VISION & MISSlON
The Source of Leadership Zeal

By Trinidad Hunt

'A vision without a task is but a dream.
A task without a vision is drudgery,
A vision and a task
Is the hope of the world."

From a church in Sussex, Eng1and,1730 A.D.

The myth surrounding leadership reads like a mysterious story of sorcery and magic. It goes something like this:

Leaders are born not made. They are genetically endowed special beings gifted by grace with superhuman powers, born during periods of history where calamitous events or extraordinary circumstances cast them as charismatic stars on the stage of life.

It is this very myth about leadership that has kept great leaders at a distance, coloring them in an aura of loneliness, therefore perpetuating the idea of "us and them." The problems associated with this gulf between the mystic few and the masses have much to do with the personal self-worth and self-image of the mainstream of people within an organization or society. It leaves people with a certain sense of powerlessness and despair, as well as a feeling of their inability to affect change. This demoralizing effect leaves workers disappointed and indifferent, causing organizational stagnation and low productivity. This was expressed by one worker, "I've been a piece of furniture on my job for years. Do you know what it's like, working 40 to 60 hours a week and not knowing whether your work makes a damned bit of difference to anybody?"
Today we know that this sense of purposelessness is a problem associated with a lack of effective leadership and that leadership is needed at all levels of an organization, community, or nation. Good leadership promotes the growth of individuals, helps them rediscover their natural zeal for life and work, and fulfills the need for meaning.

Notice that leadership is not management. Managers are efficient - leaders are effective. Managers do things right - leaders do the right things. Managers control - leaders coach. Leadership is not the exercise of power, but the ability to empower others with the inspired vision of a desired future state.

Vision

Vision is the bridge between this world and the world of possibility. It is man's sacred link to a world not yet manifest, pregnant with potential, and alive with awesome possibility. It is genius waiting to be realized, or the chrysalis holding the hope of flight. It's the tale that's never been told, and the song that's never been sung.
Vision is what makes life worth living, and turns a menial task into magic. Its focus of power is internal for it lights a fire deep within the heart of man, and gives life meaning.
Once there were three brick masons working on a building. When the first was asked what he was working on, he answered gruffly without even raising his head, "Can't you see, I'm laying bricks!" When the second one was asked, he replied, "Well, obviously, I'm building a wall." But when the third mason was asked, he looked up from his work with afar vision in his eye and said, "I'm building a cathedral so that all the people in the town may come and worship together."
To live a life of purpose, meaning and lasting joy, we must all be visionaries. We must consciously hold within our hearts a deep sense of the sacred bond between ourselves, our work and our connection with all life. It is this conscious awareness that makes the difference between mediocrity and genius in any given field of endeavor.

Leaders are no different. Great leadership starts with a vision, for leadership is the by-product of inspired vision. It is not an end in itself. Most leaders do not set out to become leaders. Instead they find that leadership becomes necessary to actualize the vision they have. For, in the case of leadership, the realization of the vision is dependent upon other people and cannot be actualized alone.
Martin Luther King is a classic example, as he made an irresistible appeal to human values and conscience when he communicated his vision in a passionate, highly personal, yet non-violent way. His opening words catalyzed an entire nation's sense of moral rectitude when he said, 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream. . ."

Mission
"A vision in your head is dead."
-Warren Bennis

From the vision is born the mission. For a mission takes the vision out of the thinking or dreaming stage into the action or activity stage. Land, the creator of Polaroid Cameras, said that you must convince people you are working with, ". . .that the undertaking is manifestly important and almost impossible."
When Thomas Watson Sr. joined a small firm in 1914, they were making meat slicers, time clocks, punch card machines and primitive tabulators. Thomas Watson was not a technician nor an inventor; he was instead a visionary with a mission. As general manager, he had a vision of a technological transformation that would sweep the nation through data processing and the exchange of information; his mission was to be at the forefront of that revolution.
In 1924, he changed the name of his little company from Computing Tabulating Recording Company to International Business Machines Corporation. The new name matched the vision and helped clarify the mission, reshaping a small unheard of company into a powerful international influence. Watson's motto embodied his philosophies of service, hard work and expansion, "IBM: Think. Be better than average. Serve and sell.''
Another example of utilizing a seemingly impossible mission to motivate and align a team is the story of Cray Research of Minneapolis. Cray builds the world's largest high-speed computers. Here, over 2,500 employees find excitement and challenge in a work of immense complexity, partially because of management's view of the importance of missions that motivate.
Cray's chairman and CEO, John Roliwagen, feels that the creation of an "audacious task" is central to the enlivening spirit of the organization. This "audacious task". . .

. . .creates an environment that takes people beyond day-to-day problems. It creates enormous excitement. While this seems very risky, it isn't really, because people are focused on a single purpose, and they know that there's no backup. . . If we lost track of our overriding purpose, all the other things we do would not be enough to guarantee our success.

