The Vision Thing: Zander, Porter and Oasis on vision and leadership
Posted by: Phil Dourado in UncategorizedDrip, drip…apparently that’s the way we learn, according to two leadership researchers, David Rock & Jeffrey Schwartz. In that spirit, we’ll continue to pick out and regularly drip into this blog drops of inspiration from Leaders in London 2007, to help you reflect on and put into practice what you learnt at the summit. This week, three different perspectives on The Vision Thing*. Which do you feel is most important in your role as a leader (if any)?
Ben Zander on Vision
“Vision has to be for everybody. If someone says ‘What about me?’ it’s not a vision. Having a compelling vision means you are not led by a person, but by the vision. Our vision at the Boston Philharmonic is ‘Passionate music-making without boundaries.’ Every conversation we have is run by that vision.”
Michael Porter on Vision
“I wish we could all agree to stop using ‘vision and mission’. ‘Strategy as vision’ is one of the flawed concepts of strategy. Strategy is about creating superior value for the customer.”
Oasis on Vision
OK, they weren’t actually at Leaders in London. But, as other speakers continued to emphasise ’shared vision’ and the need for leaders to get a strong sense of where employees want to go and then commit to helping them get there…It made me think the old notion of a visionary leader who SETS a vision that others buy into and follow is flawed.
Individual employees have their own vision of how they want their life to be, where they want to go, the kind of organisation they want to hitch their wagon to as a fellow traveller. Oasis (that’s the rock band - keep up!) put it this way: “You can’t give me the dreams that are mine anyway.”
If you want a more highbrow reference, Bob Geldof gave it to us last year at Leaders in London 2006: “Lord Byron put it this way: ‘It is when we think we lead that we are most led’.”
So, what do you think? Is the old “Follow me! I have the most compelling vision!” approach to leadership completely outdated? (I have to say ‘Yes’ myself). Zander and Oasis seem to emphasise common, shared vision, that a leader taps into and articulates clearly, rather than creates.
Porter seems to say stop focussing on vision and mission as they are a distraction. What do you think? Add a comment if you want to help us clarify this crucial area of ‘leadership and vision’.
on behalf of www.LeadersinLondon.com
*”The vision thing”: That was the dismissive comment on leadership vision that George Bush Snr came out with a few years back, you may remember, which led to commentators unkindly suggesting that the then President didn’t have one.
Entries (RSS)