Grace-full Leaders . . . Have Double Vision by John C. Bowling

Vision grabs. Initially it grabs the leader, then those who follow. To be an effective leader, you need vision — an idea greater than the present. But you must also be able to communicate that vision to others in ways that emotionally, mentally, and volitionally enable them to turn this vision into reality. Vision means little if it's not translated into action. Theodore Hesburgh, the distinguished former president of the University of Notre Dame, says that vision is the very essence of leadership. "Know where you want to go. That requires three things: having a clear vision, articulating it well, and getting your team enthusiastic about sharing it. Above all, any leader must be consistent. As the Bible says, no one follows an uncertain trumpet."1

Without vision, leadership is little more than simple perpetuation of the past instead of predication on the future. A proper vision builds on the past by allowing room for new ideas and thoughts. Leaders hold in their minds pictures and ideals of what can be. They are positive about the future and ardently believe that working together, people can make a difference.

Imagine someone deciding to build a huge factory: buying the land, hiring an architect and builder, arranging the financing, bringing the project to completion, assembling all the machinery, hiring a workforce, and then sitting down to ask: "What product should we manufacture? What's supposed to go out those double doors of the shipping department and on to semitrailers and railroad cars? Why did we build this factory?"

No one starts a work and moves then to mission. Leadership starts with a mission and a vision that, in turn, shapes the work and uses the resources available to accomplish the mission. Vision drives — not follows — a great work.

A problem, however, sometimes develops as people join a work in progress and begin to function as part of the organization without ever really owning the dream or possessing the vision that gave birth and continues to sustain the work being done. If you were hired in the midst of building the factory, for example, that might be all you would do at first. It could be easy under those circumstances to become convinced that the work of that particular business is the building and the maintenance of the factory itself. It is dangerously easy for a means to become an end in itself.

Apart from a few entrepreneurs, most people have joined a work already in progress. And often we are called upon to spend so much of our time and energy building and managing the organization that those endeavors become ends in themselves, and we fail to ask the important questions: "What is the vision? Why are we doing this? What is the reason for all of the effort and toil? What is our mission? Where will we be when we get where we're going?"

Grace-full leaders recognize that good things rarely just happen. Most often you get that for which you have planned and worked. A college degree, for example, doesn't simply arrive in the mail unsolicited. You plan for it, envision it, apply for it, work for it, and pay a significant price in dollars, sweat, and tears. But that very difficult process bestows value. So success comes when the last assignment is done and the last exam taken and the last period on the last page of the last paper is finally printed, when the line is formed and your name is called, the degree is handed to you in the midst of great ceremony, and you move in that moment from being an undergraduate to a graduate — you experience the satisfying thrill of achievement. You paid the price, over time, and gained, therefore, something of great value.

No organization, no church, or no institution within the church can function effectively when it loses sight of its mission; for most of the time in life, you get what you expect. Tell me your vision, and I will tell you your future.
For the grace-full leader, vision and faith are inseparably linked, for "faith is . . . the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1, KJV). Faith is vision, and vision is seeing it long before it is. Growing and vibrant organizations expect and plan, in advance, to grow. Much of life is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Leadership demands that you see both what is and what can be. This "double vision" helps enable us to keep our sights set on the future as we deal with the daily demands of leadership.

Double vision also helps one see the potential that people have. One of the most distinguished sculptors in American history was a man named Gutzon Borglum. He was a sculptor on a grand scale who is perhaps best known for his bust of Abraham Lincoln at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. On that project he carved the head of Lincoln from a large block of marble that had long been in his studio.

The woman who cleaned his work area had swept around the formless mass of marble day after day for a long time. Then one day, as Borglum's work progressed, she began to see the face of Lincoln emerging from the stone. She quickly turned and, looking at Borglum, asked, "is that master Lincoln?"

"Yes," he replied.

"How did you know he was in there?" she asked.

The great sculptor knew, for he had double vision. All great artists have such a gift. They see what is and what can be. Every leader needs that same characteristic. That vision is a gift of grace.

God could see a great king in the shepherd boy named David. He saw Peter, the Rock, in an impulsive fisherman named Simon. He could see the apostle Paul in one named Saul of Tarsus. God has placed great potential in every human life, and the wise and grace-full leader can be used of God to enable people to reach their full potential.

