The other day I read1:
"The source and center of all man's creative power - the power that above all others lifts him above the level of brute creation, and gives him dominion, is his power of making images, or the power of imagination."
"Imagination pictures the thing you desire. VISION idealizes it. It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own."
Do these quotes resonate with you?
Do those quotes help you understand what people mean when they say things like:
- What's your Corporate VISION?
- Can I see your VISION Statement?
Do you agree:
- Leaders must have a Vivid VISION?
- Leaders must capture and communicate their Vivid VISION?
- Leaders must lead-by-example along the path to their Vivid VISION? Imagination?
What about IMAGINATION?
How important is it for Leaders to possess the power of IMAGINATION?
Do you agree, IMAGINATION is Invigorating...both to the owner of it and to those it affects?
***
I have been interested in IMAGINATION and VISION for many years. And, my interest increased as I took on supervisory, then managerial, then leadership roles. Now, looking back, I better understand the errors I have made
in business and
with People. One of those mistakes was not explaining things well enough: not explaining what I was thinking, assuming people heard and processed my words the same way I said and intended them, etc. That was a major communication problem. Often, the words we think we say are not actually the words we say. And, often, the words we say mean different things to other People....even when they are doing everything they know to try to listen, to understand, and to follow.
To help fix my communication problem I now define words. So, when I read words like those of Robert Collier, quoted above, I use those words to firm up and clarify the words we often use but rarely troubleshoot for shared meaning. As examples:
Definitions...
IMAGINATION: the source of creative power: creating images in the mind, picturing things in your mind's eye
VISION: holding the mind's-eye picture of the thing you desire, seeing beyond the things that are and conceiving and idealizing what can be, and communicating the desire you idealize to other People
Footnote: