The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business by Michael Hyatt

The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business Reviews

• 
  Nicholas Kotar

  As always, Hyatt's writing is inspiring. The kind of thing that makes you want to get up off the couch and go fix your life RIGHT NOW. Unfortunately, it's clear that he and his company are pivoting away from serving individuals (as he did with Platform and Free to Focus) to serving CEOs and corporations. It's an understandable shift, but it's really too bad. More and more I feel like his podcast and his products are moving farther and father away from us little folks. oh well.
• 
  Troy Solava

  Helpful book! Though I am not a businessman nor do I have a product to sell, Hyatt’s work is inspiring to have a clear vision in my church! Even in church, it is easy to just coast by…but what is there that we can grow in? Hyatt helps me imagine our church becoming stronger through casting vision.
• 
  Gaurang Mhatre

  Good book to fix the mindset from 'Managing people' to 'Uniting the team'.
• 
  Paul Hambrick

  *The Vision Driven Leader* is an excellent companion to the Michael Hyatt ecosystem. In fact, it's probably the primary book in understanding the power of the *Full Focus System.*
  
  *The Vision Driven Leader* explains the importance of developing a vision script for the future of your company, organization or brand. *Vision script* is an important distinction. This is not just a statement, but a document that lays out your vision for the near (3-5 years) future. It then takes you through the process of developing that vision script by answering 5 questions:
  
  * What do you want?
  * Is it clear?
  * Does it inspire?
  * Is it practical?
  * Can you sell it?
  
  You then compile that vision considering 4 categories:
  
  * Your team
  * Your product
  * Your marketing
  * Your impact.
  
  Once you have your vision script, Hyatt then shows you how to sell your vision, and how to develop strategies for accomplishing your vision so you can achieve the results you want.
  
  This is required reading for understanding how to create *Your Best Year Ever,* Michael Hyatt's book on setting goals. The goals you set should be derived from your vision script. *Free to Focus,* Michael's book on productivity, explains the system for staying focused on the right tasks that move you towards your vision of your future.
  
  I really enjoyed this book. I wish I it had been written a long time ago. Having tried to implement the *Full Focus System,* I believe my roadblocks have been due to a lack of vision. This book helps me clarify a vision, the first step before establishing goals, and before developing a strategy on how to achieve those goals.
  
  As with all of Michael Hyatt's books, it is full of examples, short histories and stories which help illustrate the point. This makes for an enjoyable and easily digestible read.
• 
  Brandon Still

  Michael Hyatt brings it in this one. A practical read on how to drive culture, results, and success through the process of creating a vision and communicating that vision to those you lead. Leaders create and cast vision, inspire and motivate, weigh and take risks, and focus on the long term. The best leaders are able to understand these and communicate them to people. Hyatt leads this book with then questions to drive these changes to create vision driven leaders, all while telling stories of the greats like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Brian Chesky, etc. Great read.
  
  Few of my favorite quotes to remember:
  "Clarity without inspiration leads to boredom and disinterest, and inspiration without clarity leads to excitement without direction."
  "It is true that integrity alone won't make you a leader, but without integrity, you'll never be one."
• 
  Daunavan Buyer

  Super Practical and Helpful
  
  This is a great book for leaders who want to move their organizations forward. Hyatt presents a clear cut strategy for vision casting & implementation, along with some questions to ask when coming up with and clarifying that vision. I’m looking forward to seeing how these steps impact the organization I’m working for now.
• 
  Michael Goforth

  Can you tell I’m on a Michael Hyatt kick this year? 🤣
  
  Another great book. Will need to reread this slower and really take time to work through it.
  
