At the company meeting for my firm today our CEO gave his annual ‘charge for the new year’ speech and it reminded me of two of the core responsibilities of strong leaders: set vision and say thank you.

Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going you might not get there.”  Setting vision is a central responsibility for leaders.  Whether for a team or a company, a leader must articulate direction and mission for the group to pursue.  Vision setting is more than laying out lofty ideals; setting vision means painting an attractive picture of an attainable reality.

Max DePree says that the final responsibility of leaders is to say thank you – to acknowledge the fundamental importance of the vital contributions made by the members of the team.  Good leaders are more focused on giving credit than on seizing it and they are quick to appreciate the work of other people.

No one gets it right every time, but today our CEO did a good job at articulating vision and saying thank you.  These are, I think, two vital responsibilities for all good leaders.