Big, Bold Visions: Does Every Entrepreneur Need One?

The other day I received this email from a reader:

I saw a business speaker recently who talked a lot about the importance of having a "vision" for your business. I didn't and I don't really get this. To my way of thinking, if I create a good place to work and make a profit, I have done my job. Right? -- Sloan

There is nothing wrong with what you are doing, and you certainly do not have to create a vision for your business if you do not want to. Many businesses do just fine producing their product or service, having a good time, and making money.

That said, one thing I know from my experience of working with small businesses is that the best ones, the exceptional ones, are indeed guided by an owner's vision of what the business is and should and could be.

Recently I was watching the TV show "Shark Tank." One of the "sharks" (i.e. investors) is Daymond John, the creator of the global brand FUBU. When speaking with one of the entrepreneurs on a recent episode, John offhandedly said something like, "I know you will be successful because you put a high value on yourself. That's what rich people do. Poor people put a low value on themselves and their efforts."

Having a big vision is putting a high value on yourself.

Indeed, when you look at small businesses that became big businesses, one of the characteristics you see in common is, in fact, a vision, especially a vision that is about more than just making money.

Now, maybe you are thinking "Hey Steve, I don't want my business to become a big business." No quibbles there. But even if that is true, I bet you do want your business to continue grow, and if so, then creating and articulating a Big Vision for your business is one of the best things you can do to ensure that growth.

Example #1: Sony was started right after World War II, in 1945, in a bombed-out basement of a building in Tokyo. Not an ideal entrepreneurial environment, I think we could agree. So it is altogether that much more remarkable that one of the first things that Sony's founder, Masaru Ibuka, did when starting the business was to create a vision for his nascent company, which included:

• Sony will be a place of work where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation.
• Sony will pursue dynamic activities... for the reconstruction of Japan.

Hewlett once said that the HP Way was "a core ideology . . . [that] includes a deep respect for the individual, a dedication to affordable quality and reliability, a commitment to community responsibility, and a view that the company exists to make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity."

Think about that for a second. "The company exists to make technical contributions for the advancement and welfare of humanity." Wow.

Example #3: Joe Wilson owned a small photographic supply company called Haloid that he would later rename Xerox after investing in a breakthrough, innovative product. Wilson kept a small index card in his wallet that was found after he passed away. It said, in part: "To attain serenity through the leadership of a business which brings happiness to its workers, serves its customers, and brings prosperity to its owners."
In the excellent book "Good to Great," author Jim Collins says that great companies have what he calls BHAGs -- Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. He writes, "A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort."

Your BHAG is your vision and your growth.

Maybe William H. Murray, in his book "The Scottish Himalayan Expedition," put it best: "I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: 'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.'"

So go ahead and create a vision for your business. Make it big and bold and great. It will focus you and inspire those around you. And you never know where it may lead you, for boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.