Creating A Meaningful, Market-Based Strategic Vision: The First Step In The Strategic Planning Process

Everything about strategic planning starts with a vision of where the organization is going and the measurable objectives that need to be achieved along the way. Vision statements are built on the organization's mission, which is the statement of why an organization exists and its overall goals. Your mission statement can be several sentences long. It highlights your organization’s core values and helps everybody—from your customers to your employees—immediately understand what your business is about and how you’re different from your competitors.

But an organizational vision is something else: a statement of how executives see . . .