Leadership in Action: Reader Forum - Leadership Lessons from a Whaleboat

VISION

Much has been written about the need for leadership vision, and there can be no doubt that it is a primary responsibility of an organizational leader. In a whaleboat race the steerer must line up the boat on the turning mark to ensure the quickest turn. In winter rowing the steerer occasionally must navigate between ice floes.

Setting direction and avoiding hazards are responsibilities of all leaders.

In most companies there are few people who look forward. Budgets and work plans are devised on the basis of experience, and thus most workers are focused on where they have been, just as rowers are. Even salespeople—those who must make the kill—spend much of their time studying market trends and history. The organization's steerer must get ...