Early in my programming career, my boss regularly asked me, “How are we doing?” My answer was usually, “We’re getting there.” One day, he finally asked, “When are we going to get there?” I replied, “Never.” He looked at me as though I was crazy, but I meant it. I was not focused only on where we were; I was focused on where we were going.
That is vision. Great programmers do not just hear the station they have today; they hear the station it can become. They can imagine how it should sound, what it should represent and how it should make listeners feel before that station exists. Once they hear that future, they can begin building toward it. Great programmers continually ask what is missing, what could be better and where the station should go next. If they focus only on managing the station they already have, they are falling behind.
Vision gives the station a destination and helps programmers make better decisions. They can measure every opportunity against the station they are trying to create. That clarity tells them what to pursue and, just as importantly, what to reject.
However, vision cannot live only in the program director’s head. The team must understand where the station is going, what it is trying to become and the role each person plays in getting it there. When people understand the destination, they can align their ideas and decisions with that shared purpose.
A vision that exists only in one person’s mind remains an idea, while a shared vision becomes a direction. It allows the entire team to hear the same future and work together to make it real. Leadership means communicating that destination clearly enough for others to help build the path toward it.
The goal is not change for the sake of change. It is recognizing what the station can become before everyone else does, then leading people toward it. Hear the station you want to create, help everyone else hear it and then create it together.
Takeaway: You have to hear the future before you can create it. A shared vision turns that future into a direction the entire team can follow.
This is the second-to-last lesson in Ken Benson’s Good to Great series. Benson has spent more than 40 years helping radio stations around the world build stronger brands, sharper programming and more memorable on-air content. Through his consultancy, P1 Media Group, he has advised broadcasters across six continents on strategies to turn good stations into dominant ones.
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