Are you a visionary leader?
It is very rare to find someone who will point in a direction off the well worn paths of the industry the organisation belongs to and say ‘lets go there’.
In my opinion there are three reasons it is so rare to see visionary leadership.
1.) Institutionalised thought
The first is that being able to draw outside the lines of existing systems and structures is uncommon.
Winston Churchill said “We build our buildings and then our buildings build us.”
It’s a quote that I have shared before many times because the concept of institutionalised thought is very useful to recognise. In my opinion it is the antithesis of vision.
2.) It takes a high level of leadership
The second reason visionary leadership is rare is because even if you have the ability to see what doesn’t exist yet, it takes a high level of leadership to be able to lead others off the well-lit path of the familiar.
You may know the way, but unless others allow you to lead, then your vision remains little more than a good idea.
Having others allow you to lead is a measure of your ability to influence, and ultimately the measure of your leadership ability.
3.) Courage
The third reason is that because it’s difficult, there are many people who posses both the vision and the leadership but lack the courage to try.
The good news is that the mere fact that you’re reading this – presumably because the title of this post grabbed your attention – probably means there’s a strong chance you already have these qualities, even if they are latent at the moment.
Over the coming weeks I’ll share with you some of the insights about leadership that have been shared with me.
As always, I really value your input and would love to hear from you. When you have seen visionary leadership in action? What did it look like? Please leave your comments below.
