Yesterday, for the first time since beginning my job as General Director of the Lincoln School, I found myself in a large room with all the members of our leadership team.  This day was one of the first things I planned in my mind when I joined the school, but was a long time coming due to the restrictions of the pandemic.  Beyond the joy of finally connecting in person, the primary purpose of our time together was for each leader to deliver their vision speech – the leadership summit.  

The Leadership Summit is an annual vision speech that normally would happen before the launch of the school year.  Of course this year was a bit different, so we had to make necessary adjustments.  Yet, I believe having clarity about your vision is so critical to your leadership success that I insisted that we move forward with the summit presentation, even if it already November. The view from the Summit captures your vision for your school or department, and lays out your strategic improvement plan to address focus areas and realize your goes.  It is your opportunity to practice and refine how you talk about your school and your focused efforts to improve.  The summit is a high level overview – what you working on, why you are working on it, and what you are planning to do?  It is your opportunity to get your team excited about what lies in store for the coming school year.  

While it may be tempting to believe that we put too much faith in the content and delivery of a vision speech, we know that a clear and compelling vision is a guiding factor for realizing measurable improvements within your organization.  Of course, we know that the success of an organization depends on many factors and variables that go deeper and further than speeches and storytelling, but there are compelling reasons that explain why the summit is so essential.   My first assignment as a brand new student in the School Leadership Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education was to interview two education leaders about their experiences and perspectives on organizational leadership in the field of education.  I interviewed Dr. Michael Cowan, then superintendent of Mesa Public Schools, the largest K-12 school district in Arizona, as well as Dr. Lattie Coor, who had just retired as president of Arizona State University and had launched a policy think tank called the Center for the Future of Arizona where I had worked as an intern.  When I asked about the most important element leadership, both of them quickly and unequivocally answered “vision.”  The Leadership Summit is the premier opportunity to communicate and share that vision.  

In other industries, vision speeches might come during the annual shareholders meeting, or an annual leadership retreat.  Similarly, a rousing call to purpose and action can be heard from the coach of an athletic team on the eve of a new season or from a general on the brink of conflict.  These are moments of drama that are often portrayed on the movie screen and the history books, and as such, can perhaps take on a hint of cliché.  Yet make no mistake, these moments when all eyes are on you and the people are hungry for shared purpose and inspiration matter tremendously.  Underestimate the importance of the vision speech at your own peril.  

We cannot forget that education is a deeply human endeavor.  After all, learning brings with it a range of new relationships, conflicts, experiences, and struggles.  It is deeply social in nature. From academic discourse to high expectations, our learning trajectory is plotted amongst the relationships and interactions we have with other human beings.  Not surprisingly, education is deeply emotional work.  We wade through triumphs and tragedies because the outcomes we seek are not physical products.  We seek learning, transformation, and strengthening of the human lives around us.  If there ever were a time for a heavy dose of symbolic leadership, this is it.  Yes, leading an organization requires the creation of purposeful structures, strategic management of human capital, and insightful political maneuvering.  But the vision speech gets at human emotions and motivation – this is the time to inspire.  As Bolman and Deal describe it, symbolic leadership is the acknowledgment that organizations are messy and often ambiguous, and that creating shared meaning and purpose are essential to the practice of leadership.

Above all,  remind us why we do the work we do.  Tell us what is at stake.  Convince us we’re the right people for the task.  Paint the image of new possibilities and show us the way we are going to get there.