Creating a Vision Statement

In the world of UNICEF, unpredictability is the norm. We work in environments shaped by rapid change, external shocks, and complex challenges - contexts where certainty is often out of reach. Increasingly, this seems to be the norm for all organisations. But in these volatile times, I’ve learned that clarity is more important than ever. Clarity isn’t about having all the answers or guaranteeing outcomes. It’s about being explicit - about what matters most right now, where decisions sit, and what trade-offs we’re willing to make. When leaders provide this kind of clarity, teams are empowered to act with confidence and focus, even when the future is uncertain. Leadership, in my experience, is less about formal frameworks and more about daily habits: aligning actions with intent, engaging in constructive challenge, and modelling calm and discipline under pressure. These behaviours, visible to all, shape our culture and set the tone for how we respond to uncertainty. As we move forward, the temptation to do more is strong. But real impact comes from coherence, strategic focus, and embedding leadership practices that support sustainable delivery. Distributed leadership - where everyone feels empowered to lead within clear boundaries - unlocks the full potential of our organisations. Adaptability is essential, but it’s not about reacting to every change. It’s about holding focus, making disciplined choices, and helping our teams understand why certain priorities matter most. Clarity is what enables adaptability without fragmentation. As leaders with purpose, we need to use every opportunity to reflect, align, and reinforce the leadership behaviours that will carry us - and those we serve - forward. How are you creating clarity for your teams in uncertain times? Let’s learn from each other as we navigate the unpredictable together. #Leadership #DecisionMaking #DistributedLeadership #StrategicFocus

"KEY PRINCIPLES TO LEAD THOSE WHO ARE AHEAD OF YOU" 1. Craft a Compelling Vision. Vision is the compass of leadership. It's not a wish list, a vague dream, or just another goal. Vision is the future you see before others do—a picture of what could be, anchored in deep conviction. People with talent and potential don't just follow credentials; they follow clarity, purpose, and passion. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." — Proverbs 29:18 A powerful vision answers the question: "Why are we doing this?" It's not about sight—what your eyes can see—it's about insight, what your heart believes is possible. It must be so real to you that you're willing to live and even die for it. When Jesus called Peter, He said, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.” Peter was already a skilled fisherman, but that vision gave his skill a greater purpose. It expanded his capacity. Talented people will follow you when they see that their gifts can be used for something larger than themselves. Your vision determines your audience. Every vision attracts a unique kind of person. If you’re unclear, your team will be confused. If you're hesitant, they'll hesitate too. But if your vision is bold, clear, and purpose-driven, it will draw the right people—even those more experienced or skilled than you. 2. Be Excellent in Your Role. You don’t need to know everything—but you must excel at something. Especially in leadership. Leadership is not a title; it’s a skill. It must be studied, practiced, and refined. Degrees and titles don’t make people follow you—your competence and character do. That means learning to: •Communicate clearly and with confidence. •Handle feedback with maturity. •Navigate tension without escalating conflict. •Inspire trust through consistency and courage. Consider Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. He had no background in computers when he started one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. What he did have was vision, belief, and strong leadership skills—and that was enough to rally people who knew more than he did. Many fail to lead because they’re unwilling to grow. They’re defensive to correction, reactive to challenges, and insecure around talent. But true leadership is selfless—it’s about making others better, not proving you're the best. To lead people who are ahead of you in skill or experience: •Cast a clear and compelling vision that gives purpose to their gifts. •Be excellent in leadership. •Learn the skills that make people want to follow you—humility, communication, consistency, and courage. Don’t wait to be the smartest in the room—lead with vision and excellence, and the right people will follow.

