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Vision... Having the Future in Sight!

Sometimes words can be very limiting.

This is definitely true for the word Vision. Vision could be considered the foundation of our six key words....

A Vision will make you Passionate. A Vision will make and keep you committed. A Vision will keep you Focused. A Vision will help you build a Team, and a Vision will keep you on Purpose.

Vision is the ability to see into the future, the opportunity to create in the mind's eye those things that you desire and a pathway to achieve them.

Vision can be considered the glue that brings everything together. Vision could be the plank that bridges the chasm between where things are and where things would better be. Vision is the ability to see into the future, the opportunity to create in the mind's eye those things that you desire and a pathway to achieve them. Vision is seeing the possibilities so clearly that they become reality.

I once heard a story of two elderly gentlemen who were both terminally ill and found themselves together sharing a room at a convalescent center. There was only one window in this room and not much else to look at - a rather dreary, ascetic place. The gentleman who was farthest from the window, Ed, had a badly deteriorating spine. He was bed-ridden and could barely move his body. Carl, whose bed was right by the window, was dying of cancer and had already outlived his doctor's predictions. Carl's body was deteriorating rapidly and he lived in a constant state of pain. Ed was a man who complained bitterly about his medical dilemma, while Carl chose to take it one day at a time and be appreciative of the gift of life received every morning.

Ed loved the outdoors - he was a real avid outdoorsman in his younger days. Each day when Ed would get grumpy, Carl would start describing the beautiful scenes outside the window. He would describe all the colors of the wildflowers in bright descriptive colors. Carl was so vivid in his descriptions that Ed could actually see the flowers. He would explain to him about the blueness of the sky and the clouds and their magnificent shapes. Whenever Ed started to feel sorry for himself and gripe and complain, Carl would look out the window and describe all the scenery and beauty of the outside that Ed could not see. After a while this always made Ed very happy and relaxed.

Carl would talk about the beautiful sky and the flowers and the birds by the pond...When Ed would complain Carl would smoothly transition the conversation to the outside and the scenic majesty. At one point Ed caught on to what Carl was doing. He figured that if this worked so well then why doesn't Carl switch places with him so he could be by the window and look outside whenever he felt bad so he could cheer himself up. Carl didn't like the idea at all. He enjoyed being by the window and said it was the one joy he had in life and he could not agree to switch places.

One morning after returning from getting some x-rays, Ed was pushed back into his room and noticed something was different. Ed asked the nurse where Carl was. The nurse explained that Carl had finally died this morning. Ed was very distraught and upset about losing his friend. As the nurse was walking out the door Ed called her back and asked if she would be willing to move his bed by the window. Ed thought that looking out the window daily would not only make him feel better, it would also remind him of Carl.

As the nurse pushed Ed over to the window, he closed his eyes and thought about Carl and how kind he was to take all the time to share the pictures of the nature that would always cheer him up so. After Ed heard the door to his room shut behind the departing nurse, he opened his eyes to look outside for the first time in months. Much to his surprise he saw only the back of another brick building. Where were the beautiful pictures that Ed was describing? What happened to the flowers and the pond and the sky and the clouds? Ed pushed his call button and upon seeing the nurse asked about the scenery and explained how Carl would describe these beautiful pictures. The nurse looked somewhat puzzled as she told Ed that Carl had been blind for the last 10 years.

Ed pushed his call button and upon seeing the nurse asked about the scenery and explained how Carl would describe these beautiful pictures. The nurse looked somewhat puzzled as she told Ed that Carl had been blind for the last 10 years.

To see something so clear that it seems real, this is vision. When you see something that looks so clear and yet nobody else can see it, this is vision.

As business people we should have a clear vision of where we are headed. The vision becomes the steps by which you accomplish your dreams and goals. It doesn't matter if you are CEO of your company or CEO of your family, vision is an important component of Goal Setting and Goal Getting.

Companies and individuals that dream big create big goals and accomplish big things. In their book "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies," James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras explain that after 6 years of detailed research of visionary companies, they realized that all visionary companies have huge goals, what they call BHAG's. Vision has always been present in the creation of all Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG's).

