Of course, once the million dollar slide is achieved, a simple vision statement must follow. The Vision Statement should fit on a 3x5 card. There is comfort in three ideas distilled into three bullets. I worked for a visionary leader who insists that there is magic in threes and always explained her vision in threes. There is elegance in simplicity. The simpler the vision is, the better.

Many people like to point to JFK’s vision statement of “a man on the moon by the end of the decade” as a prime example of simplicity and clarity. The task and execution were anything but simple; however, the statement was short and to the point.

While setting the vision, the opportunity to brand the project arises. Quite frankly, whatever name you choose to call the project is a relatively benign decision. However, not naming a project will haunt a leader. A leader does not want his or her vision to be named after someone or something else. Allowing a visionary project to be labeled “Jenny’s project” or “the Oracle project” or “the IT of the future” will kill interest in it before it is even off the ground. A colleague who was president of a large insurance entity once said to a group of us “you gotta name the dog, to love the dog.” I agree – a vision deserves a title.

Execution

It sounds easy. And typically, vision is much easier than execution. The real leaders are the ones who can get it done.

Execution Premise #1 – What problem are we trying to solve?

I ask this question so often I like to think that I originated it, but I didn’t. At every step of a project, your team will need to know exactly what problem they need to solve. A good leader keeps them focused only on solving the problem. A weak leader will let the team ultimately meander and nothing will be solved.

It is imperative a leader directs a team by articulating and quantifying what problem it is they really want to solve. This is not hard – there are a lot of techniques. The simplest technique was taught to me at IBM 15 years ago and was probably titled “Solution Selling 101.” It’s not magic – it is asking “why?” five times in succession.

Five “whys” is usually the most it takes to identify the real problem. Then, the team needs to quantify what it is worth to the company to solve the real problem.