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Leadership and that vision thing
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Posted by editor Fri Apr 28, 2006 14:00:40 PDT
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0 responses 1 comment Vision’s something we love to talk about.

That’s just the problem because we’re using our mouth to do the eye thing. And, of course, that always seems to be where vision breaks down. It’s not a simple thing to use one sensory organ to describe another’s gathered data.

Vision is often mistaken for what you want or what I want. It’s so much more.

First of all, vision that’s all about me is nothing more than narcissism. If all we can see is ourselves, when we’re talking about vision, we have the world’s worst case of nearsightedness. This kind of looking glass vision is worse than being blind. At least the blind learn to “see” the world through the heightened development of other sensory receptors.

As a guy who’s suffered from nearsightedness all my life, I can tell you the inability to see anything very clearly beyond my own nose is frustrating. In the fourth grade, my teacher noticed my class participation skills were wanting and suggested my folks take me to see the eye doctor. When my first pair of eyeglasses arrived, it was like somebody had opened up a whole new world for me. I was astounded at what my eyes beheld. I had no idea that up until that moment that the way I was seeing the world was not normal.

That’s the way people lacking in vision are: They think the limited way in which they see and perceive the world is normal. They have no idea what a beautiful world we’ve been given to live in. Whether it’s from having held their noses to the grindstone for so long or parents who told them the world was a cold and hard place, these poor souls, with downcast heads, can see no further than a few feet down a dark and hopeless road.

Vision is always bigger than us

George Washington saw and believed in the hope of a young nation and endured cold and bleak winters of deprivation, no funding, and winning few battles. There’s a reason he’s considered the father of our great nation.

Abraham Lincoln saw us through our nation’s darkest years. He understood no nation divided could long endure. His lonely vigil delivered us from bondage and reaffirmed our birthright as Americans with equality and justice for all.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt could clearly see that America could not isolate itself from great evil. When the vast majority of Americans chose to see and think of only our interests at home, turning their backs and closing their eyes to the malicious tyranny of Hitler and his henchmen, Roosevelt prepared America to stand up to this darkness.

We could go on and on with examples of people who saw a good greater than their own personal interests. All great good in the world has come about because someone envisioned something greater than their own needs and wants.

There is vision both for the good and the not-so-good. Hitler’s grand vision of Aryan supremacy and a Third Reich captured the hearts and minds of an entire nation. Napoleon made no small plans. We’ve all probably heard the proverb that states where there is no vision, the people perish. That’s because when there is no enlightened vision, people will settle for a dark vision.

All of us lead. It may be just the leadership of our children, which I’m sure you’ll admit is no small task. And there are those among us who have been given greater leadership tasks.

Those who can see, understand and respond to the needs of those around them have comprehended the vision thing. These are the rare individuals who, like Moses, are ready to lead us from wandering in a wilderness to our promised land.
What do you see?

Mark Moore is a Chartered Financial Consultant with Q4 Insurance & Financial Services, Inc. Securities and Advisory Services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member NASD/SIPC. Your feedback is valued. Email Mark at MarkM@Q4Financial.net.

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Comment From: paralegal39years

Your comments bring to mind several reminders: (1) the title of Ray Bradbury's short story: "Something Wicked This Way Comes"; (2) the old adage: "Evil can only prevail when good people do nothing"; (3) the need to take more than a myopic view of an issue; and (4) parents should be the best role models of leadership that their children know.