This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Traction" by Gino Wickman. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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A company vision consists of the values, beliefs, and principles that guide the business towards its ultimate purpose. Most business owners have a clear idea of what they want their company to become, but the problem is that oftentimes, others in the organization don’t see it.
In Traction, Gino Wickman argues that a company vision is a core part of a business’s success. Here is how to create your company vision and make sure it is understood and internalized across all of your business functions.
Originally Published: March 10, 2021
Last updated: January 26, 2026
Step #1: Create a Clear Vision
It’s a leader’s responsibility to create a clear company vision and make sure everyone understands it. A vision clarifies your company’s identity, its future goals, and the strategy to achieve them. Many business owners have a vision in their head, but they often assume others understand it equally well. When people aren’t clear on the company’s direction, they waste their efforts on the wrong tasks, and the company fails to reach its goals. In contrast, a clear vision that everyone understands aligns all efforts toward the same goals.
(Shortform note: In The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni calls this alignment “organizational health” and argues that it’s an invisible superpower most leaders overlook. He explains that organizational health requires two things: clear, consistent goals that are communicated to everyone, and individuals who are dedicated to those goals. Lencioni notes that many leaders dismiss organizational health as too intangible to focus on, so those who commit to building it gain an edge over their competitors.)
To create a vision, you must clarify five things:
- Your guiding values
- Your main focus
- Your goals
- Your market approach
- Your obstacles
Your Guiding Values
Wickman writes that values define what your company stands for and its culture. Strong values attract people who share them and encourage those who don’t to leave. To find your core values, Wickman suggests three steps:
- Step 1: Think of your three best employees.
- Step 2: List the qualities they demonstrate.
- Step 3: Choose three to seven values from that list that define your company.
(Shortform note: Even if you identify the right values, they won’t matter if your employees can’t remember them. Other business experts argue that the solution is better design: They recommend limiting your company’s values to four or fewer, using vivid language instead of generic words like “integrity” or “accountability,” and arranging them into memorable formats like acrostics or visual emblems. When crafting your values from Wickman’s process, consider how you’ll phrase them so they stick in people’s minds, not just what qualities they represent.)
After identifying your values, share them company-wide through a presentation that illustrates each value with stories and examples. Then, build your culture around these values by using them when you make decisions about who to hire, fire, and reward. For example, when you interview job candidates, explain your company’s values and ask job-seekers how they’ve applied similar values in their previous work.
(Shortform note: Once you’ve identified your core values, the authors of CEO Excellence argue you should choose one value to serve as your company’s cultural anchor—a single concept that emotionally resonates with everyone, guides their daily decisions, and serves as a focal point for your entire company culture. For instance, if you choose “respect” as your anchor, it could include respect for colleagues, customers, and the environment. In addition to making sure your decisions to hire, fire, and reward employees reflect this value, the authors also recommend providing them with the training and safe environment they’ll need to live out this culture.)
Your Main Focus
In addition to your guiding values, Wickman also suggests clarifying the one thing your company does best—your main focus. To discover this focus, follow these two steps:
- Step 1: Determine your company’s purpose and what you’re passionate about.
- Step 2: Determine your speciality—the specific thing your company does to fulfill that purpose or passion.
For example, a software company might exist to help small businesses manage their money (purpose). It fulfills this purpose by creating easy-to-use accounting software (specialty).
(Shortform note: In The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek argues that your company’s focus should be ambitious enough that it can never be fully achieved. He points to the Declaration of Independence as an example: Its vision of universal rights originally applied only to white, landowning, Protestant men, but it inspired generations to expand those rights. Sinek suggests celebrating milestones along the way as glimpses of your ideal future while you continue to pursue your purpose in new ways.)
Wickman writes that once you know your focus, you can stop doing activities that don’t fit with it. This might mean cutting product lines that don’t match your specialty, removing roles that aren’t needed, or closing entire divisions. Your leadership team must protect your main focus from distractions. When you stick to what your company does best, you get better results and build a stronger business.
(Shortform note: Research supports Wickman’s recommendation to protect your company’s main focus. A study of over 700 large companies found that businesses that concentrated on their core strengths—rather than spreading into unrelated areas—delivered higher returns to shareholders and earned stronger valuations from investors. Companies that gradually streamlined their portfolios over multiple years outperformed their peers by over 8% during the transformation period. The study also found that making too many dramatic changes at once can backfire, while steady, consistent moves toward greater focus tend to work best.)
