What should your organization make possible ten years from now and beyond — and for whom?
Ambition of the Ultimate Stakeholders.
Start with the people your organization exists to serve.
The ICR Definition of Ultimate Stakeholders' Ambition
The future the organization’s ultimate stakeholders want the organization to help make possible, looking at least ten years ahead. The organization is not the Ambition. It is the means through which that Ambition is pursued.
Who are the ultimate stakeholders?
An organization’s reason for existing starts with its ultimate stakeholders: who does it exist for, and what future should it make possible for them? These may be an entrepreneur or family owner, the owners or shareholders of a corporate group, or the people a public or nonprofit organization ultimately exists to serve. The organization is the means through which their Ambition is pursued.
Their desired future gives direction to what the organization must become. Know your starting point and choose your destination. When planning a journey, you first establish where you are. Then you decide where you want to go and plan how to get there.Building an organization follows the same logic. Without an explicit destination, decisions can each make sense while together taking you somewhere you never consciously chose. Progress matters. Where that progress takes you matters too.
Why start with Ambition — and look at least ten years ahead?
1. Give the desired future room to take shape.Start with what the ultimate stakeholders want the organization to make possible. Looking sufficiently far ahead creates room for purposeful, meaningful development. Within ICR, a horizon of at least ten years is a deliberate choice. It is not a universal threshold. It helps you think beyond the organization as it exists today, so that its current capabilities and limitations do not determine the future you pursue.
2. Use the years ahead to make that future possible.Use the years ahead to build the organization needed to realize the Ambition. Your organization does not need to have every capability today. A horizon of at least ten years gives direction to the development of the business model, people, capabilities and partnerships needed to make the desired future possible.
3. Make the Ambition the reference point for decisions.Lasting success requires purposeful thinking and action. The Ambition makes explicit who the organization exists for and what it should help them achieve. Use that Ambition to assess whether the business model, the way the organization is structured and its day-to-day execution are bringing the desired future closer.
From Ambition to Daily Execution
Route ICR helps you make that Ambition explicit, translate it into requirements for your business model and develop the organization needed. Its organizational framework makes the relevant playing field visible and the quality of its implementation measurable. The online platform connects your choices with responsibilities, risks, goals, actions and progress, supporting execution and continuous improvement.
You and your team make the choices. ICR helps you turn them into a coherent approach and put them into practice.
From Organizational Design to Continuous Improvement
Imagine your organization does not yet exist. You would first determine who it should serve and what future it should help make possible. That Ambition would guide the requirements for its business model and organizational design.
Once the organization exists, these choices become part of a continuous cycle of alignment, evaluation and improvement. You can start wherever attention is needed most, while keeping the entire organizational picture and the Ambition in view. Even the Ambition itself can be revisited when new insights or changing circumstances call for it.
What does this look like in practice?
These four examples show whose Ambition gives direction and what it means for the organization.
A business owner
The ultimate stakeholder in this example is the owner.
“Ten years from now, I want to be financially independent and free to choose how much I work, while my business continues to thrive and create value without depending on me.”
This Ambition gives the owner a reason to build beyond today’s demands: develop leadership, share responsibilities and create a business that can succeed without their daily involvement.
A business unit leader
The ultimate stakeholders in this example are the owners or shareholders of the company to which the business unit belongs.
“Ten years from now, we want a company that delivers healthy returns and continues to create value, even as today’s markets and products change.”
The business unit leader translates this Ambition into the unit’s contribution: what customer value, business model and capabilities should it develop to help make that future possible?
A foundation
The ultimate stakeholders in this example are the people the foundation exists to support.
“Ten years from now, we want to live more independently and participate more fully in society.”
The foundation makes this desired future explicit together with those people. It then uses that Ambition to guide its services, partnerships and organizational development.
A municipalityThe ultimate stakeholders in this example are its current and future residents.
“Ten years from now and beyond, we want affordable homes in a safe, liveable community, with access to the services we need.”
The municipality considers different needs and interests and translates this desired future into connected choices about housing, infrastructure and public services, extending beyond individual budget years and electoral terms.
The success of an organization is assessed by what it makes possible for people.
Start with the future its ultimate stakeholders want at least ten years from now. That future does not have to be limited by what the organization can do today. Use the years ahead to develop the business model and organization needed to realize the Ambition.
Choose the Future You Want to Reach
Prefer to read? Here is the full story.Choose the Future You Want to ReachImagine you are planning a journey with someone important to you. You have a car, some savings and a few places you would love to visit. First, you work out where you stand. Where will you start? How much time and money do you have? What commitments must you take into account? Then you explore where you want to go and what you want the journey to make possible. Perhaps you imagine spending several months living in different places, getting to know people and enjoying time together.
Once that desired future is clear, you can plan a route. You may need to save, learn a language or arrange to work differently. You can begin developing possibilities you do not have today. But what happens if you skip those steps?
You could simply get into the car you have, book an attractive hotel offer and choose the next stop as you go. Each decision might make sense. You could travel a long way and have wonderful experiences. Yet you might arrive somewhere you never consciously chose, having spent the time and money you needed for the journey you actually wanted.
Building an organization follows the same logic. First, understand the starting point. Then identify the ultimate stakeholders and make explicit what they want to achieve more than ten years from now. What should the organization make possible in their lives, or in the lives of the people it exists to serve? That future invites creativity. It gives you a reason to develop new ideas, capabilities and partnerships rather than letting today’s possibilities define your destination.
Route ICR helps you translate that Ambition into requirements for your business model and the organization you need to build. Its framework makes the relevant organizational playing field visible and the quality of your approach measurable. The online platform connects choices with responsibilities, risks, goals, actions and progress, supporting execution and continuous improvement.
You do not need to map every detail of the next decade. You need a clear direction, a workable route and a first step. As you learn, you adapt the plan and keep looking more than ten years ahead.
Where are you now? What future do you want to make possible? And how will your organization help you get there?
Explore a Story From Your Own Context
Entrepreneurs & Family Businesses
What future do you ultimately want your business to make possible?
Business Unit Leaders
How does your business unit contribute to the owners’ long-term Ambition?
Nonprofit Organizations
What future should your organization help make possible for those you serve?
Government & Public Organizations
What future should your organization help make possible for society?
Supervisory Boards
Are today’s decisions building the organization tomorrow’s Ambition requires?
Coaches, Advisors & Accountants
Does your advice help build the future your client ultimately wants?
Would you build your dream home the way you're building your business?
When building your dream home, you start with the future you want to make possible. You then define the requirements, choose a suitable concept and develop a detailed design. Why should building your business be any different?