Ducks In A Row: Everybody Has A Vision
by Miki SaxonEvery time I hear a pundit ask a (positional) leader about her vision or Wall Street condemns someone for not having a vision that they consider viable I find myself wanting to bop the questioner.
I’m not into visions.
Visions are what Sherlock Holmes had when he was smoking opium; they’re what dance in kids heads before Christmas; they’re what the religious see on slices of bread and potato chips.
There’s an old saying that the difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.
I equate visions to dreams until there’s an executable plan and management with the moxie to implement it. (That’s why I don’t believe we’ll see universal healthcare any time soon—lots of visions, lots of rhetoric, little management and less moxie.)
Of course, you have to use the lingua franca of the day when communicating and that means calling your goal a vision, which is fine—as long as you really understand what’s required to make it a reality.
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June 9th, 2009 at 9:03 am
This is so true — In family life a “vision” for having an awesome marriage or a terrific relationship with your kids is worth nothing without the moxie (love that word) to take the little daily actions necessary to make it happen.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Miki, thanks for your post on visions. It got me thinking. I agree, most visions are just dreams and are never really worked. Do you think though that even when there is management with the “moxie” to implement it; it may still be a dream?
The reason I ask this is because based on my experience most plans around visions are too complicated. They try to do too much. Also, much of the organization never becomes aware of how they contribute to the vision and in many cases it is never adequately communicated. Also, follow up is lacking with most well intentioned plans and whatever communication there has been loses its momentum over time. Regardless of whether the manager has the strong desire to implement the plan, if he or she doesn’t consider these things the vision is still a dream.
Thanks for an insightful post.
- Mike
June 9th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hi Mike, thanks for your kind words and insightful comments.
I agree totally with you and I should have qualified my statement with an adjective, i.e., achievable plan. Which it isn’t if it’s overly complicated and lacks the viable level of communication required to bring together and focus the efforts of the group.
Given that most visions are dreams what I’ve always found surprising is the amazement when they don’t achieve reality.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Hi Marvin, I, too, love the word ‘moxie’, but I’d say that the communications is even more important in a family setting.
Parents face the same difficulties in communicating with their kids as managers do, probably more so because of the assumed commonality.
Assuming family equals shared thinking is often an error. Reaching back many decades I remember little-to-no psychological commonality between my mother, my sister and myself (my father was dead) and to this day there is still none between my sister and I.
Thanks for taking the time to add another dimension to the post.
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