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Even Superheros Need Direction
April 2008

A number of years ago, we decided to take our 4 children to visit family in Minnesota. My youngest son, Danny, was about 3 years old at the time. He was (and still is) very stubborn and when I woke him up early in the morning he refused to take his Batman pajamas off—he wore them every night and they had a very cool cape attached with Velcro—so I threw him into his car seat in his pajamas. (Danny is now a Marine and could kick my fanny so I may not share this story with him…)  
 
After about 5 hours of eating junk food, fighting with his brother and sisters and listening to Muppets music, we were ready for a break and stopped for lunch at that famous Scottish restaurant, McDonald’s. In the middle of our lunch, Danny looks up at me and says, “Dad, Where are we going?”  I remember laughing quite hard at the time as I was amazed that he could spend 5 hours riding in a car without any understanding of where we were going. A lot of people in your organization may be saying the same thing, “Where are we going?”
 
Now you can’t blame Danny for not having a vision; he was only 3 years old. As the “leader” of that organization, wasn’t it incumbent upon me to share the vision with him? Having a vision is very important; sharing it with your team is equally important; especially if they sport the cape of a Superhero!

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Todd Ordal helps CEOs and senior leaders connect the dots between current reality and a compelling vision of the future. He consults on strategy and serves as a thought partner for CEOs because he understands from his days as a CEO that it is lonely at the top. You can contact Todd at todd@appliedstrategy.info or call 303-527-0417.