Business
Business Visualization for CEOs: See Your Company's Next Three Years
By Surekaa Sundar
· 4 min read
As a business mentor, I have sat across the table from business owners, entrepreneurs and some of the biggest names in business. What they shared was not money or luck. It was the way they thought: they pictured the company they wanted, again and again, long before it existed.
Years ago I watched the grand opening of a textile giant in my city. Every time I passed that building, the same thought came to me: one day I will guide this company. About fourteen years later, the chairman called and asked me to guide the company's brand. Fourteen years is a long time to hold a picture. That is what business visualization asks of you.
What is business visualization?
Business visualization is seeing your company at a chosen point in the future, in numbers and in detail, and then working backwards to the steps. It is not a slide deck. It is a picture you can hold in your mind: the office you walk into, the people around the table, the turnover on the screen, the customer who calls to thank you.
Why should a CEO visualize, and not just plan?
A plan is a list. A picture is a reason. When the week goes wrong, a list is the first thing you abandon; a picture you have lived in your mind pulls you back. The best plans in the workshop start from the picture and end in a 90-day plan, so you get both.
How much time should a business owner spend on growth?
This is the question that changes most owners. I ask every business owner to be a GOD of their business:
| Share of your time | What it means | |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | 60% | Thinking about growth and goals; searching for opportunities |
| Operations | 30% | Running and improving how the work gets done |
| Day-to-day | 10% | Signing, calls and mails. No fire-fighting. |
Reverse the order, 60% day-to-day and 10% growth, and GOD becomes DOG. Write down your own hours this week. Most owners are shocked.
How do I visualize my business goals?
- See it in numbers. Why do we love cricket? Because every moment has a number. Your business should too: turnover, employees, offices, businesses, at a chosen year and at your age then.
- Specific is terrific. Not "a bigger office", but where it is, how many floors, the name on the board.
- Never compromise on three things: your thoughts, your quality and your goals. Compromise is the most dangerous habit for achievers.
- Put people in the picture. The team, the customers, your family seeing it. Who says what to you on that day?
How do I turn the picture into a system?
A picture without a system stays a dream. In the business track we use PODRA: Plan, Order creation, Do, Repeat, Align. Choose one process in your business and make it systematic this quarter. Then choose three numbers you will watch every single week.
And spend thirty minutes a day learning about your industry: its top three leaders, its top three magazines or sites, and the top three news stories this month. Thiruvalluvar said it two thousand years ago:
எதிரதாக் காக்கும் அறிவினார்க் கில்லை அதிர வருவதாம் நோய்
Those wise enough to guard against what is coming face no sudden, shaking trouble. (Thirukkural 429)
Should business owners join a mastermind group?
Yes, if it meets regularly and holds you to account. Business owners are often the loneliest people in their own companies. After the workshop, every batch meets online with me every fortnight for a year: 26 mastermind sessions. The business owners work through a growth-time audit, PODRA in detail, and brand, sales and a dashboard of their numbers, alongside people who face the same Monday mornings. Every 90 days we re-score and set the next plan.
What about the owner's own money?
Your business money is not yours. Take a decent salary from your business. Your house should come from your own name and effort, not from company dividends. And invest in the right things: don't trust big returns. This is a habit, not financial advice, but I have seen it protect many families.
Where can CEOs attend a business visualization workshop?
We run residential WISHualization workshops in Tamil for CEOs, founders and business owners in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai, with Yercaud next. On Day 3, business owners take their own track. For a leadership team anywhere in Tamil Nadu or India, we can run it in-house. See the workshop for CEOs.
If you want to become a billionaire, go and serve a billion people. Start by seeing them.
Questions people also ask
Is business visualization only for big companies?
No. Founders of small and family businesses often gain the most, because their time is the business. The method starts from your own hours and your own numbers.
How is business visualization different from strategic planning?
Planning lists the steps. Visualization gives you the picture the steps lead to, held clearly enough that you return to it when the week goes wrong. You need both.
How often should I review my business vision?
Every 90 days. Re-score your numbers, close one plan and set the next, so the picture and the plan stay in step.
Can my leadership team do this together?
Yes. Teams can join an open batch, or we can run the programme in-house so the whole team sees the same picture of the company.
Is the workshop in English?
It is conducted mostly in Tamil, with English on the slides.
Practise this with Surekaa
Three days to begin. A year to make it yours.
A residential WISHualization workshop in Tamil, then 26 mastermind sessions with your batch.
