Vision and strategy are both important. But there is a priority to them. Vision always comes first. Always. If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.

I have seen this over and over again in my professional and personal life. Once I got clear on what I wanted, the how almost took care of itself. Let me give you an example.

Whether you’re a “Mac or PC,” the recent passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at the age of fifty-six from pancreatic cancer provides a salient moment of reflection for any organizational leader.

Jobs’ legacy and impact on the world is likely to stretch far into the future compared to the brief thirty-five years of his professional career, which took seed in his family’s garage when the idea of Apple was planted with Stephen Wozniak in 1976.

Several weeks ago, I had the privilege of hosting the Chick-fil-A Leadercast Backstage program. I interviewed several notable authors as they came off the stage, including John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Sir Ken Robinson, Dan Cathy, Suzy Welch, Frans Johansson, and several others. I thought I would share these with you over the next several weeks.

In this interview, I talk to Dan Cathy, President and COO of Chick-fil-A. He is the son of S. Truett Cathy, who founded the company in 1946. I met Dan a few years ago, and we had immediate rapport. We shared the same values and interest in leadership. He embodies Chick-fil-A’s customer-centric business model. He has since become a friend and mentor.

As I interviewed him, we talked about several topics, including:

What if work wasn’t just work? What if work was a vehicle to live and share a bigger purpose?

I believe there’s a flawed perception in our society that in order to live a life of purpose we have to leave our jobs and go solve world hunger, feed the homeless, move to Africa, or start a charity.

As a book mentor, I’ve read plenty of passionless prose. And as a fellow pilgrim, I’ve listened to many people who shyly look away when I ask them what their passion is. Why is that? I have a hunch that many of us have a hard time identifying our passion. Why? Several reasons:

• Our insecurities define us more than our hidden, suppressed dreams.
• We are afraid to boast.
• We see the vastness of the world and feel insignificant or overwhelmed to make a difference.

People with dreams are a dime a dozen. I meet them all the time. So do you. Some even start organizations. But few ever have the impact they initially hoped for. They just can’t seem to get their project to the next level.

Enter Praxis, a new non-profit organization set up to help social entrepreneurs build high-impact organizations. What does the name mean? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, praxis is the practical application of a theory.

This has been an incredibly busy week. On Monday, I announced that I was stepping out of active management and turning over the CEO reins of Thomas Nelson to Mark Schoenwald.

On Tuesday, Mark and I flew to Dallas to make the announcement to our Live Events team. That afternoon, I flew to Chicago and, on Wednesday, I attended a board meeting for a nonprofit ministry I support. On Thursday, I packed up my office at Thomas Nelson. On Friday, Gail and I began setting up my home office.

My friend and colleague, Mary Graham, brought this concept video about the future to my attention. It is produced by Corning Glass. It shows what is possible in the near-future. It is worth taking five minutes to watch this.

In my role at Thomas Nelson, I have had the privilege of seeing some amazing technology. This one from Corning is similar to others I have seen from Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. The future is coming faster than you think. Personally, this kind of stuff gets me excited.

Jenna Lucado is the daughter of my dear friend and bestselling author Max Lucado. She is the co-author of You Were Made to Make a Difference, along with her dad. She is also one of the main speakers at Revolve, a conference for teenage girls. In a moment, I will tell you how to get a $10.00 discount on a Revolve ticket.

I have known Jenna for several years. Gail and I traveled with her and her husband, Brett, to Ethiopia. It has been fun watching her come into her own as a communicator. In fact, the first time I heard her speak, I was sitting next to Max. Five minutes into her talk, I leaned over to him and whispered, “Wow. She is better than you!” Without missing a beat, he laughed and replied, “I know. She is!”

Why do leaders exist? This is perhaps one of the most simple yet profound questions we can ask about leadership. Oddly, I am not sure I have ever heard anyone address it specifically.

But until we answer this foundational question, leadership tips and techniques won’t make much sense.

Several years ago, I sat in a meeting and listened to some entrepreneurs discuss their new venture. They talked about all the things they were going to do as soon as they received their funding. They had big plans. My dad would have called them “air castles.”

Continuing in my series of “20 Leadership Questions,” we come to the sixth question that Michael Smith asked when he interviewed me. This one is related to something very near and dear to me.

Continuing in my series of “20 Leadership Questions,” we come to the third question that Michael Smith asked when he interviewed me. This is one that every leader inevitably faces as his organizations grows.

Continuing in my series of “20 Leadership Questions,” we come to the second question that Michael Smith asked when he interviewed me. This one is particularly important. It has huge implications for your organization—especially for the culture you are trying to build.

I have been thinking for some time about writing a book on leadership. I initially wanted to call it Leadership 2.0, based on a popular blog post I had written. In fact, I often speak on this topic. The basic thesis is that the Web 2.0 has changed the expectations of those who are led. As a result, leaders cannot lead in quite the same way that they did, say, twenty years ago.

Many people have written on what it means to be a leader. Almost everyone identifies influence as the primary characteristic. By definition, this means that leadership and position are two different things. You can have a title, and a position of power, but this does not mean that you are a leader. Even people without these things can exert influence and thus leadership.

Tough times present great opportunities to grow our leadership and shape our legacy. The current recession is no exception. The problem is that many leaders I have spoken with have grown weary of trying to keep things moving forward with fewer resources.

In times like these, it is tempting for us to stay in our offices and become introspective. But we absolutely must not do that. It’s time to suck it up and lead. Our leadership will make a difference—for us, for them, and for our organization’s mission.

Craig Groeschel is the founding pastor of LifeChurch.tv, a multi-campus church with dozens of weekly services in thirteen locations, including an Internet campus. In his book, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It [affiliate link], he describes that illusive something that some leaders and organizations have and others don’t. In a moment, I will tell you how to get a copy FREE.

In August of 2000, I received a big break in my career. However, as is so often the case, it came disguised as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

I had just become the publisher of Nelson Books, one of the two trade book imprints at Thomas Nelson at that time. I had inherited a division with a lot of financial problems. Based on almost every metric available, we were dead last compared to the company’s thirteen other publishing groups.