The Art of Leadership

Epilogue: The Way I Heard It Was...

We’re a team. There’s a mountain that no one has ever climbed before, but you—in your bones—believe we can. More importantly, you can stand in front of us, point at the mountain, and tell us the compelling story of how we’re going to climb that impossible peak.

You talk with your hands, you raise your voice at precisely the right times to punctuate your thoughts. Your pauses build tension. You’re not talking about yourself, you’re talking about all of us and how we are going to collectively achieve this impossible task.

Your story is engaging, but light on specifics. We don’t care because we all desire to achieve the impossible and, more importantly, we just love the way you tell this story. We believe you. This belief washes away the perceived need for concrete next steps. We are emotional beings; your manner and delivery have convinced us to follow you on an impossible journey.

This is vision. You are using all your leadership skills to describe a vision.

There is still a mountain to climb. How are we actually going to perform this Herculean feat? Thankfully, we have you. Now you begin to plan.

You start with questions: How big is the mountain? What obstacles are we aware of? Where is the top? What is the best path to climb to the top? Are there alternative paths? How many hikers do we have, and how fit are they? What are their respective strengths and weaknesses? What is the best configuration of humans to perform each task? What contingencies ...