A powerful vision, which is the raison to be a company and answers the question why are we here? whose answer can be described as an ambitious principle that seems possible, but is difficult to achieve because it is timeless. Having a powerful vision at all levels of the organization creates a mystique that reflects the organizational culture.

Although it is a fact that a powerful vision does not ensure the transcendence of a company, since throughout history we have seen thousands of examples of organizations with powerful visions disappear, if one is required to aspire to prevail. That is why I took on the task of analyzing those institutions and companies that have lasted thousands and / or hundreds of years and find patterns that help us fulfill this mission.

I analyzed several cases, but here I present some of the oldest institutions and companies of humanity, which remain to this day.

The Catholic Church dates from the middle of the second century, although the same Church marks its origin with Peter, recognized as the first Pope, out of 264 documented. Which means that in its 2020 years of existence, each papacy has lasted 7.65 years on average. The vision statement of the Catholic Church is: «A world healed and redeemed through the saving action of Jesus Christ».

The British Monarchy or Crown dates from the year 827, in its 1193 years of existence it has had 68 monarchs, which on average have lasted 13.87 years on the throne, these 68 monarchs have been 14 houses, which means that each house has been in power an average of 85.21 years. The motto of the British Crown is «Dieu et mon droit» which in French means «God and my right», adopted in 1157 and which remains to this day.

Al Qarawiyyin University, also known as Al-Karaouine or Al-Quaraouiyine, was founded in 859 and is 1161 years old. Whose vision according to the words of its president: “… aspires to train researchers, ulama, imams, counselors and counselors, who have methods and knowledge that facilitate them correctly with their work … institutional scientist, as a reference in the matter of specialized training, exceptional and fair in the sciences of Sharia, in Islamic studies, in comparative jurisprudence and in the legacy of the Maliki doctrine.»

The oldest company that is registered is Barovier & Toso, specialized in Murano glass since 1295 it reached 725 years in the market as a local company/workshop. In terms of global companies, there are: DuPont 218 years, Citigroup 208 years, AXA 204 years, Schneider Electric 184 years, among others. On the page of the Venetian company Barovier & Toso it reads: “In 7 centuries of history, we have seen fashions come and go. Some minimalist, others baroque, but each of them chased time, in a desperate search for the “new”. However, time in Venice passes slowly. There is no rush, no madness, just an amount of space and time to develop our craft. So we took our time and learned that we would rather do something unique and enlightening that lasts forever, rather than something new that fascinates for whatever reason. It takes force to extract glass from fire and heat. It takes patience to fight for nothing less than perfect form. And it takes a lot of heart to grow a legendary luxury lighting tradition in the new world, working with innovators and traditionalists alike. But again, we can afford the luxury of time, and maybe you can too.»

Whether as a slogan, mission statement, or vision, defining the transcendental reason is essential for it to last. Personally, I found a great power in the text of Barovier & Toso, it aligns with one of my principles, which years ago I listened to a friend and made it my own, «haste is not elegant» and apparently it does not help in the preservation of companies, that is why at metrics we work for the present in the past and in the present we work for the future. What we are today is the product of something we plan to be and have worked for years to achieve.

But how do we define a vision that has that power? For years I have been on a personal crusade to find my vocation, that has led me to undertake more than one occasion. Some of these ventures were successful and others were not. Today, after all that accumulated experience, I could assure you that: everything I did prepared me for this moment and that everything I have done is part of a whole, of a single vocation.

On April 17, 2016, i wrote this on my social networks “Ikigai (生 き 甲 斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept that means “reason for being”. According to Japanese culture, everyone has an «ikigai». Finding it requires a deep and long search for being». Well that’s what I’ve been doing since I can remember, finding my ikigai, my reason for being and, personally, I feel closer and closer. I have learned that cognitive, emotional, and social intelligence, added to experience, can make you grow, but just having a reason for being will make you transcend.

What I love

One of my principles has to do with the development of individual potential in the service of the common good, based on the «Nash Equilibrium» or game theory, I call it achievement through others. This not only applies to my partners, for metricsers, it also applies to our clients, allies, suppliers and anyone who is directly related to me and consequently with metrics. I love making the people I care about to grow and that I be part of that growth.

The implications of pursuing this principle are very powerful and have made a difference to everyone around me. If I pursue the good of my partners by doing what is necessary for them to achieve their objectives and those objectives are aligned with mine, then we will achieve our goals as a whole. The same happens when the metrics partners do the same with the executives, and the executives with their work teams and all the metricsers with the suppliers, clients and the industry, then Mexico and then we can conquer the world. The sky is the limit, although I have always thought that beyond the sky, there is still the universe.

What I do best

In all these years that I have worked for some of the most important companies in Mexico and the world, I have found that the contribution that they value the most from me is: my perspective. The particular way in which I see things and with it, the solutions I give to the challenges that my clients have. What I do best is to solve common problems in an original way, which results in a competitive advantage for them.

