All companies have leaders, but not all leaders can be called visionary. Rich Bursek, the President of Certuity and a decades-spanning leader in his industry, believes that visionary business leaders are defined by their ability to disrupt industries with the products and services they create.
In some cases, visionary leaders can literally change how the world works. Well-known visionary leaders include Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Indra Nooyi, and Warren Buffet.
There are plenty of examples of visionary leaders outside of business, too, including Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela, Michelle Obama, and Mahatma Gandhi.
While these leaders are vastly different in what they accomplished, they all exhibit key traits that helped them inspire excellence in others and foster innovation and adaptability in their industries.
Emotional Intelligence
Perhaps the most crucial trait that visionary leaders possess is emotional intelligence. This is often considered a soft skill in business, but that doesn’t mean it’s not essential.
Emotional intelligence relates to having the awareness of not only your own emotions and what they mean but also that of others. Those with strong emotional intelligence are able to connect with their consumers and workers in a way that evokes significant emotional responses and convinces people to follow.
“I’ve seen plenty of business leaders fail because they can’t comprehend the emotional capacities of their client base, or their employees, for that matter,” says Bursek. “As a leader, you must be able to take the emotional viewpoint of those you’re selling to and those you’re working with.”
Communication
A key component of success at any organization, regardless of size, is whether everyone can move forward at the same pace and get on the same page.
“It’s like the old adage of everyone rowing in sync. But workers will only know to row together if their leader is coordinating everything and communicating efficiently,” says Bursek.
Indeed, visionary leaders are the ones who arrange this harmony, and they do so through outstanding communication skills. And while many people believe that communication revolves around just talking — or writing — to get across a point, that’s far from the truth. Well-rounded communication involves an equal amount of listening.
“Visionary leaders must be able to communicate their vision to workers and show them how it can be accomplished,” says Bursek. “But they also need to actively listen because workers are great at identifying areas of your company that need improvement.”
By taking a keen interest in their workers’ thoughts, Bursek says that visionary leaders can create an inclusive environment in which people want to work hard.
Resilience
If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again … and then keep trying!
“Failure is inevitable in business. No one is going to succeed 100% of the time,” says Bursek. “Just look at the stories of Henry Ford or Thomas Edison. They failed time and time again before they were brilliant.”
The picture is clear: Those who want to be successful in the long run must be resilient. They need to be able to pick themselves back up and put in the same effort to move forward.
“It’s about more than just responding to failure, though,” says Bursek. “Resilient leaders also need to be nimble and adjust on the fly.”
According to Bursek, these adjustments could be in response to market challenges or the ever-changing world around us. No matter what, leaders must know how to anticipate and react to change.
Growth Mindset
Visionary leaders are always looking to push things forward. They want to make their company and their products bigger and better than they are now. To do that, they must have a growth mindset.
“The most innovative and long-lasting leaders are never satisfied. Good results? Okay, well, how can they be even better? That’s the mindset you’ve got to adapt,” says Bursek.
Having this type of mindset is how the best leaders are able to motivate themselves and others. They’ve constantly got their eyes on the prize.
This doesn’t mean that leaders can’t celebrate victories and milestones. It only means that they can’t rest on their laurels once victories and milestones have been achieved.
About Rich Bursek
As President, Partner, and member of the Board of Managers of Certuity, Rich Bursek brings empowering leadership to a team that offers distinctive services for high-net-worth clients. Throughout his career, Bursek has received multiple awards, led large wealth management firms, and co-founded and shaped several industry startups.