Читать книгу The Vision Code - Олег Коновалов - Страница 7
ОглавлениеINTRODUCTION In Search of the Golden Ratio of Vision
We are living in a time of leadership blindness. All leaders claim to have a vision. At best, the vast majority are only pretending. In truth, about 0.1% of business, social or political leaders actually have a vision.
Modern leaders often cannot explain what vision is and how it can be made a reality. They substitute money and performance indicators for vision, forgetting that, without vision, no amount of time, money or resources can help. As Carl Jung suggested, ‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate’.
The reality of the Digital Age revealed that, while we mention the importance of vision daily, the majority of people have little if any understanding of it. Yet, a solid vision is a necessary foundation for any successful organisation.
We desperately need leaders of all levels to be armed with an understanding of vision as never before. Without this, there will be no long‐term progress.
We desperately need more visionary leaders. Visionaries such as Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 to 23 March 2015), the first Prime Minister of Singapore, transformed the country from a ‘third world country to a first world country in a single generation’; Carl Gustav Mannerheim (4 June 1867 to 27 January 1951), the President of Finland, is still voted as the greatest Finn of all time and the father of modern Finland; and Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918 to 5 December 2013), a South African anti‐apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, is named ‘the father of the nation’ and ‘a global icon’. There are many others to whom we still pay tribute.
Vision as We See It
What we do really understand about vision?
Having a vision and being able to a make it a reality differentiates leaders from managers. When there is no vision, no amount of effort or money can help. With vision, real change can be achieved. The world is conquered by visionaries and surrenders its advantages and opportunities to them unconditionally. Even the most sophisticated and time‐tested system can be defeated by someone with a sufficiently strong vision.
Vision creates the fertile ground on which we build the future. How we create a productive and prosperous space – for all stakeholders, employees, customers, partners and future users of this eco‐system – depends on visionary leaders.
Having a vision is like looking at the present from the future's standpoint. Being a visionary is similar to putting one's own signature on the future while being here and now. A visionary defines how soon the future reality will come. In this sense, vision is like a time machine. In looking from a desired future back to the present, one can envision all the steps needed to get from here to there.
There is only a slim chance for success, breakthrough initiatives, incredible achievements and an abundance of opportunities in a flat, two‐dimensional reality. A solid vision opens up a multidimensional space in which anything is possible. Vision is the most powerful and versatile tool we have to make a difference in the world around us.
Questioning the Understanding of Vision
The future will come whether you have a vision or not. But without a vision, you will be lost. It will be a reality you don't accept as it doesn't reflect your desires. And if you don't have a vision, do any desires you have even matter?
I've been thinking about this for the past 24 years. I even remember the start of this path as if it happened yesterday. I climbed to the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. I sat at the top and gazed around into this great tranquil wilderness, basking in the solitude.
Suddenly I realised how little, powerless, inconsequential, imperceptible and insignificant I am compared with this world. Something whispered within me – ‘what is the meaning of what I do? What do I do for the future? Who am I, and where do I want to be? How I can escape mediocrity?’ Since then I've been thinking about vision from different angles.
A vision cannot be bought. It can't be merely found. It has to be created.
In this book, we will thoroughly explore the concept of vision. Why is it important, and for whom? How do visionaries define vision, and how do they experience it? What common leadership and personal traits are shared by visionaries? What is the difference between ordinary and visionary leadership? If we consider vision as a mental or psychological construction, then what elements of it are the most critical? How do these incredible leaders construct their vision and make it a reality? How do visionaries prepare or reinvent themselves to make a vision a reality? How do they act as visionaries and constructors of a positive future? What struggles and difficulties do they face, and how do they overcome them?
In searching for answers and practical solutions, I decided to talk with today's visionaries, those who are changing the way people work and live, to open a window into how they think, act and construct their vision.
I decided to discuss these questions with 19 exceptional visionaries from across the globe, representing different industries and backgrounds:
Marshall Goldsmith, #1 Leadership Thinker in the world
Martin Lindstrom, #1 Branding expert in the world
Garry Ridge, Chairman and CEO of WD‐40 Company
David Katz, founder and CEO of Plastic Bank
Stuart Crainer, co‐founder, Thinkers50
John Spence, one of the top 100 business thought leaders in the world and business advisor to companies worldwide
Feyzi Fatehi, CEO of Corent Tech, Inc.
