Entrepreneur's Vision: The Ability to See Oneself in the Future
Vision
Ability to imagine a possible future from the present
How to Define Your Business Vision to Improve the Chances of Success?
When we buy, build, or rent a home, often the first time we see it, we have to imagine what our life will be like there. How our furniture will look, where we’ll place each family member, how we’ll use the space, and how it will be decorated to our liking. The decision to acquire it is often determined by our ability to imagine that future life in that space.
Sometimes, that visualization exercise is simple. When the current home already closely resembles what we want, it’s easy for us to picture ourselves there. Other times, the current state of the home, the level of detail in the plans, or our inability to understand them makes it difficult for us to imagine how it will turn out. This can prevent us from seeing ourselves living there and from feeling the emotions associated with it.
If we ask real estate experts, they will likely agree that some sales fall through because clients can’t visualize the necessary changes or the future of a home that, with a few adjustments, could have significant potential.
That ability to imagine a possible future from the present is the power of visualization. It’s the vision, the entrepreneur’s ability to see themselves in the future with details, as if they were living it.
Entrepreneurs, in general, have developed a better ability to see opportunities that others may not easily recognize. It is the first step in being able to start a business venture.
Vision is defined as the ability to see something in your imagination, something that exists in your mind, something you can dream of, even if it is not yet a physical reality. It involves the ability to imagine a possible future.
The Entrepreneur’s Vision: The Ability to See Oneself in the Future
For an entrepreneur, this vision is what drives them to enter their business area and bet on its potential success. Often, the entrepreneur sees something that others do not, and this motivates them to work on their business idea.
When you work in your Business Plan, one of the key questions to answer is precisely that Vision. The Vision describes your dream—what you want your venture to become. It sets an expectation of the ideal you're aiming for.
The vision describes your future, what you want to be. It is a statement of your company's aspiration. The purpose of the vision is to inspire: How do you see your business in the future?
While that format includes the essence or summary of the vision, success in developing it, and especially in conveying it to others so that it becomes useful, requires more work. And that is what I want to discuss with you today.
The Entrepreneur’s Vision Must Inspire Others to Believe in the Project
It should inspire and motivate employees, customers, and suppliers. The more people can understand, visualize, and internalize the vision, the easier it will be to steer the business towards the desired destination.
For this to happen, however, it is essential not only to visualize it personally but also to put it into words that can be effectively communicated, so that others can share the vision.
The next step is to turn that vision into a reality through plans, strategies, and executions that move in the right direction.
If we don’t know where we’re going, it will be hard to head in the right direction, and we may never get there.
The Vision Needs to Be Defined in Detail
We must feel it—imagine where we see our company in a few years. Not just describe it in general terms, but go deeper: How do we feel at that moment? How do our employees and partners feel? What are our clients saying about us? How does our work interact with our personal lives?
Over the years, there have been various trends and recommendations for achieving this detailed description and, most importantly, for communicating it to others.
One of the most common tools is what is known as a Vision Statement, which is generally a single sentence that summarizes how you envision your company in a few years.
Others propose more visual tools, like a Vision Board, which relies on images rather than words to convey the entrepreneur’s vision.
Some say a single sentence is insufficient, while others argue that images can be interpreted differently by different people, distorting their original meaning, which was chosen to represent the vision.
Recently, I came across the approach proposed by Cameron Herold, who talks about the “Vivid Vision,” which is a 3- or 4-page document that describes the entrepreneur’s vision in detail, so that it can be easily conveyed and understood by others.
Cameron Herold suggests starting with a mind map that analyzes every aspect of the business and envisions it over a 3-year period. He encourages you to think about how you see your business in 3 years. Unlike others who suggest 5 years, Herold argues that 3 years is a manageable timeframe to imagine a realistic yet bold dream. Any shorter, and it becomes a goal—less inspiring; any longer, and the risks of uncertainty increase significantly.
In his book, Cameron Herold provides examples of Vivid Visions he has worked on with his clients, and the level of detail in how they visualize and describe them is truly extraordinary. It leaves no room for doubt and allows one to fully immerse in that vision within three years.
Not everyone has the ability to invent the future in ways that propose significant changes, aligned with a dream, with the potential to change the lives of many. This is one of the great skills of entrepreneurs that sets them apart from other professionals.
An entrepreneur can see, in a block of stone, the masterpiece hidden within, ready to be sculpted, or its potential use in constructing something new, while others may only see an obstacle to be removed from their path.
Approaches to Defining Vision or the Entrepreneur’s Ability to See Themselves in the Future
Many suggest defining the vision based on what you currently have. What can you build with your resources? Start from the “present” and imagine the “future,” leveraging the resources you have.
Others believe it is bolder and more likely to succeed to define the vision based on where you want to go, regardless of current resources and circumstances, and then plan to reach that goal.
Personally, I think the approach should include both aspects. Of course, it’s necessary to start with reality, because that’s what we have to work with and build on. But we must not let that reality limit us. The trick is to step far enough outside the comfort zone to propose a dream that goes beyond what we can easily achieve with current resources.
If the destination is too easy to reach, it’s not motivating enough and doesn’t establish a foundation for differentiation. If the destination is too far or distant, it may simply be unattainable and will only generate frustration.
Learning to Visualize
Although entrepreneurs naturally develop a stronger ability to visualize the future, this doesn’t mean it can’t be refined, or that if it’s still developing, you can’t learn and improve it.
Like any effort and learning process, it may take some time, but once you can do it, the vision you have for your business will be solid, clear, and motivating.
Here’s a summary of the process Cameron Herold proposes in his book, which I found very detailed and straightforward:
Find a comfortable and appropriate space and time. Plan to disconnect from your daily routines for a few hours and choose a relaxed, distraction-free environment.
Close your eyes and think of yourself and your business 3 years from now. Don’t think about its current state. Focus on how you want it to be in 3 years, even if it’s vastly different from what you have now.
Use all your senses. While we initially start from a rational perspective, try to delve deeper and develop more internal levels. Don’t just imagine how things look. Imagine how you feel. Try to recreate that feeling. If possible, also recreate sensations, smells, sounds—everything that brings you as close as possible to actually “living” that moment in your potential future. Remember, your vision is the ability to see yourself in the future as if you were living it.
Pause and take notes. Jot down short notes. Don’t worry about writing eloquently at this point, just enough so that when you revisit the document, you can relive that moment.
Go through each area of your business in the same way. Imagine your employees in 3 years, your customers, your business meetings, your conversations with suppliers. Visualize news stories about your company in the media, the evolution of your business’s finances, the new areas you could explore.
Take a break after each area and note your discoveries before moving on to the next.
Once you complete the exercise, let it sit for a few days.
Return to it a few days later. With a more analytical mind, complete anything missing, adjust new ideas, and prepare a clean, organized document.
Draft your vivid vision. If you’re good at writing, do it yourself. But you can also hire a professional who can craft a clear and inspiring document.
Share the document with everyone involved in your business, inside and outside the company, until everyone understands the direction you’re headed. Use it as a working tool, not as a decoration on your wall.
Review it regularly. Highlight the things you’ve accomplished in color so you can progressively see how your vision is becoming a reality.
Revisit the document in depth every 3 years (unless major changes require a sooner update) and repeat the exercise for the next 3 years of your business.
The more you focus on visualizing the future of your business and, most importantly, on sharing it, the easier it will be to develop strategies to get there.