My class has been reading material from Harvard Business Review that covers the difference between aspirations, mission, vision, strategy, and values. Much of it devolves into a semantics debate, but the essence is clear: you must envision a future state and develop a method to get you there. “Achieving an aspiration requires a strategy,” Casadesus-Masanell writes. It “should involve both heads and hearts.” (This sounds a lot like yesterday’s dot (#4835), where leadership is plumbing and poetry — there seems to be a theme here.)
Another way to describe this was made in a much more pedestrian manner through a social media meme that read: “One Day” is a dream. “Day One” is a decision.
As we begin the new year with lofty resolutions and dreams of a better future, do the hard work of implementation to realize those goals. Aspirations, dreams, and poetry require strategies, decisions, and plumbing to become reality.
Sources: Setting Aspirations, Mission, Vision, and Values by Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Harvard Business Publishing, and Meme from Action for Happiness
