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Written:1996

"Where there is no vision, the people perish" The Bible , Proverbs 29:18

"In business, as in art, greatness lies in the ability to uniquely imagine what could be" - CKPrahalad & Gary Hammel, Competing for The Future

This is a study of organisational vision. Not of great leaders and their visions. Because people are very often inspired by the leader rather than by the dream. And such dreams usually live and die with their creators. Neither do we want to spend time eulogising the corporate catchphrase "vision 2000" when the turn of the century is knocking on our proverbial doors. We are exploring here, vision as a tool for forging an organisation into an empowered team. Vision that is shared by every member in the team; that adds purpose to employees' lives; that outlives changes of guards; and is the cornerstone of the strategic architecture that epitomises organisations of lasting success. Jerry Porras and James Collins in their insightful book, "Built To Last", aptly define visionary companies as "... premier institutions - the crown jewels - in their industries, widely admired by their peers and having a long track record of making a significant impact on the world around them..."

In recent times, we have witnessed a mushrooming of "vision statements" in many Indian corporations. What we are yet to establish, is whether this is merely homage to the latest management fad, or whether it is a comment on the soul-search of Indian industry in the
liberalised era. We spoke to some CEO's who are responsible for charting out their companies' agendas, and some people, who are respected for their knowledge and acumen on the subject, to find out the truth about the Vision and its Statement.

Cadbury India Ltd
Vision : Cadbury India will continue to maintain its leadership position in the confectionery market as well as achieving a strong national presence in the food drinks sector.

What exactly is a "vision" ?
No CEO would ever want to admit that he or she works without vision. Companies, though, have vastly differing definitions of the terms vision, mission, values etc., and there is imminent danger of falling into the trap of arguing semantics for hours. There is little consensus on either form or content. Should the vision be reachable ? To Pradeep Kar, it is abstract and inspirational and should not be reachable but T.T. Jagannathan feels he would rather not chase a pie in the sky - his vision is concrete and reachable in a 5 year span. Is it pithy ? Suresh Rajpal finds that a vision can make sense when its short enough to "write on the back of a business card" whereas Xerxes Desai prefers an elaborately detailed vision document. He explains that "too much is lost in the distillation process and the end result, while clever, is not really meaningful".

Worse, the distinction between a vision and mission is at best hazy. Many organisations have one or the other, though the common perception is that a vision pertains to the organisation at the broadest level, while a mission is for the divisions. The literature on the subject is as equivocal. Definitions, of course, don't matter in the realm of corporate leadership and decision making. Nor do distinctions - mission and vision can be overlapping in scope. For example, consider Wipro Infotech's mission statement, which has elements of vision, mission and values (See Box : Strategic Architecture):
"In tomorrow's world, Information Technology will shape the success of enterprises and individuals.
Our mission is to help these enterprises and individuals gain competitive advantage through the usage of IT. To this end, we deliver solutions comprising services, technology, and products. In providing these we partner with organisations who have a shared vision of the future. We conduct our business with the highest standards of integrity.
The cornerstone of our success is our team os highly empowered employees. To them we are committed towards providing an exciting workplace where they can realize their potential and take Wipro from national to international leadership."
(Source : "Wision" - Wipro Corporate)

Max India Limited
Vision : The max India Group will be a multi business conglomerate, in which each business will be built and run with the same focus and attention as in a single business company. The pharmaceuticals, Speciality Products, Electronics and TElecom Businesses will develop independently, linked by a shared culture. Each will build strategic alliances with world leaders, to provide unparalleled products and services, in the shape of innovative, value added solutions to the global marketplace. Universal values will inspire a humane and vibrant work environment where all will strive constantly to improve the level of Customer Care.

A dream or a reachable dream ? Numbers or directions ?
These are the commonest polarities in this never-ending debate on vision statements. Prof. S.P. Singh, who teaches the course "Leadership, Vision: Meaning and Reality" at IIM(Ahmedabad) says, " The organisation and the nation both need a vision. Its a big leap forward, a break in the trend line....it must have grandeur. It is not flowchartable, and it does not come from a matrix." Xerxes Desai however makes the point : "To make it come alive...to make it relevant, you have to spell it out." And there are plenty who feel that a realisable target is preferable to a magnificent but impossible dream.

