Fix the Direction Disconnect with a 30-Second Statement Your Team Can Actually Use
- Jessica Hall
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
Many teams aren’t lacking strategy, they’re struggling with Direction Disconnect: the gap between big-picture plans and everyday decisions.
You can hang your vision on a wall or drop it into your email signature. But if your team can’t apply it today, they’ll fall back on habit, guesswork, or whoever speaks the loudest in the room.
That’s why we created the Direction Stack, a practical set of tools to make strategy repeatable, usable, and actionable at every level of your organization.
The Problem With Vision and Mission Statements
Companies love a good vision or mission statement
These statements are powerful. They guide long-term direction and big bets. But they’re too abstract to help your team decide what to build this sprint, who to prioritize, or which tradeoff to make.
That’s where the Direction One Liner comes in.
What Is a Direction One Liner?
It’s your current, tactical version of the vision. It helps your team:
Know who they’re helping
Understand what they’re doing and why
See how today’s work ties into tomorrow’s goals
It’s present-tense for a reason. Your strategy evolves. This helps your team make smart decisions at the moment. Then you update it when we’re ready to get to the next step
How to Write One
Use this format:
We’re helping [group] [do this], so they can [get result] and we move closer to [long-term goal].
Or, when priorities shift:
In the past, we focused on [X]. Now we’re helping [Y], because [change], and that sets us up for [future goal].
Real-World Examples
We’re helping insurance companies get accurate, up-to-date data on the value of customers’ lost property—so they can settle claims faster and with more confidence. That also grows our used property data business.
We’ve built a strong network of freight carriers, giving us data on capacity and routes. Now we’re onboarding shippers—so we can optimize matching, improve pricing models, and deliver better outcomes for both sides.
We recently acquired a company with valuable customer data. We’re integrating it to improve prediction accuracy and open new cross-sell opportunities with existing products.
Why This Works
A good Direction One Liner:
Anchors your team in what matters right now
Connects strategy to execution
Improves decision-making
Reduces misalignment and drift
Makes vision feel alive, not abstract
Bonus: it helps you spot drift, when different teams say different things, it’s time to realign.
How to Use It
Write one every quarter or whenever priorities shift
Repeat it in sprint kickoffs, team meetings, and async updates
Pressure-test it: Could a new hire repeat this after hearing it once? If not, make it shorter and clearer.
Bottom Line
You don’t need a new vision. You need a way to operationalize the one you have.
The Direction One Liner helps your team move faster, make better decisions, and stay aligned as you scale.
Want to see how this fits into the full Direction Stack? → Read the post on fixing the Direction Disconnect
Need help writing yours? → Let’s work on it together