  Overall, it was a great reminder of the power of vision in a leader.
• 
  Jola Van Dijk

  Pleasant and insightful read. Still have to use the free bonus vision scripter. Maybe after that I find it lifechanging, but for now mostly just a pleasant read.
• 
  Dennis

  I think I was looking for more on how to set a vision and got more on why.
• 
  Brittany Viklund

  I’ll have to come back & share thoughts once I’ve sat down to create & design a clean & concise vision but I did enjoy all the little vignettes of businesses & their unique journeys & the role vision played in them.
• 
  Dustin Turner

  I read everything Michael Hyatt puts out. This is a great resource for any leader, especially those casting vision. I’m looking forward to looking into his vision script online tool.
• 
  Ben Watt

  Bit slow to start but full of good business turnaround stories. Also some general points I think we can all consider during times of change including that its not possible to communicate too much.
• 
  Aaron Mikulsky

  I love Michael Hyatt's Lead to Win podcast and enjoyed his latest book very much.
  Here are a few memorable items I've found useful. Leader v. Manager? When asked by Harvard Business Review, “What makes a good manager?” GE’s legendary chairman and CEO Jack Welch responded with a crucial clarification: “I prefer the term ‘business leader,’” he said. “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Both roles are important, but they are fundamentally different and require different dispositions and skill sets. Leaders create vision, while managers execute vision. Leaders inspire and motivate, while managers maintain and administer. Leaders take risks, while managers control risks. Leaders stay focused on the horizon, while managers have their eye on short-term goals and objectives.
  Vision is a clear, inspiring, practical, and attractive picture of your organization’s future. It doesn’t have to be 10 or 20 years down the road, though that might be helpful. It’s an imagined future - usually just three to five years out - superior to the present, which motivates you, which guides day-to-day strategy and decision-making, and around which your team can rally. Without this, you’re effectively voting for the status quo. Your organization doesn’t need a leader unless they want to change. It doesn’t take a leader to maintain the status quo.
  While nobody can see the future, a vision can clarify the future and prepare a company for what is on the horizon.
  “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home,” said Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation in 1977. By contrast, Apple founder Steve Jobs predicted, “The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network.” Jobs made that statement four years before the invention of the World Wide Web.
  Computer scientist Alan Kay is famous for saying, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Vision is the first step in doing that. Without it, leaders are unprepared for whatever is coming next. Being unprepared for the future means overlooking key opportunities in the present. Vision keeps us attuned to possibilities that align with the future we see. Without a vision, those opportunities slide right by. Without a vision, the opposite is also a problem. When we’re unclear about our destination, we tend to make short-range decisions, pursuing whatever opportunities look good in the moment.
  A mission defines what a business is; a vision describes where it’s going. Mission is here; vision is still out there. Mission is now; vision is next.
  A proper Vision Script is not a tagline or a bumper sticker. It’s a robust document, written in the present tense, that describes your future reality as if it were today. The trick is to step into the future and record what you see in four key areas of your business: the future of your team, products, sales and marketing, and your impact. Vision is about shared sight.
  In her book Clarity First, Karen Martin identifies six key factors that keep leaders unclear. They’re all different, but they work to cloud the world around us: ignorance, lack of curiosity, overconfidence, cognitive biases, time constraints, and fear.
  Clarity without inspiration leads to boredom and disinterest, and inspiration without clarity leads to excitement without direction.
  Vision is about where you’re going, and strategy is the path you’re planning to take. Vision comes first because there’s no path without a destination. But without a path, there’s no progress. Thankfully, a practical vision suggests the strategy.
  Starting with the vision and working backward, we craft a strategy, then set goals, and then break down those goals into meaningful next steps. This is where long-term strategy and daily productivity meet. Vision Script -> Annual Plan -> Quarterly Goals -> Weekly Objectives -> Daily Tasks.
  Your job as a leader is to bring definition through repetition. The truth is, you can’t overcommunicate your vision to the organization. Constant communication helps people hold on to what matters most.
  
  5 steps in developing your Vision Script:
  1. Schedule it
  2. Get the necessary input – surround yourself with good counsel
  3. Trust the process
  4. Tweak as you go – rethink, revise, recast
  5. Go ahead and launch – sell the vision and then begin executing (“Perfection is just another way of saying procrastination.”)
  