Your Goals
To create an effective vision for your business, you must also create goals that guide your decisions, track your progress, and maintain direction. Wickman recommends creating three types of goals:
Your 10-year goal: Identify an ambitious, specific, measurable goal you want to achieve in 10 years—for example, “Grow from regional to national distribution with outlets in 45 states.” Focus on what you want to achieve, not how you’ll get there. This opens your mind to creative solutions you might miss otherwise. Your 10-year goal should excite everyone in your company.
(Shortform note: While Wickman recommends setting a single, specific target, research suggests you might actually boost motivation by framing your goal as a range instead. Ranges feel both challenging (you can aim for the high end) and attainable (you can succeed by hitting the low end), whereas single-number targets often feel like a compromise between the two.)
Your three-year goal: Set revenue and profit targets, choose one key measurable (like customer satisfaction scores or production capacity), and describe what the company will look like at that time (including staff size, environment, products, and client base). This medium-term goal helps employees understand where the company is heading in the near future.
Your one-year goal: Set this year’s revenue and profit goals, plus a measurable goal that aligns with your three-year goal. Then choose three to seven objectives to complete this year that will move you toward your three-year goal. This plan builds momentum toward your vision.
| An Alternative Approach to Goals: Prioritize Stability Over Growth While ambitious goals can inspire your team, some experts argue they may do more harm than good. In It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson identify three downsides to aggressive growth strategies: 1. Growth targets demoralize your team: Growth-focused goals create a workplace where people never feel satisfied—as soon as you hit one target, management sets another. This constant pressure to do better can demoralize your team and lead to burnout. 2. Growth targets create financial stress: Many businesses spend more money than they earn while pursuing ambitious growth goals. This creates a high-stakes environment where failure to hit targets could bankrupt the business, which puts emotional stress on employees. 3. Growth targets encourage unethical behavior: When hitting the numbers becomes the only thing that matters, employees may cut corners or break promises to customers just to meet their goals. The authors cite Wells Fargo’s scandal in 2016, where employees opened millions of fake accounts to meet sales quotas. As an alternative, Fried and Hansson recommend defining success as the ongoing completion of stable, consistent goals rather than constantly raising the bar. Therefore, if you adopt Wickman’s tiered goal structure, consider whether each goal genuinely excites your team or simply adds pressure that could undermine the vision you’re trying to build. |
Your Market Approach
Next, Wickman explains that a clear market strategy is another vital part of your business’s vision. A focused marketing strategy guides all of the promotional materials you’ll create and leads to better business results. Without this focus, you’ll waste resources on scattered efforts that have little impact.
According to Wickman, an effective market strategy includes four key elements:
Your target customer: Define exactly who you want to sell to by considering geographic, demographic, and behavioral traits—for example, “small business owners with 5-15 employees in urban areas who need accounting software.” Then, create a list of prospects that match this description. When you target your best prospects—customers who offer more profit with fewer problems—you’ll sell more effectively.
(Shortform note: Business experts note that your most profitable customers tend to share several characteristics: They place large orders instead of many small ones, pay on time and upfront rather than in installments, need little from your sales and support team, rarely change their orders after placing them, and accept your standard contract terms. By factoring in these cost considerations alongside your target customer profile, you can focus on prospects who are both a good fit and affordable to serve.)
Your differentiators: Choose three strengths that make you different from your competitors. Many businesses try to offer too many things to please everyone, which prevents them from standing out in any particular area.
(Shortform note: If you’re struggling to identify your unique strengths, William M. Luther (The Marketing Plan) describes four ways businesses can differentiate themselves in crowded markets: First, you can provide a better product by improving your operations and quality control. Second, you can make your product appear more valuable through smart marketing. Third, you can offer lower prices by cutting costs while maintaining quality. Lastly, you can win customers through superior service that builds loyalty and keeps people coming back.)
Your unique process: Describe the main steps of your specific approach to delivering your products or services. Present this visually on a single page with a memorable name that you can show customers to build their trust in your business.
Your promise: Identify your customers’ biggest concerns and make a promise that addresses them. Include a specific penalty or compensation that customers will receive if you fail to deliver on your promise. This builds customer confidence, increases sales, and motivates your team to deliver.
(Shortform note: In Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got, Jay Abraham explains that customers only buy from businesses they feel confident in, so you must identify and address their specific hesitations. In addition to documenting your process and offering a promise, Abraham says you can also counter doubts with incentives like free trials and introductory discounts, as well as excellent customer service—responding quickly, following through on your promise, and asking how you can serve them better. This reinforces the trust your process and promise create.)
