Leadership exists everywhere in every form imaginable. In almost every scenario or activity a leader is needed to come to the fore to take on the challenge of guiding the rest to achieve the common aim that everyone sets out to accomplish in the beginning.

Be it in the corporate or real world, leaders are needed. Are you an aspiring leader? Or are you a reasonably proficient leader looking to take you and your group to the next level? Or perhaps you are trying your best yet not getting the results you desire. Do you belong in any of the above categories? Even if you are not, perhaps you would care to read on.

Let me first touch on the basic principle of leadership. Leaders are there to rally everyone around a common cause, to make sure everyone works towards a common goal and to see the goal achieved to the desired effect within a predetermined timeframe. However, there is this certain intangible that all great leaders possess. A certain quality that seems simple enough to comprehend yet eludes the reach of so many people who crave for it. A vital component that defines a great leader and is to generate following as well as respect.

It is vision.

And not just vision, but the vision to see something that is not there.

Consider the following example: In 1961, President JF Kennedy made a bold statement. He expressed his wish of one day seeing a man land on the moon and be brought back safely to earth by the end of the decade, calling for the nation to commit itself to this cause. People in various quarters who read this were astounded. They did not believe this was possible and were alarmed at the President willing to sacrifice humans to outer space just to fulfill this insurmountable wish of his. Others who thought it feasible wondered at the reason for taking all these extra costs and making this great effort at a project that would not feed Americans and definitely would not solve the employment problems in the distant aftermath of the War.

President Kennedy stuck to his vision. He saw all the possibilities that would open up together with the development of space exploration. On July 20, 1969, we all saw Neil Armstrong step on the moon for the first time. It was a remarkable breakthrough. Though he was cruelly deprived of the chance to see his vision come to fruition, President Kennedy had the vision to see what is not there and make it happen.

And so can you.

To be a great leader, not of the distinguished proportion of Kennedy but that of the corporate world that you find yourself mired in or perhaps in the harsh business realities from which you are looking to emerge as a credible figure well equipped to lead the masses to eventual success, all you need is a great vision and a great conviction to follow it through in spite of all the odds stacked against your favor.

I shall discuss the components of a vision in the next of this 3-part article...