I was once told the story of two business people who were sitting on a bench looking into the night sky. “Which is the nearest”, asked one, “the moon or Nebraska?”. “Simple”, replied the other, “The moon, of course. I can’t see Nebraska”.

“The president of the United States," wrote Henry Adams, the American historian, "resembles the commander of a ship at sea. He must have a helm to grasp, a course to steer, a port to seek.

"The Constitution awards presidents the helm, but creative presidents must possess and communicate the direction in which they propose to take the country. The port they seek is what the first President Bush dismissively called 'the vision thing.'" - State of the 'Vision Thing' by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, Los Angeles Times 21/1/04

The ‘Vision Thing’ is important for chief executives and for those who they employ, too. If we are to create something that has never existed before, we first need to be able to ‘see’ it in our mind before attempting to make it real. Without that step, we may fail to believe in the project or product simply because we can’t see it.

The process of visioning may involve creating mental models, drawings, narratives, role-plays and physical models of the thing we wish to create. The better the clarity of the vision, the more likely it is that all in the process can ‘see’ the same thing and will endeavour to make it happen.

The American President best remembered for his clarity of vision and his exemplary communication of it to a whole nation was John F Kennedy who in May 1961 told the US Congress, “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”.

In the full speech is clear that he understood how daunting that goal would be, however, he convinced the American people that it could be done and, in July 1969, they saw it achieved.

George Bush senior may have disparaged the ‘Vision Thing’ but for chief executives it goes hand-in-hand with innovation and achievement.

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By Brian Chernett  on   Jul 10,2008

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Keywords

vision    stratgey    George Bush    politics    US    leadership   

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