Vision: Pie-in-the-Sky or Organizational Priority?

Go back to early in the last century when engineer Joseph Strauss envisioned building a bridge across the entrance to San Francisco Bay. As he explained in one of his poems, his vision was “damned by a thousand hostile sneers.” However, Strauss persisted, and twenty years later, in 1937 and during the last year of his life, Joseph Strauss and thousands of others crossed over the newly constructed masterpiece (McGloin 2003; Fredrich 1989).

During World War I, Herbert Hoover, engineer and future thirty-first U. S. President, was asked to lead an effort to save people who were starving in Belgium. The German army had overrun the country and was intercepting food for its own use—food Belgium was heavily dependent on. Hoover accepted and saved ten million people from starving. He must have envisioned how he would accomplish this very difficult task. Robert Smith, who worked with Hoover on the Belgium effort, remarked about Hoover’s vision: “There is something almost terribly personal about it, in [his] desire that things shall change, that order shall be brought out of an existing chaos.” Based on that vision and lots of work, the Belgium people did not starve (Ruth 2004).

And then there was President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 vision to put a person on the moon within a decade (NASA 2007). Our country realized this vision, with major contributions by engineers, when engineer Neil A. Armstrong stepped onto the moon in July of 1969.

As noted, I believe visioning can be a credible and valuable process subject to three conditions. First, all members of a visioning group need to agree on the definition of a vision. That is, what is a vision and what isn’t it? Recent research (ASCE 2007) into this topic yielded vision definitions such as:Based on definitions like these, “vision” as used in this essay is “mental, cognitive—not reality, or even close to reality, as we know it today.” Vision “is influenced, at least in part, by imagination, reflective of actual or desired values, and focused on what, not how. . . . [A] vision is stimulating, energizing, engaging, and inclusive” (ASCE 2007). It captures the imagination.

My second condition for legitimate visioning is suggested in the preceding section: “[A] vision is not, and does not contain, the means to achieve it. Nor is a vision the next logical or evolutionary improvement in a process, group, or organization, as important as that may be” (ASCE 2007). This condition is important, especially for engineers, because we exhibit a rational, practical, can-do outlook. If we mix what comprises a vision with how we will achieve the vision, the vision will be compromised. We will, in retrospect, have shot too low or not raised the bar high enough. This does not mean that the “how” is not important. It is, but not when the vision is being created.

As I see it, the third and last condition for effective visioning is a plan for achieving it. And, to reiterate a point already made, this “how” discussion must follow—not parallel—the “what” deliberations. A plan is needed because, without it, the vision is very likely to degenerate into a dream, a “pie in the sky.” The plan should include specific action items, timelines, and commitments by various groups and individuals to move forward with the action item. Most importantly, the plan must include an ongoing communication and collaboration process that maintains the momentum.

Does your organization, whether public, private, academic, or volunteer, have a vision? If not, how will your organization thrive in our rapidly changing world? Maybe you will be satisfied with being average; or worse, mediocre; or worse yet, just surviving. As stated in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” And we could add by extension, their businesses, government entities, universities, professional societies, volunteer groups, and other organizations will perish, or at least fail to reach their full potential.

Finally, how about you and yours? Do you and your loved ones have a vision? Maybe you should—you and yours only go around once.

The individual or organization that accepts the average status risks slowly sliding into mediocrity and then slipping into just surviving, or maybe not even that. Creating a vision, as vision is defined in this essay, followed by developing and following through with an implementation plan, seems to be much more desirable. There are only two futures for us as individuals and/or organizations—the one we create for ourselves through proactive actions, including visioning; or, in the vacuum, the future others create for us.