Investing in both vision and execution is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, aspects of leadership. Absent execution, a leader’s vision is simply a dream. At the same time, marching off to execute without a clear vision begets confusion and even chaos.  Early in my career, it was often my job to help leaders create and articulate their vision, and then to collaborate across their organizations to bring the vision to life. Crystalizing a vision into a compelling national or institutional mandate is hard enough as it is. Making it a reality is even rarer. In those formative professional years, I had a front-row seat to great leaders and big successes, but more often, vision statements failed to leave the whiteboard. Disappointment follows when ambition isn’t met with a strategy for action. It takes significant, sustained commitment from the top to bring a strategy or vision to life. Learning this lesson early profoundly shaped my approach to leadership. Taking a hands-off approach to execution is tempting–nugging through execution isn’t nearly as exciting to most leaders as pronouncing initiatives–but is a major pitfall. So, how do you ensure your execution can bring your vision to life? Adaptability is key. The world doesn’t stand still. Market shifts, technological advancements, workforce changes—these factors demand that leaders refine their approach while staying true to their mission. A rigid vision, no matter how compelling, won’t survive an evolving landscape. Understand the relevant institutional cultures and incentives. In any sizable organization, execution happens through other people. Translating your vision into outcomes that can help advance their goals creates momentum. When people see the personal and organizational advantage in executing a strategy, they become champions of the mission. Questions I always ask myself include: What drives the team? What motivates stakeholders? Sell the mission advantage. While every stakeholder has different priorities, they all contribute to the bigger picture. When they see how the vision benefits not just the organization but also their own objectives, execution becomes second nature. In my experience, it is a cycle: Vision → Execution → Assessment → Evaluation → Refinement of Vision. The best leaders don’t just set direction; they ensure that every step forward brings the vision closer to reality. #Leadership #Strategy #Execution

I learned the value of clarity from so many millionaires I worked with.   It is rarely given the weight it deserves, though. It is foundational to everything above it. Without clarity, nothing above it holds. Growth, sales, leadership, brand, positioning everything depends on it. ↳ You cannot scale what you cannot define. ↳ You cannot align a team around what you cannot articulate. ↳ You cannot create demand for something the market cannot understand. ↳ And you cannot win customers if you cannot explain who they are. Let’s break down where clarity actually sits inside the architecture of a business. 1. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 → 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠?) Before strategy, before execution, before hiring, there must be clarity. ↳ Clarity of vision. ↳ Clarity of goals. ↳ Clarity of what success looks like. A company without direction can still move, but it moves in circles. Leadership is fundamentally  about providing a clear orientation to the future. 2. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 → 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 (𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫?) Most companies chase too many segments at once. ↳ Ten different audiences. ↳ Ten different messages. ↳ Ten different priorities. And the result is predictable, confusion for everyone involved. Clarity forces discipline. It asks: ↳ Who is this really for? ↳ Who is it not for? ↳ Where do we win? ↳ Where do we not play? Focus is the natural byproduct of clarity. And focus is the natural precondition for growth. 3. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 → 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧?) Confusion is expensive. It drains time, resources, energy, and morale. ↳ Teams execute faster when the path is clear. ↳ Sales convert easier when the story is clear. ↳ Customers trust more deeply when the value is clear. Clarity makes everything moves faster, as it removes the roadblock of confusion. 4. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 → 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫?) A brand is the clarity of how the world should perceive you. That is so foundational and clarity is the cause.   Clarity is the backbone of brand strategy because: ↳ if your identity is unclear, your positioning collapses ↳ if your message is unclear, your market dissipates ↳ if your meaning is unclear, your differentiation disappears Brand is simply clarity, expressed consistently. 5. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 → 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 (𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞?) We are psychology wires to pursue clarity. People don’t follow charisma. Teams don’t need more motivation. They need a clearer north star. And this is why clarity is timeless because it is not tied to channels or tactics. It is tied to human psychology. Humans move toward what they understand. Growth, culture, brand, reputation all grow only after clarity is established. No matter the industry, no matter the market, no matter the stage clarity comes first. Everything else is downstream.

