Obama, Jobs, jobs and The Vision Thing Vision

Q: What's Just as Good as My White 13" MacBook?

A:Except for the smaller screen, the lack of hardware extensibility, the missing keyboard,  a pocket sized  operating system on an attache case sized device? Give up? You know.

I hope to Job we don't have to hear much more about this. At least not like the silly opinion piece in this morning's Washington Post - SOTU for CEOs: More like Jobs, less like Obama - (oh wait, it's not an opinion piece, it a "Guest Insight") in which Jobs' vision for iPad trumps Obama's vision for jobs (and presumably everything else).

Never mind that Obama's vision has to be implemented by people who are elected, polarized and sensitive to the whims of their constituents.

Never mind that Obama's vision has to be sold over the drone of conjecture from a host of media hosts who are almost universally shallow and often nasty, while Jobs' vision has been pre-sold by a host of fawning techie press gurus who are almost universally out of their environment when it comes both technology and business.

Never mind that Obama's vision is complex and, by necessity, intertwined with many issues while Job's vision is a retail product.

Never mind that Obama's vision and the change that it entails is scary to most people while Jobs' has delivered a vision of a status symbol that no one really needs and everyone must have.

Other than that, the guest insight is very.... insightful.

I do agree with the author's observation that corporate vision is essential for success. But I disagree about the nature of the success (and failure). Most CEOs neither have nor communicate effective vision. But it's usually the company, the employees and the stockholders who suffer. The CEOs usually ride on until the company goes under (or at least until the rats are packing their little fanny packs).  Corporate vision is essential for a company. But CEOs and their legions of loyal management seem to get by just fine without it.