Dr Jeff Cornwall

An entrepreneur’s vision should communicate what her business can become. It paints a clear and compelling picture for employees, investors, suppliers, and other stakeholders of what they are buying into at a time when the business has little or nothing to show. But to be complete, this vision should describe more than the product the business will make and market it will serve. It should also paint a picture of how the entrepreneur intends to conduct herself as she starts and grows her business.
The entrepreneur’s values should also be reflected in her vision for the business. How will she conduct herself as she starts and builds her business? How does she want to treat her employees? How does she want those employees to treat the customer? What are the principles that will shape how her employees act in her business?
The values she brings to her business should be the same values that guide her life outside her business. This is what creates true integrity in her life. Each action in her business will shape her character. The opportunities she pursues, who she chooses to do business with, who she hires, how she treats each stakeholder of her business, all develop her character just as much as her actions in her family and in her community.
So her vision will not only guide her business strategically, but also guide the development of its culture. And it will also help shape who she becomes as a person.