Where There Is No Vision

The old proverb “Where There Is No Vision The People Perish” hit it right on the head. One of the lessons about organizations that I learned early in my career is that no organization will ever rise above the vision of its principal leader. This first became apparent to me as I worked with Lutheran elementary schools. Whenever I visited one that made me feel proud to be a part of that system. I soon learned that the school had a principal who was clear in his or her vision. Tragically I also worked with teachers who became very frustrated in what their school looked like. In every situation I had to tell the classroom teachers to do the very best they could in their own classroom-and no matter how well they performed the overall culture and achievement would not rise above that of their principal.

What I first observed in schools became even more clear when I looked at Christian congregations. For better or worse, how a congregation performs and what its culture is, it is clearly dependent upon the vision of its senior pastor. This can lead to deep frustration when members are clear of what the preferred future looks like and their senior pastor does not share that perspective. On the other hand, when the pastor has a clear and inspiring vision, consistently lays that before the members and mobilizes them to move toward that vision the entire organization is energized and wants to get involved.

In recent years all management consultants who work with organizations (religious or secular ) take this reality very seriously. By now some of us are almost bored when working with these consultants because we know that we will all have to go through the process of identifying our vision, our mission, our core values. Boring it may be-but vital nonetheless.

What is true of school and churches is also very true at the national societal level. As anAmerican I look closely at what our presidents say about their vision of America. What is the vision of America’s role in the world? What is the vision of a more equitable American society?What is the vision of the role of the individual citizen, of the military, the police, Wall Street?

I am writing this BLOG the day before the inauguration of President Biden. So, my head and heart are very involved in wrestling with what the vision is for my country. I am pretty clear about what President Trump’s vision was and I pray that President Biden has a vision which will lead us to an era in which our highest values of freedom, mutual respect, equality and prosperity

for all the people of the world will be expressed-and then pursued and made real.