For the past few weeks, I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak at numerous leadership retreats, conferences, and events throughout the country on the subject: “Social Change Leadership 2.0 – Be the Change You Wish to See in The World”.  Thankfully, at each of these events, the student leaders been awesome and I have witnessed transformational moments take place in the emerging and seasoned leaders that I have had the opportunity to speak to during these past few weeks. In addition to these transformational moments, I was inspired to share a few visionary lessons that I learned as I prepared for my speaking engagements over the past month!

The first lesson that I learned about visionary leadership is that the impact or success of your vision can be negatively impacted if it is not developed out of your authentic or true self.  In effect, if your vision as a leader does not align with your strengths, passion, values, or personality, there is a greater chance that you are not going to experience the power of visionary leadership. It is important to note: before you create your vision as a leader, use the creative/unique qualities and characteristics that you possess as a leader to shape your message.

The second lesson that I learned about visionary leadership is that your service to others is affected by the perspective or vision that you have for them.  In essence, if you have a positive vision for the people that you serve, you will have a positive outcome, if you have a negative vision, you will have a negative outcome.  Therefore, as a leader, be sure to create a positive vision for each person so you can ensure to provide them with your best as their leader.

And finally, I have learned that it is possible to have a powerful vision that doesn’t gain traction because the timing of the vision is not right.  In effect, you can have an incredible vision to change the world, but if the timing is not right, it may not flourish the way you desire.  So, instead of giving up on an incredible vision, take some time to re-evaluate the vision, and consider the best time re-launch the vision.

As you might imagine, there are many lessons we can learn about visionary leadership, these are just three key aspects of visionary leadership that I truly believe will help you lead more effectively as a visionary leader in the 21st Century.