Leadership Vision in the Land of the Vision Impaired

Here’s my hot take summation of leadership in any capacity and in any organization: The primary job of leadership is vision. That’s it. Print it!

In my last post, Sometimes One Is Greater Than Three, I wrote about the liberating and empowering properties of permission as a tool of leadership. Leaders, as opposed to managers, seek to provide permission that encourages their organizations to reach beyond limitations and explore new options and new ideas. Permission, as opposed to limiting policies, procedures, and processes, expands possibilities, creativity, and innovation. 

But permission isn’t enough. Permission requires context, the understanding of why the permission exists in the first place and how it could/should be used. Going back to my earlier hot take, that’s where vision comes in. Vision is not only the context, but the compelling reason.

While I’m on a roll, here’s another hot take: Without vision, there is no leadership. If you are incapable of creating an inspiring vision for what your organization, your department, your team should be doing tomorrow and why, then you're not leading. You probably aren’t even managing well, as good management also requires a fair amount of foresight. You’re just caretaking, a regent of a kingdom waiting for something better to come along. Often that something better is less likely to be a future leader than it is to be a competitor. 

In 2007, Tony Mayo, Director of the Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School wrote in the HBR:

“The ability to visualize and articulate a possible future state for an organization or company has always been a vital component of successful leadership. In fact, when initially describing someone as a “great business leader,” the knee-jerk reaction is often to cite something about his or her strategic ability or vision. We often hear stories of exalted CEOs and their strategic prowess. The downfall of many a failed CEO has also been attributed to his or her lack of vision.”

It’s always been true, and it’s even more true today than ever before. The democratization of technology and the arrival and growing dominance of game-changers like AI mean that vision is not just required as a differentiator, but mandatory for existence. 

Money Isn’t Enough

Here’s a fact that’s surprising to more leaders and managers than it should be: money isn’t enough. The people who work for you need more than a paycheck to truly give you all that you are paying them for, even if you are paying them well.

Study after study has shown that intrinsic rewards like satisfaction, recognition, and the feeling of working on something meaningful are far better motivators than extrinsic rewards like raises, bonuses, and promotions. Employee engagement is directly proportional to how tied they feel to the work. 

Vision is a lifeline to bind them to the work. 

Vision Impaired Organizations

Human beings need to be able to make sense of their world. It’s why we have religion and art and music and stories and even conspiracy theories. We tell stories and make connections. It’s how our brains work. We are no different when it comes to our jobs. 

Vision is how leaders help employees make sense of the work they are doing and the sacrifices and exchanges of personal and family time for work time. They need to know that the sacrifice is worth it, and money just isn’t enough. They need connection.

More than 500 years ago, Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus famously said, “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” It means that you don’t have to have the best vision, you just need more than those with none at all. 

And while being just a little bit better or having just a little more vision may not be enough to blaze new trails or fully rally your organization, it’s a start and far superior to none at all. 

A word of warning for those vested with the power of vision making: ten percent more sales or even becoming the market leader are not visions. They are goals. They may be necessary, but goals are boring. They don’t inspire, especially if there is a pronounced lack of vision. In fact, they often cause fear. Will there be consequences if goals aren’t reached? Will I still have a job if my department falls short?

Being connected to work and potentially making the world a better place doesn’t create punishments if you fall short. If you are connected and the world is measurably better, then you’ve succeeded. Not as much as you may have wanted to, but you’ve succeeded. Try for more tomorrow!

Vision requires audacity and courage. It requires your organization and your customers to think, “Did I hear that right?” It requires people to reimagine their realities, and it’s why you don’t have to be Nelson Mandela or Steve Jobs to be a visionary. You can be a school teacher who believes that every student counts, not just the high-achievers. You can be a community activist who believes social, economic, and governmental systems should work equally for all. It’s also why those teachers and activists work far more than 40 hrs per week at far lower pay than they could in other professions. 

Help Them Want More

Your organization doesn’t need to be pursuing the cure for cancer or the end of poverty to make a difference or have your employees feel connected to its work or its products. You do, however, need to be able to tell the story of why and how you are going to do things differently and why that’s important to pursue. 

Vision creates patience for small victories and resiliency in the face of big setbacks. Vision creates momentum when challenges set in and energy lags. One thing is certain, markets will change. Vision creates tack when those winds of fortune vacillate. Vision creates permission for mistakes and doing things differently.   

Help Them Do More

The same goes for your customers. You must be able to tell the story of how your products and services do more than meet needs or solve problems. They must meet aspirational needs as much or more than practical ones. Nike didn’t come to dominate the athletic shoe market just because they made good basketball and tennis shoes. They did it because they encouraged shoe buyers to “Be Like Mike” or Serena and “Just Do It.” They did it because Phil Knight and his ad agency Wieden+Kennedy had a vision and connected customers to more than a pair of shoes.

Your challenge is to look at your organization and find the vision under or even beyond the day-to-day practicalities of running a business. What can you give your employees to connect with? What can you give your customers to aspire to? What difference can your organization make? 

And more importantly, when are you going to start?