Vision or Mission? There is a Difference

And it is your job, leader, to know that.

“A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission.” Neal Peart

Vision and mission. These two words and their meanings are often confused in organizations. I’ve seen it firsthand through my leadership practice. Where I find this confusion, I go to work helping organizations develop vision statements to inspire their people and serve as an enduring beacon to guide them and to develop clear and focused mission statements to drive results. Leaders must know the difference between these two words and what they do for their organization.

A vision is a visual of an organization (and its people) in some future state doing what it was created to do to the best of its ability – Rob Campbell’s definition. See my website for more on visions. Every organization needs a vision. Every organization. Visions are futuristic. Leadership author and professor Burt Nanus describes a vision as a realistic, credible, attractive future for an organization. The development of vision requires bold imagination. Indeed, there must be some realism. If the goal of Company X is to end world hunger, while inspirational, it might just be a stretch and unrealistic for its employees. The best example of a vision is Bill Gates, “a computer on every desk and in every home.” Mind you, he developed this vision in 1975. In August of 1963, Martin Luther King offered his famed “I Have a Dream (vision)” speech. In it he visualized, “…children of all races playing together on the playground.” Simon Sinek references Martin Luther King’s in his TED Talk, “How great leaders inspire action.” In this talk, he highlights that King delivered an “I Have a Dream,” speech, not an “I Have a Plan Speech.” This is where missions come in.