1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.
Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.
The Old Testament tells us: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
“Change requires a vibrant organizing image,” Robert E. Quinn writes in the The Deep Change Field Guide.
“A leader’s task,” he notes, “is to help people find an image that will draw them into the positive creation of their own future.”
This week, we’ve been exploring lessons from the powerful book CEO Excellence written by McKinsey consultants Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra.
What’s the first mindset that the world’s great CEOs possess? A direction-setting mindset. Great leaders begin with vision.
Rather than “try to minimize uncertainty and guard against making mistakes,” the authors note, the best CEOs “approach setting the direction of their company with a different mindset.
“They embrace uncertainty,” they write, “with a view that fortune favors the bold. They’re less a ‘taker’ of their fate and more a ‘shaper’—constantly looking for and acting on opportunities that bend the curve of history.”
2: The other option? Slow death.
“Organizations will move toward rigidity or chaos unless action is taken to the contrary,” Robert writes. “The vision must serve the needs of clients and orient people inside the organization toward the common good and inspire them to sacrifice for it.”
Creating a vision is similar to painting a picture or telling a story.
“The leader narrates how the organization will turn out if everyone works together to write the chapters that lie between the present and the desired future state,” says Rand Stagen, CEO of the Stagen Leadership Academy:
“What is important about a vision is the sense of meaning attributed to it by the individuals and groups in an organization,” Rand writes. This meaning drives people’s thinking, decisions, and behavior and ultimately impacts bottom-line results.
3: At PCI, our vision is to generate $1 Billion in contributions for our nonprofit and university partners.
It is our deep privilege to serve institutions that inspire dreams and transform lives. For us, the donations we generate help create a better world.
The exciting thing?
When we truly commit ourselves to a new vision, not only do our organizations change, we change. We see, think, and act differently.
More next week!
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Reflection: What result do I want to create? For myself? For my team? For my organization?
Action: Journal about my answers. Identify an opportunity to take action.
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