Peak Performers
Charles Garfield

The mission should clarify the vision by simplifying and focusing it. Written as a statement, the mission has a laser-like quality and is a powerful activator of people. It gives individuals a sense of personal purpose and significance while aligning them toward a tangible aspect of the vision. All mission statements reveal a basic drive toward both autonomy and affiliation. They reveal both an individual need to excel as well as an intrinsic need to share with others.
Some examples of mission statements might read like this: "To take a small and floundering company and turn it into a major international influence in the area of telecommunication." "To develop a team of nurses that serve and support the patients at our hospital in a way they have never been served before." "To develop a new product line of household cleaners that is so inexpensive and powerful that it becomes a household word.''
My own personal mission statement is: "To understand the meaning of being a human being and communicate that in ways that uplift and inspire people to attain new levels of joy, satisfaction and excellence In their lives, their relationships and their work."

A compelling vision woven with the tapestry of such potency has the power to revitalize energies and transform attitudes. Vision is the link between the infinite and the finite - therefore, it transforms even our mundane daily activities into magic.
Whether a vision be personal, organizational or national in scope, it has the power to uplift and protect us from the bumps and "stuff" of daily living. It is a tremendous motivator, having the capacity and power to bring an individual or group of people to a place they've never been. It makes the task bearable, persistence easier, and even gives a sense of exhilaration to the work at hand.
Martin Luther King realized this when he said, "To guard ourselves from bitterness, we need to see in this generation's ordeals the opportunity to transfigure both ourselves and American society."
A compelling vision of a desired future state mobilizes the energies of the leader and sets the course for the supporters by clarifying the objectives and establishing the parameters whereby the game is to be played. A potent vision will inspire people to action if it:

1. Satisfies an unexpressed but felt need
2. Fulfills man's need for meaning
3. Embodies the deepest of human value
4. Directly or indirectly fulfills the need to serve others
5. Satisfies the need to actualize ones full potential

Determining Your Vision
Vision, which has so often been allocated to saints and the other great individuals, truthfully belongs to the territory of being human. It is, therefore, our birthright and is deeply connected to our need to realize full potential and purpose. We are all dreamers and seers, but often, due to faulty belief systems and lack of encouragement born of deep societal influences, the selective consciousness has chosen not to recognize the strong intuitive urges and insightful flashes that press for attention just below the level of awareness.
Vision (far from belonging to the exceptional few) is the right of all human beings and provides each of us with a rich and vital link to our sense of personal destiny.
How does one get in touch with one's own inspired vision of a desirable future state? Let's go back to our training tool chest and use some old, but treasured gifts - relaxation and visualization. Combine them with inspired creative writing. At the deepest level of being, each of us knows who we are, why we are here and what we have come to do. We need only push back the gate between the conscious and the subconscious mind for a moment in order to re-experience the vast inner treasure of our purpose, which, once experienced, transforms our work and play. As Paul Brunton puts it in his book, The Secret Path: "The gate may be open, for one minute, or for one hour, but in that period we discover the secret and neither weary time nor bitter woe can tear that priceless knowledge away from us.

* Find a spot of solitude
* Have a blank paper and pencil before you
* Decide whether this imagery is to be focused on bringing forth your personal or professional vision
(each should be done at separate sittings and at different times)
* Enter a state of deep relaxation
* Go within to your personal place of power
* Do your own guided imagery of meeting an old, wise mentor and friend who comes to give you three wishes for your life
* Take your time with each wish, having your wise mentor explore with you, assisting you in deepening your experience
* Write each wish down as it is received (open your eyes and write without breaking the spell)

When you are finished, turn to a clean sheet of paper and write your most compelling vision in full sensory images, using sight, sound and feeling to describe the new condition in the present tense. (Sometimes two or more of these wishes will overlap into a fully expanded vision - that's okay.) Keep this powerful verbal description with you, read it daily for inspiration, clarity and focus. The function of the mind is to merge with what it focuses on. As you focus on your vision daily, you shall start to become one with it.

Writing Your Mission Statement
To write your mission statement, first discover your personal action preference. Find out what it is you really care about, or want to accomplish and are willing to commit yourself to. Your mission statement should be in alignment with your vision, and should feel intuitively "right."
Start with an easy mission statement - something small and close to the core of your professional life. As you start to feel comfortable at it, try a larger mission statement - something to do with a potential life mission. To trigger the focus of your statement, ask your-self the following questions:

* Do I feel right championing a product, a service, or an idea?
* Am I most comfortable at innovation or development?
* Do I see myself as a team leader or a team member?
* Who do I see myself serving with the product, idea or innovation?

In Closing
Leadership is not the domain of a chosen few. It is a skill to be learned and developed. Great leaders were inspired and sustained by a vision of a desirable and attainable future state.
Innovative leaders literally place themselves into the future by the power afforded them through the intensity of a compelling vision of possibility. A clearly defined mission is the child of vision, for it becomes the source that fuels the fire of action.
Our personal potential for greatness is yet untapped. As we clarify our vision and our statement of mission, we move ourselves one step closer to the goal of becoming self-inspired, self-actualized human beings -models of leadership for this new era.