Dreamers are the leaders of the world and the revolutionaries of our industry. By “dreamer” I really mean a person who dares to set out and accomplish a central purpose and vision in their life. Those without vision easily fall prey to worry, fear, trouble and self-pity, all of which indicate weakness and serve as precursors to failure. The leader who treasures a grand vision is more likely to realize his or her lofty ideal than someone who merely wishes for an outcome, but a vision does not guarantee success. Christopher Columbus treasured a vision of a new world and he discovered it; Nelson Mandela cherished a vision of equality and he was willing to go to prison and even to die for it; Henry Ford cultivated a vision of affordability and he mass produced it. The visionaries represent the potential of what you can one day be, but to determine whether or not your vision will materialize into reality you need to ask what fuels it.
While success cannot be sustained without vision, vision is not enough to achieve success. Why do some visions succeed and others fail? Why do some “visionaries” enjoy fleeting success only to fail in the end? Does failure to accomplish the desired result equate to ultimate failure or does the strength of character gained provide the true measure of success from which to form a new starting point for future triumph? What determines the staying power of a leader’s vision? The answer to those questions depends on the leader’s ability to clarify the vision, but more importantly, it depends on what inspired the vision. All that a person achieves and all that he or she fails to achieve is the direct result of the clarity and the fuel of his or her own thoughts. Fuel comes in two varieties: positive and negative. Our visions are fueled by a desire to build a model of what we seek (positive) or by a burning desire to avoid and prevent the pain that stems from injustice and frustration (negative).
