Inflated words, on the other hand, don’t help you describe any sort of future. I challenge you to run your vision statement through a Google search and see what happens. If you write something like: “We will be the most admired, premier firm in [choose location] serving the needs of [these target clients] with passion, the relentless pursuit of excellence, dedication and devotion to make a real difference and serve the goals of clients in our communities,” then chances are you’re in the company of another 5,000 service businesses—including catering companies, gyms and beauty salons.

A good vision perhaps does not have to be 50 years ahead, as Jim Collins says. Instead it should answer the biggest question in the minds of the clients and the team: “Can we exist in this state after our founders are gone?” A great vision may very well have a compelling answer to that question, and until it’s answered, all the other visions could ring hollow.

A good statement of values also steers people’s behavior.

Mission And Values

When we ask G2 Leadership Institute students to write the values of their organizations, they inevitably use the words “excellence,” “integrity,” “teamwork,” “collaboration,” “passion” and “innovation.”

There’s nothing wrong with those ideas, but what really happens in the daily reality of their firms? Remember that “Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence” were the words that Enron put on its website. Merely making the statements does not alter reality. The values need to be lived. In most firms, the question is not: “What are the values we want to have?” but rather, “What are the values we fail to live up to?”

The single biggest failing of leaders is not that they make bad decisions—we all do sometimes—but that they don’t demonstrate values like these in their behavior and actions. We say “collaboration” but then make decisions on our own. We say “respect,” but then berate employees. We say “innovation,” but then start most arguments by saying, “This is the way we do things here.” We say “integrity,” but then go on an all-expenses trip paid for by a product vendor.

We do further damage by rationalizing why it’s OK for us (the founders, the CEOs, the leaders, the partners) to take that trip or to have that tantrum.

Rather than writing what looks good on the wall, every leader is better served by asking these questions honestly:

• Where do we fail to give the right example?