Dreamers And Visionaries

For years I have told teams to "dream big", "dream the impossible and make it happen" and "dream the dreams of champions". I have lead folks through exercises where they write down their dreams and begin to discover what it will take to make those dreams a reality.

The problem has come with those teams who leave the exercise purely at the dreaming stage. No clear action plans are put in place, no commitment is made to ensuring that the dreams of the team become a reality. Over the past year I have been convicted of the need to change my wording as I lead these type of workshops. It has become necessary to differentiate between those who dream and those who have a vision. Vision is such an over-worked word in business leadership circles but it has its place. The most helpful definition of vision I have come across is this :

Vision is a picture of the future that produces passion in the present.

It is the passion that brings energy to the process of working towards the vision. I have discovered that if our thoughts remain only at the 'dream' stage, they are seldom realised.

There is nothing wrong with dreaming - it is a creative exercise which allows us to think beyond the immediate. However, in order for progress to be made these dreams have to morphed into a clear picture of the future that produces passion in the present - a vision of what could be.

Micah Davis in the blog Food Forethought lists these differences between dreamers and visionaries -





It seems to me that entrepreneurs are visionaries while those content to work for others while trying achieve their goals are dreamers. Which are you?