The capital of Lithuania – Vilnius, according to legend, was founded when Grand Duke Gedeminus had a strange dream in which an iron wolf appeared and was howling at the moonlight. Gedeminus told his pagan priest about the dream and he advised him to establish a city on the hill where the wolf from the dream was standing. The dream was crowned with the foundation of the beautiful city of Vilnius. Gedeminus was a leader of the old ways – with a great vision and the strength to take big steps towards its fulfillment. In leadership there are times that make this possible. The second half of the last century was characterized by heroic company leaders who led companies to a brighter future. Back then, there was more talk about leaders and less about leadership. Leaders were followed by media announcements that elevated them to stardom.

In modern times of instability, uncertainty and ambiguity, the grand visions of leaders can be hazardous in most industries. One of ten leaders with overambitious goals leads the company to the promised land while the other nine lead to a wasteland. A few years of working with unattainable goals leads to an earthquake within an organization and the motivation of a team drops. Alignment of functions becomes an impossible mission and confinement in silos of fear is a regular occurrence.

Modern vision of business leaders does not need to be grandiose. It is completely fine to be good enough and make a sustainable step forward next year as well. The role of a solo hero leader becomes less important in relation to leadership. An achievable step forward should not made in isolation but with the awareness of belonging to an organization as a constantly changing living being.

Same as in the time of Gedeminus, modern leaders have a dream that precedes realization. Only that in that dream they are not identified as a lone wolf, but as trees in a forest which communicate with each other. From that connection with the team and with the environment, they get support to improve their business in a sustainable way. Business today demands a different type of heroism from leaders – to tolerate the uncertainty of the environment and to be courageous enough to defend achievable goals.

(Published in Nedeljnik, September 2022)