Calling All Visionaries

Welcome to my first blog posting! I’m exciting about sharing some new ideas with you. What does “visionary” mean to you?  I’d love to hear from you.  I’ve always thought of myself as a visionary.  Have you ever thought of yourself this way? Are you an innovator or a risk taker?  Are you focused on solutions and on creating a positive future, despite all the crises we see around us today?  Do you like to provide new insights on either personal growth or current events, or both?

To me, visionaries are spiritual pioneers who bring a new, compelling picture of the future into the present to meet people’s real needs. This last part—meeting real needs—is essential.  Practical visionaries courageously follow an inner sense of direction and think creatively.  They embrace challenges and change and are energized by them. They focus on opportunities and solutions, not problems.  Most of my good friends are visionaries in various fields.  Sometimes we’re too ahead of our time, and sometimes we get it just right.

On our last book tour, my husband and I were scheduled to do a major radio interview in San Francisco about spirituality and social change. As we were driving from Oregon on the main north/south highway toward San Francisco, we suddenly saw smoke and flames leaping high into the sky ahead.

A huge forest fire was raging right in front of us. Soon it filled the whole sky, and smoke choked our throats. The cars ahead of us slowed down and came to a complete stop. The four-lane highway became a parking lot, and people were getting out of their cars and trying to figure out what to do.

We asked a policeman if he knew when they’d have the fire under control. He said that it could take hours or even until the morning. He suggested that we leave our cars, get some coffee or food at a nearby restaurant for a few hours, and maybe find a hotel for the night. Most people followed his advice.

We were really concerned because we had only had a few hours to make it to San Francisco for our interview. We couldn’t believe that there was no alternative. We went into the local town to find a map and talk to locals about other routes to San Francisco. Sure enough, there was another road that went through the mountains. It was a little longer and windier than the main highway, but we decided to give it a try.

We thought that the road would be packed with other cars taking a detour from the fire on the main highway. But to our surprise, we found it was very empty!  We couldn’t believe it. This route was very beautiful and scenic and we really enjoyed it. It took a little longer than the main highway, but we made it to our interview in plenty of time.

So why had none of the other motorists taken this alternative?  For us, it seemed the obvious choice because we’ve always been practical visionaries, exploring a bigger vision and looking for alternative ways to achieve our goals—such as getting around blockages and traditional ways of doing things.  So we naturally looked for an alternative route. Most people on the main highway seemed passive, like cows contented to be herded into a blocked pasture, waiting for the authorities to tell them when they could move.

To me, this experience symbolized some key dilemmas we find ourselves in today, as we get stuck in old patterns. To be a practical visionary, you need both the vision to imagine another reality (such as an alternative route to take instead of being stuck in traffic for hours) and the practicality to find a way to make it happen (looking for maps, getting advice from the locals, and being adventurous enough to take a different route). A practical visionary synthesizes the duality of being both visionary and practical.  He or she get organized, and isn’t afraid to handle details in the service of a larger vision.

What is really needed today are visionaries who have explored new routes and new ideas and then are willing to be visible as leaders.  They need to courageously communicate their vision to others.  The world needs leaders who act altruistically from a higher vision and a spiritual motive of service—and then carry it through, regardless of the personal cost.

There are plenty of visionaries with grand ideas and endless words about the future, who can’t seem to really do something. They never take effective action to meet real human needs. And there are also plenty of practical people who are good at doing things the same old way they’ve always been done–with the same old problems resulting.  But practical visionaries who are willing to step forward as leaders are what is really needed today.

This is why I’ll be offering a Visionary Leadership training beginning March 19 in the San Francisco area. You can attend the first weekend, or all three. I want to help people deepen their spiritual life so they can make a more effective contribution to the world.  Join me and explore your deepest dreams and highest goals—and discover new resources and tools to achieve them! (www.thepracticalvisionary.org; www.visionarylead.org). –By Corinne McLaughlin

 

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