Is your company mission up to scratch?

Is the vision for your business clear? Could every one of your employees explain what your company was set up to achieve? Do they feel inspired and motivated by its mission? Can investors see a clear, compelling vision driving your business forward?

These are some of the questions business leaders should be able to answer easily. If you answered no – or hesitated on what your answer should be – it might be time to sit down and do some work on your company's mission.

Sam Adeyemi is a strategic leadership expert, entrepreneur, executive coach and author of a new book, Shifts: 6 steps to transform your mindset and elevate your leadership. His obsession with leadership and success began at a young age. His early years took him from engineering to the church to a nationally broadcast radio show in his birthplace, Nigeria.

He has a Masters in leadership studies from the University of Exeter and completed a doctoral programme in strategic leadership from Regent University in Virginia, US. He founded the Daystar Leadership Academy in Nigeria, which has added more than 52,000 people to its alumni since its launch in 2002.

And he has advice on crafting a vision that inspires, avoids leadership pitfalls, turns ideas into action – and sticks.

“If the vision is all about the leader,” he says, “then you have a shortcoming already. Business leaders are driven and they want to achieve big goals. The big question is: for who?

"Leadership is supposed to be others centric. If you call yourself a leader but no one is following you, you aren’t leading. You are just taking a stroll.”

Common mistakes that leaders make when it comes to vision

"The main one that comes to mind is about communicating the vision. I learned this lesson the hard way. I once had the vision that the results of one of our organisations was going to multiply four times over. I announced it with glee and I thought everybody was going to be excited, but they just stared at me blankly. I thought what did I say wrong?

"One of them walked up to me and said, ‘OK, so that means that we’d need more new people to come in than those of us that are here now. That means I will not be able to walk up to you like this anymore and I’ll have to schedule an appointment with your assistant.’ I assured her that wouldn’t happen but I went home and brooded over it.

"It dawned on me that, as far as they were concerned, the big goal was my goal, not theirs. As I was speaking, what they were hearing was how the achievement of the goal was going to affect them. I stood up in front of them again a week later, made the same announcement and it got a completely different response – because I mentioned how this vision would benefit them.