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Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold, Book Summary

Introduction: Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold

To achieve success, you must be able to see it first. This is the philosophy of Cameron Herold, author of Vivid Vision and CEO of Dromaeo. Cameron has helped hundreds of businesses achieve their wildest dreams by teaching them how to create a vivid vision for their future. This means having a clear idea of what they want their business to become and where they see it going.

I learned about Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold from Glain Roberts-McCabe during The One Problem Podcast. The context she was talking about in the interview is that before you make a snap decision about something as important as leaving your job, make a plan, and a Vivid Vision can help you to become clear.

A Vivid Vision should be something you are passionate about, and it should be something that excites and inspires you. Herold recommends making the vision memorable for employees by using images and stories that capture the essence of the vision. He also recommends celebrating progress along the way to keep employees motivated.

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Glain Roberts-McCabe, Founder, the Roundtable, Group Coach Academy

Summary of Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold

When you create a Vivid Vision, you have a road map to follow to achieve organizational success.

Definition of a Vivid Vision

Precision is key to Vivid Vision. However, it's based on the future and not where you currently are. No matter where you are now, the focus should be on where you want to be in three years.

“A Vivid Vision is a three-dimensional world that you can step into and explore. It’s a world you can share with your team to create true alignment and amazing results. It’s a true road map that helps your team see where to go, so they can figure out how to get there.”

Why You Need a Vivid Vision

Without a Vivid Vision of where the company is heading, others may have an inaccurate picture of what you expect from them. Everyone will have different ideas of what to build, which causes confusion. The organization will be out of alignment and that means no growth.

When employees know what the leaders envision for the organization, three years down the road, everyone is aligned. When employees are aligned, they perform at a much higher level. If an employee understands how their role will contribute to the company over the next three years by following the Vivid Vision, he or she will be motivated to make it happen.

As a leader in a company, your role is to develop other leaders. In the book, Launching a Leadership Revolution, the authors, Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward, present the Five Levels of Influence. The fourth and fifth levels are developing leaders and developing leaders who develop other leaders. When you invest time to develop other leaders, you free up yourself to focus on major issues and strategic priorities.

“One hallmark of a good company is the ability to promote from within, which leads to a culture of trust, dedication, and willingness.”

Knowing where you're heading allows you to decide and apply them. It is a waste of resources for companies to manage employees, hold them accountable, and run permission-based systems as nobody knows where they are going. They don't have a Vivid Vision.

“The point of creating a Vivid Vision is to lean out into the future, to pretend you’re traveling in a time machine to a moment three years ahead. It’s dreaming where you want the company to be in every metric, from personnel to review to location to services, and working backward from there. Most companies do the opposite—they look at where they actually are and make designs based solely on that.” 

Big Hairy Audacious Goals

To create Big, Hairy, Audacious goals – a term coined by Jim Collins in Good to Great – you have to stretch your imagination. Others outside your organization may think you're crazy, but those inside know that those big goals are achievable if they believe in your Vivid Vision.

BHAG Goals work to align an organization. I love the term BHAG, but so do many people who have read Good to Great. I came across SMURT – Smart, Measurable, Unrealistic, Resourceful, Time-Bound – Goals and I have adopted it. A company's BHAG or SMURT Goal is just as important as its Core Values. Vivid Vision articulates the BHAG.

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It is not important how the Vivid Vision will happen, but that it will happen. The CEO has the responsibility to determine the organization's future. It is the leadership team's responsibility to figure out how they will realize the Vivid Vision.

After you set your BHAG, break it down into smaller chunks that are the individual steps you need to take to get to goal achievement.

3-Year Vision

If you project too far into the future, your vision is foggy, it isn't clear. And if you focus on one or two years into the future, it's not enough time for anything major to happen. Three-year goals inspire you to innovate and reach outside your comfort zone.

This reminds me of Future Mapping, where you project into the future, then work your way backwards. The three-year time-frame gives you enough time to find the balance between realistic and achievable. And you also have time to work on other steps simultaneously.

How to Write a Vivid Vision

Free yourself from the everyday stresses of running a business. Go somewhere inspiring. You don't want to do this exercise inside the office. Bring a notebook, and not a computer. Being outside in nature would be great. Experiencing nature broadens your outlook and expands your perspectives. You have a different mindset when you're outdoors. You want your mind to be relaxed, yet open.

The Vivid Vision takes you on a fantastical journey into an uncharted realm, requiring you to unlock the playful part of your mind that is so easily hijacked in an office. Don't think about how you're going to implement the vision. Your only task is to envision what the future will look like. Engage in childlike dreaming. Let your mind wander. Visualize everything happening now.

“Start your Vivid Vision this way: calm, relaxed, and envisioning a world you’d love to help create and be part of some day.” 

Figure out your goal, then work backwards, just like in Future Mapping. Cameron Herold recommends that you use a mind map. Start with yourself in the center, with branches going out to the different departments that contribute to the business. Describe each branch using three to four bullet points. Among the branches, you also want to consider the company's culture, the vibe, informal codes of conduct, the fiscal environment, the scenery.

“Describe your marketing department, IT, finance, sales, and operations. Describe your culture, what your employees are saying about you, and what the media is writing about you. Describe the details of every area in your business until you’ve exhausted all the goals that are hiding in the back of your mind.”

Make your vision big enough to inspire your team. After you've filled out the mind map, flesh out the information on paper. Then it's time to polish what's been written, adding some graphics. This is your company's Bible.

Aim for a final product that's no longer than four pages. This document will be sent to current and prospective employees, suppliers, and customers. Since everyone will see this document, you should make it more exciting than a simple Word document.

Spend about four hours imagining what your business will be like in three years. Write down what you see. Let it sit for a day or so, then return to the process with your new ideas. This time, think about your core values.

Conclusion: Vivid Vision by Cameron Herold

You become a better person when you have a Vivid Vision. You'll achieve personal and professional success, and you'll feel like one of the luckiest people around. You'll attract the right people and circumstances into your life. It's easier to attain success when you know what success looks like for you.

Cameron Herold's book, “Vivid Vision” is an excellent read for entrepreneurs who are looking to take their business to the next level. The book is filled with helpful advice and strategies that are easy to understand and implement. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to grow their business.

Next Steps

  1. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
  2. Join the Art of Learning Membership Site
  3. Buy and read Vivid Vision: A Remarkable Tool For Aligning Your Business Around a Shared Vision of the Future by Cameron Herold

If you want access to my Bookish Notes, please consider joining my membership site, the Art of Learning. There's more information in a Bookish Note than you'll find here.

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