What We Can Learn From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. About Visionary Leadership
Photo by New York Public Library
As we reflect on Dr. King's legacy today, I'm thinking about his role as a visionary leader.
It reminds me of a simple but powerful concept called Creative Tension, which was formed by Peter Senge, a professor of organizational learning at MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Here's what Creative Tension is: Picture a rubber band stretched between your two hands: on one side is the vision of what could be, and on the other side is the current reality.
Senge illustrates this topic by talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a leader with a dream; he invited us all into an image of what our country and communities could be if we embraced equity and freedom. But he also helped us see the truth about our current reality, making inequity and injustice visible.
Making the gap between the two visible—both by stretching our vision of what could be and by taking an honest look at the current reality—generates creative energy for enacting change.
Often, visionary leaders invite us into what could be without acknowledging what's really happening—people's true experience of how things are.
Or they become mired in the present challenges without painting a hopeful picture of what could be.
Effective leaders do both.
Maintaining creative tension is key to our success as organizations and communities. We look to leaders to help us see a vision of what could be, but also those who help us to see things as they truly are.
