Leadership … Continued Discussions 3/12/10

In this post I want to consider a passage from Steward D. Friedman’s book, Total Leadership.  In a discussion on being real and acting with authenticity, Friedman points to the importance of having a vision in saying that “effective leaders articulate a vision – a compelling image of an achievable future – that inspires them and the people around them.” Being able to see things that are not there, to shape a sense of how things need to be in a chaotic world in which change is fast-paced and constant, and to rally those around you to follow your lead is perhaps the essence of leadership.  But how does one evolve into such a visionary?  This is what I would like to ponder in this particular post.

One is not born a visionary … this is something that I feel a person needs to grow into.  And perhaps the beginning point for that journey is to open one’s mind to accepting change.  Oscar Wilde, the Irish poet and author of the late 1800s and early 1900s, had an interesting take on this, “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” So, perhaps an even earlier starting point is to open one’s imagination to what is possible.  Anatole France, the French novelist of the late 1800s and early 1900s, spoke to this in saying that “to accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” And, John F. Kennedy touched on this also when he shared that “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities.  We need men who can dream of things that never were.” And his brother Robert gave us similar guidance when he said that “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.  I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.”

Taking that a step further, allowing one’s imagination to run free serves very much as a portal to the world of possibilities that exists outside of our current realities.  And once untethered from what is real today, there is the opportunity to envision the alternatives that will pave the way to tomorrow’s strategies.  But this journey always finds its beginning with imagination.  Charles F. Kettering, the prolific American inventor, succinctly put it this way, “Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.” To see  through the clutter, we need to free ourselves of what is, embrace change as an opportunity, and look for the roads less traveled.  And this is where I would quote yet another French novelist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Marcel Proust, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” This is vision.  This is how one sees what is yet to be.  This is how a visionary creates the path forward … through an unimpaired sense of what might be.

But what is the next step, once one is open to the realm of possibilities?  This is when intelligence comes into play, but not of the IQ sort.  None of us, no matter how imaginative and embracing of change, can see the full range of issues, impacts and opportunities that comprise the future.  We need to supplement our own view of things with that of others.  Each of us resides in our own, self-made trench that is filled with our own realities and perceptions.  To garner a sense of the future, we need to climb out of our trenches, which is the “opening our minds to the possibilities” part of the process, but then we need to actively solicit the input of other stakeholders if we are to see beyond our own sense of things.  The clearest vision of the future is comprised of the individual views of all who have a role in painting that future.  It is through an inclusive process of this sort that the mist lifts … to reveal the necessary road ahead.

Author Cross-references:

Anatole France: None

Stewart D. Friedman: None

John F. Kennedy: None

Robert Kennedy: None

Charles F. Kettering: None

Marcel Proust: None

Oscar Wilde: None

Key Word Cross-references:

Adaptability/Change: Also see posts 1/14/09, 4/20/09, 1/6/10

Chance Taking: Also see posts 12/12/08, 3/25/09, 7/7/09, 11/1/09, 3/29/10

Creativity/Innovation: Also see posts 5/17/09, 7/7/09, 1/4/10, 1/6/10

Vision: Also see posts 5/17/09, 12/5/09, 2/18/10

Tags: Leadership