Business Visioning

Business Visioning

How To Create a Company Vision

Zingerman’s has used visions to guide our organization’s success for 30 years! Co-founding partners, Ari & Paul, wrote our first company vision back in 1994. They imagined Zingerman’s growing into a community of several Ann Arbor-based food businesses – and ZingTrain was founded in this same year! In 2007, the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses had […]

Business Visioning

Zingerman’s 2032 Vision

It’s our 50th year! That’s right. The Big 5-O! And the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses (ZCoB) is healthier, happier, and more financially sound than ever. We have continued to break creative ground in the worlds of progressive business, service, food, work experiences, love and care. In an era where electronic interaction is now the norm, […]

Business Visioning

Designing Sustainable Visions

Many thanks to all of you who reached out with such positive thoughts after to my recent piece about our 2032 Vision. I appreciate everyone who asked for a copy. I’m happy to share—inspiring visions and interesting ideas, ever imperfect, can only lead to more creative thinking across our ecosystem when shared widely. Speaking of […]

Business Visioning

The Life-Altering Work of Writing Your Organizational Vision of Greatness

Thursday, January 28, is a morning that I will remember, in the best possible ways, for a long time. Probably, for the rest of my life. Unlike so many other days lately, nothing particularly noteworthy that I know of happened on a national scale that day. And yet, here at Zingerman’s, it was a day […]

Ari's Writing

The Power of Personal Visioning in a Pandemic

Malcolm Gladwell said, “Once you don’t start at the beginning, your life just gets so much easier.” Why not, then, use the end as the beginning? It’s an oft-used tactic for writers and filmmakers, so why not try it in our lives? When we know how the story winds up, we will most likely alter […]

Business Visioning

Mission, Vision and Values: What’s the Difference and Which Comes First?

Think for a moment about your company’s mission statement, vision of success, and core values. Do you have a clear idea of each? If not, not to worry – many, if not most, successful businesses have been doing just fine without formally defining them. But there can be tremendous value in taking the time to […]

Business Visioning

Ari’s Secret Source of Progressive Business Ideas

In this webinar, Ari will reveal his “secret” source of progressive business ideas – the Anarchists! Anarchism and business might seem like strange bedfellows but Ari’s in-depth studies of the Anarchists, first as a Russian history student in the 1970’s and then again as he did research for his Guide to Good Leading series, reveal […]

Business Visioning

An Introduction to Zingerman’s Approach to Visioning

Many of you know that here at Zingerman’s, we’re big believers in the power of Visioning. We use it for projects of every size – from getting a new office printer to opening a new business. We teach it at every level of our organization. We write business visions, team visions, project visions, shift visions […]

Business Visioning

Our Beliefs on Visioning

If we go by Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 Hour Rule, Ari is an expert on Visioning. He’s studied visioning for countless hours. He’s written (and executed) scores of visions. He’s written about Visioning in his book Guide to Good Leading Series, Part 1 : A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business. He’s taught visioning […]

Business Visioning

The Power of Visioning During Transitions

The start of a new year brings with it a familiar excitement for what’s to come. A new sense of hope arises as we look forward to an entire twelve months to accomplish goals and, hopefully, experience growth along the way. Resolutions abound and visions of success are oh so prevalent. It’s no secret that […]

Business Visioning

The Power of Visioning Throughout the Organization

At Zingerman’s, we define a Vision as a picture of success at a particular time in the future. It’s different than a mission statement (those are never-changing) and it’s not a strategic plan either, as it doesn’t lay out a step-by-step guide for how to move forward. Rather, the Vision is the desired destination, described […]

Business Visioning

A Sample Vision: Creating a Farmer’s Market

A draft vision for a small Thursday evening Farmer’s Market we host out in the parking lot of Zingerman’s Roadhouse. It’s the longest day of the year; the sun is at its pinnacle of warmth and light. Throngs of people are milling around the Roadhouse parking lot on this Thursday afternoon, amazed and excited at […]