Visionary Leaders - inspiring and leading change

Ranked #2,352 in Culture & Society, #52,457 overall | Donates to Grameen Foundation

Defining, discovering, and developing visionary leaders.


YOU can learn to be a visionary leader.

"Visionary leaders realize it's better to fight tough battles for worthy causes - than lead popular movements doomed to eventual failure." - Allan Wallace

Managers focus on control, leaders on goals, visionary leaders on change.

"No great man of letters is absorbed by the stream in which he swims." - Chaim Potok

"To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

R. Buckminster Fuller

Panic Du Jour

"How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened." - Thomas Jefferson

As a grade school kid I remember hearing an oft repeated warning that we were entering a new ice age.

PANIC

Mankind and civilization as we knew it would be wiped out.

Last week it was bird flu, this week swine flu.

PANIC

Mankind and civilization as we know it will be wiped out.

Maybe this time it is once again climate change, maybe it is the greater depression, maybe it is other lifestyles, nationalities, or political affiliations. Maybe it is ....

PANIC

  • Science gets funded if there is a panic, and scientists can be fallible, political, greedy, and gullible too. Post-modern science focuses on how, they are afraid to ask why. Why?


  • Politicians get more followers if there is a panic, and few politicians consider honesty. They want to change the system -- until they understand it, by then the system has changed them.


  • Bureaucrats gain power when there is panic, and most bureaucrats worship power. Try to please everyone and you end up resenting their choices -- eventually learning as a bureaucrat to use pettiness to herd them.


  • You do not have to be mastered by their constructed hysterias. If you are not the lead cow, the view and the footing never changes. You can inspire others to independently fashion meaningful change, instead of aspiring to be a lead cow wearing a bell.

    Someday something horrible will once again happen on a global basis.

    It will probably be a surprise we were not warned about. Minor disruptions such as depressions, flus, and earthquakes will continue to occur. We still can prepare for the worst and pray we are missed. You who have left the herd will create the solutions. Don't expect thanks from those you save.

    In the meantime, ignore the fear mongers, think for yourself and:

    relax & laugh

    Shake your head in wonder at the absurdities. Walk away from the herd. Discover yourself, and help others discover themselves.

    "It's your choice: settle for diminishing expectations, fight toward a peak of a settling heap, or be an individual." Allan R. Wallace

    Enjoy your life.


    Concentrate on doing something useful.


    You Can Be A Visionary Leader



    THINK

    Don't follow



    Leadership Or Management

    "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." - Noam Chomsky

    I wrote the following as a comment to a blog that asked if commanding was a management function or a quality of leadership.

    I realize I rewrote their question in a way that discloses my opinion. Here then was my (now slightly edited) comment:

    I would put commands as an administrative function - management.

    A real leader seldom commands, except at highly charged moments where concise direction is immediately needed.

    One reason is a real leader has developed his team to make them leaders also.

    To me a manager is focused on performance and controls, a leader is focused on people and goals.


    If you are more concerned with the efficiency of the operation than the direction of your team - you are a manager.

    For visionary leaders I would add to that leadership focus statement of people and goals a broader mandate including relationships, team member potential, and a worthy cause.

    If you are primarily concerned with the direction your team is moving - you may be a leader. If you are concerned with creating an environment where productive individuals can thrive and contribute, you may be a visionary leader.

    A manager is more likely to exist in a bureaucratic organizational structure, a visionary leader in an entrepreneurial one. Success can come without good leadership - but it will be more sure and last much longer with a visionary leader.

    Are you that leader?

    "I just might be wrong. But if you view change as a problem rather than an opportunity you'll always be too late. Visionaries and crackpots are always too soon and pay a price for their insight.
    I'll accept that.
    "
    Allan R. Wallace

    BFU Weekly Journal - we train visionaries

    "We lead by being human. We do not lead by being corporate, professional or institutional." - Paul Hawken, natural capitalist


    Bastiat Free University offers internationally accessible and actionable student-directed learning to visionaries and entrepreneurs.

    Becoming a leader often starts by being an intelligent follower. Study effective visionary leaders, acknowledge their flaws as well as their strengths. Find the cause that will give your life meaning, than faithfully and intelligently apply yourself to it. Be human, create a better model.

    The BFU Weekly Journal has been supplanted by a combination of BFuniv at twitter and educational Squidoo lenses - but the archives are still valuable.

    Loading Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

    Books with vision, by visionaries.

    It is not enough to guess at the future; visionary leadership requires integrity, inspiration, and above all - appropriate action.


