Leadership
Cultural Dimensions of Leadership
February 12, 2025
True leaders have a vision, that is, they have a potential to view the present as it is and to invent a future culminating out of the present. A leader with a vision can foresee the future and can remain in the present.
A vision is an end towards which leader can spend and direct his energy and resources. Leaders share a dream and a path which the employees want to share and follow.
Leadership vision is not restricted to organizational written mission statement and vision statement. It is well demonstrated in the actions, beliefs and values of organizational leaders.
“If there is no vision, people cannot survive.” This is applicable both in business as well as in life. Leaders who lack vision cannot succeed in life and they work in a standard and monotonous manner.
Vision is not a fantasy for leaders; rather it is a truth that has yet to come into practice. So as to achieve vision, a leader must exert special extra efforts and have robust confidence and devotion to realize the vision.
Vision acts as an internal force propelling a leader to act. It provides a leader an objective. The consistent existence of a vision makes a leader progressive despite various hardships and obstacles. Vision is a bond that unites the individuals into team with a mutual goal.
Recognition of a leader’s vision by the organizational employees is very essential as it makes the employees well aware of what the organization is trying to achieve.
Vision has the strength to move the employees out of monotonous work life and to place them into a new challenging and dynamic work. Vision must be:
- Rational
- Reasonable
- Innovative
- Credible
- Clear
- Motivating and stimulating
- Challenging
- Reflective of organizational beliefs, values and culture
- Concrete
It is a leader who moulds, interprets, communicates and represents the vision. Vision is a portrait and depiction of what a leader aspires his organization to be in long-term.