How to Combine Vision and Strategy in Leadership

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 led a $350M org through a strategic planning session - after just 2 hrs the CEO called it a "walk-off home run". Here's my exact framework for creating rapid alignment and vision: 1. The Trust Foundation (20 mins) First, let the room breathe. Watch. Listen. Then, ask each leader to share one childhood challenge they overcame. Why? Because vulnerability creates humanity, and humanity creates trust. When someone shares about their parents' divorce or getting cut from a team, defenses drop naturally. 2. The Vision Journey (30 mins) Create space for deep thinking: - Dim the lights - Play soft instrumental music (I use Dwell on Spotify) - Guide them through a day-in-the-life meditation set 5 years in the future Pro tip: Most leadership teams spend 95% of their time in the daily battle. Few step back to truly envision the future. At $350M scale, this vision gap costs millions. 3. Personal Expression (60 mins) Transform thoughts into tangible vision: - Silent journaling period - Create visual representations on flip charts - Share personal stories of their envisioned future 4. Collective Alignment (10 mins) Bring it home: - Synthesize individual visions - Craft collective bullet points - Write a unified vision paragraph - - - By the end, the team didn’t just have a vision. They had their vision, one that was personal, connected, and inspiring. For the first time, the company’s future wasn’t just a business strategy. It was a shared journey everyone felt deeply invested in. 🔑 The Magic Ingredient: It's not just about the business vision. By connecting personal futures with company direction, you create authentic alignment that drives real change. 💡 Key Learning: Most strategic planning fails because it jumps straight to strategy. But vision without trust is just words on a page. Trust without vision is just a nice conversation. Magic happens when you build both!

Visioneering: Where Vision Meets Engineering Leadership As technical leaders, we often struggle with translating broad strategic vision into actionable engineering outcomes. That's why I developed the concept of "visioneering" - a framework that bridges the gap between high-level vision and practical execution. It's also a fun word to say. Mission and Vision are not the same thing. Your mission is your current purpose - what you're doing today. Vision is your picture of the future - where you're headed and what you'll achieve when you get there. A compelling vision needs to be extreme enough to excite (gradual improvements rarely inspire), challenging yet not reckless, and most importantly, something your team genuinely wants to achieve. When developing your vision, it's crucial to think holistically. Consider the team you'll need to build, the value you'll create for users, how users will find your product useful and indispensable, and ultimately, the impact you want to achieve. While your vision needs to be ambitious, it still needs to be grounded in reality. Visioneering brings this vision to life through: 1. Defining achievable goals 2. Building consensus through effective communication, and 3. Empowering teams through ownership. The magic happens when you create a cascading strategy - the long-term vision can be made into annual goals, quarterly objectives, weekly milestones, and daily tasks that all connect to the bigger picture. In my experience, effective implementation starts with clear communication. I've found success in writing concise one-pagers to crystallize thoughts, combining both group presentations and one-on-one discussions to gather diverse perspectives. The key is empowering your team to own the implementation by having them own the approach. This ownership creates deeper commitment and better outcomes. One often-overlooked aspect of vision implementation is the courage to pivot when necessary. While consistency is important, maintaining the status quo can actually be riskier than pursuing bold change. You can stay authentic to your values while remaining flexible enough to adapt your vision when experiments or other signals suggest a need for change. The most powerful outcome of visioneering isn't just better project execution - it's the creation of goal-committed teams who understand both the destination and their role in getting there. When done right, it transforms abstract vision into tangible engineering progress. Everyone knows the goals and can operate independently yet in the same direction. I've seen this firsthand with our team's development of Daily Listen - where we united around the vision of creating a personalized audio overview of interesting topics for users' daily consumption. The project's success wasn't just in the product we built, but in how the team rallied around this shared vision. ❤️ Learn more about Daily Listen: https://lnkd.in/gPdvBVum

"𝗔 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲." Years ago, I worked under a leader who had big ideas, bold strategies, and an inspiring vision for the company. But there was a problem - his actions didn’t match his words. - He preached accountability but avoided tough conversations. - He pushed for continuous improvement but resisted change himself. - He expected ownership from his team but micromanaged every decision. The result? His vision never caught fire. The team didn’t believe in it because they didn’t see it lived out in real time. That experience shaped how I lead today. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 A leader’s words can set direction, but it’s their actions that bring it to life. Without alignment between vision and behavior, teams experience: → Lack of trust: People see the disconnect and disengage. → Inconsistent execution: The team doesn’t know what’s truly valued. → Low morale: People stop believing in the mission. → Slow progress: Ideas remain ideas because no one feels invested. If leaders don’t model what they expect, their vision becomes just another PowerPoint slide. 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗗𝗼 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁? Even well-intentioned leaders sometimes fail to align their actions with their vision. Why? → They underestimate the power of example – People don’t follow words, they follow behavior. → They focus on strategy but neglect culture – The best plans fail if the work environment doesn’t match. → They assume their title alone carries influence – Leadership is earned through action, not authority. → They prioritize speed over sustainability – Quick results often win over long-term impact. But a vision without action is just a wish. 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲: 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 If you want your vision to drive real impact, here’s where to start: → Lead by example: Model the behaviors you expect from your team. If you want accountability, own your mistakes first. → Communicate through action: Don’t just talk about continuous improvement - show your willingness to adapt. → Reinforce what you value: Celebrate and reward behaviors that align with your vision. → Be consistent: People trust what they see daily, not just what’s said in meetings. When leaders embody their vision, the team naturally follows. 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 When leadership practices what it preaches, here’s what happens: → Trust deepens – Teams believe in leadership because they see authenticity. → Engagement increases – People invest in a vision they see in action. → Execution improves – When expectations are clear and modeled, alignment follows. → Culture strengthens – A leader’s daily actions shape long-term success. Have you ever worked under a leader whose actions didn’t match their vision?