The fact of the matter is that an organisation needs a dream as well as targets. The role of the targets is to create a sense of momentum so that people dont lose heart in chasing some unreachable fantasy. As Vaghul says, "You have milestones. The ones nearer are clearly defined; the ones 10 years away are hazy".

On the other hand the dream creates a long term direction. It gives the employee a sense of pride and a need for continuous improvement. Ghosal & Bartlett (HBR 1994 Nov-Dec) quote an employee as saying "Its good to emphasise what we shoot for, it is also important to know what we stand for". They underline the major benefit to the employee, "... the workplace is the place where an employee spends the single largest share of his waking life; therefore it is important that he/she gets meaning out of it."

L&T McNeil
Vision : We shall be a customer driven company, with focus on customer delight and operate on the frontier of technology, quality and productivity. We shall achieve total employee satisfaction and creativity to bring out the best in every employee.

Vision & Strategy
The question, therefore, is not whether a company's vision is a correct one or not. The important thing for any business entity is that strategy cannot be meaningful if it hangs in a value-vaccuum. It needs to exist within the framework of vision, mission, purpose and organisational values, for it to spark off the desire to achieve, in every employee. Infact, Robin Newell, MD, Arthur D. Little feels that strategy begins with the organisation's vision.
We can no longer therefore look at vision and strategy as distinct entities, nor treat values, purpose and goals as individual concepts. The new paradigm is that of a "strategic architecture", that encompasses all these into a company's master plan - its grand design.

VISION : What do we want to be / be known for ?
MISSION : What do we want to contribute and to whom ?
PURPOSE : Why do we exist as an organisation ?
VALUES : What is it that we hold dear that defines our behaviour and culture ?
GOALS : Where do we want to be and by when ?
STRATEGY : How are we going to achieve our goals ? (The collective of the forseeable decisions and the rationale underlying them)

The definitions and labels do not matter; it is the understanding of the answers to these questions and the extent of unison through the organisation, in the answers, that will define great companies.

Glaxo India Ltd
Vision : A world class company focussed on delighting the customers by constantly exceeding their expectations in terms of quality, service, value and safety.
Mission : Glaxo India is a Pharmaceutical Company whose corporate purpose is to develop, manufacture and market safe and efective medicines and exceed its customers expectations in terms of quality, service, value and safety through constant innovation.

What really are the benefits of a Vision Statement ?

It provides meaning to the lives of employees.
26 year old Bhaskar Majumdar, Product Manager, HCL Comnet says "....even when I'm doing day to day routine work, I am energised by the goal which the organisation is trying to achieve. ....I was sent to Singapore, where I had to negotiate a 3 year legal contract with an American 5 years my senior, and what enabled me to meet my CEO's expectations was the pride and confidence I felt about my company and its goals."

It releases energy within the system.
When Wipro Infotech's R&D was faced with an option to shut down in 1990, as Wipro readied itself for international tie-ups, it chose to set its sights on the "impossible" task of doing R&D as a global lab on hire. This at the time could only have been rationally described as a castle-in-the-air. However, an eloquent testimony to the fact that the dream infact has been realized is the recent felicitation of the organisation by Sequent Software of USA for performing beyond expectations.

It builds pride among stakeholders
For Ascend Computers, one of Microlands partner companies, Microland's vision played a critical role in the formation of the business partnership. Curtis Sanford of Ascend says "It was the way in which [the] mission is received by their customers that attracted us to Microland in the first place."

It enables top management to take tough decisions with the backing of the team.
At Cadbury , the focus, following the visioning process, was on Value for Money for the customer. Previously all cost increases had been passed on to the customer. But this time the 5-Star bar was relaunched with increased weight but without a corresponding increase in price. It called for an extra effort from the organisation to achieve this.

It makes top management accountable to the organisation.
At Mudra, the vision to be the biggest and the best led them to conclude that manpower upgradation and technology were the two critical areas that they needed to focus on, to get there. As a result the top management was compelled to make investment in both areas, as well as provide adequate training time for people in the organisation.

It creates clarity as people are made to think through key organisational issues.
At Godrej soaps, most managers have gone through a vision building process, though the statement is in the process of being drafted. A junior manager at Godrej Soaps makes the point, "... since the visioning exercise began, everybody in the organisation is talking about the customer, its no longer the responsibility of the marketing department only..."

