Visionary Leadership
This Week's Resonant Reflection for Monday, March 15, 2021 at 11:00am est:
“Visionary Leadership”
with Shelley Darling & Henry Lepler
“Do you need more vision in your leadership – or more leadership for your vision?” – Corinne McLaughlin
“In the Visionary Leadership training I offer, I begin by asking participants these questions. Do you need more vision in your leadership – or more leadership for your vision? Do you need to incorporate new ideas and inspiration, or do you need to make your vision a workable reality? Where are you in this journey?
Visionaries talk endlessly about their beautiful visions. Practical visionaries are not good with just words; they are also effective with actions. They can actualize their visions using effective strategies with achievable goals.
Many visionaries fail in their efforts because they’re too far ahead of what humanity is ready for. Their challenge is to envision the next step needed – an attractive, pragmatic vision for the near future – not something that will take a hundred years to manifest. It’s more effective to focus on a vision that can be achieved in the foreseeable future, outline the steps needed to manifest it, and work on each step - in turn.
An entrepreneur had a sincere spiritual commitment to creating a triple bottom line company honoring people, planet, and profit. However, he was a poor manager who lacked practical skill, and he didn’t hire and empower people with the abilities he lacked. Every time something didn’t work, he would create a whole new strategy and business plan and look for new investors.
The business failed, and we lost much time and money. However, we learned some painful but useful lessons about the need to be practical visionaries. Over the years, I’ve seen many inflated visionaries with grands ideas but few skills to achieve them. I have become inoculated against this kind of ungrounded idealism that often runs rampant in circles of innovators and visionaries.
A truly effective visionary is rare. We’re each stronger in one area or another, but we can learn to develop what we are lacking – or at least hire people with complementary skills to ours – if we first have the humility to admit what we’re lacking. I was inspired to write about being a practical visionary because I am a veteran of many hard-fought battles to make visions more grounded and effective.”
- Corinne McLaughlin from the book “The Practical Visionary”
Consider: Do you need more vision in your leadership – or more leadership for your vision?
www.connectionfielddigest.org to join us in the zoom room.
