Decades of investing taught me that some entrepreneurs possess an almost supernatural ability: they see opportunities everyone else misses.
The visionary doesn’t manage day-to-day operations. They paint pictures of tomorrow that make people want to build it today.
I backed an early founder who I knew and trusted, when he described his then unique “single sign-in” idea for enterprise users. In those days, employees had many systems with separate sign-ins for their company applications. He had no example to follow – no competitors with similar applications.
But he saw the need coming. He knew that enterprise applications with companies selecting best of breed would explode. He understood that traditional methods would leave companies open to password loss, password sharing and more – all violations of evolving security protocols. While others built for yesterday’s workforce, he built for tomorrow’s. And he got his big break early when the first of many very large companies adopted his system.
[ Email readers, continue here…] Years after that, I keynoted his annual employee retreat, seeing hundreds of his employees and observing the company’s great culture. I still wear the golf shirt they gave to employees that afternoon. I was proud to see how this visionary created an industry that didn’t exist before he saw an opportunity.
The visionary leader’s superpower is making the future feel inevitable. They don’t just sell products—they sell transformation. Their teams don’t just work jobs—they join missions.
They communicate in stories, not spreadsheets. They inspire through possibility, not process.
The risk? Visionaries can get so far ahead that they lose their teams. They see the destination clearly but forget to map the journey. Without strong operators around them, vision becomes delusion.
But when grounded in reality, visionary leadership creates something magical: companies that don’t just adapt to change—they create it.
What future are you building that doesn’t exist yet?
