Dr. Oleg Konovalov: The Vision Code

Jason S. Bradshaw: What if your biggest leadership breakthrough wasn't about leading people, but about seeing a future so clearly that they chose to follow?

Hey friends, welcome back to Chats with Jason. I'm your host, Jason S. Bradshaw, and today's conversation is going to challenge everything you thought you knew about leadership.

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Jason S. Bradshaw: We are joined by Dr. Oleg Konovalov, a global thought leader, known as the Da Vinci of Visionary Leadership by Thinkers50. He's a bestselling author, trusted advisor to Fortune 500 leaders and one of the world's most respected voices on turning vision into reality.

So let's dive in. Dr. Oleg, welcome to the show.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Jason, thank you very much for inviting me in to the conversation.

Jason S. Bradshaw: I absolutely agree. Our leaders play such an influential part on our employees experience. So I wanna start with a story today. Can you take us back to a moment where you first realized that vision wasn't just important? It was absolutely everything.

In business, I spent many years in the fishing industry in the UK, so it was quite a shock within the fishing industry. And then, so I have gone from being a second engineer to a COO position, and I realize that majority of leaders don't have any clue where they're leading people. They're very good at all sort of manifestation. Just like we're celebrating 5 years anniversary of our company, or 10 years anniversary for our company. Come on... age [00:03:00] deserves pension. What have you achieved? What have you done beyond the reports?

So the story remains the same as I see because I found that less than 0.1% of modern leaders actually have real vision. The majority or the vast majority of leaders, they have strong statements. You can't do much with a statement. You can't capitalize on it. You can't share it as a legacy. You can't share with anyone else. It's not a space. It's just your promise.

So it must be real, because leadership is about leading people into the future. It's exploring everything. You are starting from knowing nothing about the future, and you're creating that future which will be beneficial for others.

Jason S. Bradshaw: I love that differentiation that you make. A leader's job is how to be. A manager's job is how to do. I think we can quite often get caught up or leaders get caught up in the "do" bit because so often they get promoted into a so-called leadership position because they were good at the doing as opposed to any necessary leadership traits.

I'm wondering - what do you believe separates visionary leaders from everyone else?

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Have a very strange approach.

And there are two critical elements of that space of vision.

First of all, value. What kind of a value you would offer people? Today, leaders and executives are very good at putting a price stock, but you can't scale it.

Price doesn't reflect the real value. And then when I'm training companies and always asking, okay, let's take a piece of paper and write down actual values that you offer people. Then based on this, you could create or define the price because you could scale the value, you can't scale the price.

In a simple way, I would put it this way - it is like being married and having a happy family. Being married is a social exchange. It doesn't have real value. Happy family is a space of husband and wife that they created together, and they're reshaping it. They're finding a new meaning why they're together, and even going through tough times because life is never small. But they're making that space greater, greater, and greater. It's a space.

I know you've mentioned leaders are good at making statements, but not creating a space for the future and seeing into that.

But I, I'm just wondering if we can go a little bit deeper. Why is it so rare and what's holding people back? What's the fear behind the inaction?

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Jason, we could write a list why it's difficult for some people.

And the first thing first, I recently completed a new research project - practical research. Hope this autumn, this new book would be out. It's called Beyond Chaos.

Majority of people are not thinking deep into the future. They're thinking into the present. You can't create the future or define the future if you're thinking into the present, or even into the past.

If you're thinking about feeding your ego, you wouldn't be a visionary.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Okay.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: You'll be another desperate guy.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Well, we don't wanna create more desperate people.

So, give me an example of what you would consider aspirational versus something that's a desire that feeds an ego?

How about a simple example that people are hardly noticing. That in 1996, Pepsi created a space for simple drinking water. Today we're using these small bottles of drinking water, which was considered a nonsense until 1996. Now every time we go to a gym or we are on the road, we're just grabbing that little bottle, so they created the space of counter packed drinking water.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Wow.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Because people think, hey, that's really something we want to get involved with.

Could be whatever you think. It could be movement. There is a huge movement these days with approach, because I do train people on visionary leadership and all those things.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Okay. That's great. That's great. So you've worked with organizations and, and leaders across the globe to help them see the future.

What's the process? What's the core for helping leaders develop a vision that's both inspiring, but importantly executable?

So it's about being really realistic. And it's about growing because if you to build something big, you must be big yourself. It's for giants, it's not for dwarfs.