Experts in business management remind us that a clearly defined mission is essential to every organization. The leader transforms mission into vision. He or she defines what mission looks like. To lead is to cast a vision. All businesses, organizations, projects, and products begin in the mind's eye. Leaders begin with imagination and the belief that what is merely an image can one day be made real.2

"To choose a direction, a leader must first have developed a mental image of a possible and desirable future state of the organization. This image, which we call a vision, may be as vague as a dream or as precise as a goal or mission statement. The critical point is that a vision articulates a view of a realistic, credible, attractive future for the organization, a condition that is better in some important ways than what now exists."3

Grace-full leaders are not just managers, but visionary leaders. They provide the leadership necessary for any given group or organization to fully realize its mission and potential. This level of leadership goes beyond the daily problem solving associated with management to the exploiting of opportunities. Simply solving problems only restores the status quo. It does not necessarily advance the organization.

Effective, grace-full leadership actively links vision and faith, for they are essentially one. Vision is vital to faith. Scripture teaches, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1). What a wonderful description of vision this is.

When Abraham, one of the greatest examples of faith and leadership in the entire Bible, was called by God to leave his homeland, he was given a great vision of what God was going to bring to pass through him. The vision was a central part of what Abraham needed for his journey. And with faith, invigorated by this vision, Abraham was empowered not only to make this great pilgrimage but also to lead others in this journey. Vision suggests a future. A proper vision sets the orientation of the entire organization on to new possibilities.

A vivid image from my boyhood is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial addressing a crowd of 250,000 people. As he spoke, he cast a vision. He spoke of the possibility of a new and better future, not just for Black Americans, but for all Americans. He proclaimed, "I have a dream." He was articulate, enthusiastic, optimistic, and uplifting. His dream and his vision moved the nation.

People hunger to give their time and energies to something larger than themselves. Leaders who offer that will have no shortage of followers. People will consistently work harder and longer when they understand the overall significance of how their work fits with the total mission.

Visions are statements of destination, and destination determines the direction and objectives of an organization. I live one hour directly south of the city of Chicago. When I leave my house to travel into the city, all of my actions must be conditioned by that destination if my vision of a trip to Chicago is to be realized. To get to Chicago, I must head north. If I turn my car to the east, away from that destination, all of my actions from that moment on, no matter how good or well intentioned, will not contribute to the accomplishment of my vision of a trip to the city. Everything else — my speed, the kind of vehicle I drive, the traffic, the scenery along the road — loses its meaning if the destination is not clearly defined and constantly in focus.

Vision also carries with it a sense of the possible. The balance between casting a vision that is indeed attainable and one viewed as impossible is a fine line. If a vision is perceived as so grand that it cannot be realized, it can serve to defeat an organization rather than inspire. Yet, if a leader casts a vision that has no challenge, it will likewise fail to motivate. Visions are conceptualizations. Just as architects and engineers make drawings and models, leaders cast visions to create an image of what can be. The primary public television station in our area is WTTW from Chicago. Using those letters as an acronym, the station has developed the slogan "WTTW — Your Window To The World." I think of vision in much the same way. Vision is your window to the world of the future. What you learn to see as a leader ultimately shapes your vision.

My father spent a lifetime in the newspaper business. When we went on family vacations, each day, wherever we were, my dad bought a local newspaper. He would look through the paper, noting all the technical features: the weight of the newsprint, the style of type, the layout, the number of column inches given to advertising, and so on. He could often tell the type of press that was used just by looking the paper over carefully.

Now my mom, when she picked up this same paper, read the human interest stories and looked through the ads. My older brother read the sports page and the comics. And me, I pretty much looked out the window — reading someone else's hometown newspaper wasn't my idea of a vacation. The point is this: you see what you have eyes to see. We all had eyes and all had access to the same thing, but each of us saw and experienced it differently. Vision is a "see" word. It evokes images and pictures.

Think of watching a slide show. What if each picture was out of focus? Not only would you quickly lose interest, but also you'd experience frustration or confusion. In one sense a leader controls the projector.

The most important role of visions in organizational life is to give focus to human energy. Visions are like lenses. They enable everyone to see more clearly what lies ahead.

Grace transforms our vision and brings spiritual focus. Jesus consistently conveyed to His followers the importance of their work, and He offered ordinary people the opportunity to be part of something extraordinary. His call to men mending their nets was, "Come, follow me . . . and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19). It was a larger, more significant vision. Graceful leaders see both what is and what might be!

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Excerpted from Grace-full Leadership: Understanding the Heart of a Christian Leader by John C. Bowling (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2000). Used with permission.

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John C. Bowling is president of Olivet Nazarene University.

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1. Robert L. Dilenschnieder, A Briefing for Leaders (New York: Harper Business, 1992), 15.
2. Kouzes and Posner, Leadership Challenge, 83.
3. Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge (New York: Harper and Row, 1985), 89.

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