To Lead, Create
a Shared Vision
Inspire a Shared Vision
by James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner
Being forward-looking—envisioning exciting possibilities and enlisting others in a shared view of the future—is the attribute
that most distinguishes leaders from nonleaders. We know this because we asked followers.
In an ongoing project surveying tens of thousands of working people around the world, we asked, “What do you look for and
admire in a leader (defined as someone whose direction you would willingly follow)?” Then we asked, “What do you look for
and admire in a colleague (defined as someone you’d like to have on your team)?” The number one requirement of a leader
—honesty—was also the top-ranking attribute of a good colleague. But the second-highest requirement of a leader, that he or
she be forward-looking, applied only to the leader role. Just 27% of respondents selected it as something they want in a
colleague, whereas 72% wanted it in a leader. (Among respondents holding more-senior roles in organizations, the percentage
was even greater, at 88%.) No other quality showed such a dramatic difference between leader and colleague.
This points to a huge challenge for the rising executive: The trait that most separates the leaders from individual contributors
is something that they haven’t had to demonstrate in prior, nonleadership roles. Perhaps that’s why so few leaders seem to
have made a habit of looking ahead; researchers who study executives’ work activities estimate that only 3% of the typical
business leader’s time is spent envisioning and enlisting. The challenge, as we know, only escalates with managerial level:
Leaders on the front line must anticipate merely what comes after current projects wrap up. People at the next level of
leadership should be looking several years into the future. And those in the C-suite must focus on a horizon some 10 years
distant.
So how do new leaders develop this forward-looking capacity? First, of course, they must resolve to carve out time from
urgent but endless operational matters. But even more important, as leaders spend more time looking ahead, they must not
put too much stock in their own prescience. This point needs to be underscored because, somehow, through all the talk over
the years about the importance of vision, many leaders have reached the unfortunate conclusion that they as individuals must
be visionaries. With leadership development experts urging them along, they’ve taken to posing as emissaries from the future,
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