If you ever had an experience visiting a University, school or simply the website of a corporate company, chances are pretty high that you may have chanced upon the vision statements of that organization. But, owing to its rampant usage and it's chronical perfunctory treatment, the word vision in itself demands a clear explanation today. As defined by the dictionary is “the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom”.
Visions are foresight; the imagination in its capacity to perceive cognitively as to “how this might go?”. The definition resonates the insightful quote by Dr.Stephen.R.Covey that,
“ALL THINGS ARE CREATED TWICE; FIRST BY ENVISIONING AND THE SECOND BY CREATING WHAT WE ENVISIONED.”
It is ironic to introspect that when we are physically heading somewhere, there is a quick mind-map and envisioning on where we will be tomorrow and how are we prepared to go, but if the same is spoken of in virtual terms of an organization or even our personal goals, so often, there is not much of cohesion to what we are doing to where we want to go.
There are observable behavioral patterns that are seen in humans and most of us are the usual – we restrict our basic functioning to seeing, understanding and responding. Some of us see, interpret and analyze (only because our job requires us to). There is one other kind of people – The visionaries; those who envision patterns as and when they see, listen and observe.
Some are innately capable while the others adopt and encode these traits.
Unlike the first two kinds who can process the information only from their memory and connect the dots backward, Visionaries connect the dots forwards to predict the motion of the projectile, evaluate its touch down and take control of an event at every point in time right from its inception - they are proactive.
If just surviving is the only instinct, the first two kinds will suflce the species, but ensuring survival at all cost, come what may, is the natural instinct of a Visionary, which is why he looks towards future. It is because of this trait in some, the humans have, as a whole, benefitted the most in the evolutionary scale.
Vision matters because when I lead and if there are many following me, “where are we headed?” should be the leader’s responsibility to ponder. People rally around to climb mountains and not molehills. It provides direction in times of change and uncertainty,improves the quality of decision-making, dispels feelings of elplessness in turbulent times and helps individuals and organizations focus on their goals and achieve remarkable results.
Let us look at an emblematic example of the lack of vision by aprominentcompany – Nokia.
Nokia was the first to create a cellular network in the world and was the global leader in mobile phones in the late 1990s and early 2000s.However, with the arrival of the Internet, other mobile companies started understanding how data, not voice, was the future of communication.
Nokia didn’t grasp the concept of software and kept focusing on hardware because the management feared to alienate the users if they changed too much; they didn’t want to lead to a drastic change in user experience. Additionally being the market leader they continued to be complacent on their market domination and forgot that what gets you here will not take you there and if you are resting on your laurels you are wearing them on the wrong end. From market domination to sell-ou in less than 10 years, Nokia paid a huge price to learn what went wrong.
THE ONE LEADING WITH VISION HAS TO BE CAUTIOUS AND PRECISE AT EVERY FLEETING THOUGHT IN ARRIVING AT DECISIONS,
and that is what will make the decision, in itself, a historic (or a face-saving) move. It is observed with clarity that is paramount at any given life situation as it gets the person proximate enough to discern the realism to every problem. Even for a visionary, the peripherals that are hinting ‘what did I miss’, forms a part of the vision.
Understanding the peripherals is important in order to know what is coming our way. Being a visionary comes through making an euort that nothing goes unnoticed and unaccounted for, for if we aren’t seeing even through our peripherals as to what we are reaching out for, whether it is for the flowers or the thorns, chances of us hurting ourselves in the process are equal.
“VISION WITHOUT ACTION IS A DAYDREAM. ACTION WITHOUT VISION IS A NIGHTMARE.”
– Japanese Proverb
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