The Missing Piece Of Your Business Strategy

I always begin with a diagnostic phase when working with a new client. You can see a sample and free version here. There is a skill that I am specifically looking for during this phase: the ability to differentiate your business through the development of a unique vision for your industry or market.

Here is the catch:

I’m not talking about a vision for your business; I'm talking about a business vision.

Here, I can hear you think, “What?”

Congratulations if you can talk extensively about your vision for your business. Most of my clients can also do that already. They have ambitious goals too. For instance, they want to be successful and achieve a specific revenue goal by X year. Every entrepreneur can easily do that because every entrepreneur wants to be successful. So go ahead and slap numbers on a page, and you’re pretty much done.

But when it comes to developing a business vision for their community of potential clients, most people fall short.

And that’s a problem. Without a clear and unique perspective on how your clients should operate differently, become healthier or wealthier, build better homes, and so on, your strategic narrative is too business-centric and doesn’t inspire anyone outside of yourself and your team, if you have one.

A business vision is about how you view the future of the business environment around you, whether it's your immediate community or the whole world.

Developing a business vision is critical for helping people understand your business’s purpose and onboarding the right clients, just like a movement that enrolls the right participants.

If you're not developing a business vision, you're limiting your ability to create an authentic, sustainable, and successful business you love.

How to develop one?

“A different language is a different vision of life" - Federico Fellini.

You can develop a business vision by stretching your comfort zone and looking for new ways to express what you see today and in the future of the business world, just as you develop new language skills.

Practice visionary leadership, the discipline of exploring and shaping your vision through verbal, written, and visual language. Use reflection, critical thinking, intuition, internal voice, and conversations with others to do it.

To get you off the “me, me, me”, business-centric type of narrative, start by asking yourself this key question:

"Why is the world better off as a result of my company's existence?"

I wrote about this question in the past here. How you answer this question plays a significant role in defining your strategic narrative.

A process, not a product

Developing a business vision is a process, not just a “product,” such as a 100-slide deck that describes everything about your company.

It's about continuously sensing what is happening around you and why it makes sense to do your work and in the specific way you bring it t bear.

This process is at the core of the MetaHelm Strategic Narrative method, which I use to help my clients build a business with more leverage in their relationship with their clients, teams, prospects, and themselves.

Do it on your own. But don’t do it alone. As a CEO, founder, or business leader, it is your responsibility to co-create this vision with your team, facilitate and orchestrate the conversation, and trigger it.

By using your power to create a different vision of life for your industry, you can drive your business forward and contribute to positive change in the world.

Let’s sum it up:

1 - Developing a business vision is crucial to building an authentic, sustainable, and successful business.

2 - By shifting your perspective from a business-centric view to a community-centric view, you can create a strategic narrative that resonates with your target audience and sets your company apart.

3 - Through a process of continuous reflection and dialogue, you can shape a vision that drives your company forward and contributes to a better world for all.

Take the time to explore this question and develop your unique perspective on your business context.

“Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, there lies your vocation.”– Aristotle