Crafting Future Selves

Abstract Vision communication is considered the primary tool of leaders to develop, shape, and activate collective selves in followers. Much is written about visions, less is studied, and even less is well-studied. In 2014, van Knippenberg and Stam conducted a first review of the literature on visionary leadership, concluding that much less was known of visionary leadership than had been assumed, and that major changes in methods and conceptualizations were necessary for the field to move forward. In this chapter, the authors take stock of work on visionary leadership since the publication of the 2014 review. They find that visionary leadership has become a very popular construct, traveling well beyond the realm of leadership and to the far corners of the world. Moreover, although much of the work on visionary leadership can still be considered as using weak methods, strong studies and theorizing are certainly on the rise. This provides a hopeful image of the future for a field that dedicates itself to studying just that.