Personal Vision & Strategy Canvas

Say where you want to be in ten years and why, break it into a few goals, and decide what you will say no to. Then start with three experiments small enough to begin this month.

Practice, not research: no study shows that writing a personal vision improves a career. The canvas leans on strong research on values (Schwartz, 1992) and personality traits (Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & Costa, 1987), and on field research showing that career change moves through small tests (Ibarra, 1999). Horizons and review intervals are rules of thumb.

Use it when:

• You have done the self-assessment work (values, strengths, workview) and want one page that points it somewhere.
• You are choosing between paths, such as specialist or manager, employed or running your own business.
• Yearly planning is coming and you want your goals to add up to something.

Skip it when:

• You do not yet know what work is for, for you: start with 1.8 Workview & Lifeview.
• You already have a direction and need goals for this year: go to 1.10 1-Year Personal OKRs.

A personal vision and strategy canvas is consulting craft. No study shows that writing a ten-year vision produces a better career, and this page does not claim it. What it borrows from research is an order of work. Values are stable, well mapped and decide between goals when they collide (Schwartz, 1992). Broad personality traits are reliable enough to plan around rather than wish away (Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & Costa, 1987). A vision anchored in both is less likely to be someone else's ambition. And people who change careers, studied up close, move by trying out provisional selves in small steps, not one leap (Ibarra, 1999).

So Step 1 ties the vision to your values before any goal is set. Step 3 takes strengths and constraints from evidence about you, because a plan built on a flattering self-image breaks at the first constraint it ignored. Step 4 asks what you will decline, since strategy shows in the good options you turn down. Step 5 ends in experiments and a review date, because a vision nobody reviews is a poster.

Describe success in ten years at work and outside it, and the difference you want to make. Then compress it into one sentence and check it against your values from 1.1 Values & Motivators Worksheet.

Strong answer: "By 2036 I lead marketing at a consumer brand known for products that last, I have developed people who now lead teams themselves, and I am home most evenings." Not "be successful and happy."

At work in ten years:

Outside work in ten years:

The difference I want to make:

My vision in one sentence:

The values this honors (from 1.1):

What would be lost if I do not pursue it:

Illustrative example: the person and all numbers are made up.

A marketing manager at a mid-sized outdoor clothing maker in Norway, with two young children.

Step 1: "By 2036 I lead marketing at a consumer brand known for repairable products, I have developed people into leaders, and I am present at home." Values: integrity, contribution, family. What would be lost: years spent selling things they do not believe in.

Step 2: Lead a team of eight by 2029; develop two people into team leads by 2030; lead one brand repositioning with measured results by 2029.

Step 3: Strengths: brand storytelling (two campaigns praised by the sales director), working across product and retail. Constraints: never managed more than four (show-stopper: ask for the combined team); cannot relocate for five years (manageable: target brands with offices nearby); few contacts at senior level (show-stopper: targeted networking).

Step 4: Deep expertise plus network. No to roles at brands built on fast fashion, and to monthly weekend travel.

Step 5: A monthly newsletter on repairable brands for six months; advising a local maker; pitching a brand refresh at the current company. Partner: a former manager, every quarter. Review in March.