Pillar No 1 of the 12 Pillars of Leadership – A Strong Vision.

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet Theodore M. Hesburgh.

Without a vision there can be no leadership. You would have nowhere to lead your followers if you do not have a specific destination. A true leader will always have a clear vision of where he is going

Where does a vision come from? There are several experiences in life that can trigger a vision:

I am sure you have heard the term “born a leader” many times.

While some folk may have stronger tendencies to lead that others, I strongly believe that true leaders are more made than born.

The key is the heart’s desire to do something or their life passion. This passion is what drives them to learn, to train and to become.

There are many people who have risen to become great leaders who were ridiculed when they were younger. In fact some of the greatest “failures” have become the greatest leaders.

Recently I wrote a review on the book “Activating Your Ambition: A Guide to Coaching the Best Out of Yourself and Others” by Mike Hawkins. (Amazon Affil Link) This book sparked a renewed vision in me for the true meaning of leadership.

One of the keys that stood out for me was Mike’s summary of the difference between “management” and “leadership”. He defines the old style of management as “command and control” while true leadership involves releasing and inspiring team members to be their best.

Activating Your Ambition seems an odd title for a book because the word “ambition” usually sends an image of selfishness to our brains.

However in actual fact there are two main definitions of the word “ambition”.

One definition does describe the power hungry individual we tend to visualize when we hear the word.