When I mentor young entrepreneurs, I endeavor to give them a war chest of skills that will help them long into the future. One tool that I ensure each of them has is a Vivid Vision. I’ve talked about these invaluable documents a lot in other blog posts. They are one of my hallmarks. Your own hall of fame so to speak.
And why am I such an advocate? Because time after time, I’ve seen them work.
Over the years, I’ve worked at creating a Vivid Vision with dozens of organizations, from small boutique firms to $100 million enterprises. In this post, I thought I’d share a little detail about what some of these companies did to their Vivid Visions that really made them pop.
Red Balloon Days, an online retailer that sells exceptional experiences to Australia and New Zealand, had a graphic designer give their Vivid Vision the royal treatment. Bright colors, cool fonts, funky images—the document grabbed the reader’s eyeballs and refused to let go.
So often, companies fear injecting life into their documents or presentations lest they appear ‘unprofessional’ or ’amateur’. Sure, there are times for somber, professional presentations, but I strongly support adding flair when the opportunity presents itself. I stop short of cheesy cartoons or using Comic Sans font, but believe that bright, colorful annual reports, proposals and Vivid Visions are far more effective (and more fun to read).
Nurse Next Door went multimedia with their Vivid Vision. This provider of in-home health services for the elderly of the US and Canada combined the written aspect of their document with a voiceover recorded by its cofounder.
I loved how the visuals really brought their vision to life. It’s one thing to talk about TIME Magazine profiling your company in your Vivid Vision, but it’s another altogether to have a mocked up magazine cover graphically displaying it.
The company was pretty happy with it. So much so, they put it up on YouTube where nearly 2,000 people have viewed it.
What do you do when you are a global organization with offices in 25 countries and you want to introduce the concept of a Painted Picture to all of your employees? If you’re Sebastien Tondeur, the CEO of MCI (a global event management firm), you film a slick, professional introduction that explains exactly what a Vivid Vision is, and how it relates to the company’s future.
His charisma is obvious, and his introduction gets his employees excited about their role in making the Vivid Vision come to life.
I could go on and on, but what’s important to remember is that any Vivid Vision is exceptional. You don’t need flashy graphics or CGI visuals , you just need to take the time and effort it takes to visualize your company’s future. Who knows, you might end up in my Hall of Fame.
Click here to get more inspiration on your own Vivid Vision.
