“Vision is a destination – a fixed point to which we focus all effort. Strategy is a route – an adaptable path to get us where we want to go.”
Simon Sinek
This is one of the best statements I have ever seen for codifying the difference between vision and strategy. For example, you might have the personal vision to use your life to positively and permanently impact the lives of others. This vision doesn’t change course dramatically as you move through life, if anything your vision will become more and more refined and perhaps even narrower as you more fully understand your purpose and reason for being.
The strategies you choose to actualize your vision will by necessity change and evolve as the world changes and as you change. Those things which worked 10 years ago to enable your vision might have lost their effectiveness or perhaps are tools and techniques you might have outgrown.
A good friend and mentor reminded me about 7 – 8 months ago of this simple wisdom from the book of Proverbs. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18
Simply put, without a vision, all the effort we put into living our lives is suboptimal to our true calling and capabilities. All the strategies, routes, and plans mean nothing, if you don’t know where you are going…
