I wrote Management Mess for those who feel they haven't been fully prepared for leadership – those who have a bit of a “mess” in them, whether it comes from being an outsider, lack of experience, lack of training or all of the above. There are probably people I know who think I'm the last person who should write a book like this, probably a few people who are reading it right now. So I'm going to take out this next part:
I have an intense personality that often comes in at 11. I'm mean, mean, selfish, and self-centered. I have brought genuinely good people to tears, no doubt talented associates have chosen to leave the organization and unfortunately I have used my position and temper to sometimes belittle, belittle and stifle the contributions of others. But I'm also known as the leader whose division you join if you want your career and skills to flourish. I'm a close friend to many, and I'm the guy you call around the clock to get you out of jail, restraint, or any other emergency. I'm also the guy who keeps a chilled bottle of champagne ready to pour for impromptu guests. I am an honorable husband and foster father; a champion, supporter and mentor to countless people who have achieved extraordinary success in their careers. I have a handful of God-given abilities that I work hard to use and magnify (humility is not one of them). I am, in short, a human being:I have faults and talents; failures and triumphs.
If you are a fellow traveler on the path to leadership, I wrote this book for you. It is a reflection of my experiences, both damage and success, crossing the crucible of the real world, shaped, validated and often corrected by the deep expertise and thought leadership of many colleagues, friends and mentors. So even though I was going through the ranks and sometimes going down the ranks, I couldn't help but pick up on the principles and practices that the most successful leaders got right. These proven ideas (many of which are included in this book) have helped an admittedly imperfect leader move into the C-suite.
The challenges in this book will make you a better leader. Let's explore Book Challenge 22 together:Creating a Vision.
Related: Everything You Need to Know to Become a Great Leader
In modern history, Walt Disney was one of the most brilliant business leaders at creating and communicating a vision.
Celebration, the community planned by the Disney Development Company, is a great example. It was the realization of Walt's dream, partially achieved through the EPCOT Center, at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I happen to know its history well, as I was one of the founding members of the project team from 1992 to 1996. In just a few years, Disney transformed 10 square miles of open land and cow pasture in one of the most innovative cities in the world. Celebration featured a never-before-seen public/private school, a collection of retail stores, homes and apartments, a progressive hospital, and office buildings designed by many world-renowned architects. The city offers cutting-edge technology supporting a lifestyle described by some as “where The Jetsons meets Mayberry. The celebration isn't perfect, of course, but that's not the point. This was all inspired by the vision of one person – someone I assume most of the team had never met. It was the power of Walt Disney's vision; a dream he communicated with passion, clarity and consistency.
My experience working at Disney has taught me that creating a bold vision is often uncomfortable. It can be both inspiring and really stretchy. Personally, I have always excelled at creating a vision and consider it one of my most valuable leadership strengths. And I'm not just talking about having a vision – that is not the name of this challenge. Leaders create vision until it is shared by their teams and colleagues. They describe a vision so clear and aligned with the mission and goals of the organization that anyone could communicate it in thirty seconds or less.
Conventional learning theory suggests that individuals are learners visual, auditory or kinesthetic. I actually believe that unless you have a visual impairment, all people is a visual learner. No one has ever gotten a construction loan without a master plan, and the same goes for leaders. Whether you use PowerPoint, images, templates, or storyboards, creating a vision requires others to see it. And because you can't get inside someone's head and know if they see (and understand) your vision, you need to make sure people can articulate it. I will ask my colleagues and team members to do just that – repeat to me the vision I just shared. Often they will bring something new to it. And that's great, because creating a vision is often a group endeavour.
In my previous role as Chief Marketing Officer, I was responsible for creating a compelling vision around many events and initiatives , including Facilitator Enhancement Day (or FED). This event allowed our facilitator clients (more than five thousand certified each year) to increase their business acumen, their network and improve their facilitation skills. Each year our team has created a compelling marketing campaign with a theme, website, email strategies and printed invitations to support the FED. We completed this long list of tasks almost a year before the event so that customer partners could communicate the experience to their customers. The fact that the collateral was designed and distributed before the agenda was locked in would frustrate other areas of the business:"How can you sell something before you create it?" they asked. The answer was simple:when you can create and articulate a powerful vision, you have improved the likelihood of it coming to fruition. It happens all the time, like in the movie industry, where marketing teams create a trailer while the production process continues. It's common for a film to be in final cut literally days before it arrives at your local theater.
The mistake is to assume your work is done after you've created that powerful vision. You may be familiar with the recent Fyre Festival debacle. Organizers have created a masterful vision of an exclusive, high-end music festival on a remote Caribbean island, complete with beautiful people, live bands and luxury boats in turquoise water. Festival organizers paid “influencers” hundreds of thousands of dollars to share the vision through social media.
The only problem was that the vision was completely disconnected from reality.
When sold-out event attendees arrived to find repurposed hurricane tents instead of luxury villas and cheese sandwiches instead of gourmet catering. The event collapsed into a chaotic rush as attendees attempted to flee the island. Truly, a grand vision is not enough.
Effective leaders structure a vision, implement it, and bring it to life. At a high level, creating a vision means defining where your team is going and how they will get there. Notice the “how to” part. It's not unusual for a leader, after a big statement, to sit back and assume that their vision will come true. In truth, many bold strategies never get off the ground because team members were confused, uninspired, or had a “this too shall pass” attitude.
Creating a vision, communicating it effectively, and translating it in everyday behavior requires many talents. The good news is that they can be learned:
Adapt your message to the culture. Do you speak the same language as your audience? Do you use terms that everyone understands? Can others see themselves in the message?
Create a vision at your fingertips. A bold aspiration to colonize Mars in two years seems foolish. Calibrate your vision so people need to stretch — perhaps significantly — but can still win. The vision must be achievable.
Articulate and repeat the vision at every appropriate opportunity. Do this until you've communicated the vision so many times, you won't be able to hear yourself. Even when you're tired of your own vision, you're probably halfway there. Don't make the fatal mistake of believing just because it's clear in your mind, it's clear in the minds of others. Vision becomes reality with relentless research and communication.
Create ambassadors. Bring colleagues together to communicate your vision, making sure they understand. Do not date them, but ask them to repeat it to you. Ask them to ask questions, to push you, to think of all the assumptions. The more your ambassadors understand, the more faithful translators and champions they will become. Consider recording yourself via video and audio, and articulating your vision in writing so that everyone understands it point by point.
Some of this advice may seem pedantic, but the point is to reinforce the reality that no leader has ever communicated an inspiring vision too much. Aspiration-worthy projects and initiatives usually fail because leaders mistakenly thought they had translated enough throughout the team or organization. Or in some cases, they lost interest.
From Mess to Success:Creating a Vision
Build a team vision by answering these questions:
What contributions can our team make to the mission and vision of the organization?
If our team could make one extraordinary contribution over the next one to five years, what would it be?
Take a moment to remember an inspiring vision that stuck with you. What about making it personally motivating and powerful?
Create a vision for your team by articulating not just the why and what, but the how. The how might just be the key to success.
