Where there is no vision...

...the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18)

Helen Keller once remarked that there was one thing she knew of that was worse than being blind; it was to be able to see but have no vision.

The vision as the end in mind is so essential. And all leaders have seen in their minds' eye what the end goal is like. It is essential, if not critical, that we need an end in mind in our lives.

Imagine waking up each day and having no objectives to work towards, that's like it really doesn't matter whether you wake up or not!

Another reason why having a vision is so essential is this: everything that you now see; the plane and telephone all existed in the minds' eyes of the Wright Brothers and Alexandra Graham Bell.

But before we can have that visual representation of what we want to create, we need to unleash our imagination. Einstein said, "imagination is more important than knowledge". I totally buy-into that because given our existing knowledge (or thinking or paradigm or mindset) we cannot think about new possibilities unless we imagine, fantasize, day-dream. (So quit telling your kids to stop day-dreaming)

Einstein also said, "the current problems we have cannot be solved by our current level of thinking". That's why Covey preaches about changing behaviors lead to incremental improvements; while changing our paradigm (or current level of thinking) lead to quantum improvements!

So, leaders do (and I must) have a vision, an end-in-mind, but they also (and I must) think differently from others [see John Maxwell's book "Thinking for a Change" or his upcoming book on "How Successful People Think"].

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)