If you are going to be the C.E.O. of anything, there are 4 domains Y.O.U. must address.
Our builder Larry liked to quote Michael Gerber, who wrote they are vision, culture, strategy, and metrics. Thank you, Toto & Shannon-ball, for incorporating them into our OPUS framework:
O-verarching Vision (aka crazy big dream worth living/dying for)
P-urpose (your culture FLOWS from your purpose)
U-nifying Strategies
S-corecard
If you don’t have a clear O-verarching Vision and compelling P-urpose, any road will take you there, and any S-corecard can fool you into thinking you’ve arrived.
BUILT TO LEAD leaders don’t write their O-verarching Vision as a clever phrase that can be hung on a wall or put on a T-shirt. If you are going to connect your team — pierce their hearts — Edwin Friedman is right. Your O-verarching Vision must be EMOTIONAL. An O-verarching Vision is what the eyes of your HEART sees. It’s like Colonel Chamberlain’s SPEECH to the 20th Maine before the Battle of Little Roundtop in the movie Gettysburg. It’s like Martin Luther King’s “I have a DREAM” for civil rights for all Americans.
The P-urpose is the melody line of the O-verarching Vision. It’s the CORE “why”. Chamberlain’s war was a fight for each other to be free. MLK marched to the drumbeat of the self-evident truths on which our country was founded.
Your U-nifying Strategies answer the question “how” will U lead Y.O.U. to reach your O-verarching Vision. Recently, this is where I’ve seen several leaders getting stuck. Like 5 pillars supporting a platform, your U-nifying Strategies will answer the question “what are the main things I must DO?” They will answer the question “in what 5 areas must I spend my TIME?”
They are U-nifying because they help Y.O.U. become aligned and ONE within. They connect your vision with your actions. They expose dissonance. They expose blind spots. They integrate your life and arise out of your Core Worldview, Identity and Principles.
They are the framework for asking “what are my PRIORITIES” that will guide “what are this season’s GOALS” that will guide “what are my PRODUCTIVE ACTIONS.” They will guide your S-corecard so you are inspecting the right things.
Opus Focus. Together We Improve.
BUILT TO LEAD 