Visioneering for a Better Future after COVID-19 passes
During a crisis, leaders tend to hyper-focus on managing the threat and neglect long-range thinking. That’s a mistake because vision is critical both for evaluating short-term decisions and for creating a better future.
The coronavirus pandemic has been a major disruption to the world economy. Some believe it will dwarf the effects of the 2008 recession, with fallout rivaling even that of the Great Depression which lasted more than ten years.
With many businesses shuttered and others struggling to survive, some leaders are thinking only in tactical terms. Leaders are concerned with week-to-week survival, not long term vision.
That’s understandable, but it’s a major mistake. The ability to survive any crisis begins with a vision for what’s possible. That’s true no matter how great the crisis. Vision is critical both for evaluating short-term decisions and for creating the possibilities for a better future.
Think of the visioneering concept this way… if the vision is compelling enough, your team will apply their best thinking and efforts to figure out a new way, a new path forward, regardless of the challenges.
You may remember the movie Apollo 13, based on the disastrous moon mission of the same name. The Apollo 13 spacecraft was damaged early in the flight, and the mission was aborted. But returning to earth safely was by no means certain.
Running low on oxygen and battery power, the three-member flight crew huddled together awaiting instructions. Meanwhile, NASA’s ground crew, led by veteran flight director scrambled for solutions. Tension mounted as the hours ticked by.
As the space craft neared the critical moment of re-entry, a senior leader remarked, “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever seen.” That was one potential outcome. But not everyone shared that negative perspective. A compelling vision of what could be, was forming in the mind of the veteran flight director. With his career on the line, the Apollo 13 crew in peril, he said at that critical moment, “With all due respect, Sir, I believe this will be our finest hour.”
That’s visionary leadership. It was that vision of a positive outcome that enabled the NASA team to achieve the seemingly impossible. First, lead by a strong positive leader, they envisioned the elements of the return to earth, a safe splash down in the south pacific. The flight operations director said one more thing… “Failure is not an option,”. Then they improvised, adapted, and created their way to achieve what most of America at the time thought was impossible.
To survive this crisis, let alone thrive in the future, you need a clear, inspiring vision for what comes next. Here’s why.
If ever there was a time we needed positive change, it’s now before this current crisis ends. The surging economy that we rode into this crisis has been badly damaged. Some industries are closed temporarily, and many businesses will not survive. That’s reality.
But that’s not the formula for an improved future. The pandemic will eventually be brought under control. When that happens, we’ll need thriving businesses, jobs, goods, and services—just as people always do. The businesses that thrive in those future days will be led by those who looked ahead to envision a better reality. Vision produces positive change, stronger businesses, more resilient, better able to withstand economic strain. No one wants a rerun of the same old economy and the only way we will surpass ourselves is to consider the future… How?
Visioneering = strategic planning infused with tactical concepts for solving problems + what you can see becoming your future reality… better, bigger, stronger than today.
It would be foolish to ignore the current reality. It’s also unwise to fixate on it. Leaders look for what’s possible. Leaders must not be afraid to push the envelop, to inspire your close associates and team members with ideas, that till now only filled your imagination and day dreams… ideas with no basis for thinking them possible… until now.
Leaders imagine what could come next. They picture a better tomorrow, then find a way to get there. That’s how we as a society, a nation of diversity filled with dreamers make progress.
Negative thinking won’t save your business. Getting back to ground zero, or square one, won’t be good enough for sustaining a strong and resilient future.
It’s often said that hope is not a strategy, and it’s true. To make any progress, you need a vision, followed by a concrete plan. Wishing won’t get you there.
Neither will pessimism. Doomsday thinking and the conservative and scarcity mindset are paralyzing. You cannot lead into the future if you’re bound by negative thinking. Role the dice and see what your visioneeering produces. What do you have to lose?
Yes, take the threat of this crisis and the ones yet to come seriously. Deal with the current crisis, mitigate it, be prepared to reopen your business. But a leader cannot afford to become reactionary. Fear won’t stop a pandemic, this one or another one yet to come. And fear won’t save your business. You need a vision for what comes next.
When there is uncertainty, people look for leaders. They crave visionary thinking and leaders. That’s true of nations, communities, and families. And it’s true of your business.
Everyone wants a way out of this mess, and they’ll follow the person who can craft a new future. Even with risk and uncertainty, people follow visionary leaders. Let me think… Steve Jobs… Bill Gates… Mark Zuckerberg… you get the idea.
Wherever you are leading right now, people are looking to you for direction. No matter what the current reality may be, they innately believe that something better is possible. Now is the time to lead with vision.
The Apollo 13 capsule did indeed return to earth safely. Decades later, Jim Lovell, the captain of the flight crew, was asked about flight director Gene Kranz’s legendary remark. Lovell said simply, “And it was our finest hour.”
Will 2020 be the worst disaster your business has ever seen? Or will it be your finest hour? It can be the latter if you lead with vision.
