An organizational vision is a broad comprehensive picture of what an entrepreneur wants his or her organization to become. The vision provides a vibrant and compelling picture of the future and presents a view of what the EV can be. The vision is the statement of the entrepreneur’s dream. When an organizational leader—in this case, an entrepreneur—articulates a distinct vision, all current and future decisions and actions will be guided by this vision. By articulating the vision, the entrepreneur maps out an overall picture of where he or she would like the EV to be in the future. This vision is based on the entrepreneur’s values. What beliefs does the business owner have about doing business and dealing with customers, employees, quality, ethics, growth, integrity, innovation, flexibility, and so forth? What’s valued by an entrepreneur will not only be the basis for the organizational vision, but also for how employees do their jobs. For instance, if employees know that outstanding customer service is valued, then this will be reflected in how they make decisions and encourage them to act in ways that champion customer service.

While an organization’s vision provides an overall picture of what the EV is about, the mission is a more specific definition of what the EV is in business to do. We introduced the concept of mission back in Chapter 5 and defined it as a statement of an organization’s purpose. The mission statement serves as a guide to all employees and prevents them from “wandering aimlessly” with no sense of what they’re in business to do and the reason for their jobs.

When you walk into a particular business, do you get a certain impression about what is important and about the way work is done there? Do you get the feeling that employees are excited and motivated by what they do or that employees are there just because it provides a paycheck? Does it seem that customers are important and valued or that customers are seen as intrusions on getting work done? Do you get the feeling that this organization is warm, relaxed, and open or that this organization is formal, structured, and set in its ways? Just as individuals have personalities, so do organizations. This personality is called culture, and we introduced you to organizational culture back in Chapter 2. We bring it up again here because the source of an organization’s culture—those shared values, beliefs, and behavioral norms—reflect the beliefs, values, and vision of the founder(s). Because the founder (entrepreneur) has the original idea, he or she also may have certain beliefs and biases about how best to pursue the idea. This person establishes the early culture of the organization by projecting an image of what the organization should be. The small size of a startup also helps the founder(s) instill the values and vision in organizational members as they come on board. These people either “buy into” the culture or they don’t join the organization. The culture is learned through stories, rituals, material symbols, and language, which give the culture life. These are the ways in which employees see, experience, and learn about an organization’s culture. Even the physical work space plays a role in reflecting and reinforcing the culture. For instance, if collaboration among employees is important and valued, then the work space should be arranged to support and facilitate open discussion. Or, if innovativeness is an important company value, the work space should support people in experimenting and being creative.