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Vision: Words To See By |
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Vision is seeing the prize as if you have already won it. Corporate
spiritual leaders have already been to their promised land. They
have felt its soil, eaten its fruit and bathed in its rivers. It
may have been a virtual visit but it was a visit nevertheless.
Because these leaders see things differently, they see the prize
before them so vividly, so digitally compressed, so vibrant in
color, so holographic that they literally experience it as though
it already exists. The mysterious truth is, it does already exist. This depth of vision is not the stuff of strategic planning. We do not care whether it is desirable, attainable, measureable and whatever else it is that goals are supposed to be. This is not the usual mission statement fodder. This is the mountain top experience in which we see the spiritual "Why?" of our organization take on form and breathe on its own. Words come hard because we are describing something that transcends us. I was speaking about such things to an international crowd and language would have been an issue if I were talking about how to tie shoes. I was talking about the role of spirit, that universal, connecting, energizing force that gives us and our organizations cause and power to live fully. This audience had little patience for this "Why?" stuff, this visionary - let's go deep - there is another world - airy-fairy ambiguity. They wanted concrete examples of other businesses who were spiritually centered, in true "Best Practice" style. If these companies were actually making pots full of money, they would visit them and copy what they were doing. "That is not how it works," I explained, "you guys want the blueprints so you can start building the cathedral and you don't even know what religion you want to be." You don't become a Jew by doing Jewish rituals or a Mormon because you stopped drinking coffee. Be-ing comes long before do-ing. The do-ing will look after itself once you understand and experience the be-ing. This is pure gibberish to people who live and die in the "How?" At the break, a Chinese participant said, "I know what you were talking about because my people have understood it for thousands of years and we have a word for it: Dao, the center of all things." As he drew the symbol he added, "They will never understand it because there is no language." Grateful for his support, I know that I simply cannot stop trying. My encouragement to all corporate spiritual leaders is: flounder away as you must with language, but above all keep your eyes and spirit focused on the vision of what is waiting to be seen. Your life and passionate confidence will be your ultimate language. May your vision be transcendent. The following quotation
must be printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article: Ian Percy is an international speaker and consultant and can be reached at www.ianpercy.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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