Bold vision separates the active from the passive, the fine-tuned brand from the scattered brand.

Had he not imagined sailing into the warm waters of a faraway port on the Indian coastline, Christopher Columbus probably wouldn’t have made the two-month slog across the Atlantic Ocean four times.

But while bold visions can enrapture us and bring some motivation to the inevitable long haul, they don’t account for everything.

Rather, visions sail toward reality (or in Columbus’s class, toward a different continent than the one he had in mind) on the shoulders of clear values, concrete goals, and an overriding purpose that answers the question ‘why.’
A Recap:
In last month’s article, I talked all about how remarkable organizations like yours have a unique identity, a frequency that can be fine-tuned and shared with the world. I also talked about how finding that frequency starts with asking ‘why?’

Why sell cars, insurance, or ice cream?

Why risk everything to open up a direct trade route to India?

Answering the question ‘why’ means following the clues to a clear, motivating vision of how you want the world to be. If you’ve done the hard work of getting that far, you’re getting close to unlocking an authentic brand identity that will resonate with your team, your clients, and those who need you as you really are.
Read on as I walk through:
Beat three: Letting your Purpose define your Values

Beat four: Letting your Values create your Vision

And lastly,

Beat five: Letting your Vision set your Goals
Starting with Values
Once you’ve identified your purpose and your why, it’s time to move on to your values.

Your values are the things you care about, the things that matter to you, and motivate you.

A value isn’t just something you happen to like or appreciate. You might like egg salad, but unless it’s the last sealed lunch on a stranded spaceship… you surely don’t value egg salad. A value is something that you value for its own sake, and other things have value in light of those higher values.

An authentic value is something you’re willing to make sacrifices for. A parent values their children: that means they’ll sacrifice sleep, money, and free time for their sake. The things you sacrifice other things for are what you value most.

When it comes right down to it, values are what ultimately determine your ethical stance as a company. The principles or rules you lay down, along with the boundaries and lines you’re not willing to cross, are things you establish to help you keep and promote your values. The kind of character traits, qualities, and decision-making you want your team to develop are all things you base on your underlying values.

So what does your company value?
Speed? Accuracy? Customer service?
Suppose your company values speed.

If that’s your value, then you’re going to make decisions to try to maximize speed, decisions which another organization might not make. A different company might value, say, being thorough, but if that’s also one of your values, you won’t sacrifice accuracy for speed—but you will make the choice to be more methodical.

Small companies often don’t explicitly state their values, because they’re inferred from the founder or leader: the company values whatever the person in charge values. Over time—and assuming the founder isn’t always around to course-correct—values become a navigational tool for exploring new, uncharted waters, and for bringing new people on board. New employees encounter them in the interview process. Discerning values and making them explicit is part of the natural process of growth.

What we’ve found, however, is that, while most established companies have a set of values, their stated values don’t really express their distinctive purpose.

Instead, laziness leads companies to copy values from other companies, or to pick the most basic value which everybody can agree on, go-to phrases like: “We value integrity and honesty!

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