• 
  Jiri

  I belong to generation of Gen-Xers and the culture I live in is constantly trying for my immediate attention. As a result, we feel constant anxiety and fret from one project to another without enough pausing and reflection. We often run for instant gratification and fret again to deliver instant results for the generation of millennials. While doing that the author reminds us we need not forget to provide an overarching and commonly shared inspiring and meaningful vision for all of us to align with. If you are compelled like I was, stop, pause and reflect on the meaning of all of this now. Literature that would give clear instructions in a language everybody would understand on how to create your personal or business vision for your team is scarce and often speaks to the reader the corporate language and is full of empty phrases. Not so with The Vision Driven Leader. In his book Michael Hyatt – a productivity mentor talks from his own experiences, describes the meaning and the results of a vision driven leader's attitude and the consequences of leadership with the absence of a long-term vision, he also tells a story of a thoroughly crafted vision that has been long forgotten and never came to life and how we can avoid this from happening. In order for an organization and its leaders to fulfill their mission, and especially at times of distraction and immediate threat and fear, they must direct their behavior (strategy, the How?) towards commonly shared goals set in the near 3–5 year future (the What?) and constantly remind everybody (vision leaks and you ought not to contain it) in the form of a Vision Script an inspiring, concrete and actionable but not very long document. Creating such a key and fixed document must, the author argues, always precede flexible strategies. The book instructs you on how you can create such a feasible document for yourself and for your team regardless of who you lead. The book also presents a number of inspirational life stories of people who, through their relentless vision, have contributed to improving humanity and have exceeded their perceived possibilities – a climber Tommy Caldwell (The Down Wall), Jane Chen (Embrace Warmer, Little Lotus), Malala Yousafzai (right to education), Garett Camp and Travis Kalanick (Uber), Evelyn Berezin (Word processor) and more.
  At first, I was skeptical, especially now in a pandemic, whether it was appropriate and realistic to even consider future visions. With this book, I realized that right now rather than thinking about securing yourself for the next day, it is more important to create a vision for yourself, your family, your co-workers, and the company you work for to get over the difficulties of the day and set our eyes on hope and what we can benefit society and our loved ones with in the long run. Read it for inspiration, it will serve you well.
• 
  Tõnu Vahtra

  "Vision is where you're going, and strategy is the path you're planning to take." I finished reading the book about a month ago and the fact that I do not remember much from it probably confirms that I did find any new mindset-altering ideas from it. The one term that I marked down was "low value fake work" as something that is not aligned with the vision and that we keep doing as procrastination.
  
  The 5 questions for developing a vision script:
  *What do you want?
  *Is it clear?
  *Does it inspire? (I do agree that this part can be difficult in some areas)
  *Is it practical?
  *Can you sell it?
  
  Vision is compiled considering 4 categories: your team, your product, your marketing and your impact.
  
  HBR asking Jack Welch: “What makes a good manager?” He responded with a clarification: “I prefer the term ‘business leader,’” he said. “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” Both roles are important, but they are fundamentally different and require different dispositions and skill sets. Leaders create vision, while managers execute vision. Leaders inspire and motivate, while managers maintain and administer. Leaders take risks, while managers control risks. Leaders stay focused on the horizon, while managers have their eye on short-term goals and objectives.
  
  “A practical vision is specific enough to suggest strategy, but not so specific it commits you to one particular strategy. Your vision is sacred, but your strategies can switch as needed. I like how my daughter and our company’s chief operating officer, Megan Hyatt Miller, puts it: “The way to achieve our goals is to hold them tightly and our strategies loosely.”
  
  “Leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing significant to say.”
  
  
  
• 
  Addison Roberts

  n Vision Driven Leader, Michael Hyatt lays out the importance of vision to your organization and then lays out a process for how to create and implement a clear vision in your business or organization.
  
  As a staff pastor in a large church, it is easy to focus exclusively on the next task. Often, these tasks can become silos. You will string one thing to the next and you will eventually arrive somewhere, or maybe you won’t. Who knows? This is an uninspiring picture but it tends to more or less be my reality.
  
