“A leader’s job is to look into the future and see the organization – not as it is – but as it should be.” – Jack Welch

Vision is everything in leadership. As cliché as that might sound, it has all the truth in the world in it. Your job as the leader in your organization is to not only deal with the problems and challenges of the present, but to see beyond that into the possibilities of the future. You are the strategy-setter. The dreamer. The visionary. Without vision, an organization has no real passion and therefore no real purpose. Take a moment today to think about where your organization is headed. Here are 7 important questions to consider:

1. In 5 years, where do you want this organization to be? What should it look like?
2. How do we better anticipate and answer our customer’s future needs?
3. What are the things you think you don’t have time for now as an organization but wish you did?
4. How do we get ourselves in shape to be more agile, fluid and responsive in the marketplace?
5. What would make our organization an outstanding place to work and grow?
6. How do we better foster loyalty amongst our customers and also our own employees?
7. Most importantly – how do we make a difference in this world in our own unique, meaningful way?

Those are 7 critical questions that should be on every leader’s mind – outside of the obvious financial and market growth goals every organization has. Not easy to answer, but essential, nonetheless, to true success. These are the things that separate a good organization from a GREAT one.

Now, let’s figure out how to get it there.

Andrea D. Smith, Senior Brand Director, The ADS Agency