Name That Tune!

The Story
Back in the early days of radio, there was a game show called “Name that Tune!” It was so popular, that when television came about, the show moved to television. The object of the game was to name the title of as many tunes as you could before your opponent could name them, by listening to the melodies being played by a band.

One segment of the show was called “Bid a Note.” In this segment, the contestants would bid against each other for the right to be the first to have an opportunity to guess the name of a tune. The bidding was based on how many notes you were to hear before you had to guess the name of the tune. Unlike auctions, where the bidding increases, here the bidding decreases.

For example, contestant #1 might start out the bidding by saying, “I can name that tune in five notes.”

Contestant #2 would continue the bidding by saying, “I can name that tune in four notes.”

Contestant #1 could then continue the bidding by saying, “I can name that tune in three notes.”

Contestant #2 could continue the bidding process by saying, “I can name that tune in two notes.”

The bidding would continue until neither contestant wanted to bid a lower number. Then, the contestant who won the bidding would hear only as many notes as they bid and have to guess the tune. I was always amazed at how many contestants would bid only two notes. I was even more amazed at how many guessed correctly based on only two notes.

The Analogy
Let’s suppose, for a moment, that your business decided to run its own game show. The name of the show would be “Name that Vision!” Contestants would be picked at random from your employee base. The game would have rules that were similar to Name That Tune, except that instead of using notes, your game would use words. The contestant who could name your business’ vision statement in the fewest number of words would win.

How many of your employees could correctly name your business’ vision in only a handful of words? How many would need an entire page full of words in order to describe your business vision? How many are so confused about what your vision is that they could not recognize it no matter how many words you used?

If you had ten different employee-contestants playing your game, how many different statements would your hear from them as they try to name your vision? Would their statements be in agreement or in disagreement with each other? How much chaos and disfunctionality would there be in your organization if all ten of these contestants tried to implement their own understandings of your vision at the same time?

If your game show had a segment called “Bid a Word,” how many of your employees would be willing to say, “I can name our vision in two words”? Three words?

Unfortunately, the business world is not a game. It is serious work. If the work is to be successful, then everyone must be working to achieve the same vision. If the vision is confusing or difficult to articulate, there is a good chance the work will not be focused. Then, you will not just be faced with losing a game show, but in losing the battle for the customer.

The Principle
There is a difference between a strategy and a vision. A strategy is a detailed long-range plan that explains topics like:

• The position to be owned by the business in the marketplace.
• Why that position is winnable and desirable in the future environment.
• How that position will be held and defended from competition.
• Who the business is serving and why they will prefer that business.
• What needs to be done to achieve these goals, how they will be achieved, in what order they will be sequenced, and who is held responsible for achieving each part.
• The financial implications of the plan.
• How to fill the gaps between current state and desired future state in terms of competencies, business outcomes, and profits.
• Contingency Plans.
• Key Indicators of Success
  

As such, the strategy serves as the rational guidebook to answer all of the Who’s, What’s, When’s, Where’s, Why’s and How’s of what needs to happen between today and the end of the plan as well as how it will be accomplished.

By contrast, the vision of a company is much shorter and more emotional. It is an inspirational rallying cry intended to get everyone in your business excited about what the business is trying to accomplish. Sometimes a vision is used to embrace a short-term goal that changes every year; other times it may be an aspirational goal that lasts for several generations. In either case, the vision motivates right behavior by giving employees a sense that they are doing more than just a job—they are part of a bigger, and very important, mission.

Another common characteristic of a vision is that it is directional. It points in the direction of which types of activities are within scope and which are not.

A vision is something that all of your employees should be able to articulate with only a handful of words. Often times, it only takes two words to “Name that Vision”—typically a verb and an object of that verb. Examples of the types of two-word visions available would include:

• “Build” a “Competency"
• “Change” a “Structure”
• “Beat” a “Competitor”
• “Win” a “Space”
• “Create” a “Better World”
  

These are all described in more detail below.

“Create” a “Better World”
This type of vision tends to have the longest life and may last several generations. The idea is to tie the work of the business to highly noble causes. Examples may include “eliminate hunger”, “improve lives”, “create fun”, “extend life”, “improve environment” or “enrich life”. Typically, these long-term two-word aspirations are connected to the current strategic means by which they will be accomplished, like “eliminate hunger via bio-engineering” or “improve lives by making technology affordable”. This type of vision works best with people who want their job to be more than just a way to earn a living, but rather a way to make a difference in society. It can give a sense of pride to having a small part in a larger cause.

“Beat” a “Competitor”
This type of vision is typically used by newer or smaller companies that want to become larger and greater than the established leader. The general format is “Beat Company X”, where Company X is the market leader. This type of vision appeals to people with more of a militaristic or athletic mindset, where in order for you to win, someone has to lose. This is typically focused around market share, where the targeted enemy/opponent is the one you are taking share away from. This was popular in the 1960s and 1970s in Japan when Japanese firms were trying to overtake the larger American companies. Now, the younger Asian economies are using it against Japanese firms.

“Win” a “Space”
This type of vision tends to focus on the position that the business wants to own in the minds of their customers. It is what the company wants to be known for, the leverage point for success. It could be centered around an attribute (like “own price”, “win on service” or “best quality”) or it could be centered around a category or business ecosystem (like “own farm equipment”, “win appliances”, “dominate sports news”, or “home security leader”). This vision tends to be measured more with top of mind awareness or preference. It tends to be a vision that works well with market leaders who want to expand the market space, expand their reach in the market space, or defend their position.

“Change” a “Structure”
This type of vision is typically used when trying to change how people think of internal processes. Examples include “reduce bureaucracy”, “eliminate silos”, “build efficiency”, “customer driven”, or “rapid response”. This is a common vision approach when a company is in transition or trying to get out of a financial slump.

“Build” a “Competency”
This tends to be one of the shorter term rallying cries. It is designed to help fill a gap in a strategy by adding a new capability to the organization. Examples would include “go online”, “launch prototype”, “quality first” or “ISO ready”. This type of vision tends to work well with smaller, temporary teams designed for a particular purpose.

In some ways, it doesn’t matter which of these two-word phrase categories you pick. They tend to be linked. For example, it is difficult to “beat a competitor” without doing a better job of “winning the space” the two firms are competing in. “Winning a space” often requires doing something different, like “changing a structure” or “building a capability. In the end, it is hard to “beat a competitor” without providing superior value to the customer, which is often wrapped up in “creating a better world.” The idea is to pick whatever works best to motivate and bring clarity to your organization.

Summary
Strategic planning doesn’t end once a position is chosen and the general path to get there is known. The next step is to communicate that strategy to the entire organization in a simple way that motivates behavior leading towards the desired strategic outcome. This is called the vision statement. By boiling the strategy down to a vision statement consisting of a single sentence—or even as few as two words—you can make it as memorable as the name of your teams’ favorite songs. Then, if your company had to compete at “Name That Vision” you would not only win the contest, but win the ultimate prize of success in reaching your vision.

Final Thoughts
Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Good strategic plans are typically comprehensive and involve the coordination of a large number of tactical initiatives. There is a risk of oversimplifying the complexity to the point where the strategy loses its power. Do not fall into the temptation of boiling down the strategy into something that is so simple that it fails to encompass all of the key elements necessary for success.

However, when creating the annual communication of the vision to the business employees who have to implement the strategy, make the vision statement as simple as possible—perhaps even as simple as two words. If people need further clarity, they can always refer back to the greater strategy.