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CHAPTER 13: CREATING VISION AND STRATEGIC DIRECTION 403
ServiceMaster from Chapter 6 and from earlier in this chapter. One of ServiceMaster’s
core values is to treat employees with respect and help low-skilled manual
workers see the worth and dignity of their service to society. Similarly, leaders
at Dollar General emphasize the purpose of giving low-income people a good
deal, not just making sales and profi ts. Any company that puts a high premium
on customer service can be considered to fall in this category as well. Marriott
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encapsulates its purpose in the slogan, “The Spirit to Serve.” The basis of ac-
tion for this type of purpose is to increase personal happiness. Most people feel
good when they are doing something to help others or make their communities
or the world a better place.

Heroism The fi nal category, heroism, means the company’s purpose is based on
being strong, aggressive, and effective. Companies with this basis of noble purpose

often reflect almost an obsession with winning. Bill Gates imbued Microsoft with
a goal of putting the Windows operating system into every personal computer,
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for example. At General Electric, former CEO Jack Welch wanted the company
to strive to be number one or number two in each industry in which it did busi-
ness. As another example, Southwest Airlines was founded with a heroic goal of
winning against much larger competitors such as American and Delta. With this
approach, the basis of action is people’s desire to achieve and to experience self-
effi cacy, as described in Chapter 8. People want to feel capable of being effective
and producing results.
Companies that remain successful over the long term have top execu-
tives who lead with a noble purpose. A well-chosen noble purpose taps into
the emotions and instincts of employees and customers and can contribute to
better morale, greater innovativeness, and higher employee and organizational
performance.

Strategy in Action

Strong missions that reflect a noble purpose and guiding visions are both impor-
tant, but they are not enough alone to make strong, powerful organizations. For
organizations to succeed, they need ways to translate vision, values, and purpose
into action, which is the role of strategy. Formulating strategy is the hard, serious

work of taking a specific step toward the future. Strategic management is the set of Strategic management
Strategic management
the set of decisions and actions
decisions and actions used to formulate and implement specific strategies that will the set of decisions and actions

used to formulate and implement
achieve a competitively superior fit between the organization and its environment used to formulate and implement

specifi c strategies that will
specifi c strategies that will
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so as to achieve organizational goals. It is the leader’s job to fi nd this fi t and achieve a competitively superior
achieve a competitively superior
fi t between the organization and
translate it into action. fi t between the organization and
its environment so as to achieve
its environment so as to achieve
organizational goals
organizational goals
Deciding Where to Go
Strategy can be defined as the general plan of action that describes resource al- Strategy

Strategy
the general plan of action that
location and other activities for dealing with the environment and helping the the general plan of action that
describes resource allocation
organization attain its goals. In formulating strategy, leaders ask questions such as describes resource allocation
and other activities for dealing
and other activities for dealing
“Where is the organization now? Where does the organization want to be? What with the environment and
with the environment and
helping the organization attain
changes and trends are occurring in the competitive environment? What courses helping the organization attain
its goals
of action can help us achieve our vision?” its goals
Developing effective strategy requires actively listening to people both in-
side and outside the organization, as well as examining trends and discontinui-
ties in the environment that can be used to gain an edge. Rather than reacting to