Become a visionary leader and you can do great things in your brokerage. But what does this mean?
Become a visionary leader and you can do great things. But what does this mean? Chris Golis, adjunct lecturer at the SP Jain Centre of Global Management, explains:
In a talk given last year by the professor of organisation behaviour at London Business School, Nigel Nicholson, he defined vision as the leader seeing things the rest of the team do not see. Successful leaders use their ability to see what others do not see to frame their actions and build a successful business.
Perhaps the best modern example has been Steve Jobs. He did not just transform one industry. Through his ability to see what others could not see he transformed four:
- personal computing with the Mac/iPad;
- music with iTunes/iPod;
- communications with the iPhone;
- and the movie industry with Pixar.
Leaders fail when they lack insight – into themselves and the worlds they inhabit. Again, Apple provides a wonderful example in the form of John Scully, who is immortalised by this famous quote while he was CEO of Apple:
"Apple was supposed to become a wonderful consumer products company. This was a lunatic plan. High-tech could not be designed and sold as a consumer product."
He could not have been more wrong. Scully is also famous for another quote:
"The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious."
Sometimes, the irony of life is truly delicious.
So vision is important provided he or she is looking at the right things. Again I refer to Nigel Nicholson, and in particular his latest book, The ‘I’ of Leadership. The insight that really resonated with me was critical leader relationships (CLRs).
Nicholson argues that these are the people who help leaders with their most difficult decisions. In organisations they can be upward, downward and lateral, but Nicholson argues that perhaps the most useful are external, be it a spouse, personal coach or adviser. According to Nicholson most leaders take CLRs for granted, but successful leaders typically have CLRs that provide the following:
- Help: e.g. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer in the early years of Microsoft
- Insight: e.g. Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger
- Challenge: e.g. Walt Disney Company’s Michael Eisner and Frank Wells
- Feedback: e.g. Leighton Holding’s Wal King and Dieter Adamsas were a formidable pairing
- Ideas: e.g. Steve Jobs was always on the hunt for creative intellects
- Support: e.g. Margaret and Dennis Thatcher
For more essential advice from Golis and numerous business experts, keep an eye out for this year’s MPA Business Strategy supplement – on desks with issue 14.7 of MPA in late June.
