We all know the power of the brain. No one would argue that humans can achieve the seemingly impossible when they apply their collective brain to a problem. Since the beginning of human kind, countless proofs of the power of the human “belief engine” can be found in everything that surrounds us, from harnessing the power of fire, to the invention of the wheel, to landing a spaceship on a moving planet traveling at 87,000 km/h, 36 millions miles away.

Beliefs shape how we act in our everyday life. Albert Einstein had beliefs, despite his Cartesian approach to science, based on logical analysis and mechanistic interpretation of physical phenomenon. He had postulates [hypothesis assumed without proof] on which all of his work is based. He believed, for example, that the speed of light [c] was constant which is a fundamental premise for his famous E=mc². He even believed in God, as he repeatedly said “God does not play dice”, referring to the predictability of outcomes.

It has been said that faith can move mountains. I grant you that faith is necessary to move mountains, yet we all know faith alone is not sufficient. You do need to believe but you also need the right equipment. Furthermore, we can also agree that having the best equipment is insufficient, and that without belief one is likely to fail.

This belief power, works both ways. If one believes that something cannot be done, that person will be absolutely correct. If you believe you cannot do something, you will be right all the time. Beliefs set our individual frontiers for the possible, and it is very rare that one can go beyond these imaginary frontiers. Now, why is that? Because we won’t try. Because of the fear of failing.

Let me tell you a real story.

In 1993, I had hired a sales rep from a competitor. His largest transaction with his former employer was in the neighborhood of $250K, which was considered an extremely good transaction size for his company. His surrounding was not encouraging him to belief in something bigger. In our company, the average transaction size of the time was $750K, which was very annoying to me [as it was way too low for the value I believed we brought to organizations.] One day, he came to me for help. He had secured a meeting with the CIO of a larger electric utility company in Eastern Canada, and was very anxious about this opportunity which was coincidently neighboring $750K [by far the largest contract he ever had to secure]. So we did a review of everything we knew about the account and everything that had been done with them. The prospective customer wanted to replace their legacy accounting system and the proposed transaction reflected the expressed requirements.

I accompanied him to his half-day meeting with the CIO. Not only did we end-up spending the whole day there, we uncovered different types of needs. We spent hours with the COO as he spelled out his aspirations for the organization; the replacement of accounting system was their perception on how to get there. By probing, by listening, by imaging, by daring, we allowed them to paint a much larger picture of what was possible; they sold themselves on a much broader project. At that moment, they realized that they were not looking for a software vendor, but for a partner; the very partner that had taken their blinders off. We walked away with a $5M order covering all of their needs for the next few years. But this is not the end of the story, it is the beginning. Not only did the customer’s blinders come off, so did the sale rep’s.

From that moment on, that sales rep had different beliefs about what was possible in a sales process. He went on to sign a $10M order and then a $17.5M order. We had removed his blinders. We had created a difference frame of reference, a different belief. Other sales rep took notice, shattered their own blinders and before long, the largest single transaction had become $30M.

Beliefs apply to organizations as well. An organization’s fundamental belief is linked to its mission. Why do we wake up in the morning? Why do customers buy from you? Why do investors invest in you? Because they share beliefs.

At SAP Canada of the mid-1990s, we had the collective belief that legacy enterprise systems used by Canadian organizations were an old collection of patched, broken, inflexible un-integrated systems beyond the point of repair. Furthermore, we believed that this state of affair would hamper their ability to adapt to a globalizing world, and as Canadian we cared passionately about that. So we set our mission, our raison d’être, to “make Canadian organizations better”. This was our sense of purpose. This was why people came to work for us. This is why employees came to work every morning. This is why customers bought from us. This is way our customer satisfaction rating was second highest n the world (second to the Mexican subsidiary, which was an order of magnitude smaller). This was, in part, why SAP Canada, then, significantly outperformed other much larger SAP subsidiaries.

Corporate beliefs drive passion in the organization’s sense of purpose or mission. So the message to CEO’s is this: make you beliefs clear.

Believe is or not, it is your call. In either case, you’re likely to be right.

When all you are allowed to see are the two beige pixels, it is hard for anyone to get a good perspective of the task at hand.

Are these two beige pixels part of a bigger picture, the sole of a shoe perhaps? Even knowing that this is the sole of a shoe is not all that enlightening. The second picture gives more details: the shoe belongs to a child sitting on the ground scribbling on a piece of cardboard. That still, you guest it, does not give the full picture – because you’ve seen there is a more complete picture below showing other kids sitting on the ground also scribbling.

Surely, now you can tell me what the big picture is! If you can’t, I can add that the scene is in Afghanistan. The caption under the picture started by saying “Even in a war zone, learning continues.” It then continued by saying “Students in the Northern Alliance territory take final exams at a school that has no building.”

The pictures alone would not have sufficed at delivering the message. The explanation alone would not have helped either.

