How does one work out its Vision?
It is the opposite process of how we solve problems or perceive reality based on observation and analysis. A Vision requires imagination, creativity, and trial and error exercises.
During 30 years of my professional life, I can describe most of the challenges within the following activities:
- Problem-solving
- Team leadership
- Achievement of quantitative goals
- Being part of multidisciplinary strategic planning team
Only in the last of those mentioned did I come across the task of believing or questioning an existing vision.
My wife and I have mentored social or business entrepreneurs in LATAM for the past 15 years, with ideas that were not always original (in some instances were copycats of successful initiatives, generally from the US) but that always required a good dose of imagination and creativity, to adapt a disruptive proposal in the local market.
This experience gave me a clearer idea about building a vision: as a process of creation where, unlike problem-solving, it does not obey logic but imagination and creativity. It is not a linear or predictable process. In the end, your either have a vision or not. The image can be shared but not justified based on a cause-effect relationship.
In a certain way, without pretending to understand the creation process of a plastic artist, we can compare it with a canvas or a sculpture, where the artist goes searching for an idea that is not yet clear at the beginning, but that, in a trial and error process, takes shape until reaching the final vision.
The artist probably remembers critical moments of inspiration, like the cornerstones of his creation, without any interest in keeping a daily record of the progress achieved.
To finish, I would like to share with you some quotes about creativity from a couple of links:
https://www.vectornator.io/blog/creativity-quotes/
“Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while working.” — Henri Matisse
“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” — Bruce Lee
“You can be cautious, or you can be creative, but there’s no such thing as a cautious creative.” -George Lois
https://graciousquotes.com/vision/#Top_10_Most_Famous_Vision_Quotes_BEST
“If you are working on something exciting you care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” –Steve Jobs
“It’s not what you look at that matters, but what you see.” –Henry David Thoreau
Thanks for reading.