We are in the midst of great social, economic, scientific and political change. Visionary leadership with intelligent approaches count more than ever if we’re to build sustainable results in rapidly changing, complex markets. Those who succeed are passionate pioneers who don’t think or work like anyone else.
I often see employees flock to these visionaries’ companies, hoping the future will offer prosperity within a corporate culture that promotes free thought, excitement and cutting-edge innovations. But, some visionary leaders can be difficult bosses whose brainstorming and idealistic tendencies frustrate employees and create career obstacles.
As the term implies, “visionary” leaders like to walk among the clouds, devoting themselves to the future, the impossible and the things that could be. Unfortunately, businesses must be run with both a widescreen view and in-the-trenches focus, so pure visionaries with only big-picture mindsets are vulnerable to losing track of their enterprises.
While everyone admires visionary thinking, too much of it creates a dangerous imbalance. Fortunately, visionaries can learn effective ways to keep their companies healthy and productive.
Passionate Pioneers
The way leaders decide strategic plans is influenced by leaders’ personalities, priorities and worldview. Visionary leaders are bent on taking things to the next level, solving the unsolvable problem, and developing something unprecedented or revolutionary. They passionately blaze uncharted trails.
Certainly, this type of ambition is worthy. However, pure visionaries tend to be interested only in conceptualizing business ideas, and they often fail to involve themselves in the execution stages. Their brains are fast-thinking, idea-generating machines, with each concept analogous to a sheet of paper quickly torn from a thick pad.
3 Questions to Consider
Let me ask:
- Is your mind camped on the “what ifs?” of your business, while other issues are pushed aside?
- Do you wish you could devote all your time to brainstorming activities while someone else handles the other major responsibilities on your plate?
- Do you rely on tactical thinkers— the ones with practical know-how of processes, procedures, policies and planning—to turn ideas into reality?
If you answered yes, you might be a visionary leader.
Which is not all bad: we need conceptualizers. But visionary leadership is prone to vulnerabilities. I’ll dive in to these in this series of posts. In the meantime, what do you think? Are you a passionate pioneer? How often are you caught up in “what ifs”? I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060, let’s talk. And as always, I can be reached here, or on LinkedIn.
