“Leaders who can provide both operational and visionary leadership are a rare but special breed. When you find one, get on their bus and stay on it for as long as you can. It will be an incredible trip.
It is also the case that you can pair visionary leadership with operational leadership and I have seen that model work very well for long periods of time. Most commonly, the visionary leader is “in charge” and the operational leader runs the business on a day to day period.”
from a recent blog by Fred Wilson: “The Vision Thing”
Fred Wilson is one of the most successful investors of recent decades in early stage and growth companies. In my much more limited way, I have been involved with many companies at similar stages. In a recent blog he has highlighted what, to me, is a simple truth.
Early stage and start up businesses absolutely need founders who are Visionary leaders, but as they grow, the also absolutely need Operational leadership.
I have seen many businesses fall down when a founder with a true gift for visionary leadership has failed to bring in an operational leader early enough.
I also agree with Fred that, where you can find a leader who is really strong in both operational and visionary leadership, then they are a rare gem and to be invested in and followed. More often, though, it is finding a balance that is key.
I close by also noting that I think of this not in two roles, but in three, E, L & M:
- Entrepreneur – focussed on Vision and so the Future. Pure Entrepreneurs are often, umm, terrible communicators, though brilliant visionaries.
- Leaders – focussed on Communications, Behaviours, Strategies. Pure Leaders are often the bridge between Visionaries and everyone else in and outside the business
- Managers – It is no good having a great Vision that is then clearly communicated unless you have skilled operators to manage resources and build capability in the business.
At the moment I am working with a client team with a powerful tool called “ELM” that is all about building a team around these three areas. I was taught depth around ELM around a decade ago by the brilliant man who innovated it, Mark Baxter, and I only wish I had this available to me in the two decades or so of working in and building businesses I did before I learned about ELM.
As always, I’d love to talk to you where anything I write resonates and where you would like to share your thoughts, opportunities and what comes up for you from reading my posts. Please do book a zoom on my site here, I practice “radical abundance”, am always open to talk.