A core part of effective leadership is having strong vision. Vision is what brings clarity in the midst of noise, adversity and options. It is what a team rallies around in a leader.
I have had some recent dialogue on this topic and have been thinking about the deficit of vision. While everyone is caught up in the social craze and throwing things against a wall to see what sticks, there is great opportunity for leaders who will define a clear vision and pursue it relentlessly and flexibly.
The vision you have for your business and life keeps you from wasting effort and focuses your effort. Whether that is being the market leader, bringing a new product to the world or changing how people interact, you have to see the vision in your mind’s eye first. Then it has to expand. Here are some ways to make that happen:
- Declare what you are pursuing. There is great value in testing the strength of your vision and convictions by putting it out there for public discourse. Dialogue can help you to consider things you may not have seen. There are often people that do not conceive of something new, but they can refine what you are thinking.
- Develop a strategy. Put a list together of your options. Put a list together of what needs to get done. Then do it. As you are knocking out tangible tasks, you will see more. Grow your list as necessary.
- Fail forward. Embrace failure. It will teach you much and hold gems for what more is necessary in your vision. If people don’t use your beta product but are attracted to some sub-feature, then it is great information for discarding what is not working and expanding on what people truly want. It’s only failure when you quit.
- Think bigger. If you make something work on a small scale, push the vision and see if it has context and fit for something larger. That may mean geography, demographics or distribution channels. Each venue may mean a tweak. Be flexible in yor adaptations.
It’s hard to make vision work in a vacuum. It needs room to breathe and grow. Action and collaboration makes this possible.
Once you have your kindling going, fan the flame accordingly by pushing on what you can see in the future. Reality has a great way of testing your suppositions.
What vision do you need to grow? Feel free to comment below.
