Visions and Who Has Them

    Good morning readers.  I hope you have enjoyed the past four blogs in this series.  Today we are going to be discussing visionary leadership.  I have a lot of thoughts on visionary leadership that I would like to share with you today.  Then we talk through what a vision is and why do people want it for their leaders.  We will then look at some case studies that shed a light on leaders and their visions and how they came to succeed in today’s world. 

I personally have a lot of thoughts on visionary leadership.  I think a vital tool for leaders to have is a vision.  A vision sets up an organization for the future.  A vision and a dream are very similar, especially in that there are no limits for either.  Some people may mock your dreams or visions but as a leader we must not give anyone the power of our dreams.  I think that most people have a vision for the trajectory of their lives, what makes a leader stand out among the crowd is that they share their vision with others.  Not only do they share their vision, but others actually want to follow that leader and their vision.  Therefore, leaders need to communicate their vision in a clear and concise manner that will excite the listeners into jumping on board and help reach the end goal. 

Do we actually want our leaders to have a vision?  I think the answer is a resounding, yes.  James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner found when they asked a group of people around the world, “What do you look for and admire in a leader?”  Just take a second and think about what you would answer to that question.  The answer they found in their article here was, “The number one requirement of a leader—honesty—was also the top-ranking attribute of a good colleague. But the second-highest requirement of a leader, that he or she be forward-looking, applied only to the leader role. Just 27% of respondents selected it as something they want in a colleague, whereas 72% wanted it in a leader.”  Here we see the importance in a visionary leader.  Something people all around the world could agree on is that they want their leaders to have some plan, dream, or vision for the future.  I think this is extremely important for organizations today.  If you are a leader or in a leadership role you might want to think about how you are going into the future as a team or company.  But what exactly is a vision and how can we use it effectively?

CEO and Founder of Executive Leadership Consulting, Sonya Shelton describes in her article here a vision as, “Your organization’s vision is the solution it provides. A vision differs from a mission or goals because a vision can be imagined. By creating a shared vision, you define the problem and solution more clearly for the group. You have the opportunity to paint a clear picture of the vision, why your organization is the one to achieve it, and why you want to start now.”  Something to take away from this is that the vision gives a solution to a problem you want to be solved.  Furthermore, a vision also is a call to action for the people within your organization to begin working on it right away.  Something else that I believe is key for a visionary leader is confidence.  In Benjamin Zander’s Ted Talk here he said this that resonated with me, “Now, you notice that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this is going to work, if you look at my face, right? It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming.”  As a leader if you show even the slightest doubt in your vision or your organization the people who are following will notice.  To set a vision you as the visionary must believe it with every ounce of your being if you expect others to follow. 

Next, we will discuss a quick case study to show what an organization could benefit from having a visionary leader.  The leader I chose to study for this blog is Elon Musk.  Elon Musk’s story is not too unfamiliar for a visionary leader.  Both of his companies faced bankruptcy in the past, now both of his companies are common household names.  Elon shares his vision for Tesla on their web page here, “Accelerating the World's Transition to Sustainable Energy.”  This statement shows how a vision may be simple yet so complex at the same time.  Elon is tackling such a huge problem of sustainable energy by simply accelerating it.  From the SpaceX webpage here we find his other vision, “Making Humanity Multiplanetary.” Three words is sometimes all it takes to create a vision for others to follow.  Both of these statements have something in common, they share the problem and what they are going to do about that problem.  We as a world need a more sustainable energy Elon is going to accelerate that process.  Humans are all currently sharing the same planet, that some would argue is not going to be suitable for life in the future, so Elon’s vision is to take humans to build on other planets.  Rahul Panchal writes in his article here some takeaways for Elon Musk’s leadership, “Elon Musk is known for their relentless innovation, which is an important trait of Visionary leadership. Having an understanding of what will benefit in the long run keeps the team as well as the company moving forward.”  As we previously discussed, it is extremely important or visionary leaders to have the focus set on the future.

    In conclusion we discussed my personal thoughts on leadership and visions.  We learned that the majority of people want their leaders to have a plan or vision for the future, within their organization.  I talked about what a vision is and how we can apply that into our personal endeavors.  And finally, we ended with a case study of Elon Musk and how he is an effective visionary leader by keeping his followers focused on making the future better for everyone on the planet.