Overview

At some point in our professional career or graduate studies, we have read or researched what makes a great leader. If nothing else, we have worked for or with leaders who were highly successful or sadly ineffective. You know the difference, or it doesn’t take long to know. For this course, we will likely begin with some shared thoughts about what makes a visionary leader. Take a moment and reflect on those qualities. Is there more to it than having a vision? Can anyone lead?

Certainly, there are different leadership styles, but let’s challenge our assumptions and explore what effective, visionary leaders know and do. These leaders nurture and cultivate relationships inside and outside of their organization. They are results-driven people who have learned to harness the impact of a network for enduring improvement and problem-solving. These visionary leaders have reimagined how to achieve higher outcomes.

They know you can’t lead if no one is following. They think trying hard is not good enough. They subscribe to results-based accountability and measure what matters. Effective visionary leaders see constellations, not stars. Visionary leaders build thriving networks that outlast a single role or position. What will be the legacy of your leadership?

Over the next seven weeks, you will identify a problem of practice. Still, I challenge you to consider how you will invest in and lead others to solve problems and achieve crucial outcomes in a way that endures beyond yourself—after you’ve passed the baton.

Relationships | You Can’t Lead If No One’s Following
Results | Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough
Reimagine How | See Constellations, Not Stars

Module Objectives

In this module, the activities, content, and assignments will guide your learning process to ensure you can:

Identify qualities of effective visionary leaders. (CLO A, B, and C)
Explain how visionary leadership can become a double-edged sword without effectively communicating vision and strategy with mid-level team members. (CLO A, B, C, and E)
Describe the Theory of Aligned Contributions and how it can bridge desired outcomes with present reality in complex adaptive systems. (CLO A, B, C, D, and E)

(CLO) stands for Course Learning Objective. You will find a complete list of Course Learning Objectives in the Syllabus and on the Start Here: Course Overview page. Each Module Objective in this course has its associated course-level objective indicated in parentheses to clarify the relationship between the two.

Module To-Do List

Here's everything you need to do and remember for this module:

Review Syllabus and Start Here Module
Submit Academic Integrity survey
Attend Live Session
Read and/or review all assigned materials
Complete the Visionary Leadership assignment