A Vision on Leadership

By Dinis Santana (Talent Manager, Bee Engineering) for Líder Magazine

“If you can look, see. If you can see it, repair it.”
José Saramago (1995), Essay on Blindness.

It is in this way that José Saramago begins the journey through an essay in which we feel the anguish of not seeing and where we realize that vision is synonymous with power.

Vision is fundamental to guide us. To go on the right path and to avoid dangers that lie ahead of us. It is vital to break new ground and succeed in the unknown. In the same book, Saramago explains that vision, in a more altruistic analysis, “is the responsibility of having eyes when others have lost them”. However, it is not only what we see with our eyes open, but also what we see with our eyes closed.

Vision is the ability to influence. Vision is ability to motivate. Vision is margin for error. Vision is fuel to move forward. Vision is leadership.

There is no leader without a vision, but there is also no vision without a leader. However, it is common to be in an environment full of leaders without vision, or full of visions without a leader. This is why many organizations fail to make progress. They may even grow, but they don't move forward. Not infrequently, this happens because leadership is just a status-quo. One is a leader by decree and not by ambition, intuition or recognition from one's peers. In moments of uncertainty, being a leader must always mean being the example, being the first in line to pull the rope to place the heavy stone on top of the pyramid. It means having the vision to lead those who follow it along the best path, having the courage to take the first step, even when you don't know exactly which way to go. The first vision of a leader must be the success of those who follow him and never his own success. It is at this critical point that leaderships have their trial by fire and that natural leaders differ from those who are instituted by decree. This is where you can see who the shield leaders and shield leaders are.

Mark Cuban, famous American entrepreneur who, among other things, is known for being the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, told in an interview that, after acquiring the team for 285 million dollars, he did not worry about having a large office or a big desk. Instead, he installed himself in the middle of the sales team, at a table like everyone else's, with a telephone like everyone else's and with a list containing the contacts of former customers/team supporters who had stopped working. go to games. He started calling, one by one, in front of the entire sales team, explaining the new prices and ticket packages and promoting a set of new services, with the aim of attracting former customers and convincing them to return to the pavilion for watch your favorite team. According to him, if he is going to ask the team for something, he himself will be the first to do it and he explained that, in this way, he is aligning the common objectives, through the example and the motivation that comes from it, with the individual objectives of each person. Of your team. As simple as it may seem, with this action, one of the richest men in the US not only set an example, but also exposed himself to the vulnerability that the failure of certain actions can pose to us. However, none of that was in Mark's mindset and why? Because he is a leader with vision.

Of course, fear and uncertainty are part of anyone in leadership. But those feelings cannot lead the leader to use his team to protect himself. The leader who lacks the courage to be the sharp point of the arrow and who, out of fear, becomes the shooting bow, has ceased to be a leader. The leader must always be the driving force that motivates the team to move forward.

Being a leader does not mean having all the answers, or knowing all the paths. Being a leader does not mean wanting all the power and being the dictator of all the rules. Being a leader means being human. So let leaders be human and feel comfortable taking vulnerabilities. Let's take away from leaders the responsibility for every success or every failure. The leader leads, but also lets others lead.

The secret of leadership is not just having a good leader and a good vision. The secret lies in the ability to create an ecosystem of human relationships. Let's be human. Let's humanize our leaders, assume the responsibility of being the leader in each one of us.

Leadership needs vision. Open your eyes, see and move forward.

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