What are the Qualities of a Visionary Leader?
Last Updated June 16, 2023
When you think “visionary leader,” who comes to mind? The late Steve Jobs taking the stage for a product announcement that will revolutionize culture and communication…again? Elon Musk, the bold maverick doing what’s never been done before in the design and production of automobiles and creating the possibility that you too can travel into space?
While it can be natural to give the “visionary leader” title to the likes of Jobs and Musk, visionary leadership doesn’t have to always be bombastic and grandiose. It can be cultivated at all levels of leadership, whether you’re a team lead or CEO. So, what is a visionary leadership style and how can you put the qualities of visionary leadership into practice for team success, without falling prey to the pitfalls and clichés that often snare so-called “visionaries”?
Visionary Leadership Style
The concept of applying and adopting various leadership styles was popularized by psychologist Daniel Goleman through his evidence-based research on emotional intelligence. In his book “Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence,” Goleman describes six different styles of leadership—visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, commanding—and how the most effective leaders embrace all six styles, utilizing the appropriate style based on situational, organizational or human cues.
Goleman describes the situation most appropriate for applying visionary leadership as one of directional change, where openness is critical for blazing new paths: “Visionary leaders articulate where a group is going, but not how it will get there – setting people free to innovate, experiment, take calculated risks.”
However, when visionary style is your only style it can leave your team confused about their priorities, searching for vital details, dealing with “organizational whiplash” in the face of constant change and unsure where the organization (and their career) is going.
Therefore, it can be critical for visionary leaders to balance their style and surround themselves with fellow C-levels, directors, managers or team leads more adept at integrating the other leadership styles into the mix when being democratic, coaching, or a pacesetter isn’t their strong suit.
3 Qualities of Visionary Leaders
Tempering the freewheeling brainstorming, experimentation and charisma with these grounded qualities and practices can help you harness your visionary leadership style or boldly step up as a visionary leader.
1. Visionary Leaders See the World Differently
Visionary leaders can often see what no one else sees, finding potential and opportunity in a time of change or even company contraction. They see what’s not there—or what’s not there yet.
An invention of World War II, duct tape was used for everything from securing machinery to bandaging the wounded before becoming the go-to for holding ventilation ducts together in its familiar silver color. Nearly 40 years after its invention, a visionary leader named Jack Kahl trademarked the Duck Tape brand of duct tape and became the first to manufacture it in a variety of colors. Today, Duck Tape (and now other brands) comes in fluorescents, patterns and even customizable prints that creative DIY-ers use to make wallets, flowers and even dresses.
No one else had thought of manufacturing colored duct tape—they didn’t see a need or the potential of different colors of duct tape to take the product beyond its functional use to being something fun and even fashionable for an entirely new market of consumers.
A visionary leadership style embraces the unknown as a blank canvas for innovation, experimentation and pioneering new possibilities. In order to cast that larger vision for a team or organization, that often means having the ability to look at the situation—whether it’s an organizational restructure or diminishing product sales—in a different light, even when there seems to be no light at all.
2. Visionary Leaders Help Others See the Vision
For teams working in the midst of change or grasping to understand their role within the larger vision, it can be hard to see that grand vision. This is when visionary leaders have to become people uniters, bringing teams and entire organizations together and leading them in a common direction.
This can play out in different scenarios with visionary leadership style tapping into the flair of storytelling or symbolism to paint a powerful picture that energizes people toward the future goal.
In May 1961, still reeling from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and fearful of falling even further behind the Soviet Union in the space race, President John F. Kennedy vowed in a speech before Congress that America would be the country to put the first man on the moon “before this decade is out.”
In his speech, Kennedy didn’t shy away from using the space race as an analogy of the Cold War, “if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny,” and the greater purpose it served in “the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere.”
Though he applied the metaphors of “battle” and “adventure,” Kennedy was not abstract about his expectations, “that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal…” nor the costs of striving towards that goal: “Let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action, a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs.”
Visionary leaders recognize that the individual, collective team and even an entire nation must align with the vision, have a clear goal and understand their role in making this vision for the future a reality.
3. Visionary Leaders Turn the Vision into Reality
Innovative ideas and grandiose vision are meaningless if not followed up by action. The flair and charisma so often associated with the visionary leadership style must be balanced by discipline, focus and a specific course of action.
In rallying the nation behind his goal to put man on the moon, President Kennedy broke that goal down into four “national goals” and was upfront about the anticipated financial costs: “531 million dollars in fiscal ’62—an estimated 7 to 9 billion dollars additional over the next five years.”
A visionary leader ensures the vision becomes reality by stating clear goals, outlining a strategic plan for achieving those goals and equipping and empowering each member to take action on the plan at the organizational, team and individual levels.
For individuals, working under a visionary leader who encourages innovation and unites the organization towards one goal can be energizing, with studies indicating that visionary leadership style can lead to greater employee engagement, more productive teams and improved outcomes.
A visionary leadership style can inspire a team to boldly strive for and achieve new heights and unite an organization to take one giant leap forward. Leading with vision in your role and in your career can inspire you to aim for the moon—and beyond.
