The number of times I’ve heard that an organization wants to raise its visibility is incredible. It seems to be the go-to desire of any organization that wants to increase its membership, find sponsors, or have more impact.

It probably is a logical idea in an attention economy.

What is rarely thought about when making such statements, is what one wants to become visible with. And even less, how to make it tangible.

It doesn’t help to be visible if people cannot remember what they have seen.

It may work to become visible by showing one’s identity, vision, or mission. But for most, this isn’t tangible, it’s just ideas and rarely something to trust.

It changes when people in the organization start to talk in such a way that they make the vision, or mission tangible. They achieve this by acting on their vision and mission. That is, by experiencing it themselves. It’s when their identity becomes coherent with the vision and the mission.

An organization that develops a mission and vision does it foremost for itself. It publishes it to become accountable to them. By acting on their vision and mission, the organization takes control of what they do.

They cannot control how others see them. But they can focus on doing what is important enough to them, that they want to be known for it.