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392 PART 5: THE LEADER AS SOCIAL ARCHITECT

Exhibit 13.3 The Nature of the Vision

Vision

Moving toward a desired future

Current
reality Staying the course

Source: Based on William D. Hitt, The Leader-Manager: Guidelines for Action (Columbus, OH: Battelle
Press, 1988).

What Vision Does
Vision works in a number of important ways. An effective vision provides a link
between today and tomorrow, serves to energize and motivate employees toward
the future, provides meaning for people’s work, and sets a standard of excellence
and integrity in the organization. 17

Vision Links the Present to the Future Vision connects what is going on
right now with what the organization aspires to. A vision is always
about the future, but it begins with the here and now. Consider
Action Memo
the Microsoft advertising slogan, “Your potential inspires us to
create products that help you reach it.” Microsoft employees cre-
As a leader, you can articulate an optimistic
ate software products that help meet current needs, but they also
vision for the future that will inspire
strive to envision and create products that might encourage other,
and challenge people to give their best.
broader applications for the future. Similarly, at the Wm. R. Wrigley,
Evaluate your potential for visionary
Jr. Company, described earlier, leaders aren’t abandoning the compa-
leadership by completing the questionnaire
in Leader’s Self-Insight 13.2.
ny’s leading global position in chewing gum, which still accounts for
90 percent of sales. However, to achieve the broader vision, they are
pushing people to take risks and think about such questions as “What
else is out there?” “Who are we competing with?” and “Why can’t we
do some of that too?”
In organizations, the pressures to meet deadlines, make the big sale, solve
immediate problems, and complete specifi c projects are very real. Some have
suggested that today’s leaders need “bifocal vision,” the ability to take care of
the needs of today and meet current obligations while also aiming toward
dreams for the future. The ability to operate on both levels can be seen in
18