You’ve heard the story of the well-equipped, well-trained team of firefighters who skillfully dash into a building and tenaciously, impressively reach the top floor at record speed, only to discover they have entered the wrong building.  The burning building is next door.

The tenacious, skillful effort by well-equipped, well-trained workers means nothing if they are heading in the wrong direction¹ .  In fact, if we don’t know where we are going, or if we are unwilling to commit to where we are going, any plan will work.  Or, no plan works well too!  The Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland reminds us, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” ²

Conversely, knowing where we want to end up truly motivates a team — even for an ill-prepared bunch of novices.  Tonight my family will pack up our stuff, for tomorrow morning’s departure when, before the finches clamor onto the thistle socks, we will stuff our stuff into a minivan, along with two dogs, for our 15 hour drive to our vacation destination.  That’s right, 15 hours, two dogs, one minivan.  Sounds delightful….not!

We Know Where We Are Going.

Why would we endure such a grueling drive?  We know where we are going.  We know where we will end up.  Its worth it.  Perhaps along the way we will run into barriers (not literally!), diversions, delays, fatigue…but we will always have before us the image of our destination at the end of the long day.  We are assured the comfortable, peaceful cabin on the lake in New Hampshire awaits us.  We might need to be reminded along the way.  In the midst of the traffic or fatigue on Interstate 84 we might need to shout out, “We’re heading for the lake!”  The end point makes the long drive worth it.

When we embrace the good end — even from a distance — the best advice might be, “Do not give up!”  I am reminded of the daffy fish friend Dory, in the Disney movie Finding Nemo³.  Dory encouraged Marlin in their long journey to find Marlin’s son, Nemo, who had been snatched by a sport diver and taken to a far away place.  When Marlin thought of giving up his search, Dory swam alongside (parakaleo for you Greek nerds) and sang, “just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming….”  They knew where they were going, they embraced a clear vision of what awaits them — finding Marlin’s son Nemo!  So…the best leadership advice was “just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”

We Dare Not Settle For Short-Term Visioners

When something good awaits us, the long  journey to get there is worth it.  And yet, the long journey sometimes becomes very long, and discouraging.  Along the way we might lose sight of why we are going where we’re going. 

We can apply this simple truth to a few social policy ”journeys” .  Our economic recession requires that we boldly make a long, scary journey through troubled waters, but we know (hope?) in the end we will be better, stronger.  In the midst of this long journey toward recovery we dare not settle for short-term visioners (e.g., those who want us to focus on quarterly indicators as if 3 months is the extent of the journey).  Or worse, we dare not settle for short-term visioners who offer up sound bites designed to win in November rather than lead us in the long journey through the troubled waters.

Transformational Leadership Requires Tenacious Long Term Vision

We can apply this simple truth to organizational change.  Do not give up on the long term good just because the short term challenges and sacrifices seem too difficult.  In short, transformational leadership, whether we are talking about national policy or change for my local congregation or nonprofit, requires tenacious long term vision.  Leaders who ask us to scuttle our long term common good in order to relieve our short term discomfort are not leading us anywhere.  And we know what the Cheshire Cat said.

Tomorrow’s Long Drive Will Be Worth It

Tomorrow’s drive will be long, tough, and tiring, but we know where we are going and the drive is worth it.  The journey toward a better day for our nation, our Conference, our local congregation will be long, tough, and tiring.  If we know where we are going — if we embrace the common good that awaits us — the long drive will be worth it.

© Copyright by Jeffrey Y. Harlow, PhD (2010)

1. Thanks to Kathy Merry, Marc Brown, and John Briggs for reminding me of this valuable truth during our recent Virginia UMC Annual Conference.  They have written a delightful, accessible book on transformational leadership for the Church, Does Your Church Have A Prayer?  In Mission Toward The Promised Land.  Nashville, TN: Discipleship Resources, 2009.
2. Carroll, Lewis. (1865).  Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.   Plenty of management and leadership experts since then have used the Cat’s wisdom in a variety of ways! 
3. Written by Andrew Stanton, 2003