"Without John F. Kennedy's persuasively articulated vision, human beings would not have walked on the moon in 1969. A powerful vision is a precondition for leading a company or country at any time. It is a persuasive picture of where you want to go, how you want to get there and why anybody should follow," Michael Useem, director of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change, wrote in his report "Mastering Management; How to Groom the Leaders of the Future."

"The best visionary leaders move energy to a higher level and inspire people to be better than they already are," say Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson, cofounders of The Center for Visionary Leadership in Washington, D.C. "They help them identify with what Lincoln called 'the angels of their better nature'—as Martin Luther King did with his 'I have a dream' speech. Like King, these leaders have the ability to sense the deeper spiritual needs of followers and link their current demands to these deeper, often unspoken, needs."

"Even when times are tough, courageous leaders do the right thing,'' says Roy Weathers, former U.S. chief diversity officer at PricewaterhouseCoopers, No. 6 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list. "Some may rationalize that it would be understandable for a business to take its eye off diversity in these challenging times, but that's not what leadership is about. Leadership requires an ability to take the longer view."

John Robinson, director of the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of State, describes a leader's commitment to diversity as "a mission-critical imperative." He says, "Every major corporation at the top of its game for diversity has learned—some very expensively—that without genuine and credible advocacy for these concerns in an organization's front office, nothing changes."

For an organization to see "real and measurable improvement in diversity," Robinson says, "the individual commitment of the leaders is absolutely essential."

According to Robinson, diversity leadership must be:

Visible: Others must see and hear the commitment, and the visibility must be evident even when the usual suspects are not in the room.

Specific: The expression will be most credible when it addresses specific conditions of the work force and challenges for that organization. Where are the gaps?

Personal: Those who are responsible for delivering results should know it and be reminded and evaluated at intervals, using performance measures. A leader's message will be most effective when values are shared with references to a personal story.

Persistent: The message should be constant and reinforced frequently.

Intentional: Results do not come through change or providence. They occur when the leaders say, "This is what I want to happen.''

As part of DiversityInc's two-day event in November 2009, titled "How Leadership Expresses Diversity Commitment," a number of leading CEOs, government officials and academics shared their commitment and passion for diversity.

Bill Marriott Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International, proudly told an overflow audience that his commitment to diversity was unwavering, even when it meant clashing with his church on gay and lesbian issues. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Marriott was expected to fall in line and support Proposition 8 last year. But he refused.

"We were among the first in our industry to offer domestic-partner benefits, and we've earned a perfect 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index for two years in a row," Marriott wrote on his blog. "Many of our hotels have hosted LGBT community functions and events for years.'' Marriott consistently has ranked on DiversityInc's Top 50.

In a series of roundtables, chief diversity officers from the DiversityInc Top 50 shared some common beliefs about leadership, which is available on www.DiversityIncBestPractices.com and in the November/December issue of DiversityInc magazine. They emphasized that in these difficult economic times, their leadership never faltered from their commitment to diversity and recognized the critical importance of diversity to their business future.

"When you have challenging times, good leaders get separated from extraordinary leaders who get separated from the not-so-good leaders," says Senior Vice President of Talent Development and Chief Diversity Officer Cindy Brinkley at AT&T. "For us, there has been increased budget on leadership and development this year, a more internal look at the employees and how they're doing and trying to make sure they're still engaged, committed, involved. This is when the separation really happens in terms of who's good and who's not.''

They also stressed that true diversity leadership involved looking to the long-term solutions, even when it does not yield instant gratification. Over time, that means using people with diverse views for the most creative, strategic solutions and establishing diversity as a competitive advantage that will enable the organization to understand and target emerging and untapped markets, reaching new customers and developing new product offerings.

"True leadership to me is people who are looking three, five, 10 years out and are willing to make investments now that will increase shareholder value, that will grow top-line revenue, that will enhance the brand reputation of the company, even if you're not going to see it at the end of this quarter,'' says Merck & Co.’s Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Deborah Dagit.