The Power of a Vision

What is vision? How can a few words be so powerful? What causes workers to be so loyal to the point of being fanatical? 

All great leaders have a vision that is so strong they can attach a business to it and prosper beyond their own imaginations!

Vision is a clear picture of a future reality formulated at the present. Great achievements come from crystal clear visions. Great visions have the power to help humans not just to overcome obstacles; they literally have the power to move mountains.

Why is a clear vision so compelling? A clear vision is inspiring because it paints a clear picture of a destination so exciting that people are compelled to join the cause.

What is your vision? If we don’t know where we are going, we are already there!

Here are 8 examples of powerful visions.

1) George Washington Carver “Transforming the earth into a land of plenty for all.”

2) João Fontana “I can see all this fertile, arable, and flat land being worked by machines within two decades.” Dad told me this in 1964. By mid 1980's the area we lived in was all worked by machines and today is one of the most productive and valuable agricultural region in the world.

3) An American leader “I can see one million people united in a single community learning and growing to restore our nation’s foundational values within five years.”

4) Amazon's vision "Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

5) President John F Kennedy “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

6) Online retailer “We intend to provide our customers with the best online shopping experience from beginning to end, with a smart, searchable website, easy-to-follow instructions, clear and secure payment methods, and fast, quality delivery.”

7) Martin Luther King’s had a vision of a completely integrated society, a community of love and justice wherein brotherhood would be an actuality in all of social life. In his mind, such a community would be the ideal corporate expression of the Christian faith.

8) Apple Computer, the highest market value company in the world. "We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that's not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don't settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well."

Steve Jobs’ inspiring words: “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”

Be blessed and be a blessing to others!

Carlos Fontana, President of Phalanx

Co-author of the book Follow to Lead (The 7 Principles to Being a Great Follower)

Author of the book PRICELESS (Sixty-Six Simple Stories of Reflection, Love, and Legacy)