Get A Grip

02Crafting a Vision That Actually Drives Results

A vision is completely useless if it only exists inside the minds of the founders. One of the greatest tragedies in modern business is walking into a company, asking five different leaders what the company’s primary goal is, and receiving five wildly different answers. In Get A Grip, the Swan Services team discovers that their lack of alignment is the root cause of their chaotic daily operations. Everyone is rowing the boat, but they are all rowing in completely different directions, causing the company to spin endlessly in circles. To fix this, a team must commit to the Vision Component of the Entrepreneurial Operating System, which requires answering eight critical questions to get everyone on the exact same page. The First Question: What are your Core Values? Core values are not empty corporate buzzwords plastered on a breakroom poster. They are the deeply ingrained guiding principles that dictate how your team behaves, makes decisions, and treats one another. When Alan helps Swan Services discover their core values, he emphasizes that you do not "create" them; you uncover them. You look at the people in your organization who you wish you could clone, and you identify the specific traits that make them so incredible. Are they relentlessly resourceful? Do they possess a humble confidence? Once you define these three to seven core values, they become your ultimate filtering mechanism. You will hire, fire, review, and reward every single person based on these specific behavioral traits. The Second Question: What is your Core Focus? Also known as the "hedgehog concept," your core focus requires discovering the intersection between what you are deeply passionate about and what drives your economic engine. Many companies hit a wall because they suffer from "shiny object syndrome." They try to be everything to everyone, taking on projects outside their expertise simply to make a quick buck. Defining your core focus gives you the immense power to say no. It acts as a laser beam, ensuring that all your company's energy is directed toward the one thing you do better than anyone else in the world. The Third Question: What is your 10-Year Target? This is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal. It is the guiding star that sits far out on the horizon, providing a sense of ultimate direction for the entire organization. A ten-year target does not need to be a complex, multi-page strategic plan. It simply needs to be a clear, inspiring objective that gets everyone excited to come to work. Whether it is a specific revenue number, a global impact metric, or a dominant market share, this target ensures that every short-term decision aligns with your long-term destination. The Fourth Question: What is your Marketing Strategy? A sharp marketing strategy consists of four distinct elements. First, you must clearly define your Target Market. Who are your ideal customers? You need to know their demographics, their geographic location, and their psychographics how they think and what they value. Second, you must identify your Three Uniques. These are the three specific differentiators that, when combined, make your company completely irreplaceable in the market. Your competitors might share one or two of these traits, but none should possess all three. Third, you must establish a Proven Process, which is a visual representation of the journey you take your customers on, from the first handshake to long-term success. Finally, you create a Guarantee, a bold promise that eliminates the fear of buying from you. The Fifth Question: What is your 3-Year Picture? While a ten-year target is conceptual, a three-year picture must be highly tangible. You need to paint a vivid, detailed picture of exactly what the company will look like thirty-six months from now. What will your revenue be? How many employees will you have? What will your office look like? What specific roles will the leadership team be playing? By defining these details, you pull the distant future into a manageable timeframe, allowing the team to mentally step into that reality and begin making decisions that will bring it to life. The Sixth Question: What is your 1-Year Plan? This is where the vision starts to hit the ground. A one-year plan requires the leadership team to determine three to seven specific, measurable objectives that absolutely must be achieved over the next twelve months to stay on track for the three-year picture. Limiting this list to a maximum of seven goals is incredibly difficult but absolutely essential. When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. The Swan Services team struggles deeply with this, wanting to accomplish twenty things at once, but they eventually realize that forced focus is the only way to achieve real momentum. The Seventh Question: What are your Rocks? Rocks are your most critical ninety-day priorities. We will explore this concept much more deeply in the Traction chapter, but in the context of vision, rocks serve as the shortest-term execution mechanism. They break the one-year plan down into bite-sized, ninety-day sprints, ensuring that the team is always taking immediate action on the long-term vision. The Eighth Question: What are your Issues? The final step in crystallizing your vision is acknowledging the obstacles standing in your way. The issues list is a transparent dumping ground for every problem, barrier, and brilliant idea that the team needs to tackle. By getting all these issues out of people's heads and onto a shared document, you eliminate hidden agendas and create a culture of absolute transparency. When a leadership team can answer these eight questions with one voice, a miraculous shift occurs. The chaotic energy of the company aligns into a powerful, unified force. Employees stop guessing what is expected of them, managers stop fighting over conflicting priorities, and the entire organization begins to march to the beat of a single, highly effective drum.

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