How to Be a Good Leader When You've Never had One

7How to Cast a Vision People Will Follow

When I was ten years old, I heard Les Brown say, “You have greatness within you.”

For me, hearing that was compelling because I had not only a great example of what a man should look like but also a vision of what a leader should look like, and I saw it at an early age. Seeing that told me something important: be the person you want to follow. The truth is your greatness expands beyond the words you say into the actions you do. That meant that if I was to be the person others followed, my actions mattered more than my words did.

So at ten years old, I started figuring out how to make my actions speak louder than my words.

To be the natural leader I wanted to be, whether in school or in my own business, I had to do what everyone else was willing to do, and because of that, I never had to bark orders. If something needed to be done, I led by example and showed the way. For me, vision was all about action.

But how do you define vision?

Vision

Martin Luther King Jr. had a “dream,” but I had a vision. A vision is a clear plan in which you can see the steps on how to get there, whereas a dream is a vague wish. In a dream, your eyes are closed, but with a vision, your eyes must be open. You have to look at where you're going and what problem you want to solve. You have to be able to see it.

Now there are three visions that stand out in both history and recent times: the founding of America, Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a better society, ...