Vision statement

A vision statement is a high-level,^[1] inspirational^[1] statement of an idealistic emotional future of a company or group. Vision describes the basic human emotion that a founder intends to be experienced by the people the organization interacts with.^{[2][circular reference][3][circular reference]}

The vision and mission statements of the LUMO Community Wildlife Sanctuary

Vision statements may fill the following functions for a company:^[4]

• Serve as foundations for a broader strategic plan.
• Motivate existing employees and attract potential employees by clearly categorizing the company's goals and attracting like-minded individuals.
• Focus company efforts and facilitate the creation of core competencies by directing the company to only focus on strategic opportunities that advance the company's vision.
• Help companies differentiate from competitors.^[5]

A consensus does not exist on the characteristics of a "good" or "bad" vision statement. Commonly cited traits include:^[6]

• concise:^[1] able to be easily remembered and repeated
• clear: defines a prime goal^[5]
• time horizon: defines a time horizon
• future-oriented: describes where the company is going rather than the current state
• stable: offers a long-term perspective and is unlikely to be impacted by market or technology changes
• challenging: not something that can be easily met and discarded
• abstract: general enough to encompass all of the organization's interests and strategic direction
• inspiring:^[1] motivates employees and is something that employees view as desirable

See also

• Strategic planning
• Mission statement
• Strategy Markup Language

Citations

1. Project Management Institute 2021, §4.6.1 Strategy Artifacts.
2. Start with Why
3. The Infinite Game
4. Lipton, Mark (Summer 1996). "Demystifying the Development of an Organizational Vision" (PDF download). Sloan Management Review. 37 (4): 83. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
5. Project Management Institute 2021, Glossary §3 Definitions.
6. Kantabutra, Sooksan; Avery, Gayle (2010). "The power of vision: statements that resonate" (PDF). Journal of Business Strategy. 31 (1): 37–45. doi:10.1108/02756661011012769.

References

• Project Management Institute (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide). Project Management Institute (7th ed.). Newtown Square, PA. ISBN 978-1-62825-664-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)