Visionary Leadership: Its Power and Absence Explained 


Vision leadership is a style that sets apart the exceptional from the ordinary. Yet, it’s startling how many leaders operate without it. In this exploration, we’ll delve into 8 compelling reasons behind this absence, outline 4 actionable strategies for those fortunate enough to possess such vision, and highlight 4 defining characteristics that mark a true leader’s visionary outlook.”

Written by Murray Johannsen. Feel free to connect via LinkedIn or directly from this website

It’s said that managers plan, but leaders have a vision.

Visionary leaders live more in the future and they often use that vision as a way of mobilizing followers. When leaders have a vision they signal what followers can expect. That vision serves as a means of creating a following and as a form of influence.


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Visionary Leaders Are Transformational

“Use it or lose it.” — A saying often heard in bodybuilding circles

“One faces a choice in life. You can do what you are told by parents and the bosses or you can define a vision for yourself.” — Murray Johannsen

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4 Reasons To Develop Your Vision

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Blind Men and an Elephant A classic tale that has been told in the Middle East and India for thousands of years. From The Heath readers by grades, D.C. Heath and Company (Boston), p. 69. A classic tale of what happens when individuals lack vision.

Vision is one type of mental imagery. Clearly, people with vision are highly motivated. It does not work to follow a vision — it’s joy. General characteristics include:

It Provides Direction

Typically, the leader puts forward a desired future and moves followers toward it. 

It Uses Foresight

Typically considered a part of wisdom, it is sometimes said that a truly great visionary leader knows what’s going to happen before others do.

It is Believed

One must be right or at least perceived to be right. It is believed at two levels. First, the leader believes it. This strong belief prevents doubt from eroding its power. Secondly, the faithful also believes it with heart, mind, and soul.

It Motivates

If the message cannot energize those hearing it, the would-be visionary leader would be better off teaching economics. The U.S. founding fathers  (the ones who came up with the Constitution), Mother Teresa (a Nobel laureate), and Mahatma Gandhi are just a few who had a great vision. 

The Vision of the Cross by Giulio Romano. This paint represents the vision of Contantine the Great prior to a battle. It is said that he had a dream or a vision that told him to put the sign of the cross on the shields of his army.
The Vision of the Cross by Giulio Romano. This paint represents the vision of Constantine the Great before a battle. It is said that he had a dream or a vision that told him to put the sign of the cross on the shields of his army.

How You Can Use Your Vision

1. Use Vision as an End


For example, close your eyes for a moment. Imagine that you are on a basketball court. See the ball going through the hoop and points added on the scoreboard. This is what some refer to as goal imagery. Some leaders view vision as a goal, a result, as in a destination at the end of a journey. In this case, the leadership vision represents a state, the results of a problem solved or an opportunity manifest.

2. Use Vision as a Means For Defining Action

Go west, young man!” — john soule. Advice given to those seeking opportunity in the 19th century america. If soule would be alive today, perhaps his advice to the young seeking opportunity in 21st century would be, "go east, far east."
Go west, young man!” — John Soule. Advice is given to those seeking opportunity in 19th century America. If Soule would be alive today, perhaps his advice to the young seeking opportunity in the 21st century would be, “go east, far east.”

Sometimes, vision in leadership is more of a journey than a destination. In this case, leaders must construct the means.

To take an example. You are an investor and you want to make 10 thousand Euros within sixty days. One must see the one best path from among thousands of potential choices.

The importance of leadership vision as a means is illustrated with the following story.

Once upon a time, there was a man, who knows not where he was going since he knows not where he was. Since he does not know where he was, he could go neither forward, nor backward. Eventually, he saw the sun setting and saw how to go west.

3. Use Vision as a Way of Defining Operational Strategy

StrategyModel

To use vision as a strategy, one needs to define three elements—the plan, current state, and desired state. It means defining where one is now, where one wants to be in the future and how one is going to get there. In many cases, a leadership vision is about defining all three to be able to persuade the skeptical that there something is doable. 

In some cases, this is easy. For example, if one has the money, it’s easy to come up with a strategy for buying a home since the process has been defined and followed by millions over the years. On the other hand, nation-building is a lot more difficult. As the neocons in the Bush Administration found out when they tried to rebuild Iraq after it had been wrecked by war.

4. Use Vision as Part of Janusian Thinking

The sculpture depicts the Roman God Janus whose two heads saw both forward into the future and into the past. T It's something we are supposed to due (but typically don't) in January of each year. This god was typically found at the entrance of a Roman home with one face looking outside and the other inside.
The sculpture depicts the Roman God Janus whose two heads saw both forward into the future and the past. It’s something we are supposed to due (but typically don’t) in January of each year. This god was typically found at the entrance of a Roman home with one face looking outside and the other inside.

You might say, that to know how to act in the present, one has to keep one face on the past and one face on the future. This is symbolized by the Roman god Janus.

Janus was actually a transformational symbol who was represented as having two faces. When one walked into a Roman home one saw one face looking outside and the other looking inside. Or you might say, one face was looking forward into the future while the other face was looking into the past.

Eight Reasons Adults Are Not Visionary Leaders

For individual and societal reasons, visionaries tend to be rather rare. After all, how many of you in August of 2007 foresaw that much of the world would be in recession by December of 2008? Yet, the forces leading to the recession were clearly evident in 2007.