It provides a guideline for making strategic rather than opportunistic decisions.
Suresh Rajpal recounts the story of a "....firm that exports TV's. Suddenly they're supplying textiles because its a large order and in the Dubai office somebody came in contact with someone who needs something from India and they said why dont we supply it....in the absence of vision, mission and purpose, the management will chase every opportunity that comes along."

Mudra Communications Ltd
In the 80s, Mudra was the fastest growing and the most successful advertising agency.
In the 90s Mudra should be Indias best and biggest communications group.

The benefits of visioning ..... in their own words:

Pradeep Kar: "...as you're building an organisation, synergising the mental efforts of the people becomes important. It (the vision) has given a sense of clarity to people as to what we are trying to do and how we are trying to do it. It has channelised efforts and time and kept us from looking at things we felt are not within our vision...."

Narayan Vaghul: "The rationale for existence of ICICI is that we serve a larger purpose for the country. Without a vision, we would be an also ran organisation, taking advantage of opportunities...working without a vision is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without having the picture in front."

Vinay Rai : The leaders only job is to be able to make every person own the dream. Every man in the organisation has the right to know it and how it can be achieved.

Xerxes Desai: "...the organisation must be rational and creative; cerebral and passionate; demanding yet friendly...Its critical to keep people on a high all the time, even if you're doing badly.

Subroto Bagchi: "You take away the vision and we dont exist."

Adi Godrej: "There's only so much you can get out of people using carrot and stick and thats very little. The best way is through commitment and motivation.... to get the best out of people and thats really the name of the game when it comes to good management. By taking a stand in the long run you become a winner. In the short run you may gain by not following these precepts, but in the long run you will lose."

Sanjay Lalbhai: "Vision builds public accountability of top management. It is a hallmark of an enlightened, forward looking organisation. For enlightened people in an organisation, money is not good enough. They need a passion they can follow with missionary zeal."

Hinterhuber & Popp (HBR 92): A successful company more intent on steering its present course may need more the ability to focus on maintaining its existing success than creating a long term vision.

Indo Rama
Mission : We will build and sustain an organisation which is customer oriented, innovative and where quality is the hallmark of every operation.
To achieve this,
We will create an environment which supports an attainment of excellence. We commit ourselves as a corporation and as individuals.

Is there a danger in Visioning ?

Yes there is. It is better to have no vision than to have a statement that nobody believes.

Picture an organisation that has a stated vision. All recruits are hardsold on the vision. They enter their assignments highly charged by it. However, they quickly find their enthusiasm eroding when they realize that the top management does not believe in the vision; that everyday decisions belie the vision and resource commitments defy it. The recruits then lose faith not only in the vision but also in the organisation. They either leave or become extremely cynical about their company. The vision becomes the object of ridicule. The most dangerous outfall of the excercise is that top-management loses its ability to champion change. This is the story of a real company. To what extent does this describe your organisation ?

Creating a vision statement therefore calls for a lot of commitment from the leaders. Its almost as though the leaders take an oath to work in a certain way, and a visioning excercise should not be undertaken unless they are willing to commit themselves to such consistency of actions and, in the words of Thyagarajan, "Walk the talk".

And the process is rarely painless. In the words of Subroto Bagchi. "There is no vision beyond doubt and criticism. Its an emotional issue that is enacted every day. A lot can happen in 10 years. You may look foolish. But you cant be rediscovering vision every day. You have to take that risk. And on Saturday evening, you're alone. And theres that one person you have not been able to convince. The one person who is gloating over an interim failure. Or the one disruptive technology that makes the whole thing look shaky. The pain is that you're alone in the pain..."

Finally there is the danger of "the vision trap". Overcommitment to a vision, where the vision is seen to be more sacrosanct than the changing environment. Or where the vision is created to the exclusion of organisational realities. When instead of the company having the vision, the vision has the company.

When to do a Visioning exercise ?
The first step in a visioning process is the identification and articulation of organisational values. The values define the organisation. For a very new organisation, it may take a few months before any kind of culture and values evolve. Verghese Jacob has initiated the process of visioning in the recently formed Godrej Telecom, but he says, "I have been thinking about it for some now, and I have given myself another sixty days to just mull over the issues before I take any steps." On the other hand, Suresh Rajpal, while setting up HP India felt there were existing values of the parent company which he wanted to instill in the new venture. "...even before I moved here, I got my functional team together and it was one of the first things we did." Narayan Vaghul, on his vision of building a financial supermarket, says he had no real vision for the first few years. "I was like a child with a few stray pieces of the jigsaw puzzle."