Your Obstacles
Wickman writes that once you know where your company’s headed, you must identify anything that might stop you. With your leadership team, discuss and list obstacles you might face while pursuing your vision. Keep updating this list as you operate your business. We’ll discuss how to address these issues systematically later.
(Shortform note: In Think Like a Freak, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner recommend a thought experiment called a premortem that can help you identify potential obstacles. Unlike a postmortem, which analyzes what went wrong after a project fails, a premortem has you imagine that your project has already failed and brainstorm reasons why. They suggest making the exercise anonymous so team members feel comfortable raising concerns they might otherwise hesitate to share. By identifying potential points of failure before they happen, you can prepare solutions in advance and keep obstacles from derailing your vision.)
Step #2: Execute Your Vision
According to Wickman, the final step to creating a successful business is to turn your vision into real actions and results. To execute your vision, set 90-day priorities for everyone and establish a meeting structure. These tools keep everyone focused on the same goals and create accountability for results.
Clarify 90-Day Priorities for Everyone
Wickman suggests you meet with your senior leaders to review your vision and set quarterly priorities. Start by listing everything that must be accomplished in the next 90 days to move toward your vision.
Then, narrow this list to three to seven company priorities. For each priority, set a deadline and make sure it’s specific, measurable, and achievable. Assign one leadership team member to own each priority. This person creates a timeline, assigns tasks to team members, and makes sure the work gets done.
(Shortform note: In Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Verne Harnish recommends creating a fun theme for your 90-day priorities to make them more engaging. For example, if you’re working to boost customer satisfaction scores, you might create a space exploration theme called “Mission to the Stars” with posters showing your team as astronauts exploring new frontiers of service excellence. When the team hits their goal, reward them with a team outing to a planetarium or escape room with a space theme. This gives your team something to look forward to and a way to celebrate their wins together, making your quarterly priorities feel more like shared challenges worth conquering.)
After setting company priorities, have everyone set their own goals: Each leadership team member sets three to seven priorities for the quarter (including any company priority they own). Compile all company and leadership priorities onto one page and review this list weekly at leadership meetings. Then, each department and each employee follows the same process to set one to three priorities of their own.
(Shortform note: In Working Backwards, Colin Bryar and Bill Carr explain how Amazon takes Wickman’s prioritization even further with single-responsibility teams. Unlike traditional companies, where employees juggle multiple projects simultaneously, Amazon assigns each team one focus—like expanding into a new market or improving a specific service. This prevents people from having too many scattered priorities that go unfinished. So, when setting priorities, consider limiting the number to the lower end of Wickman’s range if you want to ensure they get successfully executed.)
Hold Regular Leadership Meetings
Next, to execute your vision, Wickman suggests you hold regular meetings to keep everyone accountable and make progress toward your goals. He suggests two types of meetings:
Quarterly meetings: At the start of each quarter, review the previous quarter’s results, such as the financials and the priorities you’ve achieved. Then, set new priorities for the next 90 days.
Weekly meetings: Once you’ve set your quarterly priorities, meet with your leadership team weekly to stay focused and address issues. Review your tracked numbers, priorities, and last week’s tasks. Also, use this time to solve the problems on your lists.
| Tips for Holding Effective Meetings In Death by Meeting, Patrick Lencioni explains that most meetings feel like a waste of time because they lack the drama and conflict that keep people engaged. He argues that meetings should be as compelling as movies—they need a hook in the first 10 minutes that explains what’s at stake for the company and its employees. For instance, you might explain that the company is under threat, or that it’s struggling to make a dent in a new market. Alternatively, if you don’t want to start on a negative note, explain how a good decision could make life better for employees, clients, or the world. Lencioni recommends holding weekly and quarterly meetings as Wickman suggests, but he also mentions two additional types: First, he recommends holding daily five-minute check-ins where everyone shares what they’re working on that day. When everyone knows what their colleagues are doing, there’s less confusion and redundant work throughout the day. Second, he suggests monthly strategic meetings lasting two to four hours, where you debate major decisions with only two to three topics on the agenda. Unlike Wickman’s weekly and quarterly meetings that focus on tracking progress and setting priorities, these strategic sessions give you time to thoroughly explore big questions like whether to expand into a new market or change your target customer. |
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- How a first-time entrepreneur can gain the traction needed to grow
- Why hard work and determination aren't enough for your business to succeed
- The 6 key principles of the Entrepreneurial Operating System