    "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." - Thoreau

    It's better to be 10% effective doing something worthwhile than 100% effective at something worthless. Sadly, many would be leaders have confused the purpose of leadership. To gain power rather than solve problems they have developed an interesting mindset:

    Find out which way a movement is headed - then rush to lie, slander, exaggerate, mislead, and throw out simple sound bites. The goal is not to be a visionary leader, it is to get in front of a mob and pose as if they are in charge. Great TV coverage and a tricky political manipulation - but negative accomplishment.

    Wrong: "We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest." - Stephen Schneider; environmental activist, in Discover Magazine, 10/89

    Correct:"There's a professional class of hysterics in the world. They are the same type of people who were walking around in the Middle Ages in sack-cloth, throwing ashes on themselves, saying that the world was going to come to an end. ...One of the worst things about all this is that it may in the future discredit science itself in the eyes of the common man." - Doug Casey; best selling author, international speculator, in Conversations With Casey 10/09

    From the sound bites we hear on the evening news and the agendas we see presented in movies, many have decided any honesty hinders effectiveness. In the short term they may win verbal support, a feeling of belonging, and donations. In the long run -- destruction has always been in a race with human creativity. Political opportunists can stop desperately needed solutions from being developed by creative individuals.

    Let me encourage you to rise against the wind like a kite, soaring above the anger of highly educated and intelligent nay-sayers. Positive human progress has always occurred in the hands of individuals that refuse to believe in accepted limitations.

    If an answer to a world wide problem seems easy to state, it is probably a marketing statement by a self serving manipulator. There are answers, they may not be easy to understand. Real solutions may confuse simple followers. Don't be simple.

    Think
    Don't follow

    Loading

    More than just a posistion

    "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." - William Pitt (1783)


    I heard a director of a company talking with authority about something I'm sure he didn't believe - if he thought about it.

    There had been complaints about poor communications between management and workers in his division. His response was "I'll spend more time in meetings so my managers will have more time to spend with their people."

    He had to know better than that.

    His managers will do what they see him doing.

    Now they are justified in avoiding their "people" to attend meetings - so their direct reports can spend more time with the people. Their "people" of course will follow suit.

    I think what the director was really saying is that his job security and self image are tied to hanging out with other "b" level executives - to heck with "his people." With that view he will never be an "a" level executive.

    If he really wanted to improve communication he could take his managers on walks to talk with the workers - and even try to catch the workers doing something right so they could congratulate them.

    Most of his meetings are probably a waste of time anyway - in terms of business effectiveness. He has at least one worthless manager that talks intelligently and plays politics well - he could assign them to attend the meetings.

    Meeting and inspiring his division would require true visionary leadership - that director is obviously satisfied being a bureaucratic manager.

    Wasting your life in meetings sounds like a dead end way to spend 70 hours a week. The only upside is his ego knows he is an executive cog in a huge organization, even if he is not quite high enough to use the corporate jet.

    His own frequent comments about it being "lonely at the top," and his hair turning gray and falling out show that he feels stress - not pleasure - from his chosen route.

    Ya gotta feel sorry for the guy - he could have had his own business or concentrated on good works instead - and enjoyed his life. He could have sought, developed, and shared his passions with people that would appreciate his contributions. He could have found a cause worth fighting for -- and dedicated his life to the battle.

    That would require thought and leadership.

    Instead he has a business card featuring the business founder's name - and in much smaller print his own name and title - and no life of his own.

    THINK -- don't follow

    "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." - Stephen Covey


    The following books may be contrary to ideas currently touted.

    The best seller The Wisdom of Crowds ignores centuries of evidence that the crowd might be right for extended periods, but as I said in the intro to my lensography: "It's not that the crowd is always wrong; they are only always wrong when it is really important. " - Allan Wallace. To that I would add, when the crowd is very wrong, it can become a dangerous mob.

    The book by "The Skeptical Environmentalist" is an antidote to the extremes reached by self-appointed environmental evangelists. Any thinking person wants to do what's best for our future, but sheeple are easily stampeded. Advocates creating urgency appeals have done lasting harm. Manufactured "facts" are frequently used to misdirect crowds and money away from the important projects for protecting our earth -- toward those that have the most emotional pull. Induced panic will not achieve what is needed.

    Be Green, but consider how best to use your own limited resources - don't be part of the thoughtless crowd. Don't heedlessly follow political opportunists and self-important rabble rousers.

    Listen to true visionary leaders. "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." -- John Muir

    Become a true visionary leader.

    Think
    Don't Follow


    Loading

    Focus On The Attainable In Three Steps

    Dwelling on what you can't control is futile.


