The Visionary: When You Can See It Before Anyone Else Can
I’ve been thinking about how strange it must be to work with somebody who can already see something that doesn't exist yet.
They’re excited about it.
They can picture what it looks like.
They can imagine what it could become.
They may even be talking about what happens after it succeeds.
Meanwhile, everybody else is sitting there thinking:
“We haven't even figured out step one.”
That's The Visionary.
And if I'm being fair, I understand this personality pretty well.
I can look at something as it exists today and immediately start thinking about what it could become tomorrow.
One idea connects to another.
Then that idea creates another possibility.
Before long, something that started as a simple conversation has become a business idea, a show, a system, a product, or an entirely new direction.
In my head, it makes perfect sense.
The problem?
Everybody else wasn't in my head when I built it.
Seeing It Is a Strength
Vision matters.
Almost everything that exists today existed in somebody's imagination first.
Somebody had to look at an empty building and see a business.
Somebody had to look at a problem and imagine a solution.
Somebody had to believe an idea could work before there was much evidence that it would.
That's what Visionaries bring into a room.
Possibility.
They aren't limited by what something is right now.
They naturally ask:
What could this become?
That can be an incredible strength.
Especially when everybody else is focused on why something won't work.
But like every strength we've been talking about in this series, there is another side to it.
Vision Can Move Faster Than Reality
The Visionary may already be on step twelve.
The team is still trying to understand step three.
That's where frustration begins.
The Visionary starts wondering:
Why aren't they getting this?
Why is everybody moving so slowly?
Why are we spending so much time talking about details?
Meanwhile, the people responsible for actually executing the idea may be asking completely reasonable questions.
Who is doing this?
When does it need to happen?
What does it cost?
What happens first?
What are we stopping so we have time to do this?
Those questions can sound like resistance to a Visionary.
Sometimes they are.
But sometimes they're not resisting the vision at all.
They're trying to build it.
And building requires details that dreaming doesn't.
“I Can See It” Isn't a Strategy
This may be one of the harder lessons for Visionaries.
Just because something is clear in my head doesn't mean I've communicated it clearly.
I can say:
“I know exactly what I want.”
Okay.
Does everybody else?
Because there's a difference between having a vision and transferring that vision.
If I give someone half the information and expect them to somehow produce the other half from my imagination, that's not delegation.
That's guessing.
And then if I become frustrated because what they created doesn't match what I pictured?
I have to ask whether they failed to execute...
...or whether I failed to translate.
That's uncomfortable.
Especially when the picture feels so obvious to me.
The Visionary Has Work to Do Too
This series isn't about asking leaders to accommodate everybody while expecting nothing from the person being led.
Every strength creates responsibility on both sides.
The Visionary has to learn that an idea isn't finished simply because it feels finished in their imagination.
Eventually, somebody has to execute it.
That means timelines.
Budgets.
Processes.
Details.
Priorities.
And sometimes the hardest word for a Visionary:
No.
Not because the idea is bad.
Because there are already five good ideas being built.
I think Visionaries can sometimes become addicted to beginnings.
The beginning is exciting.
Everything is possible.
Nothing has broken yet. 😂
Execution is different.
Execution exposes the weaknesses in the idea.
It requires patience.
It requires repetition.
And sometimes it requires staying with yesterday's idea long enough to finish it before chasing today's.
But Leaders Have Work to Do Too
Now let's turn the mirror around.
Because leading a Visionary can be frustrating.
They may jump ahead.
They may overlook details.
They may change direction.
They may hand you something that sounds impossible and wonder why you aren't already excited about it.
The easiest response is:
“That won't work.”
And sometimes that may even be true.
But if we shut down possibility every time the path isn't immediately obvious, eventually the Visionary learns to stop bringing us possibilities.
That's a loss too.
The leadership challenge isn't allowing every idea to become a project.
It's learning how to translate possibility into something the organization can evaluate and execute.
Instead of immediately asking:
“Why won't this work?”
Maybe ask:
“What would have to be true for this to work?”
Those are very different conversations.
One closes the door.
The other examines what's on the other side.
What Does Their Strength Require From Me?
That's the question we're carrying through this series.
The Challenger required security.
The Driver required direction.
The Visionary requires translation.
Someone has to help connect:
What could be
to
What happens next.
Sometimes that's the leader.
Sometimes it's an operations person.
Sometimes it's a designer, producer, project manager, spouse, business partner, or teammate who has the ability to take something floating around in somebody else's imagination and turn it into steps.
That's not a lesser skill than vision.
It's what makes vision useful.
Because the world doesn't change because somebody had a great idea.
The world changes when somebody figures out how to build it.
— Ruben Escalona
Red Alpha Custom Prints
What Healthy Actually Looks Like
A healthy Visionary doesn't stop imagining what's possible. They learn how to communicate it.
They learn to respect the people asking practical questions, because details aren't always enemies of the vision. Sometimes details are how the vision survives.
Healthy leadership listens to possibility, asks better questions, and helps turn what could be into something people can actually execute.
Seeing something before everyone else can is a gift. Learning how to help everyone else see it too is growth.