It looks like this week we are going to focus more on organizational vision than personal vision. Week two is focused on Seeing the Bigger Picture.
Leaders are often defined by the size and scope of their vision. If you know the story of the McDonald brothers, you will remember they were brilliant in terms of anticipating and responding to the desires of their market, and even more so at developing the assembly line process in terms of food production. They attempted to sell franchises, but the concept never took off. In fact, when one franchisee in Phoenix wanted to name his restaurant McDonald’s, the brothers said, “why, no one will know who we are in Phoenix!”
Enter Ray Kroc, a milkshake machine salesman who did business with the McDonald brothers. He could see the bigger picture. He envisioned McDonald’s franchises all across the country. He worked with the brothers, eventually buying the rights to franchise, etc., and his vision built the global corporation we know today.
He was convinced he was on the right track and confident in his ability to be successful. This is not to say it didn’t require years of hard work and sacrifice, but he saw the potential and made it a reality.
Break now to the story of Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google fame and fortune. They started with the challenge of linking the growing data connections on the internet. As they became more engrossed in their project, they quit school to follow their passion full-time, starting Google in a garage in 1998. By 2008, Google was processing nearly five billion web searches per month. Page says he learned something in college that drove them forward; it was this phrase:
Having a healthy disregard for the impossible.
As I’ve noted in an earlier post, while there are many out there stating certain things are impossible, there all too regularly seems to be someone, somewhere who is doing the impossible. Man on the moon. Rover on mars. Printing out human kidneys on an ink jet printer…The stories are out there to be found each and every day of someone achieving something once thought impossible.
The point here, having great vision and setting the audacious goal is a hallmark of visionary leaders.
What is the vision of your organization?
Is it big enough?
Does your team see and understand it?
Do they believe it’s possible to achieve?
Are they as passionate as you about achieving it?
Me, I’m out to change the world one person, one experience at a time. Yes, it’s huge…and for today, at least, it’s just me (I have yet to build a team). That’s not a deterrent, though. I’m fully confident in my ability to succeed.
