When leaders think about a vision, they seek to describe an idea of a future they want to create and that inspires others to be part of the journey.

To inspire others, that future needs to be audacious to create. It needs to be something they cannot imagine doing alone. It needs to be bigger than them. It also needs to correlate with the values these people share. And it needs to be broad enough so that they can imagine themselves contributing to it in their very own way.

It becomes an invitation to belong to a tribe, group, or organization as well as an invitation to contribute.

The work of leadership is to find a description of a future the group they are addressing can create. Audacious and yet adapted. One that they can imagine or believe in.

A path that will lead to confusion is to look at the visions successful organizations have written down. Such a vision will be based on their values, making it a vision only they could accomplish. That their vision is shown as a model for others happens because it has been validated through time. It also is a result of the organization being well-known and successful in implementing its goals. What is rarely described is what the organization looked like when they put that vision in place.

Whatever visions others have, they only make sense within their context. The goals used to implement the vision were those stretching that organization. For most of us, they will be beyond what can be imagined.

Even imagination needs to be practical when it comes to goal setting. It’s not necessary to have an idea of how everything is going to be implemented. But it is necessary to be able to describe the beginning of the journey and imagine how it could connect with the vision.