How to Write a Personal Leadership Vision

A useful leadership vision changes what you do on an ordinary day

The test of a leadership vision is whether it changes your behaviour on an ordinary Tuesday. If it is so general that any leader could sign it, it will not. 'I want to inspire people and deliver results' fails the test. 'I want my team to bring me bad news early because they know I will help, not blame' passes it.

Strong visions usually hold three elements: who you are at your best, the effect you want on people, and the results you want those people to achieve. Keep it to four or five sentences. Longer statements tend to be read once and forgotten.

Five steps to write your personal leadership vision

1. 01

   Recall your peaks and lows

   Write down two moments when you were proud of how you led and two when you were not. For each, note what you did, what you valued and how others responded. The patterns are your raw material.

2. 02

   Name three to five core values

   Choose the values that showed up in your best moments and were missing in your worst. The personal values exercise helps you narrow a long list to the few that genuinely drive you.

3. 03

   Picture the impact in three to five years

   Imagine a team member describing you to a friend after working with you for several years. What would you want them to say? What would they be able to do because of you?

4. 04

   Draft quickly, then cut

   Write a rough version in ten minutes. Then remove every word that sounds impressive but would not change your behaviour.

5. 05

   Test it with people who know you

   Share it with one or two trusted colleagues and ask whether it sounds like you, and where you currently fall short of it. The gap they point to is your development agenda.

Prompts for when the page stays blank

• ✦What do I want people to feel after a difficult conversation with me?
• ✦Which leader shaped me most, and what exactly did they do?
• ✦What will I not compromise on, even under pressure?
• ✦What kind of team do I want to leave behind when I move on?
• ✦Where does my leadership need to grow to match the role I want next?
• ✦What would I regret not having tried?

Vague and sharp leadership vision statements side by side

The difference between a vision you use and one you forget is usually specificity. These pairs show how common first drafts can be sharpened.

Mistakes that turn a leadership vision into wallpaper

• ✦Writing for an audience. If you are thinking about how it will sound to others, it will describe an image rather than an intention.
• ✦Copying your organisation's values. Your vision can align with them, but it should be in your own words and reflect your own priorities.
• ✦Making it all about outcomes. Results matter, but a vision without the people side gives you no guidance on how to lead.
• ✦Writing it once and filing it. Review it at least twice a year and after any major change in role.
• ✦Expecting yourself to live it perfectly. You will fall short. The point is to notice and return to it.

Example: an engineer stepping into a director role

Imagine an engineering manager at an energy company who has just been promoted to director. Her first draft reads: 'I aim to lead with excellence and drive innovation.' It sounds fine and tells her nothing.

Working through her peaks and lows, she notices that her proudest moments came when junior engineers solved problems she could have solved herself. Her lowest was a project where she took over and the team disengaged. Her revised vision says: 'I lead by building engineers who can solve problems without me. I hold a high technical bar and explain my reasoning. I speak up early when I see risk, including to the executive committee.' The final sentence names a gap she had avoided admitting.

This is a hypothetical example. Notice how the stronger version gives her clear choices to make in tomorrow's meetings.

Put your vision to work in the next 30 days

A leadership vision earns its place when it shows up in your calendar. Pick one sentence and translate it into one behaviour you will practise this month, such as asking a question before giving your view in every one-to-one. Check yourself against it weekly.

Keep the statement where you will see it before important meetings. Some leaders read it at the start of each week and ask: 'Where did I live this last week, and where did I not?' Over time it also helps you find your leadership style, because you start choosing behaviour deliberately rather than by habit.

Where a coach adds value to your leadership vision

Writing alone, most people produce a vision that is either too modest or too polished. A coach asks the questions that get underneath both: what you actually want, what you are reluctant to say, and the gap between the leader you describe and the one your team experiences.

In one-to-one executive coaching, a leadership vision often becomes the anchor for the whole engagement, connecting your values to specific goals and to the feedback you gather from others. The idea of values-based leadership is a useful companion as you refine it.