Vision + Velocity: The Leadership Equation in Scaleups

Why you should not choose between clarity and speed, but balance both.

You walk in on Day 1. You’re told you’ll be leading a newly formed team.

The sprint started yesterday. Just the team didn’t know. Neither did you.

The goal? Ship something in two weeks.

The product direction - unclear. Everyone has a different take.
The architecture? Already decided — not by consensus, but by chasing quick wins.

Tensions are simmering. Debates are heating up, the foundation still feels shaky.

And yet, the clock is ticking.
You’ve been asked to lead. To move forward.

Everyone’s in a hurry. Including you.

Vision vs. Velocity: It’s Not One or the Other

As chaotic as it feels, this isn't unusual — especially in a fast growing company.

Teams form fast. Deadlines are aggressive. Product direction is still evolving when execution begins.
In these moments, it’s tempting to believe that velocity is winning over vision.

But that’s a false choice.

Vision and velocity aren’t in conflict. They need each other.

• Velocity without vision? You move fast... but in the wrong direction.

• Vision without velocity? You’ve got a great deck. But no product.

The real challenge — and skill — is leading with velocity while shaping the vision.

How to Lead with Vision and Velocity

Here are six principles to help you lead with clarity, keep momentum, and build trust — even when the path ahead isn’t fully clear.

1. Do You Feel In Control?

If not, take a moment to reset — because how you lead depends on how you feel inside.

You won’t fix everything at once. That’s not the job.
Your role is to lead forward from where you are — with calm, clarity, and intent.

Start by accepting what’s outside your control: timing, past decisions, shifting priorities, or any boundaries.
Then focus on what is within your control: how you show up, the questions you ask, the tone you set, the direction you frame.

Make yourself this promise:

I’ll do my best with what I have. And

I won’t take things personally.

These are two principles that Don Miguel Ruiz states in his book The Four Agreements.

This mindset creates space. It frees you to act without absorbing everything. And that makes all the difference when you're leading in motion.

2. Be Transparent — Or Risk Losing the Team’s Trust

In times of ambiguity, people fill in the blanks. And those blanks are rarely filled with optimism.

If you don’t share what’s happening — what’s clear and what’s still in motion — your team will make assumptions. That’s how doubt steps in. That’s how trust erodes and frustration builds.

You don’t need to have all the answers. But you do need to be honest:

“Here’s what we know. Here’s what’s still evolving. Here’s how we’re approaching it.”

Invite concerns. Let people express what’s on their mind. You’ll discover the assumptions they’ve made — and you’ll have a chance to course-correct their thoughts. And maybe, just maybe, bring their optimism back.

Because when trust goes up, friction goes down. And when people feel heard and informed, they move faster.

3. Separate Vision Work from Execution Focus

If you lead, you must keep developing the vision. But you don’t do it live, in the middle of sprint planning.

Your team needs space to focus. They need a clear near-term goal and the freedom to build without constantly shifting context.

So carve out time for yourself to think strategically. You can’t do that in the 15-minute gap between meetings.

• Block deep work time every week for vision refinement.

• Use focused discussions with a small group to evolve direction.

• Shield your team from the “fog” until you’re ready to share something actionable.

4. Use Small Iterations

You don’t need a perfect roadmap. You need a tight feedback loop.

Every sprint is a chance to learn — not just deliver. Small iterations give you the ability to adjust without losing momentum or confidence.

One idea is to frame your work through the Build–Measure–Learn loop — a core principle from Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup:

• Build something small that tests an assumption.

• Measure what actually happened — not what you hoped would happen.

• Learn what that means for your direction.

Can you start each sprint by asking:

“What do we want to learn in this cycle? What are we trying to prove or disprove?”

This approach turns velocity into insight — and insight into better decisions.

You’re shipping but at the same time shaping your direction.

Shipping is only valuable if it helps you choose your next step with more confidence.

5. Zoom In to Unblock, Zoom Out to Align

One of the most critical leadership skills in a scaleup is knowing when to zoom in on the ground — and when to pull back up.

You can’t lead from a distance all the time. Sometimes, you need to get close to the work: dive into a tricky decision, untangle a dependency, or help resolve a missing skill or resource.

But don’t stay there.

Once the path is clear and the team is unblocked, zoom out and ask:

• Does this still connect to our broader direction?

• Are we solving the right problem?

• Did we learn anything that should shape or shift our course?

Your value isn’t in staying close to every detail — it’s in knowing when your involvement accelerates progress and when your distance creates space for ownership.

6. Build Micro-Rituals for Stability

When everything around you is shifting — the team, the goals, even the product — a bit of structure can be grounding.

But too much, too soon? That just creates rigidity you'll need to undo later.

Start small by introducing some lightweight rituals. A few simple examples:

• A short Monday priorities sync

• An end-of-week “what we learned” reflection

• A shared doc for open questions or team-wide decisions

These micro-rituals help your team find rhythm in the chaos. They create a foundation to build on. As the vision matures, your ways of working can evolve naturally with it.

You’re not designing the final process. You’re creating just enough stability to keep moving forward.

Why Holding Both is the Real Work

Leading in a scaleup is not about having a perfect vision or delivering at a high speed. It’s about holding space for both.

You’ll need to show direction before the map is fully drawn.
You’ll need to keep things moving when you’re still figuring out where you’re going.
You’ll need to be transparent, calm, decisive — often at the same time.

It’s not about picking between vision and velocity, but learning to live in the tension.

Some weeks, you’ll lean heavier into strategy. Other weeks, you’ll be down in the details, unblocking and adjusting.

And as Morris Chang said:

Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.

And the leaders who do this well?
They don’t just ship faster.
They don’t just get alignment.
They build teams that can thrive in uncertainty and grow stronger every day.

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