Question 2 of the Seven Questions Innovative Leaders Ask

from the Break Through, Vol. 1, Post 9 

Google the terms “Visionary Leadership” or “Building a Vision” and you will be astounded at what you find. It becomes readily clear that vision has a great deal to do with leadership and that there are a lot of skills associated with becoming a successful Visionary Leader. This second question in our series is concerned with the question of vision.  We’ve been dreaming up our big idea for quite some time, and now that we have some sense of the landscape (see yesterday’s post), it’s time to clarify and define exactly what we’re hoping to make happen.

What do you want your organization to look like one year from now?  How do you want your proposed changes to transform your community?  In what ways do you want your innovative ideas to impact the people involved? This is a future-oriented, big picture question.  And while we will almost automatically begin thinking critically about the steps and challenges to get to that future, (the becoming), our goal here is to clarify what will be.

One vision I had for the “Break Through,” the think piece of my organization, was to not feel obligated to create content for the sake of creating content.  Nor to regurgitate great thinking that others have already written. The Harvard Business Review is one of my favorite resources, and while it’s business-focused, the concepts discussed in this article absolutely apply to nonprofits, schools, and communities. The explanation of balancing Core Ideology and Envisioned Future are exactly what every innovator needs to consider as they clarify and define their vision by answering our second question. Read this article to jump start, inspire, and increase the clarity of your vision: http://hbr.org/1996/09/building-your-companys-vision/

And while not everyone is trying to form the visionary scope of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his August 1963 speech is one of the most powerful visions ever defined:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRIF4_WzU1w?rel=0&w=560&h=315]