Quotes Concerning Vision

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." T.E. Lawrence - Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Helen Adams Keller was born on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, a small rural town in Northwest Alabama. The story of her deaf-blindness and her redeeming relationship with Anne Sullivan become known worldwide through the dramatic play and film, The Miracle Worker. The film and play leave Helen as a little girl but as Helen grew so did her accomplishments. On 28 June 1904 Helen graduated from Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Helen Keller became a world-famous speaker and author. She wrote several books and articles.

Helen Keller made this amazing statement, “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision.”I love this quote from Helen Keller. As a person without sight, she possessed great vision, not only for her own life, but also for the entire deaf and blind community. I have personally found that vision is often difficult communicate but it is essential to articulate if I hope to have others share in my vision. I have also found that my vision changes or expands depending on the position I hold and the authority I possess.

Warren G. Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985) make another great declaration about the importance of vision in the life of the leader and in the life of an organization: “With a vision, the leader provides the all-important bridge from the present to the future of the organization” (p. 3). The bridge is such a perfect metaphor for vision. The chasm the separate the present from the future can be crossed if the vision provides the needed light to illuminate the way.

Warren Bennis (born March 8, 1925) is an American scholar, organizational consultant and prolific author. Bennis is University Professor and Founding Chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California. Burt Nanus is a well-known expert on leadership and the author of many books on the subject, including Visionary Leadership. Now professor emeritus of management at the USC, he was also research director of the Leadership Institute.

Nanus (1992) goes on to say, “There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile, achievable vision for the future, widely shared” (p.3). This is another fascinating metaphor emphasizing the power, movement and strength that a vision can provide for the entire organization. I greatly appreciate the three characteristics of vision mentioned in this quote: attractive, worthwhile and achievable. There is a very important aspect of communicating vision that involves marketing. To make a vision attractive is key to buy-in. I recently saw a TV commercial for an institute of higher learning that was so visually appealing and engaging that I anted to immediately enroll. Although the worth or value of a vision is very subjective, if those you hope to influence with your vision fail to embrace the vision's value, there is no shared dream. A vision must have balanced realism – it must not be so easy obtain that there is not stretch into the future; but it must have a ring of reality, a taste of probability, a true measure of “we can do this!” If your vision is fairly easy to obtain, it is not much of a vision. If your vision is too far away, people will not want to travel with you into the twilight zone.

Max De Pree is chairman emeritus and former CEO of Herman Miller, Inc. He is author of Leadership is an Art, and Leadership Jazz. DePree (1989) feels so strongly that vision is a measurement of the effective leadership that he wrote, “The only kind of leadership worth following is based on vision” (p. 133). I might go a step further and say that leadership without vision is not leadership at all. If you take vision away from a leader you might have a talented manager, but not an effective leader. Vision defines the focus of the movement and provides the motivation and inspiration to persevere toward the goal even when the going gets tough.

Finally, Snyder & Graves (1994) make this statement reflecting the imperative of vision to the life of the entire organization: “Organizations whose leaders have no vision are doomed to work under the burden of mere tradition” (p.1). Without the freshness of renewed vision, the traditions of the organization can hinder innovation, change, and growth. Traditions can be very helpful, if they establish a culture of excellence and high expectation. But traditions can stifle creativity and vision casting, if they dominate the decision making process and dictate direction without the possibility of creative alternatives.

Bennis, W. & Nanus, B (1985). Leaders: Strategies for taking charge (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.

DePree, M. (1989). Leadership is an art. New York: Doubleday.

Nanus, B. (1992). Visionary leadership: Creating a compelling sense of direction for your organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Snyder, N.H. & Graves, M. (1994). Leadership and vision [Electronic Version] Business Horizons, 37 (1) 1-6.