In the last two thousand years, leaders of all shapes and sizes have agreed on one thing: people want to be great. The entire premise of civilization is that individuals should hunt for ways to grow and better themselves— whether that be through a spiritual or religious pursuit, or an earthly effort. This quest has shaped how we live our lives, how we create industries, run businesses, build civilizations and even what we eat at dinner. It’s understandable then why so many people dream about success in their field; it is the only explanation for why they continue to strive for more than what their ancestors achieved before them.
But, you can only grow so far on your own. To become the best, you need to work with and learn from others who have been there. People who have made it further than most— not just in their chosen industry, but in life overall— are the ones we want to draw inspiration from. We become disciples of their success and dedicate our lives to reproducing what they’ve done.
When that happens, leaders emerge. And while they each have their own version of what the future can be, a common theme surfaces regardless: great leaders create new plans for how people think about themselves and how they will live out their lives in the future.
I’ve spent the last three years figuring out how to be a great leader, but I can confidently say that I have learned more about the topic in the last year than ever before. Spending time around people who possess superior skills and knowledge taught me what it meant to be a top tier leader, not just in business, but in life as well. And while I definitely didn’t get it right every time, one thing became clear; a leader must first develop an effective plan for their followers to live by.
This is why we call great leaders visionaries. They can imagine what your life and work will look like when you have accomplished everything you have set out to do. And in order to do that, they have to be able to answer a few questions:
· Who will you be?
· What will you do?
· How will you make others feel?
You’ve probably heard these questions before and they seem simple enough, but they represent each step in the process of planning out your future. Once the leader answers all three of these questions, the follower is able to build their own plan off of the answers given. It’s this level of clarity that makes a successful vision so powerful; it provides people with a concrete map for how to get from point A (where we are today) to point B (where we want to be tomorrow).
The point of this article wasn’t to be some magical formula or guideline for how to become a great leader, rather I wanted to give you a working example of what that looks like. It’s easy enough to find a checklist on the Internet or follow an off-the-shelf leadership training program, but once you get into the real world, you will realize those things don’t help at all. All of the advice in the world isn’t worth much when people don’t know how they will feel when they get where they are going— and that is exactly what forces leaders to fail every time.
So, the next time you find yourself lost and confused— or maybe even frustrated or bored— ask yourself a few questions. Who will I be? What will I do? How will I make others feel when they see what my plan has created? They might not come that easily at first, but keep digging until you have answers to all three questions. And remember: every leader owes it to their followers to have a plan that guides them through the same process.
It’s time for people to stop hunting blindly for success. It’s time for leaders to start working together on a shared vision of how people will live their lives in fifty years.
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