Session 2
Compelling Vision
Set goals big enough to scare you. Cascade them from a 10-year picture down to the 90 days in front of you.
Founder Files
When my mom started the quilt shop, the vision was “a nice little shop.” It topped out at $200K/year — a nice little shop’s ceiling. When I took it over, the vision changed: the world’s quilting mecca.
That single shift in language pulled different decisions out of us. We didn’t take a $200K-shop’s actions anymore. We took a 70,000-sq-ft-mecca’s actions. The vision was the lever that moved every other lever.
Small Goals Don't Inspire Anyone
Your team won’t rally behind “grow 5%.” They’ll rally behind building something massive. Big goals force creativity, demand systems, and attract A-players. If it doesn’t scare you a little, it’s not big enough.
Vision is the founder’s most underused tool. It’s the only thing that pulls the whole company toward a future that doesn’t exist yet. Without it, you’re just managing the present — which is a job, not a company.
"You can't imagine what's possible in 10 years. Stick to the daily disciplines. The compounding effect will shock you."
Start With a Blank Canvas (The Beginner's Mind)
Before you write a single line of your vision, do this: pretend you don’t know the answers. Don’t try to be realistic. Don’t try to be smart. Don’t filter through what your accountant will say or what your spouse will think.
Most vision exercises fail because the founder writes from inside the box they’re trying to escape. You have to give yourself permission to dream without the inner critic in the room. Be open to the most outrageous answer — you can always shrink it later. You can never grow what you didn’t dare to write down.
Your Vision Discovery — Four Questions
Before you craft a statement, answer these in your CEO Snapshot. Don’t rush — this is the foundation everything else gets built on.
- The End Picture. What does your business look like when it’s “done”? Revenue? Customers? Markets? Team size? What do you look like inside it — how many hours, where are you living, what role do you actually play?
- Strengths. What do you genuinely love doing in this business? Where is the company already disproportionately strong? Vision built on strengths compounds 10x faster than vision built on shoring up weaknesses.
- Leadership. What will your company be the undisputed leader in? What are you willing to be the best in the world at?
- Contribution. Where will the company have the greatest impact — for customers, for the team, for the community?
Crafting the Vision Statement
Take your answers and distill them into one or two sentences. Aim for a statement that’s specific enough to direct decisions and bold enough to make you flinch a little.
- Project 5–10 years out. Anything shorter is a goal, not a vision.
- Use present tense. "We are…" not "We will be…" The brain doesn't take "will be" seriously.
- Use emotional language. Vision is felt before it's executed.
- Be concrete. Real numbers, real markets. No fortune-cookie fluff.
Example statements
- Consulting firm: "We do $5M in annual revenue serving 200 founders stuck between $1M and $5M, with a 90% client retention rate and the most respected community of operators in our niche."
- Online retailer: "We gross $25M annually, ship to 50,000 loyal customers a year, and are the unquestioned high-quality leader in every category we touch."
- Membership business: "We generate $250K MRR from our membership and $5M annually in events and courses, with a tight-knit community of 5,000 members who treat our brand like family."
The Cascade — 10 → 3 → 1 → 90 Days
A vision is useless on its own. It has to cascade into something you can actually work on this quarter. This is the rhythm I run in both my companies and that every operator I respect runs:
- 10-Year Vision. The "scares you a little" picture.
- 3-Year Picture. What does the company look like halfway there? Revenue, team, footprint, products.
- 1-Year Plan. The 3–5 specific things this year must deliver to keep us on track.
- 90-Day Sprint. The 1–3 things this quarter that move the year forward.
If you can’t trace a line from this Monday’s action to the 10-year vision, the action is probably the wrong action. We’ll formalize this in Session 8 (Strategic Goals).
Borrowed Brilliance
EOS / Gino Wickman · Traction
The Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO)
EOS distills the entire cascade above onto a two-page document. If you want a battle-tested template for your 10/3/1/90 layout, search “EOS V/TO” — but don’t get fancy with it. Print it, fill it in by hand, and let it live next to your CEO Snapshot.
Enroll People In Your Vision
The cool thing about vision is that the bigger and clearer it gets, the easier it is to recruit. A-players don’t quit comfortable jobs to “help you grow 5%.” They quit for missions that mean something. They want to be part of building something bigger than themselves.
Once you have a vision you actually believe in, your job changes. You stop being a founder selling jobs. You start being a founder selling a future. Different game.
Let It Simmer
The best visions don’t come out of a single sitting. Draft yours. Walk away. Sleep on it. Read it again Monday morning when your tank is full and notice what you’d change. Vision should evolve over the first week, then settle. After that, only revisit it annually.
The $10K Question
If your team read your vision tomorrow morning, would three of them quit because they’re not in for that — or would three of them text you “let’s go” before lunch?
Action Steps for Session 2:
- Block 90 distraction-free minutes. Phone in another room. No email.
- Brainstorm answers to the 4 Vision Discovery questions.
- Draft your vision statement in 1–2 sentences using the rules above.
- Sketch the 10 → 3 → 1 → 90 cascade. Even rough lines are fine — we’ll sharpen it later.
- Add your vision and cascade to your CEO Snapshot. Sleep on it. Edit Monday.
