The new Dons boss has added five new faces to the Dons squad in Willo Flood, Barry Robson, Calvin Zola, Gregg Wylde and Lawrence Shankland, and he has extended the contracts of fans' favourites Niall McGinn, Josh Magennis and Ryan Jack.
And Derek McInnes knows that his quiet revolution will require hard graft from everyone at Pittodrie in order for his dream to become a reality.
"I don't think Aberdeen have worked hard enough," he says. "It came to me really clear that for us to get a label of being a big club, possibly the second biggest in the SPL, we've got to work harder.
"There's certain areas of the football side that I know other clubs are working harder in.
"The football department is made up of all different aspects; from recruitment, sports science, match analysis, training facilities - the lot.
"There's other clubs who are doing their job better than us at the moment, but that'll change and I'd like to think that we'll be the best of the rest in that department as well.
"As a manager you're trying to create optimism and confidence within the support and within your team and I think that's important.
"But at the same time it's tempered by the fact that it's got to be steady progress. There's been too many false dawns for Aberdeen fans.
"Let's try and do something special and get other people looking and saying 'what are they doing at Aberdeen? What are they doing up there? They look bigger, stronger, faster and they're playing with confidence.'
"That, ultimately is where I want us to be."