A story that beautifully illustrates the difference between self-referent and noble visions comes from Hewlett-Packard, which charged Barbara Waugh, a change manager, with the task of making its industrial research laboratory the best in the world. Waugh felt that somehow the vision of being the best in the world was not enough. She told the magazine Fast Company, ‘‘One day I’m talking about these feelings with my friend Laurie [Mitlestadt], an engineer at the lab, and she says, ‘You know what I would get up for in the morning? Not to be the best in the world, but to be the best for the world.’ ’’ Waugh says, ‘‘ For the world automatically forces you to look out, not just in. It makes you ask, ‘What does the world need?’ ’’
Bill Strickland understands what Waugh is getting at. He said, ‘‘A lot of the business guys say, ‘My only job is to make sure that the stockholders are cool.’ I say no, that is part of your job. The other part of your job is to improve the planet, make a contribution, raise some decent kids, support your fellow man, help struggling social institutions in your community. You have many jobs, one of which happens to be making money.’’
Strickland says of a vision such as the one Waugh describes, ‘‘It opens up the conversation and introduces a much broader agenda of items that are considered as part of our life work. We are going to lose our planet if leadership doesn’t start opening up this conversation to consider more than ‘me first’.’’
No vision, by itself, is a guarantee of success. However, noble visions such as those described above are more likely to win emotional and spiritual commitment. Most people welcome the opportunity to contribute to a group of people, a country, or the planet; to be part of some larger endeavor than ‘‘being the best.’’