Just as it is important for each of us to develop vision, it’s even more important that our leadership is visionary. A general lack of visionary leadership results from many individual and social factors. A few of the more important ones are listed below.

1. Many Tend to Live In the Past

Der Jungbrunnen, 1546, Quest For the Fountain of Youth
Der Jungbrunnen, 1546, Quest For the Fountain of Youth

Unfortunately, few people spend any meaningful time thinking about the future. They think mostly about what happened to them in the past. How sad. 

2. Imagination Is Not Exercised

Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's story "Ligeia" by Harry Clarke (1889-1931), published in 1919. How many times has a teacher, your parents, your boss asked you to close your eyes and use your imagination? For most everyone that answer is never.
Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s story “Ligeia” by Harry Clarke (1889-1931), published in 1919. How many times has a teacher, your parents, your boss asked you to close your eyes and use your imagination? For most everyone that answer is never.

I have had a number of college students who have told me the answer is, “zero.” In my case, not once in thousands of hours of classroom education has an instructor, professor, a teacher even asked me to harness the power of imagination. In fact, if you actually close your eyes even briefly, the teacher or (the boss for that matter) would assume that you’re a slacker who is whiling away the time sleeping.

The education system (at least in America) stresses language, analysis, logic, and reason—what people tend to call left-hemispheric processes. Nothing wrong with that. However, rather than imagination being a partner in the thinking process, it is the beggar you would rather not see and want to ignore.

3. We Ignore Imagery When Thinking

Normal consciousness has many strengths, but experiencing visionary imagery is not one of them. We see the images coming from the eyes, but we are barely aware of the images associated with thoughts.

Try this thought experiment. Keep your eyes open. Now think, “I am happy!” Are you aware of any images? Many would say no, especially when that statement is sandwiched between other thoughts.

Now think, “I’m happy,” again, but this time keeps the word happy in mind for a few seconds, as a focus of attention. Does an image come up? Some say no, but many would say an image does come to mind when you give it enough time.

Now try the same thing with the eyes closed. Visualize “I am happy.” Is the image easier to see? Most would say it is, closing the eyes helps to see the picture or the movie. Of course, that brings up an interesting question. Do you routinely close your eyes and visualize things? Again, most people would say no.

4. We Lack Parental Support When Young

Krishna meets his parents. Sometimes, children take there vision from one or both parents. This leadership vision is more than just getting a degree. It can involve a life purpose.
Krishna meets his parents. Sometimes, children take their vision from one or both parents. This leadership vision is more than just getting a degree. It can involve a life purpose.

Parents often discourage the evolution of imagination. Children tend to live in a world of fantasy anyway so it would be relatively easy to induce them to become visionary. But many parents assume vision is like fantasy—it’s more destructive than constructive.

5. We Do Not Use Imagery in Normal Conversation

Take this quick test. Can you define the following?

  1. Metaphor
  2. Simile
  3. Analogy
  4. Allegory
  5. Symbols
  6. Myth
  7. Idioms
  8. Parables
  9. Archetypes
  10. Hallucination

If you cannot get 6 more, it means you have not been that you are not that familiar with the use of words with high image content.

6. We Don’t Pay Attention to Dreams

Visión fantástica o Asmodea. Óleo sobre muro trasladado a lienzo. (Goy). Vision is sometimes communicated in a dream, Unfortunately few adults pay attention to them. The ones that do, get direction, a characteristic of being a leader.
Visión fantástica o Asmodea. Óleo sobre muro trasladado a lienzo. (Goy). Vision is sometimes communicated in a dream, Unfortunately, few adults pay attention to them. The ones that do, get direction, a characteristic of being a leader.

Unfortunately, many adults do not remember dream imagery. This is despite the fact we dream three or four times a night. Paying more attention to dreams would help to exercise one’s imagination and thus develop a vision.

7. Adults Use Imagination Less Than Children

“Some things change, some things don’t.” — Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded.

If you talk to four or five-year-old they are always clear about what they are going to do with their life. They say with absolute certainty that they are going to be a nurse, a teacher, a doctor, a fireman. They spend a great deal of time exercising their imagination. Some create an entire imaginary universe. Some had imaginary friends. If you ask the same question of teenagers, many choke, being totally clueless.

And those that say something, parrot back their parent’s view about going to college, becoming a professional who makes lots of money. For example, many a mother would love to say with pride, “My son, the doctor.” It’s one thing to give your mom brag rights with her friends, it’s another to follow a vision. 

8. The Education System Retards Our Imagination

It’s reasonable to ask if the educational system itself weakens that the use of our vision. Many think it does. After all, how many times has a teacher asked you to, “Close your eyes and use your imagination.” Seriously, in all those thousands of hours of sitting in a classroom, how many times can you remember engaging in flights of fancy. But don’t despair, what hasn’t been used can be exercised and strengthened.

Conclusion

Visionary leadership style can be considered to be a type of transformational leadership (or the other way around). It’s rather rare though. But it’s rare partly because it is not cultivated but it could be.

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 First Published  March 9, 2014. Last Updated July 16, 2023

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