INSPIRE A SHARED VISION
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JADE LUI ALWAYS HAD A PASSION for books, and fol- lowed that passion to pursue a career in publishing. At her first job with a large international publisher in Hong Kong, Jade was given responsibilities for business development throughout the East Asia region. She was particularly excited by the prospect of promoting English books into the China market.
On her first field visit, Jade surveyed the handful of bookstores with foreign books sections in Beijing and Shanghai. The shelves were bare except for a few classics and dog-eared paperbacks. Jade said she “was stupefied,” but immediately realized what it meant— that there was vast untapped market potential: “Considering the increasing number of expatriates, tourists, and young Chinese stu- dents learning the English language in China, I could only imagine the exponential growth in the demand for English books. More pertinent to me, though, was my vision of introducing quality educational English books to children in China to improve their learning experience and broaden their horizons.”
Envision the Future
C H A P T E R 4
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G E One year after her initial field visit, Jade received the first
coprinting order from a publishing house in China for a range of educational children’s books. It came, however, with a very tight target delivery date, stringent cobranding design requirements, and a large credit limit request. In accordance with her company’s usual processing practice, Jade submitted the order via email to headquar- ters in the United Kingdom with the conditions attached. The replies were unanimously negative. “There is no way we can meet the dead- line!” said one colleague. “This is not the way we do things here,” said another.
Frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm, Jade decided to organize a conference call with her support team, including the order admin- istrator, graphic designer, and credit controller. During the call, she asked probing questions to learn more about the root cause of their negativity. She listened carefully to what they had to say, and dis- covered that “unlike my client-facing position, as administrative staff they held a very different mentality. Working in a vacuum, they worked ‘by the book’ and were concerned merely with fulfilling their job requirements. They saw little direct impact of their work on overall business performance.”
Jade realized that she needed to appeal to common ideals. To combat the negativity from her team, she wanted to ensure that they felt that their work mattered and that they could make a difference.
I first drew a parallel between their administrative function and my frontline client service role. I explained how they were also important customer service agents because they were providing service to internal clients, such as me. In doing so, I aligned our objectives in delivering first-class customer service—be it to
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external or internal clients. I also emphasized how we were a team with the ultimate goal of fulfilling this landmark order, underscoring the active parts they played in this revenue- generating opportunity. More importantly though, I asked my team to envision the many Chinese children reading and learning from our books—the availability of which would be made possible only through their hard work.
Three months following that initial conference call, the order was completed on time and at the highest standards of professional- ism. Jade and her colleagues had launched their dream. And from this experience, Jade says she learned a vital leadership lesson: “I learned to appreciate the varying perspectives held by those in dif- ferent work functions, to identify the source of a problem through open dialogue, and how to motivate a team by promoting a sense of comradeship in pursuit of commons goals and a shared vision.”
Jade’s story illustrates how organized efforts—whether those of a company, a project, or a movement—begin with one person’s imagination. Call it what you will—vision, purpose, mission, legacy, dream, aspiration, calling, or personal agenda—the result is the same. If you are going to be an exemplary leader, you have to be able to imagine a positive future. When you envision the future you want for yourself and others, and when you feel passionate about the legacy you want to leave, you are much more likely to take that first step forward. But if you don’t have the slightest clue about your hopes, dreams, and aspirations, then the chance that you’ll take the lead is nil. In fact, you may not even see the opportunity that’s right in front of you.
Exemplary leaders are forward-looking. They are able to envi- sion the future, to gaze across the horizon and realize the greater
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G E opportunities to come. They imagine that extraordinary feats are
possible and that the ordinary could be transformed into something noble. They are able to develop an ideal and unique image of the future for the common good.
But the vision can’t belong only to the leader. It’s a shared vision. Everyone has dreams, aspirations, and a desire that tomorrow be better than today. When visions are shared, they attract more people, sustain higher levels of motivation, and withstand more challenges than those that are singular. You have to make sure that what you can see is also something that others can see, and vice versa.
The second of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership is Inspire a Shared Vision. To do that, leaders make a commitment to Envision the Future for themselves and others by mastering these two essentials: