Start with Purpose: Re-anchoring Vision for a New Year
For five years of my career in people development, I served as a residence director at a local university. When I accepted the role in an all-women’s residence hall, I shared a clear vision for who I wanted us to become as women—and I invited the students to join me in building that culture.
Three years later, my husband and I were asked to move across campus to oversee a co-ed residence hall. Once again, we cast a vision—but this time, we approached it differently. Instead of defining it for them, we invited our student leaders to help give language to who they believed we should be as a community.
That shift changed everything.
Whenever we drifted away from “who we are,” I didn’t have to enforce compliance or correct behavior. I simply reminded them of the values and identity they had named—and together, we course-corrected. Even more powerful, they reminded each other. The vision didn’t live in my title or my authority; it lived in the community.
Now you may be wondering, “Charis, why are you telling us about college students?”
Because leadership principles don’t change when the audience does.
There’s a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that captures this perfectly:
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
That’s exactly what was happening in that second residence hall. I wasn’t just managing behavior or directing tasks—I was helping leaders long for something bigger than policies, checklists, or rules. And when people internalize purpose, they don’t need constant instruction. They begin to lead themselves—and one another—toward it.
Both approaches to vision were effective in different ways. But the second would not have worked if I had led it the same way as the first. It’s one thing for a leader to remind people who we are going to be. It’s another for people to declare it themselves—and feel responsible for living it out.
This is where the lesson applies to every business leader, at every level.
Yes, you need a clear vision. For your life, that’s important. For your team or organization, it’s essential. People need to know where the ship is headed. But before vision becomes something others can carry, it has to be something the leader is truly anchored to—not just clear about, but personally connected to.
Vision alone isn’t enough.
If your role is only to give direction—gather the wood, divide the work, and move straight to execution—you may build something functional. But you won’t build shared meaning, ownership, or resilience. Compliance can move work forward; purpose moves people forward.
Great leaders don’t just ask others to carry out a vision. They invite people into it. They create space for others to explore it, shape it, and name it. They listen before they plan. When that happens, the vision stops being yours and starts becoming ours.
So as you enter a new year:
Cast the vision.
Invite people to engage with it alongside you.
Create shared understanding before shared plans.
Then take the next right step—together.
Because without movement, vision is just a well-worded brainstorm.
But with shared purpose, it becomes a direction people are willing to sail toward—long after the energy of January fades.
