How to build a vivid vision that aligns your entire business

Executive overview

Most business owners expect employees to make decisions for the company without ever showing them what they're building. A Vivid Vision is a written document describing your company three years from now — what it looks, feels, and acts like across every area.

You don't need to know how you'll get there. Just describe the destination in concrete terms so every employee, supplier, and customer can see what you see.

Shared vision is the single most powerful alignment tool a business has.

Why visualization works

• High-performance athletes use visualization across every sport — the high jumper, the downhill skier, the gymnast
• Contractors already use this: they can't build your dream home without pictures, drawings, and blueprints
• Employees can't build your company without an equivalent document

How to write your vivid vision

• Think three years forward — not a mission statement, not a plan
• Walk through each area of your org chart: sales, marketing, operations, IT, HR
• Write 3–4 bullet points per area describing what each looks like in three years
• Describe what customers are saying about you online; what employees write on Glassdoor
• Don't worry about how you'll achieve it — describe the outcome, not the method
• Pull all bullet points together into a single polished document

Real-world result: MCI Global

• In 2009, CEO Sebastian learned the Vivid Vision concept at an MIT event
• His company was doing $106M in revenue; he wrote a vision describing $500M by 2012
• Three years later, MCI Global hit $502M in revenue with $108M EBITDA
• Now operates in 17 countries with over $1 billion in revenue
• He credits the Vivid Vision with the alignment of offices, employees, and culture

Who you share it with

• Share with employees, potential hires, customers, and suppliers
• Everyone pulling in the same direction is the alignment force the document creates