March 21, 2022
Good morning! Are you involved in any of the Madnesses? The Final Four might be an occasion to hang out in downtown Minneapolis for part of a day to catch the vibe. Elton John is in town this week! How about those big spiders (diameter = 3″) proliferating on the East Coast? If you are among the readers in that area, please let us know the first time you encounter one.
- Our society is moving away from astronomical spring (today is it!) and toward what’s called meteorological spring, courtesy in no small part to the proliferation of weather experts wannabes.
- A disclaimer and an apology: These thoughts are Northern Hemisphere-centric and also Western Hemisphere-centric.
- About what would I be musing if I were writing to you from Paraguay or Zambia or New Zealand?
- Should I amble around Augusta National in two weeks for Wednesday’s practice round? Trying to decide.
- Had tickets two years ago, but remember what happened?
- Think about this: There is hardly anyone active in the business world today who remembers how to lead from a perspective other than interest rates declining.
- Taking a broad, general, macro-view, interest rates have been tumbling for 42 years from a high of ~16% to almost zero (~0%) in 2020.
- Will all 70-year-olds need to come out of retirement? We need experience, right? How do you do this?!
- At Without A Vision Consultancy we promote vision as the epicenter of successful planning and as the best approach to being bigger, better, stronger, healthier, and happier.
- “Without a vision, the people perish.” (Habier, Etc., et al.)
- Most visions — and especially shared visions — take time, lots of time, and most leaders are loath to invest.
- IF you take the time to do it right — planning with real purpose, that is — you will never regret it.
- With gratitude to our faithful reader, Tom, in Vermont (U.S.), these following thoughts passed along from Geades are a propos:
- “The most underrated and often overlooked leadership skill is vision.”
- A-ha!
- “When leaders lack vision it limits results, reduces energy, and creates a culture that struggles to embrace change.”
- “Vision is the capacity to see beyond what your eyes can see.”
- “Having a vision for something better than exists today is a secret to effective leadership.”
- “People need something to believe in and to work towards.”
- “The most underrated and often overlooked leadership skill is vision.”
- If you’re going to work on vision without the assistance of a consultant, here are a few questions to get you started:
- What does the future look like?
- What is happening on the team or in the company?
- How many people are joining you on the journey?
- What kinds of people; can you name them?
- What is the celebration going to look like?
- How are you going to feel when it happens?
- How is your team going to react?
- What is your family going to say? Friends?
- How will the world be different?
- How will the lives of the people you touch in the process be different? (Eades, 2022)
- “You can’t outsource vision or passion.” (Andrew)
- “What if our best data are flawed?” (Dilbert/ Adams)