To summarily quote the authors and researchers:

Envisioned future - the second primary component of the vision framework - consists of two parts: a ten- to thirty-year "Big Hairy Audacious Goal" (BHAG) and vivid descriptions of what it will be like when the organization achieves the BHAG....

Vivid description - the second component of envisioned future, is a vibrant, engaging and specific description of what it will be like to achieve the BHAG. Think of it as translating the vision from words into pictures, of creating an image that people can carry around in their heads. We call this "painting a picture with your words." This "picture painting" is essential for making the ten- to thirty-year BHAG tangible in people's minds....

Passion, emotion, and conviction are essential parts of the vivid description. Some managers are uncomfortable with expressing emotion about their dreams, but it's the passion and emotion that will attract and motivate others. Winston Churchill understood this when he described the BHAG facing Great Britain in 1940. He didn't just say "Beat Hitler." He said:

Hitler knows he will have to break us on this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, the whole world including the United States, including all we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say 'This was their finest hour.'

Like Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous speech, "I have a dream...." Vision is about having a dream. Not a dream in the normal sense of the word, a sort of surreal movie that occurs while resting or sleeping. A dream in the sense that you can see images and get a sense of the possibility of something happening, that you are just now imagining in your thoughts. It is being an active participant in the forming of your present situation. This is only accomplished by being an active participant in the formation of your future while still actively living in your present situation.

Notice the multiple use of the word active. Vision is a proactive activity! It doesn't just happen. It must be generated by a desire and then created with that same passion. Unless you are willing to work at living the plan that you created then you just become a dreamer. To Quote B.N. Mills:

Dreamers and doers-the world generally divides men into those two general classifications, but the world is often wrong. There are men who win the admiration and respect of their fellowmen. They are the men worthwhile, Dreaming is just another name for thinking, planning, devising---another way of saying that a man exercises his soul. A steadfast soul, holding steadily to a dream ideal, plus a sturdy will determined to succeed in any venture, can make any dream come true. Use your mind and your will. They work together for you beautifully if you'll only give them a chance.

When we have vision the pictures, the sounds and the feelings associated with the vision stirs us to the point of wanting IT so bad that we are willing to create a path to get IT and then live IT. Yes, vision is a form of dreaming. It is only through the active participation of creating the future by creating actions today that will move us in the direction of our dreams. Vision without action makes our visions become nothing more than mere dreams.

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created---created first in mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.

John Schaar

In closing, consider the importance of vision. Vision is what makes the world a better place to live. Vision can be the one thing that keeps people going. Vision can sometimes be the last great hope of mankind. Like Carl Sandberg said, "Nothing happens unless first a dream." Sometimes life can get somewhat overwhelming. If we had no vision for how things will be better, we could get depressed and lose our will to do what we do. It is Vision that gives us hope.

If you are reading this article then you already have a vision for where you want to be. You probably already have a vision for being the person that "You could have been." How are you moving toward that vision? Do you have your vision steps outlined? Do you know how you are going to cross the chasm of where things are and where you want them to be? What will you do today that will bring you one step closer to accomplishing that vision? Remember there are three pieces of information you need to accomplish your vision, your goals:

What? How? When?

What is to be accomplished?
(Be specific)
What resources are needed to accomplish this step?
(Money, people, materials . . .)
What is the exact time frame in which this step will be accomplished?
When will it be done?

It is important to have a Vision or many Visions. It is the people with Vision that make things happen in this world. It is the people with Vision that make this world a better place for you and me and our children and our families. It is the people with Vision that drive us to do what we do here at Empower U. I leave you with some powerful words from a powerful visionary, a man who occupied the highest level of public office and brought respect and admiration to the office of the President of the United States. This man gave me a vision, a vision of a better America, a vision of a light up on a hill. This man inspired me and made me realize I could make a difference in this world.

The future's always looked bleak till people with brains and faith and courage who dreamed and dared to take risks found a way to make it better. If we're free to dare - and we are - if we're free to give - and we are - then we're free to shape the future and have within our grasp all that we dream that future will be.

President Ronald Reagan

1981

I remain…

Enthusiastically yours,

Scott V. Black
The Empower U Leadership Team
September 1999

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