. The founder of Apple, Steve Jobs insisted that creative people do not start by doing things but by seeing them. Strategy as vision rhymes with Jobs’ idea of seeing things.

Clarification

In a practical sense, imagination does not always arrive with clarity. Indeed, it is mostly vague or even seemingly far-fetched being, of course, a mere image at the beginning. This explains why Steve Jobs extended the thought about creativity by saying that ideas become more obvious as time goes on. The process of moving from the vague to the obvious or the eureka moment is clarification. It is applicable to strategy because a vision could be blurred at the onset. The visionary seeks clarification through iteration, discussion, sharing or reflection. Without clarification, strategy as vision can remain in a hazy state for longer than necessary. When people have concepts or ideas that are unclear, they are in the good company of Steve Jobs. The ideas should be dynamic while proceeding to clarification. After the imagination of strategy – vision discovered but still being explored – comes clarification.

Subscription

Strategy is never a solo effort. The one who envisions an idea must proceed to identify subscribers. An idea which nobody else subscribes to eventually dies from lack of multiplication. Strategy as vision requires the leader or strategist to locate and generate subscriptions. This is not to say that building a body of subscribers is easy to achieve. Still, strategy that works from its initial vision requires others to subscribe to it. No wonder, strategy is more iterative rather than isolative. You begin with the imagination, seek clarification and recognize that subscriptions will increase as clarity is enhanced. A vision without subscribers other than the visionary will shortly be moribund. Notably, subscribers may unsubscribe and new subscribers will come on board. The greater the number of valid subscribers the vision has, the more likely it is to be successfully executed.

Collaboration

Subscribers are invaluable in getting the strategic vision going. Yet, subscribers are not sufficient to bring a vision to fruition. Collaboration is required and collaborators may not necessarily be subscribers. Collaboration enables the visionary or enterprise seek the help of others to unfold strategy. One of the best examples of collaboration occurs in the computer technology industry between makers of personal computers, software companies and processor manufacturers. Companies like HP and Dell collaborate with Intel and Microsoft as they all sell their products. Processors are not useful without PCs, PCs cannot function without processors and software. All the collaborators need each other for their strategies to be accomplished. Collaboration supports vision.

Activation

Activation of the vision is where things mostly get complicated in strategy. Everything is seen clearly and all the possibilities are before the organization and its people. The big challenge is often how to translate vision to activation. In certain cases, actual products may be rolled into the market before defects are discovered. Imagine the product launch euphoria of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 mobile handset until reports emerged that it was burning up and exploding. Unfortunately, activation can be dealt harmful blows by unforeseen events. Nevertheless, until strategic vision is activated, it remains what it is – a mere vision.

Closing note Strategy as vision unfolds from imagination to activation, through clarification, subscription and collaboration.

 

Weyinmi Jemide