Vision or Mission - which comes first? (2024)

Karim Khan, AO

Professor at UBC (Vancouver, Canada) & Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health & Arthritis (IMHA)

2mo

Happy to share this one--food for thought. We come at it from a research perspective. I always remember that the vison for the local cancer centre was 'a world free of cancer'. It was prominent on the construction hoarding as the new building for the centre went up. I like 'Why does the business/research group exist?'.

Mark Spickett

Experienced M&A program manager and trainer

1y

Came a cross this post whilst researching the same thing. There always seems to be a healthy debate as to what comes first and I suspect it depends upon definitions, how one was business educated and, as others have stated, the pure practicalities of which stage of life the business is in. For me Vision proceeds Mission. I tend to think of it in terms of JFK and Space travel. The Vision is the human race travelling the stars,The Mission was to put a human on the moon.The BHAG was to do it by the end of 1969The Strategy was to build Apollo and the Saturn V rocket to get there and achieve the BHAG and the Mission JFK gave NASA.As you can see from my perspective a Vision is an aspiration that is not easily achievable yet given time reachable. The Vision is the glue that holds everything together, the reason for existing, etc.A Mission is an achieveable goal (set of goals) around which an organisation can coalesce and drive forwards. It is important to ensure that once you achieve your Mission you have the next one lined up as a stepping stone to the overall Vision.I developed a training course to help define an organisations Vision, Mission and from that a set of BHAG’s. Happy to discuss if anyone is interested.

Heydar Mojahed

5S Expert, Member of the Association of Iranian Ex-Participants in JICA Training Courses, Japan عضو انجمن فارغ التحصیلان دوره های آموزشی ژاپن

1y

Hi Igor, please tell me clearly when we write down company statement, which comes first, vision or mission? while we know vision is the bigger picture. I think there is no exact formula. It depends to each organization. For example your company has a capability, skills and specific resources and market, then you are doing some activities (mission) and now you define a destination (vision) for growth and development. On the other hand I have a dream (vision), then for realization it I define and do related activities by providing required resources (mission).

Shuvam Das

Unconventional thinker, value creator. Leadership, HR & business. Strategy, change & disruption. Faculty, executive coach and mentor.

2y

Mission first for an established business, vision first (maybe, not always) for a startup. Agree with Igor. Starts off with the answer to a simple question. Why does a business exist? The mission, from which strategy flows, defines what needs to be done for the business to exist. If that criteria is not met, we can keep on talking about vision, mission, values and purpose till the cows come home.As the organisation evolves, culture develops and a broad outline of where the organisation is headed starts taking shape. We can take corrective steps to ensure that we are headed in the right direction. Mission>Strategy>Execution>Culture...leading to where is the organisation headed.To put vision before mission would imply that we have an idea which serves as a direction. It might have lofty ideals without any connection to reality or execution. And if it clashes subsequently with the main raison d etre of an organization's existence, what do we do? Change the vision of where we are headed, or stubbornly pursue our vision? That would be hara-kiri.The steps we take to ensure business continuity while adapting, sustaining and thriving in our environment is how we shape up as an organization, and shapes our vision of what we will be.

Scott Germaise

Digital Product Management Leader

2y

Vision is first. Here's why... Mission - in the management literature - is actually somewhat poorly defined. It includes both purpose and what you're doing now. (By most accounts I've seen.) As a result, these things are conflated. At this point, Mission has to come second. Why? Because Vision is the aspiration as to what you want to be. The actions you take, (which includes what you're doing now/mission), are informed by that aspiration. Not the other way around. Further, purpose is somewhat redundant to Vision anyway. If my purpose is to "Save the World" then to have a "Saved World" is the aspirational vision anyway. If you still want to think of a Vision as a Destination at the end of a chain, that's fine. It's the same thing. There's a place you want to go. That came before your purpose anyway. All of this may be somewhat academic, and an old argument. But that's my take on it anyway. May have to think about this some more if it doesn't make my head hurt too much.