Topic: Articulating a Vison
“It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.”
-Helen Keller
“I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.”
-Mark Twain
"Vision without execution is hallucination.”
-Thomas Edison
"The very essence of leadership is [that] you have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."
-Theodore Hesburgh
________________________________________________
What we learned:
What I learned about articulating a vision is that it is extremely important for a leader to express their vision in a way that their team can connect with and invest in. Their vision needs to become the team’s vision. As a leader you need to paint a picture that can inspire and motivate your team.
–Linda
Articulating a vision is an art that every leader must either be born with or learn. From our reading of Henry the V, we learned that one must inspire and move in order to get results. King Henry spoke to his men as brothers and spoke of the victory that they would achieve and how they would become immortalized as heroes; he clearly delineated the path never painting it easy, but reminding them of the reward at the end. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech also had this quality. He articulated his dream and in turn inspired others to unite so that the dream could one day become reality. One thing that really stuck with me is that you not only have to articulate the vision, but you must also act on the vision. A great leader then must dream, paint the picture of his dream, and then materialize it!
–Claudia
Despite having a career in business administration, and having heard and read many times about the leadership’s maxim articulating a vision, I believe to have just fully understood the significance of this precept. I did so during the Fundamentals of Leadership Academy. I understood that a leader’s vision stems from an injustice that demands restoration, from a situation that can be improved. I also learned that articulating a vision was about being able to portray a better tomorrow, to portray the possibility of an improved reality. Reading in class about The Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln, I found his vision in the words “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom”. Similarly, I have a visual memory of what Martin Luther King Jr. described in his speech I Have a Dream. I still remember the images of a better tomorrow that he eloquently drew in his speech of 1963, and that we discussed in class.
-Antonio
____________________________________________________________________________________________________