Olga Uskova, President and founder of Cognitive Technologies Group
Mark Thompson, world's #1 CEO Coach, 30 Global Gurus and a Venture Investor
Asheesh Advani, President and CEO of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide
Adam Witty, founder and CEO of Advantage Media/ForbesBooks
H.E. Ms. Sania A. Ansari, Chairperson at Ansari Group Ltd and Chairperson at United Refugee Green Council Canada
Thomas Kolditz, PhD, Executive Director, Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University, Brigadier General (Retired)
Prof. Amit Kapoor, Chairman of Institute for Competitiveness, India
Alex Goryachev, Managing Director at Cisco Innovation Centers, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Fearless Innovation
Noel Ferguson, founder and Executive Chairman of Institute of One World Leadership (IOWL)
Prof. Nabhit Kapur, Psy.D, founder of PeacefulMind Foundation
Raphael Louis, Leader and President of the National Coalition Party of Canada (NCPC)
Dr. Babalola Omoniyi, founder and Executive Director of Pan African Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (PALEDEC)
These people are simply exceptional, and I will introduce them and their stories in the pages of this book. They enthusiastically shared their personal stories, painstaking experience, invaluable lessons and practical recommendations.
In Search of the Golden Ratio
It might seem like it is enough to find the answers to these questions by gleaning the best that these visionaries have to offer and synthesising them in to a whole. Still, my pragmatic entrepreneurial mind said – no, what else can I offer?
Vision holds the secret code to a positive and prosperous future. But how can we break this code?
The golden ratio or the divine proportion as a term was coined by Luca Pacioli in his book De Divina Proportione (The Divine Proportion), published in 1509. This book was illustrated by Leonardo Da Vinci with three‐dimensional geometric solids and templates for script letters in calligraphy, and this is why the idea of the golden ratio is often attributed to him. Da Vinci's masterpieces The Last Supper, La Jaconde (Mona Lisa) and The Vitruvian Man made use of the golden ratio.
The golden ratio describes the beauty sensed in the harmony and proportion in different spheres such as art, nature, math, design and the human body. We subconsciously prefer and admire objects and shapes that properly use the golden ratio.
Luca Pacioli defined his approach as ‘a work necessary for all clear‐sighted and inquiring human minds, in which everyone who loves to study philosophy, perspective, painting, sculpture, architecture, music and other mathematical disciplines will find a very delicate, subtle and admirable teaching and will delight in diverse questions touching on a very secret science’ (Meisner, G.B. 2018).
This book attempts to find the golden ratio of vision and unlock this secret knowledge.
How to Read This Book
Using the analogy of the butterfly effect that describes how small things can have a dramatic impact on complex systems, we can look at vision as a beautiful butterfly that causes enormous changes in the world. It is born somewhere inside of a visionary's mind and soul, and the visionary decides to give it wings of a certain shape and colour. Then this beauty learns how to spread those wings and fly, creating a new reality and changing the world. As Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett wrote in Good Omens (2011), ‘a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe’.
I structured the discussion of vision using the same principle as it reflects the four natural stages of a vision's development. Part One: Creation discusses why vision is important, how it comes about and what is needed to create it. Part Two: Making Vision Strong sheds light on the core criteria, elements and characteristics of a vivid vision and highlights how leaders should prepare themselves for reaching new heights. Part Three: Execution dives into how to make vision a reality and turn it into a practical business tool. Part Four: Visionary You looks into how visionaries think and offers recommendations for everyday use.
Let's Break Ground
We are brought into this world as creators, and whether we fulfil our purpose or not entirely depends on our ability to craft a vision and inspire others to share in it. Vision is the core property of those who are shaping the future today, and we can't ignore it without ignoring future prospects – whether business or personal.
I invite you to join me on this journey in search of the golden ratio of vision, regardless of whether you are a mature leader or someone at the first stages of your growth. The reward will be not just a well‐crafted vision, but the ability to lead others in making that vision a reality.
