When I was a college student, I learned that vision is the key to leadership.
Casting vision, leaking vision, dripping vision. These were the things I learned made the difference between a mediocre leader & and amazing leader. A great leader, I was taught, can peer deep into the future and point to a seemingly unforseen destination, wooing his team onward.
I soaked this up. I learned how to see what others couldn’t. I practiced pushing the envelope. I read up on what forward thinking leaders and organizations were doing.
I bought a moleskin. I wrote ideas into it. Great ideas. Ideas that could change the world; ideas that would point my organizations towards exciting, progressive innovation.
7 years since heading off to college, I’ve learned something that should have preceeded these lessons, but didn’t: execution.
Writing an idea in a Moleskin does nothing. Nothing is created through napkin scribbles.
Something is created when a napkin scribble leads to an action plan and tangible, real-world tasks get accomplished.
Leadership looks more like a brilliant to-do list than moleskin doodles.
Vision doesn’t always look like vision. Vision can look like a detail-obsessed programmer, a relentless customer service rep or a babysitter with unwavering loyalty.
If a vision doesn’t manifest itself as tiny details treated like they’re keys to success, the vision is empty.
