The Great Communicator on Vision

Just about every school has a Vision and Mission Statement posted somewhere. For some schools these are guiding principles that guide the schools progress. In other schools, they are long-forgotten statements that exist to fulfill a reporting requirement and are only referenced when called for in a new report. Sometimes the school's vision and mission are "real," that is they represent the actual beliefs of the stakeholders. In others, they are mired in cliches and educational jargon, ripe with pretty words, yet bereft of any emotional attachment.

Recently I had the opportunity to address a room full of aspiring principals in our county's leadership program. I had been asked to discuss the concept of vision. I began by sharing from the new NC Standards for School Executives, specifically the first standard, "Strategic Leadership." It states, "School executives will create conditions that result in strategically re-imaging the school’s vision, mission, and goals in the 21st century. Understanding that schools ideally prepare students for an unseen but not altogether unpredictable future, the leader creates a climate of inquiry that challenges the school community to continually re-purpose itself by building on its core values and beliefs about its preferred future and then developing a pathway to reach it."

Successful schools have living visions that they continually re-visit to ensure that they are making strides towards the future they have envisioned. Perhaps one of the best examples of this being done comes from the Great Communicator, President Ronald Reagan.

In 1974, then Governor Ronald Reagan shared that from the “deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, “We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us,”” He cast his vision and began sharing with the American people how he foresaw the country. In 1984, accepting again the Republican nomination for President, he again proclaimed America as a city upon a hill. This return or revisit to his vision kept him true to the path he had dreamed of. As a President he saw democracy grow around the world even as paragons of communism began to crumble.

In 1988, as he was leaving office he said, “I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.”

Throughout his political career his vision remained constant. What, then, is the lesson for leaders? I believe that we must continually re-visit our vision, mission, and core-values. We must critically evaluate what we find to ensure they still communicate our goals. We must use them as a rubric upon which to assess our progress. In maintaining a constancy of purpose, we instill confidence in those we serve. Our work may very well become a city on the hill, drawing in students seeking a pathway to their futures.