Visionary Companies

Many companies that practice divine leadership have explicit goals to provide beneficial service to society, and in turn these companies generate higher levels of financial success as compared to their counterparts. Collins and Porras (1994) performed extensive historical research on eighteen extremely successful ’visionary’ companies that have been highly profitable for over 40 years to determine how they differed from comparison companies in the same industry that have profited for roughly the same number of years but have not been as successful.  They found that the visionary companies shared several key traits that distinguished them from the group of comparison companies. One of the key differences they found is that the visionary companies have been clear that they exist for reasons beyond just making a profit. They understood that profits are important, but they were guided by a deeper ideology that provided a sense of purpose reflecting the values of the leaders. The ideologies for all of the visionary companies were founded upon making a positive contribution to society and providing a genuine service with true value to customers.  Visionary companies consistently based their decisions on their ideology.  One example provided was Merck, the visionary pharmaceutical giant, whose CEO said in 1950, “We try to never forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear” (p.94).  In contrast, the comparison companies did not generally embrace a deep ideology and tended to base their decisions and practices on maximizing profits. The visionary companies, which focus on providing social benefits, have consistently been more profitable than the comparison companies (Collins & Porras, 1994).