Leadership and Being Visionary

One of the traits of a great leader is to be a visionary. Or is it? Throughout the various phases of my career I have often heard that this person or that person is a visionary. Most of the time I would have to agree. But not all of those people were in leadership roles. Some of them would never be in leadership roles. So, do you have to have vision to be a leader? Or, do you have to be a leader to have vision?

The answer to both questions is NO. That may be heresy to some people but here is what my experience has taught me. I have worked with great leaders. Some of them were visionary and were able to get us to make that vision a reality, and some were not. They inspired and led us to great successes. That ties in with what I say is my basic definition of leadership -- the ability to get a group of people to work together to achieve a common goal. But, a person with vision but no leadership ability is not likely to see their vision become a reality without a good leader.

On the other hand, a leader that does not have a vision can be just as effective as one with vision. That leader may recognize or inspire someone else’s vision and make it a reality. As I said above, not all people with vision are in leadership roles, nor are all meant to be leaders. A good leader does not worry about where the vision comes from, he/she only cares how to make it happen. Good ideas come from all quadrants of an organization and a good leader will recognize that and will be able to get everyone to work together to make the vision a reality.

So as I see it, one need not be a visionary to lead. It doesn’t hurt to have that ability but it is not required. And, one need not be a leader to be a visionary. What that means is that good leaders will either be visionary or inspire that in the people they lead.