One can hardly think of a harder task than Viktor Frankl’s. He was a Psychotherapist imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp trying his best to buoy the mental state of the prisoners around him.  

After his horrendous experience he ultimately realized,  

“He who has a why can bear any how.” 

He discovered in the darkest circumstances the value of a “why;” the value to motivate, the value to guide, a north star in the dark night.   

He who has a “why” can bear any “how” 

In the corporate world you can hear echoes of this theory in the oft repeated need for vision embodied in a mission statement; to create a cornerstone for the culture of a workplace. The concern is the question-  

Has this been translated down to the training room?  

Has the broad mission statement been contextualized for the individual new hire that walks in on day one? 

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Let’s think through a scenario- John Smith walks into a training room, he is in his mid-twenties and has a young family, a wife and a new born.  

After laying out his work clothes for the first day of his new job at a manufacturing facility he sits at his computer and navigates to Zillow to look at the real estate available in his area. John allows a few moments for his imagination to take hold- a future where he can provide a home for his young family.  

Is that tree in the photo strong enough to hold a tree-house for his daughter?  

Would his wife like this style of flooring?  

Nevermind. John closes his laptop and heads to bed, he’ll need energy for his new job tomorrow. 

The next day John sits in a room with a crowd of other new hires and hears from his trainer the mission of the company, “To manufacture the world’s best widgets for the world’s best customers.”  

The mission statement identifies a core value of quality and the primacy of value of the customer.  

But, where is John in the statement?  

Where does John and his future connect with an amazing widget?  

Have we taken the time to contextualize the new hire in the vision of the company? 

Have we taken the time to contextualize the new hire in the vision of the company? 

There is a short leap from amazing widgets to tree-houses if we think for a moment; in a world where there exists incredible widgets, there will be an incredible company that creates those widgets. In a world that there is an incredible company, there can exist an incredible career for John that will facilitate an incredible tree house for John’s daughter. This is not a difficult logic-tree to construct but has it been constructed in your training?  

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What’s YOUR Vision? 

• What methods have you found to connect your new hires to your vision statement?  
• Have you identified tree-houses as a company value?