Think Piece:  MANAGERS, LEADERS ,GURUS & VISIONARIES by Abel Laureano

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Honored to host this article by Professor Abel Laureano, lawyer, educator, thought leader  who has published over 20 books on European Union Law and International Law.

Set featured imageWhat’s expected is that a “manager” will know how to handle an organization in such a way that this one can survive in an environment more or less stable, i.e. reasonably predictable.

If someone, put in that driving seat, goes beyond the above said performance level, engendering new ways to proceed and having the ability to engage his/her organization in those endeavors, then he/she ought to be better labeled as a “leader”, even if the new paths, so engendered, don’t go far ahead from the current patterns existent in the field in which such organization operates.

Going a step further, we reach the reign of the “gurus”. In a certain sense, these ones carry the characteristics of the precedent categories, namely of the leaders, adding though a new dimension, mainly of quantitative nature. The gurus discover and establish noticeable new patterns, which only partially fit in the already existing great frameworks of the organization’s operating field. In a certain way, a guru is a kind of revolutionary person, modifying with a considerable impact the world he/she lives in.

Finally, there come the “visionaries”. These people come up with ideas or conceptions which don’t absolutely fit in the world they live in. If such ideas were susceptible of materialization, they would only be viable in a different world, eventually in a forthcoming time. The visionaries’ importance is variable. On one hand, a visionary may act as a powerful stimulus for profound developments of a certain way of human living. But, on the other hand, some visionaries’ conceptions may simply have no impact at all, due to their complete lack of suitability into the known or foreseeable reality.

Visionaries can be real geniuses, but their ideas’ lack of adherence to the real world they live in, may even push some of them beyond the dangerous realms of individual alienation.All of them exist and have existed. But which category is better? Perhaps the right answer is to acknowledge that they’re all necessary, in their respective roles.

The fact is that Human Society, with its virtues and defects, has been shaped by all and will most probably continue to be. One could almost dare say that they act as if in a framework of labor division, where the ultimate overall output result is a somewhat chaotic mixed result of their contributions.

Author Bio: Abel Laureano is an Assistant Professor at the University of Porto in Portugal. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law, as well as a Diploma of Advanced Studies, European Studies, and a Postgraduate Certification in European Law. He has published over twenty books and academic publications focusing primarily on areas of European Union Law, European Law and Public International Law.

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