Bud Cadell created a neat Venn diagram several years ago. Interestingly, the first image I saw which linked to his original post, was not the same as the image now visible on his post. I’ll show both here as I think they both have unique aspects. – the first is more about “career planning” whereas the second has a direct business focus.
Dad, parallel entrepreneur, cook, gardener, explorer, philosopher, tinkerer....
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Personally I like the first one better!
I agree that “Venn diagram1″ = “career planning” and that “Venn diagram2″ = “business focus”, however, as far as startups are concerned there are aspects that are missing from both. They are the following:
1. Vision
2. Mission
3. Values
4. Goals (i.e. long-term goals, and short-term goals)
Without these you cannot use imagination and visualisation. They are important ingredients for success.
From the Upstarta perspective I just disagree with that 1-4 lineup. Vision/Mission/Values are generally no more than blah, they mean absolutely nothing in terms of what a company actually stands for or does. They’re empty. Also, you can’t just make them up and expect the company to suddenly be that way – or even re-engineer a company to be that way. That’s not the way things work, so it’s merely resource-consuming and futile.
A founder needs to be clear on their values before they start, and take them into account with every decision (which can include an inaction, as they too have consequences).
Similarly, a long term idea of the direction you want to take (a mix between vision and goal) is good. You combine that with your values to pick your next steps. The long term vision/goal will adapt over time, it can’t be a static.