Driving Results

6Vision: Lesson #2

“If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else.”

– Yogi Berra

ONE OF THE differences between a manager and a leader is Vision. A manager monitors activities that are current, making sure they are accomplished to standard and executed efficiently and effectively. A leader looks at what is and asks, “What can we become?” “Who do we want to be?” The answer to those questions is the vision for the future. And that vision is a critical requirement for any leader driving change.

Nelson Mandela had a vision for an integrated South Africa, and it did not include revenge against those who perpetuated apartheid. John F. Kennedy had a vision to send a man to the moon and return him safely to Earth. That culminated with Apollo 11 doing just that. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a vision of equality for African Americans. He immortalized his vision in his speech, “I Have a Dream,” and while we are not there yet, we have made progress. Our Founding Fathers had a vision for a country not ruled by a monarch, but by a government “For the People, By the People, and Of the People.” The result was the United States, which, in turn, revolutionized governments around the world.

Vision is as important in the business and organizational realm as it is in the political realm. Steve Jobs had a vision to make computer technology accessible for everyone. Today, the iPhone or one its competitors (all of which are more powerful than the computers used to send a man ...