Wholehearted Leadership Opinion: Why it’s important to know where you’re going

“I have a dream!”

 

Now, that’s big vision! That declaration is probably one of the clearest and most widely acknowledged vision statements of the 20th century. What was Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision?

 

Equality and freedom!

 

“I have a dream that one day my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

 

Dr. King could easily have said, “I have a vision!” It was his vision that captivated a race, rallied a people, changed a nation and defined an epoch. Such is the power of vision and a dream.

 

I have a framed poster in my office that challenges me every time I look at it: “If your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough.”

 

So, what’s your dream? What’s your vision? Is it big enough?  

 

Casting a compelling vision is one of the chief roles of a leader. I recently read an article  about Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn Corp., which Microsoft Corp. acquired for more than US$26 billion. Jeff believes in three elements of good leadership:

 

Clarity of vision, courage of conviction and the ability to communicate both.

 

It’s not enough to have a bold vision—sometimes referred to as a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal). You need to have the ability to communicate it, and then the courage of conviction to lead others in the execution of that vision.

 

Recently I wrote about simplifying your mission, vision and values into three simple questions: What do we do? Why do we do it? How do we do it?

 

The fourth key question to answer is: Where are we going?

 

This is your dream. It’s your vision. It’s that bold and courageous declaration that captivates the hearts of your people and rallies them to go above and beyond to achieve the extraordinary.  

 

You know what the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is, don’t you? It’s that little “extra”! Compelling vision motivates your people to consistently keep giving that extra.

 

If the leader isn’t envisioned about the organization, how are its people going to be? Vision is the fuel to propel them to new heights of accomplishment. Extraordinary accomplishments are always preceded by extraordinary vision. You could argue that the world’s most powerful catalyst is a courageously cast, compelling vision.

 

And remember this: all great human accomplishments were deemed to be impossible at one point in time. When someone tells you it can’t be done, it’s more a reflection of their limitations, not yours.

 

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” –Warren Bennis

 

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda for an entire generation that is to come.” –Steve Jobs

 

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” –George Carver Washington

 

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” –Helen Keller

 

“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” –Peter Drucker

 

I don’t know who said it, but I think it’s brilliant: “Speak what you seek until you see what you’ve said.”

 

Vision needs to not only be created and compellingly cast, but it must be cast again and again. Why? Because people don’t get it the first time, and our memories are short—we forget.

 

In the story about LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner, he spoke of an occasion when he met with his senior leaders. He jumped right into the analysis of some key metrics they needed to get on top of. The team spent the meeting working through the financials and then broke for lunch.  

 

Weiner asked the leaders at his table what their thoughts were about the meeting. One spoke up and said she didn’t like it. Why? Normally he started every meeting with the company vision, and he hadn’t done it this time.

 

The other senior leaders agreed with their colleague. It was the vision of LinkedIn that had captivated them and brought them to the team, they said.

 

Vision must be repeatedly and compellingly cast.

 

Where are you going?