What is Visionary Leadership?—5 Examples and How to Be a Visionary Leader?

“Good leaders have vision and inspire others to help them turn vision into reality.

What is Visionary leadership?

In generally, Vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. Defining Visionary leadership – it is a style of leadership in which leaders strategically plans the present events keeping in mind the bigger picture of the future and inspiring others to pursue a long-term vision. Also, The major foundation of visionary leadership is goal setting.

Who is a visionary leader?

A visionary leader is someone who sees the potential for how the world should be and then takes action to make it happen. Just as visionary leaders are distinct from other leaders in that they constantly inspire, motivate, empower, and equip their teams to achieve superior results.

Who discovered visionary leadership Theory?

In 2002, Daniel Goleman gave the theory of “visionary leadership.” And He was the first to formally recognize it as a leadership style. This leadership style is one of the first six leadership methods discovered.

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Visionary Leadership

 Stan Dekoven

What are Qualities of Visionary Leader ?

Underlisted are leadership traits of a Visionary leader

1. Imaginative
2. Goal-oriented
3. Responsible
4. Enthusiastic
5. Collaborative
6. Charismatic
7. Inspiring

Leader’s Tip
Create a compelling vision that resonates with the organization’s values and goals, and then communicate it effectively to inspire and drive your staff.

5 Ways to Become a Visionary Leader

Generally visionary leaders are the future leaders and they are required in almost every field, be it business, education, healthcare etc. So, here are visionary leadership skills that one can accommodate in order to shine as a visionary leader-

1. Consistency
2. Empathy
3. Assertiveness
4. Public Speaking
5. Innovative

What are Examples of Great visionary Leaders?

Let’s zero into some examples of famous visionary leaders-

• Nelson Mandela -Anti-apartheid Advocate and Former South African President. Also, He envisioned a nation in which racism was a thing of the past and South Africa could enjoy constitutional democracy. While he was imprisoned, his unwavering commitment to the cause and determination to die as a martyr for it inspired many people to join the fight to abolish apartheid.
• Henry Ford -Founder of Ford Motors, he always cared about his employee’s needs and interests; especially since his employees were paid the highest hourly salaries in the industry, they assisted him in creating and successfully implementing his vision of an efficient assembly line. Further, His employees believed in his vision and helped him develop Ford Motors, one of the most successful vehicle businesses in history.
• Elon Musk– Generally, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, is known for his extraordinary revolutionary ideas. Also, He is always willing to go against the grain to succeed. Further, His ideas may appear absurd to some, yet he has led teams of highly motivated and creative individuals to accomplish seemingly impossible goals.

How Visionary leadership in Business works?

For businesses, undoubtedly it is a game-changing leadership style. In like , Visionary leaders also possess basic attributes that hold a huge credit in attaining long-term objectives. They have the capacity to both anticipate the future of a firm and unite personnel around a common goal—inspiring and encouraging staff to embrace the discipline and creativity necessary to make this vision a reality.

Transformational vs visionary leaders

Here are some points of difference between transformational and visionary leadership-

1. Transformational leadership comes from the full range leadership model, making it a palette of leadership on its own, whereas Visionary leadership is one out of six leadership styles by Daniel Goleman.
2. Transformational leadership is focused on developing people and their talents, whereas visionary leadership lacks this element of people focus and coaching.
3. Transformational leadership includes extra layers of empowerment for others, which helps to guarantee that the team tackles short-term details, whereas visionary leadership has a larger chance of losing short-term control.

What are 5 Advantages & Disadvantages of Visionary Leadership?

Here are some advantages:

1. Inspires and motivate people to pursue a long-term vision.
2. It gives an idea of the overall goal that everyone is working for.
3. Visionary leadership helps foresee challenges
4. It promotes innovation and creativity
5. Make employees feel valuable since their work impacts the organization’s vision

Here are some disadvantages:

1. In order to attain long term goals, leaders and employees put less emphasis on smaller details and short term goals.
2. If the plan is not carried out effectively then it may lead to a major loss
3. A visionary leader may lose momentum when there’s no follow-through
4. Team members aren’t held accountable
5. When the goal is unrealistic, it may become difficult to bring him back to reality.

Check it out – 7 Must Have Skills for Leadership in Digital World

Leader’s Tip
Create an environment that promotes creativity, innovation, and risk-taking in order to realise the shared goal.

5 visionary Leadership Books

Five books on visionary leadership to empower your knowledge such as :

1. Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, by Bo Burlingham
2. Visionary Leadership by Burt Nanus
3. The Visionary Leader: How to Inspire Success from the Top Down by Susan Bagyura
4. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jerry I. Porras and Jim Collins
5. Visionary Leadership Skills: Creating a World to which People by Robert Dilts

5 best leadership quotes

Five best leadership lessons for you:

1. Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.”
   ― John Maxwell
2. Great leaders create more leaders, not followers.”
   ― Roy T. Bennett
3. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
   ― Roy T. Bennett
4. If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you are an excellent leader.”
   ―Dolly Parton
5. Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is a success. ―Henry Ford

FAQs

Key Takeaways

• Visionary leadership inspires and directs people to a shared vision, resulting in positive transformation and organisational success.
• Steve Jobs (Apple), Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX), and Oprah Winfrey (Harpo Productions) are examples of visionary leaders.
• Visionary leaders demonstrate traits such as foresight, courage, strategic thinking, excellent communication, and the capacity to inspire and influence others.