Vision Still Demands Leadership
Not long ago, I visited a printing company that had just finished a strategic planning process.
Like many organizations, they hired an outside facilitator, spent a couple of days offsite, and returned energized—with a new mission, a refined vision, and a list of priorities for the future.
The document looked great.
The leadership team felt aligned.
Someone even framed the vision statement and hung it near the front entrance.
You couldn’t miss it. Everyone walked past it on their way into the shop.
Later that day, I was talking with two employees near the production area. I casually asked what they thought about the company’s vision.
One of them paused, glanced toward the entrance, and said something I haven’t forgotten.
“Is that the thing on the wall?” the other one laughed. “Yeah… I guess that’s what that is.”
No sarcasm.
No frustration.
No resistance.
Just... disconnect.
The company had a vision statement, but it lacked a shared vision.
And that’s not a communication problem. That’s a leadership problem.
Because vision isn’t what you write.
It’s what people understand, repeat, and act on when you’re not in the room.
In too many organizations, vision lives in documents, slide decks, or framed artwork. It looks impressive—but it doesn’t move anything.
The true test of vision isn’t whether leadership can define it, but whether people within the organization can see it clearly enough to act on it.
When that clarity is lacking, something subtle—yet expensive—begins to occur.
People stay busy.
Work gets completed. Orders ship out.
But the organization quietly shifts into reaction mode.
And reaction mode doesn’t feel like failure.
It feels like progress… until it isn’t.
Here’s the truth most leaders underestimate: Vision rarely fails due to poor writing. It fails because it isn’t communicated enough to be believed.
I’ve spent years on all sides of the printing and graphics industry—running companies, consulting with them, and being their customer—and the pattern is consistent. The organizations that proceed confidently aren’t necessarily those with the most innovative vision statements.
They’re the ones where leaders say the same thing—clearly, consistently, and repeatedly—until people stop asking, “Where are we going?”
They already know. In my experience, vision works when three things show up every day:
Direction. People understand where the organization is headed.
Alignment. Teams are working toward the same goal.
Commitment. People care enough to give their best effort to achieve it.
And this is where leadership has shifted.
Today, you’re not just vying for market share.
You’re battling for attention.
More emails.
More platforms.
More noise.
More distractions are pulling people in different directions.
In that kind of environment, clarity isn’t just helpful.
It’s leadership.
If your vision isn’t being repeated, reinforced, and connected to daily work, it doesn’t stand a chance.
Clarity isn’t accidental. It’s intentional.
Because people won’t follow what they don’t fully understand, and they won’t commit to what they don’t believe.
Organizations that clearly define their goals and continuously discuss them confidently move forward. Those that don’t?
They drift.
They pivot.
They react.
And over time, they begin to question why things seem more difficult than they ought to be.
So, here’s the real question: When people inside your organization think about the future of the company…
Do they see the same destination you do? And if you’re unsure… Ask them.
The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.