Can anybody do it ? Theoretically, yes. The critical requirement for a visioning process, seems to be a high degree of honesty and openness within the organisation, a fairly low level of change resistance among the top management and a willingness to sacrifice all the sacred cows in the search for real truths.

Infact the role of top management is changing. CEO's are spending larger and larger amounts of time in creating a culture, setting the agenda. And this time is coming at the expense of day to day involvement with nitty gritties. (Ghosal & Bartlett "Changing the Role of Top Management" - a series of three articles in the HBR). As Analjit Singh puts it, "My role is in development of strategic architecture, raising the level of aspiration and goal setting.... the actual processes of stretegy implementation is not up to me."

The role of values needs to be appreciated as well. Values define the organisation. They cannot be created by the CEO, they evolve. The vision statement will fail if it goes against the organisational values, whatever they are. Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in "In Search of Excellence" have this to say :
"The rational model causes us to denigrate the importance of values. We have observed few, if any, bold new company directions that have come from goal precision or rational analysis. While it is true that good companies have superb analytical skills, we believe that their major decisions are shaped more by their values than by dexterity with numbers. The top performers create a broad, uplifting, shared culture, a coherent framework within which charged up people search for appropriate adaptions. Their ability to extract extraordinary contributions from a large number of people turns on the ability to create a sense of highly valued purpose. Such purpose invariably emanates from love of product, providing top quality services and honouring innovation and contribution from all...."

CONSULTANT ? OR DO-IT-YOURSELF?
No consultant can study an organisation and present on a platter, the "best possible" vision for an organisation. As Prof S.P. Singh puts it, "... you cannot develop a programme for writing poetry". However, a consultant can greatly facilitate the process by which a vision is evolved by an organisation. First, by a measure of objectivity, having no other agenda of their own, they are able to criticise constructively and without fear of reprisal. Second, by their experience and skill, they are able to draw out the creative energies of a much larger set of people, and to a greater extent.Third, no sacred cows.

Wipro Software
Mission : To undertake projects and develop products for Global Customers in the chosen areas of our competence.

Wipro Systems
Mission : To achieve and retain the position of preferred global partner in software operations.

HOW TO CREATE THE VISION FOR YOUR ORGANISATION
Vineet Nayar, HCL Comnet, explains that creating a vision is a 3 month - 1 year long effort, that involves telling people the ifs and why's of all the company's actions. People ask questions and this helps to clarify "the rules of the game". They must, however understand what each word in the vision means. This "brick-by-brick" approach not only ensures that people feel attached to the process, but the sales person, the technology search person, the service person ... all have synergistic mandates. Nayar compares buildng a vision statement for a company to educating a child, and maintains that a company that has not been through the process of visioning would lack an important part of its character. To keep the questioning process alive, Nayar conducts a session with all new recruits at the end of the induction programme, where he presents the vision and suggests that the group rewrite it.

HP India
Mission : To be the leading manufacturer and supplier of measurement and computing solutions whilst achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction, quality and business ethics and contributing to India's technological, economic and social needs.

Purpose and Direction : Maximise business for HP Products and services by developing and implementing processes and programmes that give us a competitive advantage whilst achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction and being a good corporate citizen.

Any ferromagnetic substance, say a bar of iron, has thousands of tiny magnets inside. Their random alignment nullifies thir magnetic properties - they cancel each other out. However, by aligning these tiny magnets in a particular direction so that they all strengthen each other, we are able to create a "magnet" which displays some special energy. Creating a vision is nothing but aligning the minds of all the individuals that make up an organisation, in a particular direction so that their cumulative energies lend a special energy to the organisation as a whole, rather than these energies getting dissipated by their random and often conflicting application.

We present below some of the methods of alignment:

A: The Tao of Eicher :

(This process has been used by Eicher Consultancy for a large number of companies including L&T, CMC, RCI, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals, Crompton Greaves etc.)

I A number of managers (upto 300) including you are gathered, preferably away from the workplace. You may be broken into groups to facilitate the excercise.