Most leaders think vision is something you write once and hang on the wall. Wrong. Vision isn't a destination statement. It's a decision-making filter that runs continuously. Like principles that unpack into practices saturating your daily activities. Issue prioritization, hiring decisions, resource allocation. The vision is the beacon, but the practices it generates are how you progress. When was the last time your team actually used your vision statement to make a choice? Probably never. Because it's too vague. Real vision is specific enough that you could make five different decisions based on it. Not "be the best." Something falsifiable. Take Stripe's "increase the GDP of the internet." Clear enough that you can test every decision against it. Should we expand to this country? Does it increase internet GDP? Should we build this feature? Does it let more businesses transact online? Should we acquire this company? Does it grow the economic pie or just our slice? Write your vision. Now write it again. Remove one vague word. Do that ten times. Keep going until the statement forces you to only leave space for the best opportunities. Keep it under 20 words. Zero abstract terms. But direction isn't enough. You need the logical chain connecting daily tasks to outcomes. Not "we care about customers" but "when we solve X, these people gain this capability they lack right now." Take your five biggest projects. Can you connect each one to your vision? If you can't, kill the projects. Then there's decision compression. Use vision to eliminate most debates before they start. Vision answers "should we?" so your team can focus on "how do we?" Create a checklist. Three to five yes/no questions pulled from your vision. Any opportunity that passes two or fewer gets rejected. Doesn't matter if it's profitable. You've built the system when team members can independently kill initiatives that don't serve the vision. Most vision work produces inspiration instead of infrastructure. Your vision should be like an operating system. Invisible but constantly routing decisions. Rewrite your vision until it passes the 20-word test. Map your five biggest projects to it. Eliminate what doesn't fit. Build that three-question filter. Use it to kill one active project. Train someone to explain how their work connects to the vision. Stop treating vision like a poster and start treating it like plumbing. ----- I help ambitious leaders escape burnout through systematic frameworks. Supercharge your career with my Leadership Superpowers newsletter: gplead.com/nl

Just having a “vision statement” won’t cut it. If you want your team to actually give a sh*t about your vision, try this: As a visionary founder you have everything pretty clear in your mind, but it’s so difficult to get ALL the team absolutely aligned, throughout the whole year. But it all comes down to having a blueprint. Building and scaling a company is like building a house – you need to map out EVERY detail. For a company, I like using 2 crucial tools: 1) The V/TO (Vision-Traction Organizer) from EOS to map out the crucial areas of the Vision: - Core Values (I recommend the Mission to Mars exercise to discover them) - Core Focus/ Purpose (what are you looking to achieve with what you’re doing?) - 10 Year Vision (usually known as BHAG, Big Hairy Audaciouos Goal) - Marketing Strategy (who’s your target user, your promise and your guarantee) And the Traction part to get the 3-year, 1-year, Q’s and monthly KPIS set, in order to organize the execution within the teams. 2) Vivid Vision document (from my colleague Cameron Herold), a 3 or 5-page pdf describing the the desired future state for the company as a whole in 3 years. • How many clients • How many employees • How much revenue by x date • Describing every part of the company as if it was today in 3 years (be as graphic as possible) These tools give everyone a very specific “picture” for your vision, BUT the key here is: → Refer back to it and integrate it into EVERYTHING. At clickOn we brought the end of year vision up all the time. Every meeting, every process – we asked, “Is this getting us closer to our vivid vision?” Because we saw what can happen when you don’t ask that. Back in 2014 we were doing about $10MM year and operating in 12 different states in Argentina. So we decided to diversify – but that decision wasn’t very aligned with our company vision. It was a couple of years before we learned about these 2 crucial tools I just shared. We started losing a lot of focus on our successful products (that still had potential to 10x). New projects we did were done halfway. And after 2 years, we cut them to focus on ONE goal: → Being the best daily deals company. Because that was consistent with the vision that we developed. Think about it: An architect doesn't draw up the blueprint and then stick it in a drawer and forget it. They use it as a guide through the entire process. But too many founders just write their vision statement like a core values statement. Instead you have to live and breathe it. Bring it up in every meeting and decision you make. Even put it on the screensavers and email signatures. You should be able to ask ANY employee who’s just come out of the shower what your goals are. Remember: Your team can’t read your mind… If you want them on board, SHOW them exactly where you’re leading them. — Enjoyed this? Repost ♻️ to share to your network, and follow Ignacio Carcavallo for more like this!

