Today’s almost mythical notion of the hero-leader demands that vision be a pre-eminent executive trait. Time and time again, if a corporate leader is successful, his or her vision is cited as the cause and lauded as the foundation of the leader’s greatness. Vision, however, is only one component of the strategic management process, and a myopic focus on it has led many organizations to pursue less than ideal strategies and objectives, as evidenced by many of the recent dot-com failures whose visions were powerful, but whose strategies were suspect at best. To be sure, an organization without appropriate vision is likely to fail, but too many companies have fallen victim to the idea that managerial vision is a substitute for a complete and effective strategic examination.At the risk of oversimplification, the process of strategic management can be reduced to three broad steps. To develop an effective strategy, executives must determine where the organization is, agree on where they want to take it, and establish a plan to get there. Too many leaders seem to think that their vision alone should set this strategic development in motion. I strongly disagree.
