I have been going through Jim Collins’s ‘Beyond Entrepreneurship’ again. Spanish politicians should read this book. If they’re a bit busy with everything that’s going on, they should just read chapter two.

Chapter two is dedicated to the idea of ‘vision’ and Collins opens with a quote from Abraham Maslow: “The basic question is, what do you aspire to?”.

Collins’s own first sentence is then: “The function of leadership—the number -one responsibility of a leader—is to catalyse a clear and shared vision for the company and to secure commitment to and vigorous pursuit of that vision.”

In Collins’s mind, a leader’s vision is composed of three elements:

1. core values and beliefs;
2. a purpose;
3. a mission.

Core values and beliefs give you a “system of guiding principles and tenets; a philosophy of business and life.”

Your purpose is the “fundamental reason for the organisation’s existence” and acts “like a guiding star” which “should serve to guide the company for 100 years”.

The mission is supposed to be “a bold, compelling audacious goal.”

Historically, Spain has had something of a problem with shared values, beliefs and purpose.

Before the recession, however, Spain’s informal, undeclared mission could have been described as: “build lots of houses and sell them to richer northern Europeans.”

Going back further still, but still in the modern era, Spain’s mission during the transition period following Franco’s death might have been described as: “become a modern democracy and avoid another civil war.”

Collins lists four primary benefits of vision:

1. Vision forms the basis of extraordinary human effort;
2. Vision provides a context for strategic and tactical decisions;
3. Shared vision creates cohesion, teamwork and community;
4. Vision lays the groundwork for the company to evolve past dependence on a few key individuals.

He gives several political examples in the chapter, as well as business ones. Among them are this example of a mission statement for the US, given to the country by JFK;

“This nation should dedicate itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”

There doesn’t seem to be anyone in Spain thinking about anything like this right now.

There should be.

How would you describe Spain’s common beliefs and values and its overriding purpose?

What big, audacious, compelling mission would you give Spain right now?