This perspective has several characteristics that are important.

The first is that, it’s a timely perspective, I am obsessive with the precision, speed and vehemence with which I give my perspective to my clients.

The second is that it is an informed perspective, I have an innate curiosity which is reflected in the hours I invest in investigating the variables that affect circumstances.

The third, which is a strategic perspective, when I do research I focus on looking for elements that allow me to find patterns and predict the future with high probability.

The fourth, that the perspective is methodological, it is very important for me to present a solution based on decision algorithms that allow my clients to implement proven protocols of action.

The fifth is that it is a comprehensive perspective, I have always built indicators, metrics and indices that allow my clients to have a realistic perspective of their objectives compared to the past, from a vision of the present and with the ability to predict the future.

My passion

If I combine what I love and what I do best, it turns out that my passion is to give my clients my perspective so that they can make better decisions and that we both win and grow in that process.

For what I get paid

Although there is the option of selling my perspective as a consultant, either as a lone consultant or for a company, I decided years ago that the way I would sell that perspective would be with my own company. A company that lasts 999 years, by nature, cannot be done with just one person. That is why I was recruiting the best individuals and professionals to make them my partners and associates in the project that today is called metrics.

The first question we had to resolve was: How much is a perspective worth? It is worth a lot if it is timely, informed, strategic, methodological and comprehensive. Since I was a consultant for other companies, one of my main recommendations was to increase the value and therefore the price of their products. We decided to apply the same in metrics, by design, we have the mission of increasing the impact of our deliverables, which allows us to increase their value for our clients.

When I talk about customers, I am not talking about the company to which we sell, I am talking about the people who buy from us, the individuals who work in that company who decide to bet on us. We focus on clients, at a personal level, having the best deliverables that clearly represent the perspective we give them, so that they can scale them in their organizations, this formula has a double mission, that they look good and that the result of that’s why we look good. This has generated long-term business relationships for us.

My profession: metrics

If we combine what we do best, with the reason why we are paid, it turns out that our profession is to deliver strategic value to clients, which has an impact that is reflected in a return on their investment and that we allow us to grow together in the long term.

What the world needs

Mexico and the world need projects such as metrics. We have concentrated on evolving with the technological, social and economic trends of humanity. We are one of the few companies that are seriously working on developing their own technology (software and hardware) and methods applied to trends such as: data science, artificial intelligence, automation and decision making and implementation applying algorithms.

In the near future we will be working on: robotics, augmented reality, virtual reality, nanotechnology, neuroscience, so that our future clients can access our perspective through exogenous and endogenous devices, which means that at some point We will work so that our clients can consume our solutions through nano robots that increase their capacities. This vision will assure us a few dozen years, but if we want to prevail 999 years, we will have to point to space.

In 999 years, and at the speed that humanity is evolving, our future as a civilization is in singularity and space. Not for nothing are the main companies on the planet making large investments in developing spacecraft, as is the case of Elon Musk and SpaceX with their vision of colonizing Mars and Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin, who are creating a platform for companies like ours to participate in projects of spatial scope. If metrics pretends to prevail, we have to take a piece of that company from humanity.

The metrics vocation

If we combine our profession with what the world needs, we find that our vocation is to enable our clients with our perspective in order that they could prevail 999 years with our help, either on this planet and / or on others.

The principle

The above taken to the professional level forces me to define and teach metricsers to pursue the Ikigai of metrics, which will lead them to transcend its founders and all the generations that will have to pass, to achieve the objective of the following 991 years left. This year we met the first 8, we are already at 0.008 percent of the goal, but to achieve it it is my responsibility to describe our reason for being. To achieve this, this is the vision, mission and economic denominator that we pursue:

Metrics vision

That the leaders of the main organizations on the planet have at their disposal a dashboard of metrics, which is essential for them to make decisions and implement actions on their current business and future.

Metrics mission

Use any technological means, software or hardware to measure any aspect of our clients business, be it physical, electronic, digital or biological, that can be measured. We do this through technological, scientific and/or consultative methods, existing or not yet invented. That allows us to provide our clients with intelligence and applied instrumentation related to their: resources, processes, methods, production, operation, logistics, finance, legal, product, commercial, innovations, development, and/or business models.

Economic denominator

The “economic denominator” that we pursue is associated with our principle: “scale our deliverables”, so the metric that all metrics pursues is that intelligence reports, campaigns or technologies, and the results of those activities, scale at the highest level of the organization of our clients and are consolidated as a strategic input for their business.

In 2021 we will continue with our expansion plan and, together with our clients, we will increase our market share in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Spain, pursuing our vision, mission and economic denominator. So, fasten your seat belts and get ready for the ride!

Javier Murillo
Founder and CEO of Metrics