Fog is dangerous in the mountains.
Skiing in the Swiss Alps, in Davos, I’ve experienced this contrast viscerally. I once descended the Parsenn mountain towards Klosters in thick fog and heavy wind with a couple of friends. We couldn’t see more than a few yards. Every turn felt risky. We moved slowly, tense, and unsure.
The next day? Blue skies. Fresh powder. Clear visibility. Same mountain, entirely different experience. We skied boldly, joyfully, decisively.
Leadership works the same way.
Operating in fog and leading without clear sight is dangerous, risky and stressful.
I once asked a senior sales executive, “What’s the vision of your company?”
He paused, reached into his desk, pulled out a small index card, and read a memorized paragraph in a flat, boring tone. He knew the words, but didn’t believe them. He wasn’t seeing anything, he was stuck in the fog.
Fog creates hesitation, doubt and slows movement. Fog makes capable people overly cautious and reactive. And in today’s uncertain, complex world, fog has become the default operating condition for many leaders.
Here are three powerful ideas and tools to help clear the fog and lead with clarity and confidence.
1. Replace “Busy” with Direction
Tool:
Most leaders are drowning in activity but starving for direction. Quotas, KPIs, meetings, and emails dominate attention, leaving no space to articulate where we’re actually going.
Tool: craft a one-sentence future statement that answers:
- Where are we heading?
- Why does it matter?
- What will be different when we arrive?
If your leadership team can’t say it with conviction and see it in their mind’s eyes, you have lifted the fog.
2. Shift from Short-Term Survival to Long-Term Sight
Fog locks leaders into short-term thinking. Vision lifts them above it.
Tool: The “Above the Clouds” Question
If we succeed beyond our expectations in three years, what will we be known for?
This question forces altitude. It reconnects today’s decisions to tomorrow’s impact. Clarity restores courage.
3. Make Vision Emotional, Not Corporate
Most vision statements fail because they sound like legal documents. People don’t commit to words, they commit to pictures.
Tool: From Statement to Scene. Turn your vision into a scene:
- What are people doing?
- How are customers talking about you?
- What feels easier, faster, or more meaningful?
When we can see the future, others want to follow and move faster toward it.
Clear the fog, and speed increases, decisions sharpen and energy returns.
Vision doesn’t add work. It removes friction.
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