Long Term Vision

By Robin Crow One of my favorite quotes is: “A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the company, not as it is, but as it should be.” In The Essence of Leadership, Mac Anderson wrote about Howard Shultz, the founder of Starbucks, and how he turned his vision into reality.rnEarly on, Schultz realized that the key to his success was to recruit well-educated people who were eager to communicate their passion for coffee. This, he felt, would be his competitive advantage in an industry where turnover was 300 percent a year. To hire the best people, he also knew he must be willing to pay them more than the going wage and offer health benefits that weren’t available elsewhere. He saw that part-time people made up two-thirds of his employee base, and no one in the restaurant industry offered benefits to part-timers. Schultz went to work in an effort to sell his board of directors to increase expenses while most restaurant executives in the 1980’s were looking for ways to cut costs. Initially Schultz’s pleas to investors and the board fell on deaf ears because Starbucks was still losing money. But Schultz was persistent. He was looking long term and was committed to growing the business with passionate people. He won, and he said many times afterward that this decision was one of the most important decisions, if not the most important, that he had made at Starbucks. His employee retention rate was about five times the industry average, but more importantly he could attract people with great attitudes who made their customers feel welcome and at home. As a leader Schultz realized early that Starbucks wasn’t a coffee business serving people…they were a people business serving coffee. This simple, but powerful insight was the foundation on which his long term vision was built. In 2008, at the company’s request Schultz came out of retirement to help right the ship that had begun to take on water due to the recession we all shared in common. In 2010, Starbucks has once again exploded with success boasting very healthy profits, a new logo and expanded product lines. Bringing your vision into focus:rnTo bring your vision into focus – Imagine looking through a camera lens. That lens shows only the view in the direction you aim the camera. As you do this, everything else disappears. A leader knows that mentally doing this is the way to ignore the endless distractions that threaten to slow them down. This also means staying focused on the positive, especially during times of adversity. Like Howard Schultz, a good leader knows the importance of holding on to that vision when times are tough. They resist succumbing to fear, have faith, and keep their eye fixed on where they’re headed. They focus on solutions and possibilities. They focus on finding a way. That’s how they follow through and exceed expectations. When I was in the music business and in pursuit of a major record deal, my vision was strong but my focus was weak. People looked at me as a “man with a plan” therefore I was able to get many others on board. For years I had a band, crew, and manager, but I wasn’t an effective leader. Why? I didn’t understand that focus means not only do you zoom in on a pursuit, but in the process you detach yourself from the other distractions that can drain your energy. My vision was to land a major record deal, but it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I finally admitted to myself that something had to change before I was going to get the results I was looking for. Once I did, I believe learning to focus made the difference in getting signed to RCA even after receiving 132 rejection letters. That in turn provided me the opportunity to create my business Dark Horse Recording which then led to writing books and speaking professionally. All of us have an inherent need for a clear sense of direction and purpose in life. We long to commit to something bigger and more important than ourselves. We want to feel like we are somehow making a contribution to the world. People are never really happy unless they are moving toward the accomplishment of something that is important to them. In other words, without a vision to latch on to, it’s so easy to keep vacillating back and forth making no progress, even in the smoothest of times. When you have a powerful, long term vision for something, even against all odds and adversity you will continue to make progress and people will want to get on board. Why? Because everybody wants to be a part of something great.