For 2012, as every year, I am making two simple lists: Do and Do Not. For my Do list it will have a few goals or items I want to achieve personally or proffessionaly- the rest, ALL of the rest goes in to my Do Not list. A few goals to focus and execute on. I use Evernote to keep track of the lists which allows me to track items I have on my Do Not list and evaluate them for future years. Monthly calendar reminders help bring me back to check in and make sure I stayed focused on my Do list. So, Do a few things that matter well and Don’t do the rest, because mediocrity sucks.

Photo Credit: VideoPhotoholic

It is irrelevant whether they are right or wrong, well intentioned or not; I simply believe they are destined to fail for a two basic reasons: Vision & Leadership. One big reason the Occupy movement is not gaining more momentum and infecting mass protests across cities is there is no clear Vision for what they hope to achieve. No question the Occupy movement has triggered latent (or not so) feelings of inequality in the U.S. and made waves. But the 99% have no true Vision of what they hope to accomplish (or at least I have not been able to discern it).

They only have a rough set of Strategies and Tactics. I’m a big believer in VISTA: Vision drives Strategies drives Tactics drives Actions. Without a unifying Vision for the movement it is extraordinarily hard to know what to do “next” to move forward. Seth Godin had a fantastic comment about this concept recently regarding missions vs plans:

There’s nothing wrong with having a plan. Plans are great. But missions are better. Missions survive when plans fail, and plans almost always fail.

Occupy needs a Vision of what they want to accomplish (even if they become the 90% not the 99%). But who is most effective at setting a vision? The Leader. I get that Occupy has very purposefully avoided any figurehead or leadership- it makes sense as a groundswell movement focused on meritocracy, equality and the like to want to avoid elevating any individual or group from the masses. However, it is excruciatingly hard to actually execute and set agenda exclusively by group think. Occupy is in severe danger of making a camel [a camel is a horse designed by committee].

The delicate art they must achieve is how to find a Leader who can embody the movement without becoming distant from the movement and help guide them to a concrete Vision. Then they will be able to execute and perserve in the long run by coalescing around a unified goal. Tossed from Zuccotti Park? No problem. Oakland violence? No problem. Internal strife? No problem.

Perhaps the greatest irony is there are two types of organizations that have really effectively figured this out: corporations and the church. Occupy is railing against corporate America- but what they should do is take a page right out of the classic business organization and motivation playbook and use it against them.

Vision and Leadership. It doesn’t guantee success, but without, it guarantees failure.

Stephen Dubner (of Freakonomics fame) recently said:

“You can put too much of your emotional life in the hands of people who don’t know you and have no responsibility for you, but I think sports fandom is a fantastic gift with almost immeasurable value. It’s a proxy for real life, but better. It renews itself, it’s constantly happening in real time. There are conflicts that seem to carry real consequences but at the end of the day don’t – it’s war where nobody dies. It’s a proxy for all our emotions and desires and hopes, I mean, heck, what’s not to like about sports?”

And what could be more applicable to start-up life than that? So, without further ado, “Start-up life is like your favorite sport.” Add you own in the comments.