Vision vs. Strategy

Keeping it simple, you have a vision of what you are to become and a strategy for making that happen.

Vision is where or who you want to be and strategy is how you can achieve or reach your goal. An unclear vision leads to defective strategy. Visions inspire; strategies compel; vision comes first, but sometimes vision appears and gets clear by working on the strategy. A vision describes the desired future position of the company. A strategy is an action or ways chosen to bring about the desired future, such as achievement of a goal.

Vision is the end goal, the strategy is the plan to get there: Vision is where to go, Strategy is how to get there. Vision is the visual interpretation of your finest dream of, or what you desire to become. Which inspires you and your followers and stakeholders. Whereas strategy is the professional breakdown of your philosophy and methodology to achieve something. Vision is your point on the horizon, the strategy is how you will get there. Whereas your strategy is the professional breakdown of your philosophy and methodology to achieve something. Vision is your point on the horizon, the strategy is how you will get there. As circumstances are changing rapidly, a strategy is a roadmap which needs to be checked and revised constantly.

The vision is the destination. The strategy is the roadmap to getting there: Vision is the future you want to realize from a coordinated effort. The strategy is the systematic plan that assists you in employing your efforts towards achieving the desired output; with optimal utilization of your skill and available resources in the minimum time possible. Vision provides insight into where an organization needs to go and is future-oriented. It informs the Change Agenda and requires Leadership. The Change Agenda is typically a series of special projects or initiatives that help the organization move towards the vision. The Strategic Plan is the document that typically outlines the roadmap for the achievement of the vision. A strategy is the course of collective/personal actions to achieve milestones set by individual or collective conscious to achieve desired future result. Check out BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal - and find out that many great companies have great goals and manage to live up to them! You can have one vision but multiple strategies to get there.

Vision is to zoom into the future, and strategy is to bridge the reality and the vision: Vision is some mental picture which may be or may not be successfully projected to reality. The strategy is a pipe ending in fulfillment of your vision. A vision is how you see the future unfolding, how you dream about what the future will look like from your standpoint. A strategy is a way you will carry yourself out, your plan to make your vision a reality. A subset of the Strategic Plan is the Operational Plan which provides the short-term activities that business units are tasked to achieve as their contribution to the Strategic Plan and Vision. The Mission is often confused with Vision. The Mission is the description of the mandate of the organization that informs the sustaining Agenda - that is what the organization does on a day to day basis. The Mission is focused on the value that the organization brings to its customers and stakeholders. The strategy itself can encompass many techniques and tools. There are companies who, for example, have a vision of being global leaders in a particular segment. One can't assume that one strategy with different tools and techniques can work in every market. Thus, some markets would need a particular strategy to achieve that vision, and some markets would need a different strategy to achieve the same vision. The strategy is any long-term pattern of real behavior.

Keeping it simple, you have a vision of what you are to become and a strategy for making that happen. The purpose, embodied in the core value proposition, inspires the vision which defines the mission which informs the strategies which exist to achieve the objectives. So, vision is the inspirational end state while strategies exist to define the body of work needed to achieve the objectives.

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