When the history of your organization is being written, there will be a chapter with your name on it.
What's the title of that chapter?
For too many leaders, the answer is: I didn't mess up. Or I stayed in leadership long enough to get a better opportunity. Or even: I kept the organization running.
These are not so much chapter titles as they are holding patterns.
When the people around you can't see the future you're building — because you haven't shown it to them yet - you’ll notice some symptoms:
A team that's executing well but can't tell a compelling story to the next hire, so the next hire is never quite as good as the last one.
A funder who liked your last grant but didn't renew.
A board that's supportive but not motivated to open their networks to you.
The added irony is that leaders in survival mode tend to lose their positions faster. When performance dips, the board has no upside to hold onto.
Consider the difference between a leader who says "we want to be the most trusted youth employment program in this region."
And one who says "we have cracked something that nobody else has cracked, and the chapter we're writing now is about getting it into the hands of every government that needs it."
That second leader gets protected through a difficult quarter, because the board knows what they're staying for.
A compelling vision isn't a luxury you add once the organization is stable. It's what makes other people willing to stay in it with you through the instability.
If you're not sure what the title of your chapter would be, that's the starting point.
My Vision workshop is designed for exactly this: helping you find and articulate the future you're already building toward, clearly enough that funders, staff, and partners are moved by what you’re seeing.
Schedule a free consultation to find out if a Vision workshop is the right next step.
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