  Through Vision Driven Leader, I have seen the importance of envisioning my destination. In addition to this, I have had a path laid before me of how to craft and script my vision (the book focuses on writing your “vision script.”). The great things about all of a Michael Hyatt’s books persist here. It is a short read without nonsense and fluff. The audio book is right around 4.5 hours.It packs a punch and words aren’t wasted. Additionally, Hyatt expertly lays out a path for those who have no idea what they are doing. He did this for me in Free to Focus and Your World Class Executive Assistant and he continues the streak in this text. I not only know what I should do. I know HOW to do it. Hyatt’s conversational style and engaging anecdotes help this book strike balance between helpful and challenging!
  
  You should read this book if you look at your organization and have a sinking feeling it could be better and that you could get it there. This book will help you pave the road to your vision and make you a more effective leader
• 
  Benjamin Liles

  Most people who have a singular vision of defining themselves and how they see things operate by what some of us call odd behavior. Take for example Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and numerous others who dared to make things happen and to get their organizations going. Now imagine applying this through Jesus Christ! Michael Hyatt, in my honest opinion, goes all out on giving the best possible advice in honoring Christ, putting people before ourselves (the leader), even so far as to giving special offers in order to position their brand, their company even better.
  
  Those that I have mentioned I don't necessarily agree with how they have grown their companies or their businesses, but they had a vision in mind and that is to help people achieve something beyond themselves. Having said that this is what I believe Michael Hyatt has done to the best of his ability with this book. Michael Hyatt started of his career at Word Publishing while a student at Baylor University in Waco, TX. From there he has been a literary agent, joined Thomas Nelson, helped create the WestBow Press imprint, a white label vanity press.
  
  By 2006 Hyatt served as both chairman and chief executive of a Nashville, TN-based Christian books publisher, and since 2011 been only chairman of the same company. Since then he has started Hyatt and Co., writing several books on Leadership and seen his company grow 60% over a four year period. As I received this book complimentary from Baker Books I do my utmost to review honestly and fairly.
• 
  Stan Stinson

  I think I have read all the books Michael Hyatt has written since Platform several years ago and have learned something from all of them. This one also falls into that category. In his latest, “The Vision Driven Leader”, he has focused on an often misunderstood topic, vision. Do you have it? Do you even know what it is and how important it is to the future of your business?
  
  Inside this book, you will learn why you need a vision and will explore 10 questions that will help you define your vision, whether you are the leader of a large corporation, a small business or the leader of your own career or family.
  
  If I had to choose one quote from the book to share, and that is what I did here, it would be this one.
  
  “Vision is the essential ingredient for successful leadership. There’s no substitute.”
  
  Once you understand this principle, you can begin the process of defining, sharing and selling your vision. This book helps you to achieve that goal.
  
  I couldn’t share just one so here is another quote that is a one-sentence summary of what this book will do for you if you get your copy and follow the process outlined inside.
  
  “The Vision Driven Leader will show you how to craft a compelling vision and use it to guide your company forward with intention and energy.”
  
  I think you will agree this type of leadership will be invaluable as we emerge on the other side of this current pandemic. This book was written for just such a time as this. Get your copy today.
  
• 
  Sean Anderson

  Michael, in his usual candor and down-to-earth practicality, has brought clarity to a traditionally nebulous topic. I have had the pleasure of reading most - if not all - of Michael Hyatt's books and none disappoint as it comes to practical takeaways. He always supplies proven frameworks for immediate activation on the part of the reader. (He doesn't leave us in the realm of theory only.) However, this book has a depth of substance and air of restful urgency that communicates to the reader-leader, "You need to hear this deep, and you need to hear it right now." The anecdotes & case studies themselves aren't just good examples. These are seamlessly woven to not only undergird the validity of his thesis, but even move the narrative forward. These stories range from chilling to triumphant. (Remember, these are people's lives we're talking about.) The book ends up presenting a Solomon-like proverb: Those who sow vision get where they're going; those who don't never get going.
  
  And yet, even with all of the sobriety this contribution brings us, Michael threads every chapter with encouragement and every page with the hope and inspiration needed to know that - no matter what state your organization is currently in - it is never too early to start the process of creating a Vision Script, and it's never too late either. And in tenuous times, (s)he who has the most hope has the most influence. Thank you, Michael. Job well done.