Confessions from a Recovering Visionary to Visionaries Worldwide

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a recovering Visionary.

You know the type – lots of big ideas, always inventing something new, a little light on the focusing, heavy on the creating, worried about the company culture, and incredibly impatient.

Visionaries can clearly see a future. Our problem is that we keep changing it! In a recent blog post, I outlined several non-productive behaviors that have afflicted struggling Visionaries like me. They got in the way of my success as a leader. They frustrated my team and staff. If you’re a Visionary, perhaps you share some of these behaviors with me.

Luckily for you, they’re completely reversible! I labeled the 3 Struggling Visionary Syndromes (SVS):

• “Free to Be Me” Syndrome
• “Let’s Do It All” Syndrome
• “I’ll Tell You How to Do It!” Syndrome

What helped me overcome them was watching other talented leaders in action. You see, for 14 years, I was a Vistage CEO Group Chair and worked with hundreds of high-performing entrepreneurial business executives. From them, I’ve gleaned a list of antidotes to combat the dreaded SVS. I’ve learned from the best, and in the interest of atoning for my past sins, I’d like to share them with you. In this article, I’ll explore “Free to Be Me” Syndrome and my advice for entrepreneurs and other leaders who hope to overcome its symptoms.

Overcoming “Free to Be Me” Syndrome

So, what is “Free to Be Me” Syndrome? It’s the implicit permission Visionaries give ourselves to showcase to the world our glorious, naturally-gifted selves. Symptoms I experienced included meetings where I did most of the talking, leadership team executives who only approached me on my “good days,” and frequent accusations that I wasn’t a good listener. Perhaps these resonate with you. In combating this syndrome, I’ve discovered a little bit of self-awareness can go a very long way. Here’s a checklist for your self-diagnosis – and the cures:

Symptom 1: You do all the talking.

When you run meetings, you find that everyone else is sitting in silence.

Antidote: Practice W.A.I.T.: Why Am I Talking? A flow of consciousness sprinkled with a few sparkling insights does not qualify as high impact communication. Make sure you think before speaking, practice that long neglected executive gift of brevity, and give folks time to digest your thoughts. Less is more.

Symptom 2: Executives do a “weather report” on your emotional mood.

Before addressing tough issues with you, your executives will circle the office assessing your emotional state – things like “it’s not a good day to approach the boss” or “I’ll wait until he’s in a better mood.”

Antidote: Consciously manage your emotional wake. Just like an ocean liner leaves a frothy wake in its past, you as a leader leave an “emotional wake” after each conversation. What do you want it to be? Positive and challenging or pessimistic and demotivating? You choose. As a leader, you don’t have the luxury of “spilling” your emotions.

Symptom 3: There are frequent gripes that you’re not listening.

Your team members feel like they aren’t being heard, and they’ve let you know it’s a problem.

Antidote: Listen until it hurts – and it will. The true test of listening is whether you’ve learned something from it. At the end of each conversation, ask yourself, “What new thing did I just learn?” If you can’t name anything, try harder. It’s there. A helpful practice is to start asking great questions. Doing so, you’ll uncover how brilliant your leadership team can be, and, as a by-product, you’ll get undreamed-of commitment and collaboration.

Work on being a great leader, and you'll reap the rewards

Remember, dear Visionaries, as the seniormost leader, it always comes back to you. My most important advice for leaders is this: Work on being your very best, and others will amaze you with their very best. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

If you’re interested in learning more about being the best leader you can be, I’m giving away free hard copies of a book that contains some of the greatest advice for leaders I’ve read. Traction by Gino Wickman outlines a simple formula that can help you get a grip on your business. It was an enormous help to me, so if you want to take your business to the next level, click here to request your copy.