Rule No. 1: Aspire

Editor’s Note: The following is a lightly edited excerpt from Mark Miller’s book “Culture Rules.” To learn more, visit leadeveryday.com.

Have you ever started on a trip without knowing where you were going? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Perhaps as a young person, you said, “We are going to drive across the country,” and began your adventure without a specific plan or itinerary. However, even with such a broadly stated intention, it still informed your decisions. If you wanted to drive across the country and were starting in San Diego, you didn’t go south into Mexico. If you knew you wanted to drive, you didn’t need to go to the airport. You probably knew your general sense of timing and pace — were you planning to take a year or a month to cross the country? You likely knew how much you would invest — were you planning to sleep in your car or find five-star hotels? Even loosely defined objectives and predetermined notions can provide a degree of clarity for cross-country trips, just as they can for organizations.

One of the mysteries I imagine I will never fully solve is why so many leaders do not tell their organization where they are trying to go, what they are trying to accomplish, or what they are attempting to become. I do have a few theories regarding their silence:

• The leader doesn’t know.
• The leader doesn’t believe.
• The leader doesn’t know how.
• The leader fears failure.
• The leader is not leading.

VISION: THE BIG PICTURE

Vision is a broad and directional picture of the future. Of the different mechanisms for articulating the Aspiration, vision statements are the most likely to inspire and encourage people. Unfortunately, many vision statements are too technical and precise to inspire. In many cases, they also try to say too much. A great vision statement captures the essence of your Aspiration, not the details.

In many organizations, vision is their source of inspiration and meaning. Here are a few vision statements that fit this definition. You can decide for yourself how inspiring they are.

• IKEA: “To create a better everyday life for the many people.”
• Whole Foods Market: To nourish people and the planet.
• Amazon: To be Earth’s most customer-centric company.
• CVS: To help people live longer, healthier, happier lives.
• Habitat for Humanity: A world where everyone has a decent place to live.

YOUR VISION

What is your dream for your organization? What is your vision? Where do you look for it? In your head and your heart? Here are some questions that will help you discover your vision for your organization.

• What are you convinced that your organization should endlessly and tirelessly strive for?
• What is big enough that you could work toward it your entire career and then pass the baton to others to pursue?
• What is so big and so admirable, you can think of nothing better to devote your leadership energy toward accomplishing?
• What would catapult your organization into the future?
• What pursuit would energize you and your people?
• What is something you feel must be passionately pursued?

Think over the horizon. Think about your life’s work. Think about your contribution to the world. Think about your legacy as a leader. Think big, and then think bigger. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s words on this topic are a personal challenge for me: “Dream no small dreams for they have no power to stir the hearts of men.”