“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” John Maxwell
In a previous article, I wrote about how vision makes entrepreneurs a special kind of people. Where ordinary people see obstacles and problems, visionary entrepreneurs see great opportunities to shine. Remember the story of Michelangelo, the great sculptor who saw a beautiful painting from what other people saw as a flawed and useless block of marble.
The question that arises now is, can we all be visionaries? If so, how does one go about it?
Well, there was once a very wealthy man who was bothered by severe eye pain. He consulted many physicians and was being treated by several. He did not stop consulting a galaxy of medical experts; he consumed heavy loads of drugs and underwent hundreds of injections. However, the ache persisted with more vigour than before.
At last, the suffering man called for a monk who was supposed to be an expert in treating such patients. The monk understood his problem and said that for some time he should concentrate only on green colours and he should not let his eyes fall on any other colour. It was a strange prescription, but he was desperate and decided to try it.
The millionaire got together a group of painters, purchased barrels of green paint, and directed that every object his eye was likely to fall on be painted green just as the monk had directed. When the monk came to visit him after few days, the millionaire’s servants ran with buckets of green paint and poured it on him since he was in red dress, lest their master see any other colour and his eye ache would return.
Hearing this, the monk laughed and said, “If only you had purchased a pair of green spectacles, you could have saved these walls and trees and pots and all other articles and also you could have saved a large share of your fortune. You cannot paint the world green.”
How you see the world depends on your vision. If you see only problems and despair, it is because of your vision. You cannot change the world, but you can change your vision and shape yourself accordingly.
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Every successful business, especially in these challenging times, is led by someone with a vision. Setting a vision for your business requires a lot of thinking and effort. One exercise that I encourage people to do when conducting business-planning sessions is to close their eyes and envision their business in an ideal state. Imagine you have all the time and money, all the knowledge and experience, all the people and resources, in fact, everything you need. What does your business look like? Close your eyes and see if you can picture it. How does your office look like? The reception area? The people who work for you? The customers you serve? The countries you visit? Can you picture that in your mind?
Some people find it helpful to cut clips from magazines and put them together to create the picture of the business in the future. Others seek role models in successful companies they see today. Whatever method works for you, your vision must be very clear in your mind. It must be so clear and exciting that when you articulate it to your team, they become equally excited.
A powerful vision must define the core purpose of your business. Can you explain in one sentence why your business exists?
Purpose is very important because it enables you to persevere against external problems. When you know that you are building a business for a good cause, small and temporary problems like the current liquidity crisis and poor economy will not distract you. You know you are in it for the long haul and for a good cause and you will find ways to endure and go around the problems.
In his book, In Search of Excellence, Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies, Tom Peters described how employees at NASA worked tirelessly, for long hours with no extra pay, for a very special purpose. They had been challenged by President JF Kennedy to build a space vehicle and land a man on the moon before the Russians did. This was a matter of national pride because the Russians were the first to land a dog on the moon and were busy working on landing a man.
If you can create a similarly powerful vision for your organisation, you will find your people will become highly motivated and will support you with effort beyond their usual in order to see your business goals achieved.
Remember, a powerful vision must be centred on how you and your organisation serve and contribute to the lives and well-being of your customers. It is not profit that motivates people, it is how you serve a good cause.
So, go on and start creating your vision. Even if you aim too high, if you fail, you will still be above the rest. Until next week, keep on accelerating your growth.
Phillip Chichoni is a business development consultant who works with SMEs and entrepreneurs. You may contact him by email, [email protected]. You can also visit http://smebusinesslink.com
