How Anna Wintour’s Clarity Drove Vogue’s Success

The first task of a leader is to cast a clear and compelling vision.

The clearer the vision, the clearer the mission, and the clearer your definition of your target audience.

Anna Wintour, the legendary editor in chief of Vogue magazine, is one such leader. She was crystal clear about where she wanted to take the magazine:

“Vogue is the best of everything that fashion can offer, and we point the way. We are your glamorous girlfriend.

We feature those who define the culture at any given moment, who stir things up, whose presence in the world shapes the way it looks and influences the way we see it.”

And who is the audience she’s trying to reach? She’s super clear about that too:

“I’m not interested in the super-rich or infinitely leisured. I want our readers to be energetic executive women, with money of their own and a wide range of interests. There is a new kind of woman out there. She’s interested in business and money.”

With such a masterclass in clear thinking, Vogue’s success under Wintour was almost inevitable.