Study Guide: Chapter 11 — Shared Vision

Core Idea

A shared vision is a common picture people are genuinely committed to one another holding, not a top-down statement. It emerges from personal visions (hologram metaphor) and requires enrollment and commitment, not compliance.

Key Terms

Shared vision · hologram metaphor · enrollment vs. compliance vs. selling · intrinsic vs. extrinsic vision · commitment (governing ideas)

Case Summary

Spartacus's army choosing death over betraying a shared vision of freedom. Draper Laboratory asking NASA to restart the Apollo guidance project rather than patch a flawed design. Digital Equipment's networked-organization vision, pitched by a middle manager with no authority in 1981, reaching 10,000+ networked computers by 1987. John Kryster winning a peer's support by dropping the data-heavy pitch for an honest, small-scale test proposal.

Application Checklist

• [ ] Check whether a "shared vision" in your org was actually built from personal visions, or handed down as a statement
• [ ] Distinguish enrollment (free choice) from compliance (going along) in your own team's stated buy-in
• [ ] Ask whether a goal is intrinsic (an internal standard) or purely extrinsic (beating a rival) — and what happens after the rival is beaten

Self-Test

1. Why does the hologram metaphor explain why a shared vision doesn't change as more people join it?
2. What's the difference between selling, enrolling, and commitment?
3. Why do extrinsic (competitor-beating) visions risk collapsing once the goal is achieved?