WHAT IS YOUR DREAM?

Historians agree that the most compelling English-language vision speech of the 20th century occurred more than fifty years ago in 1963 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, inspired America and the world by telling them about his dream.  In addition to the lessons of love and equality that Dr. King gifted us, he also models powerful shared-vision communication skills.

Among so many reasons the speech was so compelling is that it excelled at modeling the five elements of Kouzes and Posner’s definition of a shared vision:

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A shared vision is an ideal and unique image of the future for the common good.

JIM KOUZES & BARRY POSNER
The Leadership Challenge

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The Five Elements

1. Ideal:  Visions are about hopes, dreams, and aspirations.  They’re about exciting possibilities.  They’re about making a difference, creating something grand, achieving a whole new standard of excellence.  Like Dr. King's speech, they tell us the ennobling purpose and greater good we are seeking.
   
   
2. Unique:  Visions are about the extraordinary, not the ordinary.  They are about what makes us—or will make us—distinctive, singular, and unequaled.  They’re not about how we are like everyone else, but how we and the change we bring about are different and special.  Dr. King understood and inspired us as  a nation to "rise up and live out the true meaning of its creeds" and be that unique and extraordinary nation and people—to be a light to the nations.
   
   
3. Image:  We remember our past and project our future in mental pictures.  Word pictures, metaphors, analogies, examples, stories, symbols, and similar communication methods all help make visions memorable.  Dr. King's words using imagery brings to life a vision of his dream.
   
   
4. Future-oriented:  A vision is a description of an exciting possibility that we desire in the future.  If it were a description of what existed today, it wouldn’t be a vision; it’d be reality.  Visions are projections.  They stretch our minds out into the future and ask us to dream.  The time-horizons of visions vary.  While great strides towards Dr. King's vision have been made, they have still not been fully realized and his inspiration from his dream still lives on today.
   
   
5. Common good:  Visions are about developing a shared sense of destiny.  They are about what the group, organization, community, nation, or even the world collectively desire.  Visions aren’t about what the leader wants.  They are about what we want.  Leaders must be able to show others how their interests are served and how they are a part of the vision in order to enlist others in it.  Dr. King had a unique ability to do that for us.
   

I Have a Dream
Dr. King did not deliver the “I Have a Strategic Plan” speech.  He did not orate that “I Have a Metric Dashboard.” 

No.  He delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.  Exemplary and great leaders lead with meaning and purpose.  They lead with vision. 

While metrics, business plans, and strategic plans all have their rightful places, they are rarely all that inspiring, particularly to front-line employees.  Any particular metric is simply one way of measuring if we are actualizing or achieving our mission, purpose, vision, or strategy. 

You are the leader.  People look to you for inspiration, motivation, guidance, empowerment, recognition, vision and whether you can be a role model or not.  In other words, they are asking, “Do you talk the talk?” and “Do you walk the talk?” 

Meaning and purpose starts with you. 

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What is your compelling vision of the future for those you serve and lead? 

What do you envision as an ideal future? 

How will you make that a shared vision? 

What unique and powerful language and imagery will you use?

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For inspiration, watch the last five and a half minutes of Dr. Martin Luther King’s
“I Have a Dream” speech below or on YouTube.  It leaves me with chills and a tear every time.

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Have an amazing journey today!

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Alan Mikolaj is a coach and leadership development consultant with 15+ years of experience.  He is passionate about helping leaders transform their leadership, their teams, and their organizations.  Impactful, professional approach driven by a passion for meaning and purpose, a growth mindset, and a commitment to excellence and service in order to drive change and results.

Alan maintains the ethics and standards of behavior established by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), including the standards regarding confidentiality.  You can learn more about them on the ICF website.