Lenny Rachitsky: belief

Transcript context

…I'll use it an analogy. Let's say we want to go hike. We want to go up to Mount Everest. The vision would be once we're up there, me describing the picture of what we're going to see, we're going to get there, we're going to look around, we'll be the Himalayas, be beautiful, we'll be above the clouds, probably out of breath. That's the vision. It's like I fast-forward into the future, I hold time and I'm in that place and I'm describing the picture, right? And so a city without parking, you can see that, right? And we've all watched sci-fi movies. You can see Mars, Red Planet. So that's the vision and then the mission is the purpose of why we're doing that. We're going to do this to demonstrate that we're able to do it and making sure that we both get there together. It's a very simplistic one, but I'm just giving... That's the purpose. We're doing it because we want to prove to ourselves that we can summit Mount Everest, which I will not be doing anytime soon, and we're doing it to prove to ourselves something that we can do it and we're capable, and we will do that by making sure that we look out for each other. Because you can get to Mount Everest and not have all the people with you, right? That's a team bonding challenge that I've done once upon a time. It's actually very, very, very intricate and interesting. So that's your vision. And then the mission is the purpose and some set of guiding principles as to what will allow you to achieve that vision. That's really handy. So simple way to think about... I'm just taking notes as you're talking and I totally agree with this. The mission is essentially the why and why you exist and the purpose for your team slash company and the vision... The word vision almost tells you what it is. It's what it looks like when you get there. Awesome. So that's exactly how I think about it actually. I have this post that I'll link to in the show notes that talks through mission and vision strategy. I'll give a bunch more examples real quick. Just again, I pulled it up as you're chatting just for folks to have more examples. So a couple of mission examples real quick. At Ted, their mission is to spread ideas. They're around to spread ideas. Stripe's mission increased the GDP of the internet. IKEA's mission created better everyday life for the many people. So I think that's exactly what you're talking about. They're like the purpose, why do we exist? And then visions. So Microsoft's vision, a computer on every desk and in every home. Very much like what does it look like when we've achieved it? Tesla create the most compelling car company of the 21st century. It's kind of in between, but I think that's close. Lyft, a world where cities feel small again, where transportation and tech bring people together instead of a apart. How sweet. So that's one where it's very warm and fuzzy and I love it. Maybe this is my Uber, but you can see a computer on every desk. That's what I mean by it has to be realistic.…

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