Aha Moment Monday
Would you rather be right or would you rather be rich?
Whether it’s a simple report, a special event, re-tooling to take on a new market or running the entire organization, one common success element is to start with a clear vision.
For your report to have clarity, your event to accomplish results, your new market initiative to get traction or your entire organization to scale, clarity of what that end result looks like, is crucial. In building your vision you’re on the lookout for people – to create circumstances – that support your vision and build your success.
After all it’s your vision and you know what’s right, right?
Aha – There can be a fine line between having a clear vision and being attached to an outcome; the line being the difference between being right or being rich.
Here’s the thing: when you’re stuck on your vision to the point of being inflexible, those blinders could potentially shut out the very people whose input can help build your dream.
In a conversation my son and I had the other day about everything happening for a reason, William quoted Steve Jobs in saying, “You can only connect the dots backwards.” In other words you don’t always know what elements – people, circumstances, set-backs, opportunities, time – will determine your course of action and bring you to the realization of your worthy goals, but when you look back you’ll see how each of those elements contributed to your success. Had you not been open to those elements, achieving your desired result may well have been hindered.
Marcel Schwantes, principal and founder of Leadership From the Core, identifies that successful leaders, like Steve Jobs, seek wisdom from others and encourage feedback from their team. You’re not expecting that all the feedback or advice will be relevant or directly useful but the conversations themselves may spark new ideas or connections you couldn’t have reached on your own.
Have a look at the tree in your backyard. Its roots were born of nature’s vision but it’s the tree’s flexibility within the elements that allows it to reach its rich potential.
And being rich is way more fun.
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