I Have a Dream
When was the last time you dreamed? Not the go-to-sleep dream, but the dream that has a future that is really attractive, one we wanted to be part of? Is that dream still alive? In the universal words of kids in the back seat of the car, “Are we there yet?” Has the dream taken a detour, stuck in traffic, parked in the remote lot, or crushed in a junkyard, fodder for recycling? In this dream, were we the driver, passenger, or someone on the curb watching traffic go by?
The current calamities have, for so many, turned dreams into nightmares. For organizations, value has been destroyed, visions have blurred, and scarcity and survival have replaced abundance and growth. But, maybe it’s time we dreamed again. There is incredible power in effective leadership. I have believed for many years that the best leaders are the masters of delivering and creating optimism. Great leaders, be they captains of nations, captains of industry, or captains of their lives see light and create visions that pull us into the future. Visions can create the possibilities we dream about and great leaders energize collective motivations into plans and execution.
Growing up, my favorite leaders were defined by adversity, Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln to name just two. They manifested an eloquence that gave, to so many, the courage to hope and the will to endure and strive. The adversity and nightmares around them did not defeat them, but rather inspired them to dream, focus, create a vision and motivate the delivery of a better future. It’s possible, not easy, but doable. Without the adversity, the greatness within these leaders may have been buried under the blanket of comfort and success. Adversity defined Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, even the business giants like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is timeless, the message creating and motivating a visionary power to fuel capacity, a capacity to move forward through adversity fostered by what is worst in people and enable millions to reach within and find what is best in people.
Adversity creates opportunity. Adversity energizes leaders and innovators. Adversity is what problem solvers dream about. The Great Depression was a fountain of new business creation, stoking the engines of creativity and diversification. It’s not easy, but doable again.
We approach a season redefined by prosperity. Be it the traditions of giving thanks or the tsunamis of buying presents, they have trappings of what abundance could look like and what “merry” or “happy” would look like. This year may not look as abundant. Maybe it’s the time to dream again, create new visions and challenge the leaders within us to embrace adversity and bring light to others.
Great leaders are judged by what they enabled others to accomplish, because others followed, sacrificed, endured, persisted and overcame adversities. Opportunities are always infinite. What we haven’t considered is always infinite. Only what we’ve accomplished so far is finite, memory is finite, scarcity is finite, even fear is finite.
“Hope is a waking dream.” Aristotle