II Recount stories of your corporate life that has impacted deeply on you, one way or another. Also recount incidents from your personal lives that has significantly affected your thinking. This sets up a *** for understanding each others values.

III Imagine that time and money are not constraints. Create your dream organisation (in any business or area of activity) What is the business ? How is it unique ? How will it deal with the stakeholders ? Give it a title. Share it with all the others in your group.

IV What if your current company was to become your dream organisation ? Can you visualise it ? Imagine your retirement speech. What would you be saying ? In you picture of your organisation, what are the 2 key words that bring out the essence of your organisation ? Put these 2 words on cards, one on each.

V All the cards are put together. (Twice the number of people present) They are then sorted out ino themes or families of ideas.

VI The process is repeated with other such sets of people so that the whole organisation gets to participate. Often this requires training some of the people within the organisation to run such sessions.

VII Once all the themes have been identified (upto 10 themes) they need to be crafted into a compelling statement.

(This process is particularly suitable for large organisations where many layers of hierarchy exist and personal interaction levels are low. )

B: The Microland Way (Do-it-yourself)

I You, the CEO have to get a handle on exactly how to facilitate the process. You could attend workshops on vision organised in or out of the country, by leading consultancies and management institutes.

II You get your entire team together and share with them your hopes, dreams, fears, failings...You get others to do the same.

III You get them to respond to a written questionnaire. In this, the employees are arked to look at the organisation from many perspectives - those of all the stakeholders. They are also asked to make "3 magic wishes" kind of changes to the organisation.

IV You (and your chosen team) structure these responses into a vision statement. It is shared with the rest, feedback collected, finetuned and iteratively crystallized.

(Works well with small organisations, where the CEO is approachable, trusted and carries a "one of the team " image.)

C: The Godrej Soaps Variation

The CEO initiates the process either internally or with the help of consultants, but the process begins at the bottom of the organisation. At the branches, among the frontline sales people, on the shop floor, between the support staff...each group undergoes the envisioning process. It is then discussed at the next higher level. Finally, it comes to the corporate level and is worded so as to capture the vision of the entire organisation. In a sense, the vision "bubbles up through the organisation"

D: The Titan Manoeuvre

The CEO interacts extensively with a large number of people in the company. Various levels, departments, functions. Gets all the inputs. He then sits down locks himself up and crafts the vision statement. It is a detailed document and also includes strategy and resource allocation. (This calls for an extremely high level of skill on the part of the CEO as well as sensitivity to the pulse of the organisation.)

HCL Comnet
Vision : Changing the way India communicates.

After the vision is created....
Evolving and framing the vision statement is half the battle won. But only half. Driving it through the organisation, nurturing it through its vulnerable stage, living it from day to day - this is definitely the more daunting part. Vinay Rai, Usha India, echoes Senge when he says "Lets not worry about who thought of the vision. The leader must identify and own the vision, he must sleep and breath it... the worker must own the same dream."

Senge maintains that the origin of the vision is not as important as the process by which it comes to be shared by the organisation. He describes a shared vision as a hologram. When you cut a hologram in two, each part has the entire picture, though neither is as alive or realistic as the combined one. Similarly, in an organisation, each member carries his own vision, and all these put together make up the hologram of organisational vision. What is pertinent here is that each member may look at the vision from a different perspective, and that the individual visions are not identical but rather synergistic.

Motorola
"Motorola....promises to serve an increasingly mobile workforce and society with the broadest line of platforms and products, based on its two core competencies, radio communications and semiconductors.
(Source : Motorola "Quality Means the World to Us")

The commonly used means of communicating the vision to organisational members are through the company news letters and by the CEO and top management's talking about it at every opportunity. What most companies tend to overlook, however, is that the single most eloquent medium is the day to day decision-making of the top management. Nowhere else is this as starkly proven as at HDFC. The "statement" is buried in history. Asking for a copy will send people scurrying for a 1984 edition of the company newsletter. However, by the sheer clarity and consistency of actions of the top management, the organisation has never been in doubt of what it wants to be and do; and for whom.

Majumdar adds a new dimension to this when he says that he sees it as part of his role to informally speak to the new people in his team about HCL Comnet's vision - as he feels it is far more believable coming informally from a peer than being presented at training sessions.

