Shift Role: What Visionary Entrepreneurs Do

Here is something visionary leaders do: instead of making themselves and their company, product, or project the hero of a story, they talk about you. For them, you are the hero. They shift their role from Luke to Yoda. Visionary leaders position themselves as the guide you can trust.

In doing so, they invite you to participate in a new opportunity for which they have a clear vision.

This is big because this shift means they are building a narrative.

When you tell a story, you have an audience. But when you build a narrative, you turn your audience into participants. If you've created a workplace and a company where colleagues, customers, and partners can picture themselves participating, you're making a powerful call to action. You're increasing everyone's willingness to buy from you and to work with you.

Why?

Because what people feel they can participate in becomes their own, and if your company is a bit their own, they want it (and you) to succeed.

Here is how a visionary entrepreneur talks about you:

"When the rocket stops, you will be in space. There will be complete silence. You will unbuckle, and you will float around as gently, lift up and hit the roof. And you'll be able to turn somersaults, and you'll be able to look out of big windows that we've built back at our beautiful Earth. And you'll be 1 of only 500 people who've been to space. And you will have had, I think, the ride of a lifetime."

That's Richard Branson describing the opportunity that you will be able to participate in achieving with Virgin Galactic–changing how we travel around the world in the future.

You can listen to the full interview of Mister Branson by Guy Raz on NPR here.