Nature, my teacher - Lesson #1: Don’t merely look, Visualize!
Rajani R Shailender
Global Vice President, Automotive Sector Lead - Concentrix | Instructor at UCSC Silicon Valley Extension | Advisory Board Member UCR | Change Agent
A true leader recognizes potential, looks beyond what is immediately visible to the naked eye, and recognizes that all it takes is time, effort, and a little bit of faith to realize the “art of the possible”.
Visualizing our future helps us focus on and accelerate the path to achieving long term goals. Visualization is a very powerful tool that helps us plan our strategy, anticipate challenges & develop workarounds, and condition our brain to see, hear, and feel the success before it happens.
Visualization in 3 easy steps:
1.??Create a vision board: Engage all five senses and articulate your goal. Think of the physical, emotional, and financial impact of achieving your goal. Display your vision board prominently and revisit it every day – draw motivation and energy from it regularly.
2.??Build a success map: Make a detailed list of all the tasks that you need to do to achieve your goal. Anticipate blockers and disruptors. Generate workarounds. Design a “Plan B” and a “Plan C”. Identify the resources you can tap into to achieve your goals and allies that will make the path easier.
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3.??Track your progress: Celebrate successes, however miniscule. Accept setbacks and implement your workarounds. Pivot as needed but never lose sight of the goal. Revisit the emotion attached to the outcome regularly and gain strength from it.
?Let us look at a real-life example in the business world where visualization has paid rich dividends. In 2009 India Inc. was shocked by the news of financial misdoings by Ramalinga Raju, the founder of Satyam Computer Services. The fortunes of the company crashed overnight, and it seemed like the end of the road for Satyam… much like the bare and leafless tree that I saw on my hike. So, when @AnandMahindra decided to acquire Satyam, the business world watched with thinly veiled skepticism! Anand, being the visionary that he is, put @CPGurnani at the helm of the newly acquired company, and the rest, as they say, is history! With incredible foresight, planning and execution, CP transformed a dying brand into one of the top ranked Indian IT services players. This incredible turnaround story has been documented in a Harvard Business School case study. Here are a couple of articles that will shed some light on the power of visualization and the transformational journey from Satyam to Tech Mahindra:
?So let us learn to accept that there will be times when trees will be bare and look forward to the time when they will bear fruit and provide shade. Let us visualize a better future and work towards achieving our goals!
?I’d love to hear from you. Have there been occasions in your life when someone you know has looked beyond the obvious and gone on to visualize and achieve the “impossible”? Tag this visionary in your comments and let them know that they are appreciated!
Principal Scientific Manager @ Genentech | Product Quality & Occupational Toxicology (PQOT)
2 年Fabulous!! Wish more leaders and individual contributors would follow this mantra!
In the early 70s Kolkata had a famous paediatrician, Dr.Khirod Choudhury. I was a seemingly sickly child, bouncing from one doctor to the other, with diagnoses ranging from looks-like TB to suspected hole-in-the heart. My parents who had lost two children, one before and one after me, were understandably distraught. The good doctor examined me at length, read the reports, asked many questions gently and with humor. And then told my father in Bengali "eke football aar dowda dowdi korao. Aar sondesh khavao" - make him run around and play football. And feed him sondesh. He helped my parents calm down think positively and visualize what could be. They never looked back after that.
Lead Business Accountability Specialist @ Wells Fargo | Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM)
2 年Yes! I have seen one such visionary in my own work place, #wellsfargo , and he is Chintan Mehta . He and his able team have transformed the company’s innovation and digital footprint all thanks to their ability to visualize, innovate and charge forward!!!
Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Engineering and Management Leader in a Regulated Industry
2 年Awesome thoughts, Rajani, especially the one about the vision boards. The one thing I add is to make one for personal growth as well. All those concepts you talked about—putting the opportunities and obstacles, planning for alternatives, etc—are also valuable for personal projects as well.