How To Translate Vision Into Reality

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren Bennis

I love this quote because it doesn’t make leadership something only CEOs or Presidents do. It democratizes leadership.

Leadership is in many ways (merely) a lofty term for goal-setting and goal-achievement.

Most people understand leadership as being able to persuade and rally others to make a vision of the future into reality – and generally in an organizational setting of some sort.

Are there other ways to understand leadership? Ways that allow us to grow in all dimensions of life? Absolutely. Organizational leadership is just leadership writ large.

Leadership can be expressed within one’s Self.

Leadership can be expressed within a Family structure.

Leadership can be expressed at Work, regardless of whether one carries a title that confers formal authority

Leadership can be expressed in one’s Community.

The approaches and skills necessary to be a successful leader in these four domains – what I call the Four Domains of Personal Leadership – are different for each domain. To be a leader (whether they possess a title or formal authority or not) requires that one be someone worthy of being followed.

The challenge – and opportunity – presented to each us in the four domains is have the awareness, intelligence and trust required to understand what the vision truly is and how to persuade and rally others to translate such into reality.

A quote from Brian Tracy ends this post perfectly:

“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.” – Brian Tracy

Ask yourself: what could I start doing, for myself and others, that would move me towards being someone people would follow voluntarily?