The Leadership Skill of “Changing” — Envisioning the Future We Want, Not Just the Future We Should Have

When people hear the word leadership, they often imagine charisma, powerful communication, or some kind of natural talent that only a few people possess.

But leadership does not have to be understood that way.

Leadership is the skill of changing the present and moving people and organizations toward a more desirable future. It is something that can be learned and developed.

The starting point is not creating a detailed plan.

It is deciding where we want to go.

In other words, leadership begins with defining a vision.

1. Leadership Is About Creating Change

One way to describe the essence of leadership is:

To imagine a future that is different from the present, and to move people and organizations toward it.

Leadership is not only about running current operations efficiently.

It is about asking:

What kind of future do we want to create beyond the current state?

Then, it gives people a direction they can move toward together.

In this sense, leadership is not defined by job title.

A manager or department head is not automatically a leader, and someone without formal authority can still demonstrate leadership by defining a new direction and helping others move toward it.

2. Direction Comes Before Planning

When we try to improve something, we often start by creating a plan.

For example:

What should be done?
Who should do it?
By when?
What KPIs should be used?
How should progress be tracked?

These are important questions.

But there is a more fundamental question that should come first:

Where are we actually trying to go?

Without a clear destination, even a detailed plan can become mechanical.

People may know what to do, but not why they are doing it.

The first task of leadership is therefore not planning.

It is:

Setting direction and expressing that direction as a vision.

3. If You Want Change, Define What Will Be Different

Statements such as:

We need to change the company.
We need to change the team.
We need to transform the way we work.
We need to modernize the system.

may sound meaningful, but they are incomplete.

The real question is:

What will be different after the change?

For example:

We should improve operational efficiency.

is vague.

A clearer direction would be:

We want to reduce repetitive operational work so that team members can spend more time on higher-value work.

Now people can see what kind of future the change is intended to create.

Change needs a destination.

That destination, expressed in words, is the vision.

4. “What We Should Be” and “What We Want to Be” Are Different

This distinction is one of the most useful ways to understand the difference between management and leadership.

Management: Realizing What We Should Be

Management focuses on operating existing systems reliably and achieving expected outcomes.

Examples include:

Meeting budgets
Delivering on schedule
Maintaining quality
Reducing incidents
Controlling costs
Following established processes

Organizations usually have an expected future state, whether or not it is explicitly stated.

Management helps the organization steadily achieve that expected state.

In that sense, management often defines and realizes what we should be.

Leadership: Defining What We Want to Be

Leadership asks a different question:

What do we genuinely want to become?

This is not only about obligation.

It includes intention:

We want to work this way.
We want to become this kind of team.
We want to create this kind of value.
We want to build this kind of organization.

Putting that desired future into words is what creates a vision.

5. Management and Leadership

Management and leadership are not opposites.

Organizations need both.

Perspective	Management	Leadership
Primary role	Operate the current system reliably	Move beyond the current state
Starting point	Plans and budgets	Direction and vision
Future state	What we should be	What we want to be
Main question	How can we execute reliably?	Where do we want to go?
Emphasis	Stability, efficiency, repeatability	Change, direction, commitment
Influence on people	Clarifies roles and processes	Creates meaning and voluntary engagement

Strong organizations need both:

Management keeps the present running well. Leadership changes the future.

A strong vision gives people a shared direction.

When the vision is clear, people can better understand:

What should be prioritized
How to make decisions
Why their work matters
What future their daily work is contributing to
Why they should take initiative

A vision is therefore more than a slogan.

It connects everyday work with a future people actually want to realize.

When people can see that connection, routine tasks can take on a different meaning.

The work becomes part of a journey toward a desired future.

7. Creating “Another Future”

If nothing changes, an organization will naturally move toward a future that is simply an extension of the present.

People will continue following the same rules, processes, and habits.

Leadership introduces another possibility.

It creates a future that would not have existed unless someone deliberately imagined and articulated it.

That is the future the team wants to create.

Examples might include:

A team where people can challenge existing assumptions
An organization where asking for help is normal
A platform where engineers are freed from repetitive operational work
An operations model focused on preventing incidents, not just responding to them
A company where engineers directly influence business growth

These futures do not emerge automatically from the current state.

Someone has to define them first.

Change begins when a future that does not yet exist is put into words.

8. Vision Is Not Only for the Entire Company

A common question is:

“If the company already has a mission or corporate vision, does each team still need one?”

Often, yes.

A corporate vision can be broad and inspiring, but it may feel distant from everyday work.

A team can therefore define a more specific version of the future it wants to create, as long as it is consistent with the wider organization.

For example, if a company wants to transform society through technology, an infrastructure team might define its own vision as:

Build a secure and reliable platform that allows developers to deliver services quickly without being constrained by infrastructure complexity.

This creates a bridge between a broad corporate vision and daily execution.

Building that bridge is an important leadership responsibility.

9. Vision Creates Voluntary Action

People can be moved through instructions.

But when everything depends on instructions, people often do only what they were told to do.

When people understand:

Why the work matters
Where the team is going
What kind of future they are trying to create

they begin to think for themselves.

They may start asking:

If this is the future we want, shouldn’t we do this differently?

That is initiative.

A leader does not need to provide every answer.

A leader needs to create enough clarity that people can think and act on their own.

The role of leadership is to define a direction that people genuinely want to move toward.

10. Questions Leaders Should Ask Themselves

These questions can help when developing a vision.

About the Present

What do I want to change in the current team?
If nothing changes for the next three years, what will happen?
What are we losing because of the current way of working?
What is preventing people from using their full capabilities?

About the Future

What kind of team do we actually want to become?
How do we want people to work?
What value do we want to create for customers?
What future cannot be achieved by simply continuing the current approach?
What future would never exist unless someone on this team proposed it?

About Articulation

Can we explain the future in one clear sentence?
Can people picture what it looks like?
Does it feel like something people want to achieve, rather than something they are merely required to do?
Can team members connect their daily work to that vision?

11. Key Ideas to Remember

The most important ideas are:

Leadership is not limited to people with natural charisma. It can be learned.
Leadership is fundamentally about creating change.
Before changing anything, define where you want to go.
Direction and vision come before detailed planning.
Management focuses on achieving what the organization should be.
Leadership defines what the organization wants to be.
Vision describes a future beyond the current trajectory.
A strong vision gives people meaning, direction, and a reason to take initiative.
Teams can define their own desired future while remaining aligned with the company vision.
A leader’s job is not to control every action, but to create a future people want to move toward.

12. One Sentence to Remember

Management realizes what we should be.
Leadership defines what we want to be and changes the organization to get there.

And the first question to ask is:

Where do we want to go?

References

Norihito Kodama, “The First Step in Leadership Is Not Planning,”
DIAMOND Harvard Business Review, September 20, 2026
https://dhbr.diamond.jp/articles/-/14807
John P. Kotter, Leading Change, Harvard Business Review Press, 1996.
John P. Kotter, John Kotter on What Leaders Really Do, Harvard Business Review Press, 1999.

This page is an original summary and study note inspired by the article above. It reorganizes the main ideas in a practical form for learning and sharing.