Think You’re a Visionary Leader! Here Are 6 Signs You Might Be.

In 1997, Venus Williams was tennis fastest rising star. Reaching the finals of her first ever U.S. Open as an unseeded player and surprising the tennis world with her talent and skills. But her dad and coach, Richard Williams said something that sounded a little crazy at the time "Hey, my younger daughter is even better."

What! A guy said with a dazed and confused look on his face, “your daughter made it to the U.S. Open final as an unseeded player and now you are saying your younger daughter is better.” Its sounded like Tales From a Strange Land according to David Rudder’s Madman’s Rant.

But Richard’s vision was spot on; yup, you got it right, Serena Williams is arguably the best tennis player ever? The best tennis player of all-time, male or female? The Williams sisters have 30 grand slam singles titles each. They played each other in the finals nine times. They also have 17 doubles titles playing together in only 33 major appearances with three gold medals in Olympic doubles. No doubt Richard’s vision of his two girls was bullseye perfect.

However, I am always left dumbfounded when I read about people with the ability to see what no one else is seeing; it gives me goosebumps every time. How do they know, how did Richard know that Venus and Serena as little girls playing on those cracked courts in Compton, with gunfire sometimes echoing in the distance would become two of the greatest players in tennis history. 

What's their secret?

Visionary leaders and great innovators follow that feeling in their heart; they know without knowing. Hope I am making sense to you. They see what isn’t yet there and create what does not yet exist. Visionaries see the way forward while the world reacts. They see something no one else can’t see and most importantly they feel it in their heart and boldly go after it until their vision comes to fruition. 

According to the late great Dr. Myles Munroe, the greatest gift God ever gave us is not the gift of sight but the gift of vision. Sight is a function of your eyes, but vision is a function of your heart. 

Are you a visionary leader? Here are 6 signs you might be.

Visionary leaders are imaginative

Visionary people can foresee things easily. I read an article about Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, a man who envisioned the island city of Singapore to become a metropolitan first-world city.

From 1959 and to 1990 Lee Kuan Yew remained in charge of Singapore for an uninterrupted 56 years, many years later, Singapore became exactly what Lee Kuan Yew saw it to be. One of the richest and most expensive cities in the world, and it all happened in one generation! It is especially impressive since Singapore was a third world country in the 1960s.

According to Kamran Akbarzadeh, founder of Dream Achievers Academy, Visionaries can imagine future possibilities in their minds and then explain what they have imagined clearly. They imagine things that others cannot imagine. Through their imagination, they can draw future possibilities for their organization and country.

They are big-picture oriented

When Steve Jobs return to lead the company he co-founded in 1997, he negotiated a partnership with Microsoft that proved incredibly important for the company especially the $150 million injections from Microsoft to help a failing Apple at the time.

But the most important aspect of this partnership was Job ability to see the big picture. In his Macworld presentation in 1997, the excited crowd awaited the introduction of Steve Jobs to the stage. Now picture yourself at Macworld, sitting in front of the man who was like the messiah coming to save the company he co-founded and whose vision help created an iconic company. In one 12 minute speech, Jobs dramatically changed the direction of his company forever. Jobs said

“To make Apple healthy and prospering again, we have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,” Jobs said. “We have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. If others are going to help us, that’s great. Because we need all the help we can get…The era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over.”

The ability for Jobs to see the big picture allowed Apple to become the juggernaut it is today and one of the most influential companies in the world. 

They share and communicate the dream/vision

One of the big signs of visionaries is their willingness for sharing their vision with the world. According to Dr. Luis Calingo, Martin Luther King, Jr. shared with the world his vision for an end to racism in America, when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. By articulating a shared dream, Martin Luther King, Jr empowered his fellow Americans to participate in a national dialogue about the achievement of his dream. Visionary leaders understand that they cannot keep the dream to themselves because they know that they cannot get to the destination alone.

They Turn Vision into reality

According to Dave Lavinsky whenever a vision is followed by action, the vision can be turned into reality. One important action of leadership is the formation of a formidable team. No single skill set is sufficient in achieving success in business.

A visionary leader recognizes talent and recruits individuals with skills that contribute towards the growth of the business. For example, hiring Sheryl Sandberg was one of the smartest business decisions Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ever made.

According to Richard Feloni, Sandberg joined in March 2008 at a time when Facebook was ready to scale and needed the acumen she developed in her role as the head of Google's advertising arm as well as the chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

Facebook would end 2008 with 450 employees, $272 million in revenue, at a loss of $56 million; in 2016 Facebook had more than 17,000 employees and brought in $27.6 billion in revenue, with $10.2 billion in net income. Zuckerberg had the vision to hire his weakness which allowed Facebook to experience an explosive growth and become the largest social media company in the world.

They are never afraid of failures

As mentioned earlier, true visionaries see what others cannot see. They see the big picture. They see the links among different events. They see possible obstacles. They know there would be challenges along the way. They know they might have temporary setbacks. But they also know the great value of fulfilling their vision. Therefore, true visionaries never give up. They are not afraid of failures because they know that failures are part of the process.

Jk Rowling said that failure gets such a bad rap in our society. We see thousands of best-selling books about how to succeed in life, but none about how to fail. Now you’re probably thinking, “Why on earth would I ever want to fail, or even worse, learn how to fail?” The truth is, failure is an essential part of life. We have just completely lost sight of its purpose.

They are positive energizers

Another sign of true visionaries is their positive attitude according to Kamran Akbarzadeh, founder of Dream Achievers Academy. Since visionaries are passionate about and connected with their vision, their positive energy level is typically high. They recharge people with positive energy because of their positive attitude. True visionaries are surrounded by positive people who are willing to help them achieve a common vision.

Visionary leaders balance vision with action, they are not afraid of public opinion, they work to develop others and are not afraid to go the extra mile to achieve their vision. Richard Williams can lay claim to a remarkable, and unprecedented, legacy. But remember his backstory. According to Allen St. John, as a former sharecropper, Richard Williams saw a tennis match on TV and was shocked at the size of the check being handed to the winner. So, as a middle aged black man, he decided to teach himself this remarkably complex game. He then wrote a 78-page plan, scrounged a shopping cart full of balls and taught his two youngest daughters the game.

He came from the most unlikely and difficult circumstances to coached his two daughters who not only dominated but reinvented the game of tennis.

______________________________________________________________________

Gifford is the founder of Leadership First, a leadership community dedicated to inspiring every leader into creating a great organization, one their employees will enjoy. Help us achieve our purpose, SUBSCRIBE to our community and get exclusive leadership articles from the best leadership minds in the world. Let's change the leadership status quo and inspire every leader into great leadership. Leadership First