The title of this blog post is borrowed from William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. Leaders can learn a lot from the works of William Shakespeare. Their comments on society, then and now, are full of insight. This particular quote is an introduction to a scene where the character bemoans the futility of life when he goes on to say, “and all the men and women are merely players…”

Let’s take a closer look at what wisdom leaders can obtain from Shakespeare’s words; “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.”

In the theater there are three main players: the writer, the director, and the actors and crew. Each of these three players is integral to the successful outcome of the play. The writer is the visionary who sees the end before the beginning begins. The director implements the vision and seeks to make it a reality. The actors and crew bring the play to life.

Shakespeare’s words might have been meant to say that any one player, if only focused on their part, would see themselves as merely players – not connected and not integral to the bigger stage of the world. The job of leaders is to make sure that all players know their roles and that all players know the importance of their roles in the success of the entire team.

Here are some tips for leaders on the importance of each of the three player’s roles in any successful venture:

Those that provide vision In the theatre the writer is the visionary who sees the end before the beginning begins. This starts the process that produces a successful play. In all business activities, vision must be the beginning.

You may be the visionary, or it may be your boss. It may even be the consulting firm you hired to help you understand the industry. Whoever it is, they are integral to success. In fact I would go so far as to say without someone to paint the picture of where you are going, you have little chance of arriving.

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – George Washington Carver

Those that drive the implementation of vision In the theater, the director implements the vision and seeks to make it a reality. Setting the vision is integral but without a plan to implement the vision, it’s just a dream. Leaders need a team of front line managers who can take the vision and build reality out of it.

Guy Kawasaki, one of the original Apple employees who was responsible for marketing the Macintosh computer said, “A good idea is about ten percent. Implementation, hard work, and luck are 90 percent.”

Those that put the vision into action In the theatre, the actors and crew bring the play to life. While a vision and a plan to implement the vision are essential, unless someone actually performs the actions that are needed, nothing is done – it’s all just what could have been.

“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson