Articles—Issue 19, February 2007 Back to Article Index Clear and Decisive Marcus Buckingham, author of The One Thing You Need to Know and others, says, "The best way to turn anxiety into confidence is this: Be clear. Clarity is the antidote to anxiety. If you do nothing else as a leader, be clear." And, "As a leader, you can do a whole lot worse than picking just a few areas you want to take action on right now.”   Clarity is illusive. Employees often think that senior leadership has a pipeline to a pot of vision. This is not the case. Vision comes from an iterative process. I’ve met numerous owners and executives that believe that they are weak if they cannot dream up profit-filled scenarios while staring at a bowl of oatmeal. It really doesn’t work that way. Developing clarity of vision is a lot of work, doesn’t always happen quickly and is most successful when done in a collaborative fashion. Let’s pick that apart for just a minute.   It is a lot of work. Senior executives rarely allocate the time they should to thinking deeply about their business. (This is not the same as lying awake all night and worrying about the business, though many of us have done that.) Document your thoughts, share them with others, edit them, throw them away and start over. Repeat. I have a client who thinks more deeply about his business than anyone I’ve ever met. He knows his industry, knows his customers, has an advisory board to question him and—very important—makes decisions.   It doesn’t happen quickly. Developing clarity of vision requires frequent attention. It is unlikely that you can lock yourself and your team in a room for a few hours and get it right. It happens over time. The dilemma, as Buckingham notes, is that your employees and the market require clarity so you have to get it done. Shoot for 90% right initially. At the launch of your business or when your vision doesn’t work anymore and must be recreated, you need to put a lot of energy into this. The market demands it and your employees require it.   Collaboration. I’ve talked about this in previous articles, but the quality of ideas and the buy-in you receive is directly proportional to the amount of collaboration you use in crafting your ideas and plans.   Focus. If your vision statement makes liberal use of the word "and", you’re not providing clarity. If you have 10 top priorities, you’re watching too much Letterman and confusing your team and your customers.   The ability to craft clear messages and to focus on a few things is a defining characteristic of leadership. They are also skills that can be learned. (c)2007 by Tood Ordal. You are welcome to share this informational article with others. Todd Ordal is a business consultant helping executives struggling with execution. Prior to founding the consulting firm Applied Strategy LLC, Todd spent over 25 years in management and executive roles such as President and CEO. You can contact Todd at todd@appliedstrategy.info