A mission is an individual’s or organization’s reason for doing its work. Having a mission gives people a purpose each and every day for doing their work. A vision is what they are looking to do in the future. It helps in planning ahead, and gives a goal to be reached. An example of a mission is a food pantry whose goal it is to feed the poor. An example of a vision is an individual wanting to grow a business into a major player in the industry. One thing I’d like for the future to be different from the present is to improve the environment. My vision statement for this is: We must all take care of our environment, and to do so, I’d like to raise awareness of the necessity of trees, which keep our air clean and provide shade and happiness.
I would rather work for a company that has a vision than a company that did not. A vision is helpful in setting goals that can be reached. The vision also can inspire workers to do their best work. One can get lost in the day-to-day drudgery of their job, and having a vision gives workers a chance to keep their eye on the future. A company without a vision seems like a place that is telling workers that they don’t have any idea what the future may bring. While nobody truly knows, having some sort of idea and plans is helpful in approaching day-to-day work. That being said, I’d like for the company to have a realistic vision, and be flexible in their approach should things not always go their way. Having an inflexible, or unethical vision can make it hard on workers to do their best.

I think I am better at strategic action than strategic vision. It’s one thing to plan ahead, and have an idea of what’s going to happen. It’s another thing to work to give you the best chance of your vision from actually happening. I like to think of myself as a person of action. Talking about having a vision sounds wonderful, and is helpful when planning things. But actually being able to do what you’re talking about shows that you are serious about implementing your vision. An effective leader leads by example. As the saying goes, talk is cheap. While not every action may be effective, showing others that you are capable of taking the bull by the horns and be willing to implement ideas can make them feel like they are a part of something important. This doesn’t mean just doing any actions. But a strategic action, with thought and research involved, may be effective. People also want to know why they are doing something. That is where the strategic vision comes into play.

I don’t know if it is more common or not, depending on what it means to cheat. One’s cheating may be another’s fair advantage. Go back over 100 years, and some might think it is cheating for a business to violently sabotage another business, while some others might say that it’s just the free market at work. Personally, I don’t believe there is more cheating; but just different types of cheating. Whereas, a businessperson might resort to violence 100 years ago to beat the competition, today, they might use technology to steal ideas, or create problems. One other factor is how disenfranchised people may feel towards businesses. People struggling to survive may feel the business is cheating, when in reality, they’re just running the business and using the laws of supply and demand.