Reading a lot of the alleged “leadership” material, you see that most of it emphasizes the importance of the alleged leader in imparting his vision to the troops. The assumption is that this guy/gal knows what they’re doing – meaning THEY are the ones most capable of developing and communicating the organization’s vision. Hey, they’re getting payed about 160 times the annual pay of most of their troops, so they have to be brilliant, right? This is just too hard to swallow. I’m not overly interested in another person’s view of how they want me to fit into THEIR vision – and why would I be? I’m most interested in my vision, my future, my dreams.
I know of a big company in the Bay Area that shut down for a day (yes, closed their doors for a day) so that ALL of the employees could take part in hashing out the company’s vision for its future. They’ve been going gangbusters ever since – and why not – they ALL had a part in creating the vision. They don’t come to work each day to work toward accomplishing someone else’s vision – they’re working on their own vision for the organization.
I’ll make this even simpler: when was the last time you jumped out of bed on a weekday morning and shouted “Boy, I can’t wait to work on the company’s vision today!”. No – we go to work each day to work on what we feel is in our own best self-interest. Now if my best interest – and that of the company – are on the same path, there’s a pretty good chance that things are gonna work out. In fact, who knows, we might even move mountains together. (Sorry about the photo, G.W. – just couldn’t resist)
Wayne this is spot on. Companies used to be run like the military for many years, and people followed orders because they had no choice. But society now is not the hierarchy it was, and people need to be enfranchised and enthused if they are to be swept along.
Thanks for your input Paul! I have the good fortune to work at a place where my vision lines up with the owners’ vision – I wish everyone could have that kind of situation at their job.