    You may not be able to ignore the packaged angst of public media; but you can apply your thoughts only to those subjects where you can make a difference.

    First, an old exercise: find a quiet spot with no interruptions and few distractions, then ask yourself. What planet am I on, and what do I have to work with?

    After that, there are three questions to ask yourself as you consider your future actions.

    * Relevancy: Is what you are considering in any way relevant to where you want to go and what you want to do. If not it is just consuming time and delaying your chance to bring about a significant advancement.

    * Importance: There may be something to do, it may even have some value. But will it make powerful accomplishments possible, or just add a pebble to a small stack of insignificance? Your life has great value, if you will direct it toward possibilities of major consequence.

    * Actionable: It may be important, but can you see any way at this time, with tools currently available, you can change things for the better? Much of what is reported is so far away from our influence that we might as well dream fantasy as spend time considering it.

    If it fails any of those tests there is only one reason to continue - perhaps your futile efforts will inspire someone else to do better.

    What is important to you? If it is easier for you to remember the negative:

    Ignore everything that is irrelevant, unimportant, or un-actionable.

    I am reminded of the couple where the man bragged that he made all the important decisions in his family - such as should the US try to land men on Mars, or should the UN be disbanded. His spouse made the unimportant ones, what is for dinner, where the kids will go to school, if they should move to a different country.

    What planet am I on, and what do I have to work with?


    It doesn't matter if you agree with their philosophy

    It is visionary individuals caring enough to lead, that change the world.


    But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt, and by their vices brought to servitude, than to love bondage more than liberty - bondage with ease than strenuous liberty - and to despise, or envy, or suspect, whom God hath of his special favor raised as their deliverer?
    John Milton


    Loading

    Start Your Journey

    "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." - Henry David Thoreau


    The reason you are reading this is to become a visionary leader yourself.

    Wisdom and understanding are required - here is the first step.

    Be careful of your foundations.

    Roots are dangerous things, they trap even majestic oak trees. Almost everything you have learned is directed at making you a target for the bulldozers.

    The world is changing in a dramatic fashion, and you need to be ready to move.

    The only thing God is taking off this world is people. If you root, root in relationships, not into things.

    Be very careful of who or what or where you give your loyalty. Do not be more dedicated to others; a job, a party, a movement; than they are dedicated to you.

    Escape the slavery others would have you serve - dedicate yourself to worthwhile relationships.

    Move toward freedom.

    Then consider the vision you want to build on your marvelous foundation.

    "It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, and the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it."
    Vince Lombardi


    Important!

    Being a visionary is not enough.


    You must lead.

    Focus your thoughts and efforts at where you can make a difference. If you can't change something: find something else you can, and will, change.

    Your ideas are welcome.

    "Power concedes nothing without a demand" - Frederick Douglass.



    Share your vision.

    submit

    Are you becoming the visionary leader you want to be?

    Do you know where to start?


    "I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death."
    Leonardo da Vinci (the first half is also credited to Thomas Paine)

    If you would like to keep exploring visionary leadership, these lenses are a good place to look.

    Loading

    To re-read, link, rate, lensroll, digg, research books, contact the author, and e-mail this lens to your friends and followers:

    Allan R. Wallace quote return to top of page.



    The things that haven't been done before

    Are the tasks worthwhile today;

    Are you one of the flock that follows, or

    Are you one that shall lead the way

    Are you one of the timid souls that quail

    At the jeers of a doubting crew,

    Or dare you, whether you win or fail,

    Strike out for a goal that's new?

    Edgar Guest

    "If there are several opposing opinions on an issue, all of them can't be right; however, all of them can be very wrong." - Allan R. Wallace


    100% of direct income from my lenses goes to micro-finance solutions for world poverty provided by the Grameen Foundation. The Grameen Foundation is creating a rising tide of positive influence upon our world.

    Integrity Matters
    Real business people still honor a handshake.

    bfuhat.jpg

    Will YOUR life be based on what you want to use it to accomplish, or by random urges of what you want to do?

    by

    BFuniv.com

    Allan R. Wallace Trains Visionaries

    "I just might be wrong; but if you view change as a problem rather than an opportunity you'll always be too late....
    more »

    Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

    The Ascent of Hacker School 

    training human rights hacktivists

    Loading

    Changing Our World 

    We share a plethora of possible futures; bring the change.

    cyberhug.me: hacktivist cyberwars for human rights

    Amazon Price: $15.29 (as of 02/17/2012)Buy Now

    A novel in three acts.
    Print Edition

    Your life is a burning match.

    Light This Fire

    Ignite the world.

    *Inexpensive eReader Downloads*