The vision needs to be nourished by resources being thrown behind it. And enriched by decisions made keeping it in mind. Arvind's decision to get out of a profitable saree business was dictated by its vision. A vision may die if the demands of the present make people forget the vision. Or if people are discouraged by its unreachability.
According to Senge, "the hallmark of great organisations is not lovely visions floating in space but a relentless willingness to examine `what is' in light of the vision". The vision statement after all is only a flag. It is a very powerful symbol of what the organisation stands for and wants to become, but a symbol none-the-less. It must always be seen in this context. A vision statement that lacks the depth of understanding of the issues behind it, or one that is sterilised by the absence of debate is only an empty symbol. But a painstakingly evolved and skillfully crafted vision statement is capable of triggering off extremely passionate responses - the kind that can move mountains. In the words of Sanjay Lalbhai, "People give their lives for a flag; a vision should bring out that kind of commitment."

Lalbhai Group
Vision : To achieve global dominance in select businesses built around our core competencies, through continuous product and technical innovation, customer orientation and a focus on cost effectiveness.
Mission : Two billion dollar group turnover for the year 2000
(Source : The Lalbhai Group)

Vision - everybody likes to talk about it. Few understand it's implications. But at the end of the day, when you think of the company you work for and ask yourself: "Why does this company exist ?" and "What do we want to be ?" - will the answers satisfy you ?

Humble beginnings .... with no "Vision"

Hewlett Packard
Bill Hewlett : "When I talk to business schools occasionally, the professor of management is devastated when I say that we didn't have any plans when we started - we were just optimistic....We had a bowling foul-line indicator, a clock drive for a telescope, a thing to make a urinal flush automatically and a shock machine to make people lose weight...."

Sony
Akio Morita : "the group sat in conference .... and for weeks tried to figure out what kind of business this new company could enter in order to make money to operate" . Sony's rice cooker - its first product, failed in the market and it kept itself alive by stitching wires on cloth to make crude heating pads.

Wal Mart
Sam Walton : Somehow over the years folks have gotten the impression that Wal Mart was something I dreamed up out of the blue as a middle aged man, and that it was just this great idea that turned into an overnight success. But...like most overnight successes it was about 20 years in the making."

3M
Started as a failed copper mine. Its shares fell to the price of "two shares for one shot of cheap whiskey"

Collins and Porras feel that thanks to features other than vision, like their "audacious goals" and their "cult like cultures" these companies went on to make a lasting impact on the world around them. But the point really is that they became successful only once they were able to agree on what they wanted to be, what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it.

Speaking of Vision....

With the superabundance of vision statements, nowadays, and CEO's extolling the virtues of the vision thing, its tough to find a CEO today who hasn't crafted a vision statement for his organisation. No effort has been spared, they claim, to take the vision to the ends of the organisation. A vision after all, they say, is for the organisation as a whole, not for the top managemants gratification. To check this out for ourselves, we called up a selection of premier companies and asked the first person who picked up the phone, if we could have a copy of the vision or mission statement. The answers, to say the least, were disheartening. In some cases, the line was passed around to departments that they thought could answer this strange request, but not once, did we get told the statement. Some of the responses :
"Can I send you an annual report instead?";
"This is the share department, and I can't transfer to the personnel department, so....." ;
"What department do you want to talk to exactly ?";
"Whats a vision statement ?";
"Our PR manager will be back tomorrow, why don't you call then..."

Was our expectation unreasonable ? We don't think so. Is a vision a closely guarded corporate secret ? Perhaps, for some companies. But our sample consisted of industry leaders in the fields of FMCGs, consumer durables, information technology, financial services and garments, to name a few. And may be we spoke to the telephone operators in some cases, but these people are, after all the first point of contact that the outside world has with the organisation. If your operators and receptionists are outside the net of the vision statement, should you worry about what impression the outside world is getting about your company ? And isn't that an important reason for having a vision statement anyway, so that your employees can walk with their head held high ? We think so.

Suggested reading
JC Collins & J Porras : "Built to Last".
Peter Senge: "The Fifth Discipline" , Chapter 9
Pradeep Khandwalla: "Organisational Design for Excellence", Chapter 6
G.H. Langeler: "The Vision Trap", HBR Mar-Apr 1992
Kye Anderson: "The Purpose at the Heart of Management", HBR May-Jun 1992
Ghosal & Bartlett: "Changing the Role of Top Management: From Strategy to Purpose", HBR Nov-Dec 1994