06 Jul Which characters prevent a vision from being implemented? (JOHN C. MAXWELL)
We see things, not as they are, but as we are. Therefore, when a vision is hindered, it is usually a people problem. There are ten types of people who usually hinder the vision of the organization.
1. LIMITED LEADERS
Everything rises and falls on leadership. That statement is certainly true with vision casting. A limited leader will either lack the vision or the ability to successfully pass it on.
The prime minister of France once said, “If you are doing big things, you attract big men. If you are doing little things, you attract little men. Little men usually cause trouble.” Then he paused, shook his head sadly, and added, “We are having an awful lot of trouble.
2. CONCRETE THINKERS
George Bernard Shaw said, “Some men see things as they are and say, ‘Why?’ [concrete thinker] I dream of things that never were and say ‘Why not?’ [creative thinker]”
Charlie Brown holds up his hands before his friend Lucy and says, “These are hands which may someday accomplish great things. These are hands which may someday do marvelous works! They may build mighty bridges, or heal the sick, or hit home runs, or write soul-stirring novels! These are hands which may someday change the course of destiny!”
Lucy, who always sees things as they are, replies, “They’ve got jelly on them.”
3. DOGMATIC TALKERS
Many visions aren’t realized because of strong, dogmatic people. To be absolutely certain about something, one must either know everything or nothing about it. Most of the time, the dogmatist knows nothing but conventionally says something. For example, “Everything that can be invented has been invented.” That was Charles H. Duell, director of the U.S. Patent Office, speaking in 1899! Of course, Duell was not alone. President Grover Cleveland once commented (in 1905) that “sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.” Then there was Robert Miliken, Nobel Prize winner in physics, who said in 1923, “There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.” Lord Kelvin, president of England’s Royal Society (a scientific organization), noted in 1885, “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
4. CONTINUAL LOSERS
Many people look at their past failures and fear the risk of pursuing a vision. Their motto is, “If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you’ve tried.” They also destroy everyone’s attempt to ever try again.
5. SATISFIED SITTERS
People strive for comfort, predictability, and security in life. On the heels of comfort comes complacency; of predictability, boredom; and of security, a lack of vision. A nest is good for a robin while it is an egg. But it is bad for a robin when it has wings. It’s a good place to be hatched in, but it’s a poor place to fly in. It’s always sad when people don’t want to leave the nests of their lives.
In a Leadership magazine article, Lynn Anderson described what happens when people lose their vision. A group of pilgrims landed on the shores of America nearly four hundred years ago. With great vision and courage they had come to settle in the new land. In the first year, they established a town. In the second, they elected town council. In the third, the government proposed building a road five miles westward into the wilderness. But in the fourth year, the people tried to impeach the town council because the people thought such a road into the forest was a waste of public funds. Somehow these forward-looking people had lost their vision. Once able to see across oceans, they now could not look five miles into the wilderness.
6. TRADITION LOVERS
The British have always been good with the patronage system. John F. Barker in Roll Call tells the story that for more than twenty years, for no apparent reason, an attendant stood at the foot of the stairway leading to the House of Commons. At last someone checked and discovered that the job had been held in the attendant’s family for three generations. It seems it originated when the stairs were painted and the current attendant’s grandfather was assigned the task of warning people not to step on the wet paint.
One British newsman, told of the situation, commented, “The paint dried up but not the job.”
7. CENSUS TAKERS
Some people never feel comfortable stepping out of the crowd. They desire to be a part of, not apart from, the group. These people will only embrace the vision when the majority does. They are never in front.
True leaders are always in the minority because they are thinking ahead of the present majority. Even when the majority catches up, these leaders will have moved ahead and so, again, will be in the minority.
8. PROBLEM PERCEIVERS
Some people can see a problem in every solution. Usually obstacles are the things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. Interestingly, some people think the ability to see problems is a mark of maturity. Not so. It’s the mark of a person without a vision. These people abort great visions by presenting problems without any solutions.
Cardinal John Henry Newman said that nothing would get done at all if a man waited until he could do something so well that no one could find fault with it.
9. SELF-SEEKERS
People who live for themselves are in a mighty small business. They also never accomplish much. Great goals are only reached by the united effort of many. Selfish people are vision busters.
10. FAILURE FORECASTERS
Some people have a faculty for touching the wrong keys. From the finest instrument, they extract only discord. All their songs are in a minor key. They send the note of pessimism everywhere. The shadows dominate all their pictures. Their outlook is always gloomy, times are always bad, and money is tight. Everything in them seems to be contracting; nothing in their lives expands or grows.
These people are like the man who gathered with many others at the Hudson River to see the first steamship launched. He kept saying, “They’ll never get her going. They’ll never get her going.” But they did. The steamship belched and moved out fast. Immediately the same man said, “They’ll never get her stopped. They’ll never get her stopped.”
I love the Chinese proverb that states, “Man who says, ‘It cannot be done’ should not interrupt man who is doing it.”
Developing the Leader Within You & Developing the Leaders Around You
John C. Maxwell