The same is true in creating organizational and operational alignment in organizations. You need a Big Picture and a lot of documented explanations. When employees are shown only their respective pieces of the whole picture [the sole], it is virtually impossible for them to react properly when unplanned events occur, as they surely always will. It is not that employees are un-intelligent, they simply lack the perspective. It is a fundamental leadership role to make the big picture clear.

Nothing else matters until the Big Picture clear: no plans, no compensation model, no change initiative, no organizational change, no acquisitions or divestitures. The Big Picture explains why!

In my language, to avoid confusion with vision and vision statements, which are essential, I’d rather talk about the Envisioned Future. The Envisioned Future is an image [not necessarily a "real" picture] of how the future is envisioned supported by documented explanations. It should be as detailed as is needed to make the big picture clear. It should be communicated enough so all [management, staffs, the board] get it.

When all employees see the big picture of your envisioned future, they will then better understand the business strategies being implemented, they will better understand the organizational model in which they work, they will better understand the changes being made. It gives the organization the ability to empower its staff, with the comfort of knowing the direction is clear. Because all can now witness how the dots are connected, it improves communications. Then, when someone points at the two beige pixels, at least there is a better chance someone else will ask which?

It is the big picture of your Envisioned Future that is the foundation on which your business strategies are developed. It answers the question, “where are we going?”

This famous quote from Albert Einstein rings so true to me. If Einstein needed a picture to understand, be assured it is even truer for employees. I have met with 8 CEOs over the last week. They all had a few things in common:

• They are all entrepreneurs
  
• They all have great ambitions and aspirations
  
• They are all brilliant people
  
• They all want to grown their company
  
• They all want to “shake” their companies from their torpor
  

But, as they explained how they were going to shake the torpor, I have to say that all of them were all over the map. All of them!

So, how is their staff supposed to get it? This erratic discourse is symptomatic of organizations who have not done the basic effort of analysing precisely how they got were they are. They are not creating a plan to shake the torpor; they are throwing ideas together that further shows the lack of deep reflection. Leadership must make brutally clear the organization’s reality, its envisioned future and the plan (read the strategic plan) to get there. My advice is pause please; and do the following:

• Know Thy Fundamental Belief : Remind yourself of the core belief. What is that belief that is shared amongst employees, investors, and customers?
  
• Know Thyself and Thy Environment : Remind yourself and your employees why the company is where it is. Not via some anecdotal recital, but by digging and analyzing the past: your past strategies, your past successes and failures, your competitors, the market shifts, the macro-economic factors, etc…
  
• Build A Vision : Not a vision statement, but an envisioned future. Remind yourself where you are trying to take the organization over the next 3-5 years. Describe the envisioned future in vivid colors; describe what this envisioned future looks like.
  
• Declare A Culture : The culture is certainly one reason the organizations need a shake up. Declare a culture that will clearly articulates an enhanced DNA focused on achieving your goals and aspirations.
  
• Select Core Strategies : To reach the envisioned future, you need to express the 4-5 major stratagems that, if executed concurrently and effectively, will make your future a reality.
  
• Design The Organization : Make sure that the organization is designed with a focus to execute stratagems, and that the people have the right skills, experience and personality for the tasks at hand.
  
• Plan To Change : Articulate what needs to change, what needs to stop, want needs to be started. Clarifying priorities and critical success factors. Look at your compensation model. Look at key aspects of your organization to ensure that alignment exists. If alignment does not exist, plan to change.
  

All of this is done for only one reason: paint a comprehensive and compelling picture so that all would understand, and justify the changes and the plan.

I was having lunch with a great CEO and we talked about how much tolerance many CEOs have about driving without a clear understanding of their organization overall destination. It made me think about how analogous it is to driving to somewhere. Leading an organization is very much like driving your family somewhere!

CEOs know what road they are on. They know how fast they are going. They know how much fuel they have and how much they need to the next gas station.

They are aware of the traffic around, other drivers competing for space, position, speed, leadership. They see the confusing market signs pointing you to a whole bunch of directions, perhaps not relevant to them, but are they really?

They know their car, what it is capable of, how much it can be pushed, its past performance and how to tweak it to get the most out of the machinery.

But when asked “where are you going”, they will talk about the next exit, the next town, or the next stop at the end of the day, but beyond that, they just can’t say clearly. Somewhere over there!. Or they will say they are building on their strengths as they go.

Well, this may be fine on a bright sunny day. But when the weather or the road conditions worsen, they become disoriented and focus even more on the next exit. And forget about asking for directions, advice or getting counsel. It feels they are relying on Good Luck.

Knowing the end destination, and having prepared many itineraries, may have allowed the CEO to take a different, less travelled, less damaged, but safer road. And perhaps a faster road!

I would suspect that women in leadership positions, unlike men’s driver reputation in real life, are more likely to be OK about asking for directions. Are CEO’s more prone to driving off the end of the road than asking for coaching?

Having a clear vision (a view to an Envisioned Future) and a set of stratagems (the several roads you may want or have to take) is simply not an option.