LEADERSHIP IS BUILT ON VISION

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch – Matthew 15:14

Vision is the starting point and the foundation of true leadership. Leadership begins when a clear vision emerges. All effective leaders are purpose-driven and visionary. They are never satisfied with sustaining the status-quo. The first step towards effective leadership is taken when a leader becomes whole-heartedly committed to a clear-cut vision. Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision; the people perish” (KJV) or “where there is no vision; the people run wild” (TLB). Without vision, people are careless, purposeless and aimless; they drift like a ship without a rudder, jumping from one thing to another with no sense of direction, and finally fail.

Without a vision, there can be no real mission. Without a mission, no effective programme of goals can emerge; hence no place for leadership. Without leadership mankind will languish in negativity.

John Maxwell has identified four categories of vision-levels with regard to leadership:
 Wanderers are those who never see a vision.
 Followers are those who see it but never pursue it on their own.
 Achievers are those who see and pursue vision.
 Leaders are those who see and pursue vision, while effectively helping others to do the same.

A mission is a leader’s commitment to his or her vision. No vision; no mission. No mission; no leadership. True leaders are “painters of the vision and architects of the journey.” They dream of the desired future. They envision change. They seek to change “what is” to “what can be”. George Bernard Shaw said: “You see things as they are and ask ‘Why’. But I dream of things that never were, and ask, Why Not?” Leaders seek to change “what is” to “what might be.” A leader’s vision guides him to see beyond the immediate and urgent! Vision operates as dynamic force providing focus, stretch and lift!