Vision Statement

What is a Vision Statement?

A vision is a long-term change a product or business aims to establish – think 2-10 years out. Typically the desire for change stems from an existing problem that the product or business will one day solve or a major change to consumer habits.

A good vision statement typically contains a diagnosis that simplifies a complex situation into a comprehensive idea by focusing on the critical aspects of a problem it aims to solve.

Crafting a vision statement will make it easier to frame future problem-solving exercises and help get teams rallied behind a common theme.

Tip: Don’t start from scratch if you don’t have to. Reference your company homepage, mission statement, company manifesto, demo/sales decks, and marketing material. How do you speak about your business to customers today?

Tip: Establish buy-in from the proper stakeholders before planning a significant amount of work that builds off a vision statement.

Note: There is a difference between a business and product vision, especially when a business supports multiple products in multiple markets. A business can have its vision, and a product can have a supporting vision.

Examples

Good

Example 1:

Companies are struggling to develop and retain good talent in today’s workforce. Burnout is rising, and talented employees have more options due to the rise of remote work. Our vision is to transform how companies approach their workforce and create healthy cultures.

Example 2:

One of the biggest threats companies face today is data breaches. Data breaches rose 70% globally in Q3 2022. These data breaches result in tarnished reputations and fines ranging from thousands to millions of dollars. Our vision is to protect company & customer data from threats and reduce the cost on businesses to ensure data protection.

Bad

Example 3

Users need to upload more pictures so our product can succeed in the marketplace.

Tip: This “Vision” provides no insight into why customers need to upload pictures. What is the change, why should customers care, and what does “success in the marketplace” look like? Answering these questions will help uncover the fundamental truths required to help communicate the value of the business or product.