Everything in life happens twice, first in your mind and then in the external world. Visioning is the creative process of imagining; seeing the unseen before it can be seen. It is a power every person possesses and exercises either consciously or unconsciously.
It’s importance in the scheme of life and leadership was clearly defined by Albert Einstein when he said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
“Doers” are a commodity and easy to replace, but visionaries are priceless. Visionaries see, dream, and imagine possibilities. Second, they communicate their vision. Third they invite others to co-create.
The Digital Revolution Began with Vision
The revolution was brought to us in large part by Steven Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers. Steve Jobs was just 21 when he and Steve Wozniak invented the Apple Computer. Until then computers were a monstrous mass of vacuum tubes which took whole rooms. Then the two Steve’s managed to take that mass of tubes and incorporate them inside a box small enough to sit on a desk.
Jobs and Wozniak offered their invention to Atari. They weren’t interested in big bucks – all they wanted was a salary and the opportunity to continue their work. Atari knocked them back. They offered it to Hewlett-Packard, but Hewlett Packard knocked them back. It seemed Jobs and Wozniak alone could see the possibilities.
So Jobs sold his Volkswagon and Wozniak sold his calculator, and with the $1300 that gave them they formed Apple Computers. The company was named Apple in memory of a happy summer Jobs had spent working in an orchard.
The rest is history. By all accounts Steve Jobs is a visionary, and spurred on by that vision he built a successful computer company. But Jobs soon discovered that if his vision was to reach fruition they needed greater management expertise. So Jobs approached John Sculley, then President of PepsiCo.
There was absolutely no reason why Sculley should leave a highly paid position in a world leading company to go work with a bunch of computer nerds in a fledgling industry. Not unsurprisingly he turned Jobs down. But Jobs wouldn’t take no for an answer. He approached Sculley again. Again Sculley turned him down.
In a last ditch effort Jobs passionately presented his visionary ideas to Sculley and he asked Sculley a question that forced him to accept. The question was this: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” Indeed Jobs and Sculley did change the world.
Innovators like Steve Jobs are ultimate visionaries. They have the imagination and vision that others lack. Vision is seeing the future before it is manifest.
The very air the individuals in these companies breath is filled with aliveness, curiosity and openness. There is no shortage of motivation and commitment in these companies. Manifesting the vision becomes a source of meaning and personal satisfaction. Visions are the blueprint for all noteworthy accomplishments.
Rocky and Sylvester Were Visionaries
Sylvester Stallone shot to fame in the movie Rocky. But Stallone’s own story is a reflection of the character he plays. His slurred speech and snarling look are the result of a facial nerve that was severed during his birth and his early years were spent bouncing between foster families in the infamous Hells Kitchen area. An outcast at school thanks to his facial deformities, he was sent to a high school for troubled kids and voted “most likely to end up in the electric chair”.
After school Stallone went to beauty college, but left to turn his attention to acting. He didn’t meet with much success. He worked at a deli throughout most of his twenties and before Rocky made him a star was so broke that he was forced to sell his dog, to which was so attached he was in tears, for $25, to sell his wife’s jewelry and ended up living in a bus shelter.
His break came when he went to a boxing match in which an unknown underdog Chuck Wepner took the world champion Muhammed Ali to 15 rounds. Stallone went home and in three days wrote the first draft of Rocky.
When he started hawking it around to the studios there was immediate interest. They saw the script as a great vehicle for a big star – names such as Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds were thrown around – and offered to buy the script. But Stallone wasn’t selling, not unless he was given the lead.
The studios kept offering more, on the condition Stallone didn’t act in the movie. Each time Stallone refused, even when $325,000 was put on the table, the highest amount ever offered for a script. Despite having just $106 in the bank Stallone wouldn’t give up.
“I knew that if I took the money I’d regret it for the rest of my life,” said Stallone. “And the picture was about taking that golden shot when you finally get it.”
The studio eventually gave in, buying the script for $35,000, with Stallone to work as a writer without a fee and as an actor for award wages. Stallone got the lead role and the movie was reduced to low budget production.
The rest is history. Rocky was a massive hit, won an Oscar for best picture and Stallone became a star. Sylvester Stallone and the character he created had clear visions for what they wanted to create.
With a clear vision of the change you would like to manifest, anything is possible. It is with a 100% commitment to the vision that all visions become realities.