Questions of the Week

When you look at the future of your industry, where do you see it heading?

What challenges do you see in the future that we could get ahead of right now?

Where do you see the biggest opportunity on the road ahead?

What do you want to experience while working towards accomplishing your vision?

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Jack Welch 

“It’s important to be true to yourself and your vision.” - Nicole Polizzi

What is Your Vision of the Future? 

Once several years ago, I sat down on my Southwest flight next to a gentleman named Dennis McGill, who was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for a global lighting company at the time. While in flight heading my corporate headquarters where I was going to a training event at the time, we struck up a conversation. Turns out he was a former executive with Blockbuster Video, in the finance department no less. Frankly, I was curious about his experience and I began bombarding him like a catapult with questions and filled the remainder of our flight interrogating him on the fall of this business empire. He shared that they saw Netflix long before they arose as a competitor, which means they were aware that a siege could be coming. The executives at Blockbuster didn’t believe technology would support the streaming speed Netflix needed. Further, they saw going to the video store as an experience people wouldn’t want to give up as a family outing. Arrows were flying, catapults were bombarding, the walls were crumbling, and the flag was in jeopardy. Yet Blockbuster stayed their course. Mr. McGill explained that Netflix didn’t even have 1 million users at the time of their analysis, so they were not considered a threat. While technology and internet speeds were increasing, Blockbuster was exploring partnerships and deals with both Radio Shack and Papa John's Pizza. The idea was to have a small portion of every store be dedicated to the commonly purchased items most frequently bought in Radio Shack, while at the same time offering movies and take-out pizza from both in-store Papa Johns as well as adjacent locations in the same strip centers. While this was the Blockbuster strategy to pivot, they actually never changed their model. So they became modern day ruins that for years after still were shells of a business with the brick-and-mortar locations being for sale or lease. 

What happened to a company that once had 9000 stores globally and was worth and estimated $3B? Today, as of March 2021, Blockbuster still lives. You can still find one store located in Bend, Oregon and much of their revenue is generated from nostalgia of a once dominant company.  Had the executives seen what was coming or asked themselves, " where is our business heading?", then perhaps they could have course-corrected and changed their outcome. The fact is that the leadership had vision, yet it’s kind of like the blind spot in your vehicle. It’s what you don’t see that will take you out. Blockbuster’s vision for both where the industry was heading and where they saw themselves going was way off course and ultimately cost them dearly. The mistake in the example of Blockbuster wasn’t about lacking vision, it's simply one of continuing to behave the same way in a rapidly changing world. Their vision remained constant and they failed to see how the world was changing right in-front of them. I’m wondering if anyone got the license plate of the truck that ran them over? 

What is Vision anyway and what makes it important? Merriam-Webster defines vision as “something seen,” or the act of power of imagination. Consider that vision is simply sight or foresight. When you go to the Optometrist, it is usually to get your eyes examined to check your vision. If your vision is less than 20/20, blurred or there is an issue, glasses, contacts or LASIK is prescribed. Over the years, I have read many books that speak about vision with the majority speaking as if vision is some mystical concept that is confusing to the reader. It makes one think they may need to climb a mountain top, meditate as a yogi and then one day far off in the distance, vision will find you. Vision is simply asking yourself, “What do you see?” The Optometrist asks, “What’s the smallest line you can see?” Your answer determines how strong your vision is. With business vision, we are asking:

·     When you look into the future, how do you see things changing in your business and life? 

·     What do you want it to feel and look like as you are going through the journey? 

Truth is, you’ve always had a vision. If you have ever been confused about your vision it typically is that moment right after you are asked what it is or read a book that was confusing and made you think that it's missing and that you need to go find it. I promise that you have vision and you always have.  Example: when you were young did anyone ever ask you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My children will say, “I want to be a Firefighter!” or “An Astronaut” or sometimes, “Drive a BIG Green tractor!” The latter of course is usually right after we have jammed out singing our best version of Jason Aldean’s Big Green Tractor song. When I was growing up, I had a vision of what I wanted life to be like which involved a car and getting the pretty girl. At least I got the car… Years later when I married my beautiful wife Shanna, I realized my vision had simply been off by a decade or two. Looking into the future as if it’s already happened while describing what you saw and what it felt like along the way, or to  “Cast Your Vision.”  Imagine having a time-machine and traveling into the future with your phone to take pictures and journal along the way, then sharing your experiences with others would be your Vision. 

Building Your Vision

1.   See things as they are, not some bullshit version of what you hallucinate that they are. I’m speaking about a raw, real, and the unedited version of what things really look like, which is your Point A (the beginning). The key is to stay emotionally neutral and not to describe things as worse than they really are. For example, we often use emotional words to magnify the significance of a problem, such as, “I’m drowning in paperwork,” or “I’m putting out fires,” even worse, “this is killing me,” which in all cases isn’t an accurate description of what’s actually happening. Unless you really are suffocating because a recycling dump truck backed up and literally dumped a ton of paper on top of you or there truly is a fire that you are battling in your office.

2.  See things better than they are. Describe the future the way you want it to be. Can you answer the question, “What do you want?” What do you really want deep down? I can’t tell you the number of times a person can’t answer that question. Reminds me of the scene in the movie The Notebook, where Noah is asking Allie, “Would you stop thinking about what everyone else wants? What do you want? What… do….you….want? If you don’t know what you want, stop here until you figure it out. Often people are very clear of what they don’t want, which can actually be helpful as what you want might simply be the exact opposite. Until we are clear on how we want things to be in business and life, we tend to follow someone else’s vision. 

3.  Make it the way you want it. Making your life the way you want it to be is about combining how you set your mind and your approach to achievement. Making things the way you want them to be is about 80% philosophy and 20% strategy. Make no mistake… It requires both thought and action.  

Now Cast Your Vision for an Amazing Future!