‘Vision is a much overused word nowadays, and I tend to avoid it if I can. Even pedestrian goals or objectives – sometimes merely ambitious intentions – are pretentiously presented as visions. Having said that, there is in fact quite a strong link between leadership and vision. Not surprising really, because leading in front on the way ahead implies that you can see – literal vision – the path. Hence the proverb Jesus quoted: If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into the ditch.
‘Vision in the literal sense of the proper functioning of the eyes extends quite readily to the metaphorical idea of sharpness and under- standing. In this sense it can indicate discernment or foresight – being able to “see over the horizon”. You may remember that Thermistocles was credited with above-average success in inferring or guessing what the future might be, rather than imagining an outcome in accord with either what is hoped or what is feared. In relatively recent times Winston Churchill showed similar acumen in foreseeing the inevitability of war with Hitler and, later, that Communism would replace Fascism as the post-war enemy to freedom. Ordinary reasoning and experience, elements of practical wisdom, are enough to explain how Thermistocles came to his conclusions about the threat of the Persian Empire or how Churchill reached his not dissimilar ones about the overreaching imperial ambition of Adolf Hitler.’
‘But isn’t there much more to vision than a power to see what is not evident to the average mind or having above-average foresight as to what the future will be like?’ asked the young chief executive.
‘So far what I have said roughly falls within Jonathan Swift’s definition: Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. To see what the world will actually be like in, say, 2025, to select the true scenario from many possible ones, is a form of “seeing things invisible”, at least to others.’
‘A scenario is an outline or synopsis of a play,’ said the young chief executive. ‘Doesn’t that metaphor assume that the play is already written, and we are trying to predict what the scenes in Act 3 ‘The Future’ will be, going on our knowledge of Act 1 ‘The Past’ and Act 2 ‘The Present’? Perhaps we are the authors, not the audience, so isn’t it us who write the script for the next scene?’
‘Part-authors maybe, if you believe – as I do – in what Shakespeare called a divinity that shapes our ends rough-hew them how we will. There is some predictability in history, or, to put it slightly differently, some guesses are better than others. The study of history is valuable because it enables us to get to know a lot of people in their Act 2, looking forwards to their Act 3, and we are able to check their powers of fore- sight or their attempts to create new scenes. Such a study develops a sense of how the river of history flows. We can see some individuals who had a vision in the creative sense.’
‘Like an artist’s vision?’
‘Yes, we are talking here not about the power of sight, literal or metaphorical, but about the act or power of imagination. And a vision here applies to what is seen. It may be something seen in a dream or hallucination, it may be illusory, imaginary, ideal or a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation.’
‘I can see why to call some plan visionary is a polite way of saying it’s totally impractical and lacks any capability of realization!’ laughed the young chief executive.
‘What then constitutes a true vision?’ I asked.
‘It must be a blend of imagination – for you are envisioning a state or product that doesn’t exist, no one has actually seen it – with realism. I mean it has to be feasible, given the resources available and the limits imposed by the “river of history”. Henry Ford’s concept of a car that every American family could afford, or the idea of man walking on the moon are examples of what you called true vision. Stretching, but possible. Also made real by the ability of the leader to work back to the present, thereby creating a path to the future.
‘Bringing things down to earth,’ concluded the young chief executive, ‘it’s the imaginative power to see growth possibilities for the future hidden in the present. The seeds of the future lie in the present.’
Vision Is Seeing The Potential
Purpose Hidden In The Chaos Of
The Moment, But Which Could
Bring To Birth New Possibilities For
A Person, A Company Or A Nation
Vision Is Seeing What Life Could Be
Like While Dealing With Life As It
Is
Vision Deals With Those Deeper
Human Intangibles That Alone Give
Ultimate Purpose To Life
In The End, Vision Must Always
Deal With Life’s Qualities, Not
With Its Quantities
Written by a Swedish manager and quoted in Richard Oliver, Inspirational Leadership: Henry V and the muse of fire (2001)
Vision Is The Blazing Campfire Around
Which People Will Gather. It Provides
Light, Energy, Warmth, And Unity
Bill Newman, The Ten Laws of Leadership (BNC, Brisbane, 1993)
‘A true vision, then, defines the presently unseen result the team or organization is aiming for – that which informs the journey. It transforms change into a way of reaching a desired end.’
‘Yes, the result is seen in “the eye of the imagination”. Faith may be defined as believing in the reality of things unseen.’
‘In all but literal physical journeys or voyages, don’t all leaders require a degree of vision? How else can they provide direction on the journey?’
‘What you say must be true. But, given the amount of contingency that multiplies dramatically beyond the relative probabilities of tomorrow – “chaos theory” – a flexibility over actual destinations is essential. In other words, when it comes to the future no one has 20:20 vision. As the proverb says, In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king. It’s moving in the right direction that matters.’
‘With purpose?’
‘There are visions and visions. But for visions to be inspiring, to serve a purpose and to elicit a sense of purpose – the spiritual energy that is released – they have to be touched with the red, blue and green of the good, truth and beauty.’
‘Why those colours?’
‘Because light refracts into those three primary colours.’
‘It sounds to me as if you are elevating PURPOSE above VISION.’
‘If we are talking about inspiration, yes I am. Hitler had a vision of a Europe without Jews, and the task he gave to his henchmen was to exterminate them in death-camps. It was a vision with no purpose or meaning, devoid of the cardinal values, therefore it could never inspire the spirit deep within us. I discount those temporarily taken in by Hitler’s delusions.’
‘To summarize,’ said the young chief executive, ‘we can discard TASK as being essentially time-limited. What matters is having PURPOSE, in the sense of having both a clear vision of the overall result or end of one’s endeavours and that spirit or feeling of movement towards the desired result, however it is defined, being as it were drawn towards it like a magnet. That covers vision except in the special sense where an act of the imagination is involved, where something is to be first imagined, then shared with others and then created or made real.’
‘If the vision has values of the kind we have been discussing, we call it a creative vision. The importance of the process you outlined is that it’s the only way that the valuable new things happen in our human odyssey which, like pearls, we string together as progress.
‘But don’t chuck out TASK. For PURPOSE or VISION have to be broken down into tasks however we label them. Otherwise they remain merely an intention or a dream. Unlike purpose or vision, task spells effort, exertion, even struggle. A task can be hard, unpleasant, arduous, demanding.’
‘But if it was easy,’ he said, ‘I don’t think people would respond. Don’t we find a degree of challenge in the very difficulty of such a task?’