Vision only matters when it is translated into operating principles Vision statements are easy to write. Execution is not. Research on organizational alignment shows that vision alone has little impact on performance unless it is converted into clear operating principles that guide daily decisions. Without translation, vision remains abstract. What research shows Studies on strategy execution indicate that employees perform better when they understand not just the vision, but how it affects priorities, trade-offs, and acceptable behavior. Vision without operational guidance leads to inconsistent decisions across teams. Research also shows that organizations with explicit operating principles experience faster decision-making and stronger alignment, even in decentralized environments. Study-based situations Situation 1: Inconsistent decisions Research found that teams with shared vision but no operating principles interpreted priorities differently, leading to conflicting actions. Introducing a small set of principles reduced inconsistency. Situation 2: Scaling challenges Studies on scaling organizations show that as headcount grows, informal alignment breaks down. Operating principles provided a reference point for decisions without requiring constant leadership involvement. Situation 3: Cultural confusion Research on organizational culture shows that values without behavioral definitions fail to influence outcomes. Principles tied to specific actions had measurable impact. How effective leaders operationalize vision They define a small set of decision rules They use principles to resolve trade-offs They reinforce principles through review and feedback They hire and promote based on adherence to principles Vision sets direction. Principles determine behavior.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀. After 30+ years of building companies, coaching founders, and working alongside growth-stage CEOs, I’ve seen the pattern. It’s rarely a lack of ambition. It’s a lack of clarity and discipline. Here’s where leaders get it wrong: 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆. Vision answers 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨. Strategy answers 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. Too many leaders present a five-page strategic plan and call it a vision. It’s filled with initiatives, timelines, KPIs, and tactics. That’s execution. Vision should be simple enough to say in one sentence. Clear enough that people can see the finish line. Compelling enough that they want to help build it. If your team can’t repeat it, you don’t have a vision. You have a document. 𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻. Vision is not a town hall announcement. It’s an ongoing campaign. It has to show up in your weekly meetings. In your hiring decisions. In your capital allocation. In your performance reviews. If you aren’t repeating it, reinforcing it, and connecting it to daily work, it fades. And when vision fades, activity replaces alignment. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Founders especially fall into this trap. “It’s clear in my head.” Of course it is. It’s your company. But vision doesn’t scale until it transfers from your head… to their head, to their heart, to their hands. When you create it alone and toss it over the wall, people critique it. When you shape it with your team, they defend it. Engagement creates ownership. Ownership creates momentum. 𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲. When the budget tightens. When growth slows. When a deal falls through. Your team is watching. They’re asking, even if they don’t say it: “Is this real… or was it just easy to talk about when times were good?” Vision isn’t proven in prosperity. It’s proven in pressure. If you pivot every time things get uncomfortable, you never build trust. And without trust, vision is just words. Leadership at its core is inspiring belief, and enabling that belief to become reality. Vision is the starting point of belief. Don’t just write a vision statement. Fight for it. Repeat it. And stand by it when it costs you something.

You think you've said it enough. You haven't. Not even close. 🚫 One of the hardest lessons I learned building Kessel Run: you can't set a vision at the beginning of a year, hand people OKRs, and just "trust the process." I had teams building apps Warfighters loved, creating real mission impact. But I quickly discovered most of it wasn’t aligned to the bigger picture we were trying to create. No cohesion. No unity. Here's what I learned: alignment requires constant care and feeding. Daily. So that’s what we did. I had to repeat myself until I annoyed the crap out of myself… and only then did people start to pick up on it. By the time you think you're being annoying, people are just having it register for the first time. It's not because they don't listen. It's just human nature. As a leader, your daily work is vision and strategy. Their daily work is tactics and execution. If you want to keep alignment front and center for them, you have to be involved every single day. In the details. And if you have a large organization, the leaders below you have to echo that alignment down to the teams. This applies to all aspects of leadership… not just product. Vision, culture, values. All of it needs constant repetition. Say the thing. Then say it again. Then say it again after that. Teach it through the work, in the details. Ask yourself, is your team underestimating how much repetition alignment actually takes?

One of the most overlooked leadership responsibilities is naming the way forward. At the start of a new year, many teams are asked to “jump back in" but without clarity around: —what’s staying the same —what’s shifting —what matters most now That’s where misalignment, burnout, and confusion quietly take root. Effective leadership requires more than momentum. It requires vision that’s clearly articulated and collectively understood. When leaders intentionally re-clarify direction, they create space for teams to: ✔️ align on priorities for the next season ✔️name what needs to evolve ✔️understand how focus and capacity may shift ✔️connect daily work to a shared purpose Vision isn’t a static statement on a slide deck. It’s a living practice. When leaders slow down long enough to name the direction, and invite their team into shaping it, people move with intention instead of reaction. Clarity builds confidence, and shared vision creates momentum. As you step into this new year, here’s the leadership question to sit with: Have you given your team clarity about where you’re headed...or are you assuming they’ll figure it out along the way? This may be the moment to pause, re-anchor, and name the way forward together.