“If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Leadership success always starts with a vision.
John F. Kennedy envisioned putting a man on the moon. Eleanor Roosevelt saw a world of equal opportunity for women and minorities. Bill Gates wanted a computer on every desk. And Amanda Steinberg, founder of DailyWorth.com, helped women around the world build wealth to cultivate self-worth and net-worth. Compelling visions can truly change the world. Staying invested in them is how real leaders emerge.
Why having a personal vision is important for leadership
We cannot lead others if we don’t understand where we’re going ourselves.
Many experts on leadership and personal development emphasize the importance of having your own personal vision. They say that a powerful vision helps you succeed far beyond where you’d be without one. This vision focuses you and motivates you to reach your own goals; which in turn helps you to lead others. Great leaders give real thought to the values, ideas and activities they’re most passionate about. Those are the things they pursue. They realize them only by setting realistic, demanding goals and then going after them relentlessly. A strong vision attracts commitment and energizes people, creates meaning in people’s lives, establishes a standard of excellence, bridges the present to the future and transcends the status quo.
When I first started working at a large global company, I had a vision of someday being at the top of the organizational chart. I also learned that I liked and had great skills in the role of a consultant, helping to look at ways to improve challenging areas within the business. Fast forward fifteen years after working inside a company, I became the CEO of a small training and consulting company. I achieved my vision. Not that I didn’t make some “wrong turns” along the way. However, when those turns were made, I made a u-turn with the lesson learned, and went towards what was a better fit for my personal vision. Were some of those lessons painful? Absolutely. And how did I know I wasn’t working towards my vision? It felt like I was wearing my shoes on the wrong feet. At which point I’d ask myself, “Are you working at what is fulfilling and helping you reach your personal vision?” The answer always directed me back to my vision.
Here are four tips to create a compelling vision:
Create the Vision. Think about what you want to accomplish, do and achieve in your career. This will help you to see the end result of your efforts. It will give you your “why?” and the reason that you are doing what you do.
Clarify. Identify your top five values and then using these as a basis for creating your vision, define your vision down to the smallest detail. Include in this vision something that makes a difference and leaves a lasting legacy.
Plan. Create your vision roadmap. Be specific and detailed about what achieving this vision looks like. This is where you begin to realize what it will take to achieve your vision, the sacrifices or challenges you will face. Vision helps prepare for the future and for the setbacks and obstacles that you will no doubt encounter.
Act. Turn your vision into reality by taking daily steps toward what you want to do and accomplish. If you want to be moving toward your personal vision and dreams, it requires daily intentional steps toward it.
Do you have a personal vision? Let us help you to create one.
This completes the series – 10 Weeks of Executive and Leadership Presence Tips. Our next blog series will focus on specific questions about Leadership and Executive Presence. Feel free to submit a question and we will answer them over the next few months.
See you next week!
#ExecutivePresence #Womeninleadership #Vision #Leadership
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