Why having a vision is a must, and will determine break it or make it for your project.

There is a lot of talk about visions, missions, company statements, company values, etc. Some people say it's all fluff and not nessecery, some people say you can't succeed without, I'm leaning towards the second, and let me tell you why.

Last few years I have been working as a growth and strategy consultant for several startups and experienced first hand the important part of having a vision and company values in place.

Now, why is this so important to have a company vision and values?

1. You stay focused and on track. If your company's vision is to become the biggest and best provider of crypto transactions for massage places, all of your team will focus 100% on this. If a new team member walks up to you and says " hey boss, I think our technology could also work really well in the automotive industry", you can easily say, " That's a great idea, though it doesn't align with our mission of where we want to be in 5 years, let's focus on becoming the best in the massage industry." You, your team, your investors, your partners, and customers will stay laser-focused on the final goal, which is super important especially in the early stage when it's easy to get distracted.

2. What is a recipe for a successful vision and company values?

Short, easy, and consistent. Imagine you being super drunk or hammered, and you buy one more beer and you can barely write your pin code for your bank card, but you will still manage because the pink code sits deep in your brain. That how a vision should be, it should be so easy to remember, that any of your team members and you should know it without hesitation after a few shots of vodka. When it comes to values, what did Moses do wrong with the 10 commandments? He made them 10. Nobody can remember them all. I like to keep the values short from 3-5 that everyone I the team knows and sticks to. In my own startups I usually always have one value that is "wow customer service". Having values makes it easier for the team to make decisions. For example if a customer has a complaint, and you are not sure how far you will go to make the customer happy, ask yourself, will my action now, be perceived as wow customer service? If yes, go for it, if no, don't do it.

3. It's easy to discuss things amongst your co-founders and with employees.

Without values and a vision, a lot of discussions will end up with "I think this, and you think that" which can often lead to people not agreeing and fighting against each other.
If you have a vision and values that you have all agreed to follow, and you are discussing topics at your company and someone suggest something you can just say " this does not align with our value x, so therefore we cant do it". Boom, end of discussion.

All in all, my summary is that I have first-hand seen startups who try to scale and grow without values and visions, and it's a very hard thing to do, very hard. So my advice, don't underestimate how important this is to have in order.

What's your experience with this? @Fredrikaa how do you do it big corporation where you work?