And of course you must make it pragmatic. It's a process called carrier and, your vision must be really viable. Must be scalable. It must be simple. It must have all the elements of value who are responsible. And it must be simple and it must be created on your passion, not just it sounds like a good idea. Those big things are helping me to grow.

Of course it's about revitalizing your vision all the time because you can't create the same vision for 20 years. Vision always live. It's dynamic. It's more or less your ability to express how you love others in different way every day.

Famous chocolate - Lindt. They're revising their vision every year. Famous charities called Junior Achievement. They're helping 11 to 12 million young people to gain their first profession. They're revising their vision every three years.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Yeah. Just picking up on your point there around clarity, what's your best tip to help someone get clarity? Is it just asking additional questions like, how can you get super crystal clear on an idea? Because I think a lot of people just go surface level. So how do we get that deeper clarity?

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Good question. First of all, think clarity is a shareable leadership resource, right? Because it's not about - oh, I have clarity, but people can't grasp what kind of clarity do you have? We need clarity when these things are in chaos around us. And chaos makes things messy and it pushes us.

And then you must be very clear, structured thoughts. Structured thinking, because chaos ruins that structure. Oh, I have clarity [00:16:00] about something that I can't explain. That it's not a clarity. Thoughts must be very well structured. And this must be very simple because you can't beat the complexity of today's world by overcomplicating it. The only remedy in this sense is simplicity.

And course you must be true to yourself because if you wear a mask, that means it's a wrong starting point. You must be true to yourself. What's your passion? What do you want to create? Who you are? And of course it's about, I already mentioned, it's about ability to think forward because all the solutions are there ahead of us, not behind us.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Yeah. Okay. So let's shift gears just for a moment.

If you were to explain leadership to a 10-year-old, what would you say? How would you describe leadership to a child?

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Leadership is a responsibility to make you and your life better. It's one thing.

I have a little son, he's eight and a half years old, and he's in Shotokan karate. I to be in martial arts when I was young and I'm telling my son the way I've been taught in the old days. In karate, leadership is defined in a simple sequence. If you have a problem, talk to me. If you create a problem, deal with me.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of sense.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Yeah. But reality is who you're going to be, and my leadership tomorrow.

So I'm sure you've heard the saying, Peter Drucker said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. How does having a clear vision influence culture, and how can leaders make sure that it's more than just a poster on a wall?

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: One of the most difficult things these days for vast majority of companies is shared vision because people are not united anyhow.

Because it's not about having corporate events, just like, "oh, we're having party together you know, and we will have a hungover tomorrow morning, all of us." No, it's not about this.

Culture is an inner energy of organization of all people and directed towards achieving one goal - the company's goal. It's combines all the talents, all the efforts, all the competence, all combined together.

This is where I need to talk and get involved those people every day. I need to take care of them to gain that loyalty, involvement, respect, commitment, all those elements. Without people, every vision, every strategy is just a piece of paper. It's all about people.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: The most common one is that leader must be born.

It is, first of all, it is it's, a simple premise. It's a decision to be a leader. Making decision at any point, and learn for instance.

Jason S. Bradshaw: Yeah, that makes sense.

So if the entire business world could hear you say one sentence about visionary leadership, what would that sentence be?

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: Almost ancient. We would achieve much more with using far less resources and we'll be much more productive. Our kids and grandkids will be proud of our achievements.

Dr. Oleg Konovalov: I would ask counterintuitive question, how much are you losing in your life and business by not a strong vision? Because if you think how much you would lose, and it's phenomenal. The amounts are phenomenal. You are losing focus, you are losing resources, you're losing everything. More or less, you are preparing your business being off the records.

Jason S. Bradshaw: What a great way to, to wrap us up.

What if the greatest gift that you could give your team wasn't just a plan? A target or yet another KPI, but a vision that they could see, feel, and importantly believe in.

Because when people know where they're going, they don't just show up, they step up. They don't just follow orders, they follow purpose.

So here's the challenge to you. Don't just lead projects. Lead possibility. Don't just manage performance. Inspire a mission.

If today's conversation is something that has stirred in you, share it. Send it to a leader who is ready to trade control for clarity and compliance with commitment.

And if you haven't already, hit that subscribe button because the world doesn't need more noise. It needs more leaders with vision.

I'm Jason S. Bradshaw reminding you better business begins with bold vision because when you transform the experience, you transform everything.

Thanks for being with us on this episode of Chats with Jason.