Walk with vision, lead with purpose | Digital Letterpress: Part 14
According to Warren Bennis, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” The most important point to remember in regards to leadership is that it isn’t confined to simply existing in organizational ranks; it resides throughout our lives. Leadership is a mindset and lifestyle, not a position, and when we grab hold of that truth, we will truly be able to affect the society around us. That being said, as Bennis posits, leadership revolves around the creation, development, and realization of vision. Without vision, leadership ceases to be leadership.
Why vision?
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines vision as something “seen in a dream/a thought, concept, or object formed by the imagination/a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial.” The common theme behind all of these definitions is the idea of making something unseen seen and bringing an abstract concept into reality. When you are in a setting surrounded by people looking to you, you will be dealing with many abstracts. Trying to express your beliefs, expectations, and standards might be difficult if you don’t first share your vision for the direction of your organization or other situation.
Aside from the above definition, vision obviously refers to sight. Creating a vision for people to align with helps pave a definite direction for your project and allows people to see where you’re going. A freshman in college taking English Composition learn to establish a thesis statement to indicate the direction of their essay so that the reader can see the direction and therefore know the intended destination. Like readers of a essay, people following a leader respond better and work more effectively when they can actively see the intended destination or the end goals because they know you aren’t simply rambling or working with no aim.
Vision gives your project or organization purpose. And people flock to purpose. They want to align and define themselves within a purpose, and if your vision matches their own, you may find that they align themselves with you. Once the vision establishes and the common visionaries gather, then the leadership can take on its role of making the abstract concept come into physical reality.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner suggest that leadership isn’t just about creating a vision for the sake of it, but it’s about creating a vision worth being shared with others: “Constituents want visions of the future that reflect their own aspirations. They want to hear how their dreams will come true and their hopes will be fulfilled.” As I said above, people long to align with other visionaries who share the same beliefs, ethics, and goals. Your job as a leader is to create a direction that people want to join, fight alongside, struggle to complete, and invest their passion.
How do we get the buy-in to such visions?
At the core of this question is the answer that you, as a leader, must believe in it yourself. If you aren’t getting the buy-in you’re looking for, perhaps you should ask yourself the hard question of how much you believe in it. Are you willing to fail for it? Die for it? Give your life for it? If you can’t answer “yes” to those questions, you definitely can’t expect other people to do so.
Find the goal, the ultimate goal, you would want to invest your life to without hesitation and absolutely go for it. People will follow the energy and passion in that example. Benjamin Zander, in a Ted Talk from 2008, uses classical music as an example for how leaders should approach spreading their visions. He himself is infected with a notion he broaches, that “everybody loves classical music; they just haven’t found out about it yet.” So he has championed the cause of infecting others with the same passion he has for classical music. Part of the reason he is so successful in this endeavor is because he is visibly passionate and fully invested in the spread of his vision. “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. It’s one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity for the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming. His energy is infectious and his message is clear. He loves what he does. He loves his craft, the artistry, the beauty. And at the end of the day, he loves people.
So in the end, the key for spreading your vision is loving and believing in the vision itself but also loving and believing in the people around you who may share your goals. When you focus less on the charts and stats as Zander mentions and more on the energy and investment in other people, you will see greater response from your peers.
I’ve outlined my own vision plan as consisting of connection, commitment, and creativity. The first area on this list is connection for a reason: without people to buy in to your vision, it may not ever leave the ground. Being committed and creative go right along with what I said above about Zander: he’s committed without question. Even with a goal that seems like it would be impossible, he doesn’t waver in the slightest at the notion that one day he will ensure everyone loves and appreciates classical music. The way he goes about reaching those audiences is creative, fun, entertaining, etc. Both of those aspects are powerful, but his connection with those people is what takes him over the edge. His definition of success consists of how many “shining eyes” exist when his spiel is finished. At the end of the day, he’s only concerned about the people aligning themselves with him, and that pays off.
Leadership then can be seen as a revolving door. In order to effectively lead people, you must have a vision, and in order to effectively realize a vision, you must have vision. Regardless of which comes first for you, the important thing to remember is that in order for anyone to see where they’re going, they must have vision. Likewise, in order for someone to lead other people, he or she must have vision. A blind person leading blind people will accomplish little to nothing. A seeing person leading blind people will only accomplish a little bit more than that. However, a person with vision leading other people with unified vision, all working toward the same goal, will accomplish just about anything.
