Its been nearly a year since I graduated from the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida.  There I did some writing and I just stumbled upon this:

Having a vision is important. Communicating your vision is more important.

Walt Disney was a master storyteller. As great a visionary as he was, many would argue that his most incredible skill was his ability to tell a story effectively.

Three years before Snow White was released in theatres, Walt Disney took his top animators to dinner. He brought them to a nice restaurant and gave each of them .50 cents for their meal. (At the time, even the highest priced meals did not go over .35 cents. His value of his team did not go unnoticed.) Towards the end of dinner, he dimmed the room lights and began to describe the story of Snow White. According to Walt, it was a story that had been with him his whole life, a story that had stuck with him. It was a story he was deeply passionate about. Over the next three hours he told the story of Snow White to his team making sure not to leave out a single detail. Rumor has it that everyone in the room was completely captivated by his ability as a storyteller as he to held the attention of everyone in the room and keep them engaged.

At the end of his 180 minute telling of Snow White he asked them to create his first feature length animated movie. Snow White was released three years later winning an Oscar (and 7 miniature Oscars) and grossing over 8 million dollars in a time where it cost only .14 cents to go to the movies. Snow White ended up being 87 minutes long though in that initial dinner meeting Walt Disney took three hours to describe the story that had been with him all those years. That was no accident. Disney wanted to be sure he cast the vision (told the story) as clearly and effectively as possible so that his team would not miss anything.

Having a vision is important. Communicating your vision is more important.

The greatest leaders are not those who have the best ideas. The greatest leaders are the ones who tell a story that people want to hear over and over again. A story that brings them to a place they had not been before, and inspires them to go even further.  That is the type of leader I desire to be.