If I had a nickel for every time I sat across from a business leader who was stuck—stuck on a plateau, stuck in frustration, stuck in the tension between ambition and purpose—I could launch a new purpose-driven venture capital fund.
The feeling of being “stuck” is not because of their business model or the economy. It’s not even their leadership ability. It’s a lack of clarity. Lack of clarity is the silent killer of impact. It clouds decision-making, weakens teams, and leads businesses into a slow drift away from their intended mission. And the great tragedy? Many business leaders don’t even realize they’ve lost their way until they wake up wondering, How did we get here?
The good news? Clarity isn’t elusive. It’s a choice. And for business leaders, clarity isn’t just a strategic advantage—it’s essential for sustainable success.
Businesses don’t fail overnight. More often, they drift. Think about once-great companies that lost their edge—blockbuster brands that became irrelevant, industry leaders that got complacent, or family businesses that slowly abandoned their founding values. What started with vision, purpose, and discipline eroded under the weight of market shifts, competitive pressures, and short-term decision-making.
Sound familiar?
Many leaders start with great intentions, saying things like: “I want to build a company that makes a difference,” or “I want to create a lasting impact in my industry.” But without clear direction, those ambitions quickly get replaced by survival mode, market demands, and the tyranny of the urgent.
In his book Mission Drift, my friend Peter Greer highlights how well-intentioned organizations can slowly veer off course if they don’t fiercely protect their purpose.
Consider Cisco. Once a dominant force in networking technology, Cisco’s original mission was to be the leader in internet infrastructure. However, in the early 2000s, the company lost focus, overextending into dozens of unrelated markets, from consumer electronics to the smart grid. This drift diluted its core identity and ultimately forced a retreat to its networking roots.
Circuit City offers another example in its launch of CarMax in the late 90s. They were so fixated on adjacent opportunities that they missed the market shifting to where the “Project X” continues to this day, while the legacy mission collapsed.
And for me, an example that hits home is Walgreens, where I spent nearly eight years at the headquarters working for a company known for its strong employee retention, consistent dividends to shareholders, reliable stock performance, and uncompromising core values. Its 2014 merger with European peer Boots Alliance led to a change in management, culture, and a dramatic loss of core identity. The stock is down 80% over the past four years, and the hallmarks of the 20th-century darling of “Good to Great” are struggling to achieve mediocrity, let alone greatness. Leadership and vision matter!
Across these examples, the lesson remains: losing sight of your mission leads to fragmentation, inefficiency, and decline.
So, how do you break free from this drift? It starts with three foundational questions.
1. Mission: Why Do You Exist?
If you can’t state your company’s mission in a single sentence that energizes your team, it’s not clear enough. A mission statement isn’t a corporate tagline or marketing fluff—it’s the anchor that keeps your business from drifting. It should be short, memorable, and actionable.
Your mission isn’t just about what you do; it’s about why you do it. It defines your business’s purpose beyond profit and serves as a guide for decision-making. A strong mission statement helps you filter opportunities, align your team, and maintain focus. If a decision doesn’t support your mission, it’s an easy no.
2. Vision: What Does Success Look Like?
A mission expresses why you exist, and a vision describes where you’re going. Many leaders confuse vision with goals, but they’re not the same thing. Goals are milestones, while vision is the North Star. A strong vision statement shows how the world will improve as your organization fulfills its mission.
A compelling vision should be bold and audacious. If your vision doesn’t scare you a little, it’s not big enough. It should also be timeless. Unlike goals, your vision should remain unchanged even as strategies shift. Finally, a vision should be inspiring. If it doesn’t make people sit up and say, “I want to be part of that,” it’s just a goal with fancy words.
3. Core Values: How Will You Behave?
Mission is why. Vision is what. Core values are how you behave.
If your mission is your compass and your vision is your destination, your core values are the rules of the road. Strong values create strong cultures. They help you hire the right people, fire the wrong ones, and make hard decisions without losing sleep. Too many leaders fail to treat core values as a true litmus test for their organization.
For example, if you say integrity is a core value but tolerate dishonesty in your sales team because they “get results,” you don’t have a value—you have a suggestion. Core values must be the foundation for decision-making at every business level. They’re just words on a poster if they don’t shape behavior.
The Difference Between Drift and Destiny
You can’t chart a course for the future if you don’t understand who you are. Strategic planning begins with looking inward—an intentional process to define your company’s core principles: its mission, vision, and values.
Here’s the hard truth: Every company has an identity. The question is whether you’ve intentionally defined it or simply drifted into it. Without clear core principles, your business will be pulled in different directions by shifting trends, demanding customers, board pressures, or the temptation to prioritize short-term profit. When profit becomes the sole driver, it’s easy to lose sight of why your business exists in the first place. That’s not leadership—that’s survival.
When you lead with clarity, you don’t just drive profitability—you build a business with a strong identity, a motivated workforce, and a competitive edge. Are you clear on what your business is and where it’s going? If not, it’s time to find out.