Vision the Vehicle to Success

I don't know how I got into my head that I was going to be sports agent. I guess pretty typical high school dream for someone who played three sports and grew up on the sidelines of a football field Saturday mornings when I didn’t have my own game (dad was president of the town pop warner league and my brother a star quarterback).  

Someone told me the best way to get there is through law school. So, I go. I work my as$$ off and stay focused and I come out of it with this law degree. I do so well, probably because I have in my head, I will be this superstar agent. I will be the female Jerry Maguire.

Here’s the twist, I started to get these offers from big NYC law firms. Long story short, I took one those offers.

What happened next? Well, that’s a nice long winding path. What I did realize, is that focus for something else let me be open and available to new opportunities. Focus and commitment to my vision ended up being my best tool for success.  That focus and vision made me really attractive to opportunities I wasn't even thinking about going in.

Vision the Park Place of Monopoly

(There is a reason I did not say Boardwalk…vision is great but without the right team to execute it is just a vision.)

Still, absolutely necessary for growth and long-term success. Generally, you should be looking out 3-5 years as you plan your strategy, but you could be thinking 10 years from now – big picture.

It needs to be a clear, credible, and achievable vision and you need to be able to communicate it effectively to your stakeholders. In my case, I told friends, family and probably a few strangers (good for keeping you accountable too!).

A clear and compelling vision creates motivation, energy and commitment. It allows you to set both short-term and long-term goals. It guides decision-making along the way. It gives the everyday tasks purpose - and, yes, many of them are tedious or they are fire drills keeping you up at night.

Most important, vision creates focus. And, focus is execution of that vision.

Don’t Be Distracted

As your business grows, your role and responsibilities as a CEO grow. The demands on your time multiply. Vision helps you focus on the 20% that moves you closer to that vision – delegating or dismissing the other 80%.

You must stay focused, living and breathing your vision every day. Trust me having just moved to NYC for law school, studying in a library everyday was not as appealing as going out and exploring.

As CEO you must get out of the weeds and focus on long-term strategies and short-term objectives. You must be clear with your team about where they should focus their time and energy; what the top 3 objectives are in a given quarter or year. Bouncing from idea to idea means you may not achieve even one meaningful goal.

Your job is also to be out there interacting with key stakeholders (board members, investors, customers, vendors), potential strategic partners, and key advocates and allies.

Each of these people will have an idea or an opinion about what you are doing (and how you are doing it). What your vision is for the future. Where you are missing opportunities or shooting you down as reaching too far.

You must stay focused on the vision and keep the team focused. Filter out noise that is just noise. Don’t ignore – listen, consider, dismiss what doesn’t fit with your vision.

Seeing the Opportunities

That isn’t to say have tunnel vision. Just as I did when I graduated law school, you have to be open to other opportunities. Particularly, as we continue to navigate the impacts of COVID.

Many companies have already pivoted, and more pivots or twists and turns may be needed in 2021.  You cannot become so stuck on one particular vision that you are not open to learning and being open to new opportunities. Careful, your vision doesn’t become your blindspot.

New opportunities may bring you on a different path to success. Maybe the mission doesn’t change but the vision shifts. Maybe the vision is the same but you offer new products or services, or you deliver these offerings in a different way. Maybe your idea isn’t working, the market isn’t there anymore or the problem you were solving for changed.

Weigh the options. Was I giving up the chance to be around really passionate, driven people playing in the big leagues where the stakes were high?

Quite frankly, today I work with passionate, driven founders who are bringing game-changing ideas to the table, and the stakes are always high personally and professionally.