The guiding coalition works out a picture of the future that can be explained without much difficulty and that attracts customers, shareholders and staff alike, going beyond the numbers of a five-year plan to clarify direction, and develops strategies for achieving it; the first draft is often blurry and improves over months of analytical thinking and some dreaming. Without it, a change effort dissolves into confusing, incompatible projects or thick procedure manuals that inspire no one. Kotter's rule of thumb: if the vision cannot be conveyed in five minutes or less and draw a reaction of understanding and interest, the step is not done. In 2014 terms, strategic initiatives are targeted, coordinated activities that make the vision real, and a good vision motivates action, aligns it, says how the future will differ from the past and ties to the Big Opportunity (it is simple, imaginable, desirable, feasible, flexible and communicable, and paints a picture in words).
The graph holds this control, the 0 it maps to, and the evidence behind each claim, over MCP and REST.