A-Z of Soft Skills: V is for Vision

What is vision and why is it important? Here's a short story I often tell participants at my Leadership workshops:

A self-made shoe manufacturer had two sons. He was now a rich man and his sons were raised in the city but his own childhood days were spent in abject poverty in one of India's poorest rural regions. The businessman wanted to know which one of his sons would be the better entrepreneur and thus the best leader for his company after him. 

When his elder son turned 21 and joined the family business, the father said: "I want you to go to this village and ascertain whether I should set up a shoe factory there." Without knowing it, the son traveled to the same poverty-stricken village where his father grew up. In a few days, he called his father and said: "Dad, nobody wears shoes here. There's no point in setting up a factory in this place."
His father sighed and said, "OK, then, I won't."

When the younger son turned 21 and joined the family business, the father sent him to the same village with the same instructions. The very next day, the younger son called his father. He sounded really excited. "Hey, Dad, we should definitely set up a factory here. In fact, we should double our capacity. There is so much opportunity here. Nobody wears shoes!"

Guess which son ultimately inherited his father's company?

Just as listening is not just hearing and understanding is more than merely knowing, vision goes further than sight.

Vision is not just what you can see with the eyes that look out into the world, it is what you imagine with your mind's eye.

Vision, in fact, is especially that which is seen otherwise than by the ordinary sight. You may call it your rational eye; a supernatural, prophetic, or imaginary sight.

Vision is what helps us create and innovate. It challenges reality and dares to imagine what it will be.

You know all companies have a vision statement. This is an "envisioning"of what a company thinks it will be. It is not about the company's reality but its transformative goal; the aspirational becoming--like a child's vision of what he wants to grow up to be (I want to become Dr. Kapur because he helps children; I want to be a teacher so I can punish naughty people; I want to be a Fireman because I want to save people and ride a fire-truck)

In adulthood, we must hold on to this ability the child in us had in abundance so that we are still able to transform into our aspirational selves. So that we are still able to become.

The author, Dr. Ranee Kaur Banerjee consults under the brand Expressions@Work to create and deliver learning and development programs in communication and soft skills.