Reflections in the afternoon

Book Introduction

It is said that the Philippines as a whole suffer from a lack of vision. We are afraid that this does not apply to us as individuals, for we as a people have many aspirations, dreams, and wishes.  As a child the most common question that I used to hear is “what do you want to be when you grow up.  My two-year old granddaughter replied to this query by saying “I want to be a girl” Then sensing from the reaction of her mother and audience she corrected herself  “Noh, I want to be a lady.

No, we do not lack ambition nor we as a people lack the vision.  Dr. Jose Rizal, our National Hero wrote an essay, entitled “The Philippines, a Century Hence.” It is a vision of a progressive, “free” Filipinos and a respected member of the human race.  The driving force in the 100 years of local revolts against the Spanish rule was the vision of a free country.  The Filipinos are doing well abroad competing with the best entrepreneurs, executives, engineers, teachers, medical practitioners, etc. because they are propelled by dreams and visions for themselves and their families.  Why do we see endless lines to foreign embassies, in spite of numerous sad stories of tragedy that befall our OFWs.  Is it because they have dreams and     vision of a better life?  It seems therefore, that we should learn and learn hard and fast how to turn these burning motivation and drive to convert our dreams, wishes and visions to concrete realities.

Creative Problem Solving and Breakthrough Thinking tools force us to look at our challenges from a different perspective. By encouraging us to keep digging deeper into our challenge, they help us discover the power that is within each of us to overcome life's challenges. They help us uncover our hidden dreams and the steps we need to take to make our vision for our life a reality.

Some visions are personal, some are borne from the struggle to survive. Some visions save countries while others find new ways of improving our daily lives. But the most important aspect of a vision is the person, or people, who raise it up for others to see. While "envisioners" are characterized as the seekers and wonderers, the vision itself must be grounded on the knowledge that all goals are attainable, if only one can muster the focus in their lives to seek them out. -- Wyman

“Visioning means imagining. At first generally, and then, with increasing specificity, what you really want. That is what you really want. Not what someone else has taught you to want and not what you have learned to settle for. Visioning means taking off all of the constraints of assumed feasibility, of disbelief and past disappointments and letting your mind dwell upon its most noble, treasured, uplifting dreams. Some people, especially young people, engage in visioning with enthusiasm and ease. Some people find the exercise of visioning painful because a glowing picture of what could be makes what is all the more intolerable. Some people would never admit to their visions for fear of being thought impractical or unrealistic.  And some people have been so crushed by their experience of the world that they can only stand to explain why any vision is impossible.

Queen Elizabeth of England (1533-1603), reeling from a recent assassination wound, in pain from a jilted love affair, and with the powerful Spanish Armada bombarding the shores of England was despairing on her lot and on the verge of giving up.  His adviser very wisely said.  “You are the Queen and this I know, each man acts according to its own nature. Some dump from the terror, some flee, some hide, and some spread their wings like eagles and soar from the wind of ruins.”  The rest was history, Queen Elizabeth defeated the most powerful country of that time.

Vision does need to be balanced with skepticism. We should say immediately, for the sake of the skeptics, that we do not believe that it is possible for the world to envision its way to a sustainable future. Vision without action is useless, but action without vision does not know where to go or how to go there. Vision is absolutely necessary to guide and motivate action.

More than that, vision when widely shared and firmly kept in sight brings into being new systems. We mean that literally. Within the physical limits of space, time, material and energy, visionary human intentions can bring forth not only new information, new behavior, new knowledge and new technology, but eventually new social institutions, new physical structures and new powers within human beings.

A Case for learning Envisioning Skills

A sustainable world can never come into being if it cannot be envisioned. The vision must be built up from the contribution of many people before it is complete and compelling.” - Meadows, Donnella H., Dennis L. Meadows and Jørgen Randers Via: Parking Lot Blog

If vision is as important to the success of leaders and their organizations as many leadership experts suggest, effective methods for teaching visioning and determining antecedents of visioning skill are critical future issues.

Recent research suggests that visioning is a skill that can be learned, but the researchers disagree on the best learning model.  Management consultant and author, Burt Nanus describes a systematic approach that requires an assessment of barriers before the visioning takes place.  This method is ideal for some who need a directed study and can approach visioning with a preconceived notion of what type of vision is realistic.

Nearly all management scholars who conducted surveys and tests on vision skills and practices from 1994 to present day agree on its importance for effective leadership.  Although they argue over methodology and training paradigms, they agree that "envisioning" is more than simple time or task management.  While vision itself is a hypothetical cognitive thought process that, at minimum, clarifies strategic opportunities, envisioning skill can help individuals pull together beliefs, self images, and resources that can enhance personal as well as organizational long-term goal setting.

Envisioning skill also comprises more than reading or attending seminars.  All research and testimonial indicate that commitment to vigilant practice is the best pathway to making envisioning skill a powerful tool.

This book uses techniques of scenario planning and organizational learning to guide the reader through the complex structure of changing reality. It introduces a new approach to mapping a strategic change process.  It picked up learning experiences from the actual strategic planning processes in a country environment context dubbed as The National Strategic Planning Process 2020.  We also included here the actual experiences of visionary leaders and organizations in ministries and businesses in  their “death and resurrection” experiences. 

The authors and contributors, who have established proven track record for over 40 years share the insight, experiences, and recent lessons that reinforced new researches on this most critical aspect of shaping and influencing the future. Their combined experiences in working and leading in the corporate world as well as in non-profit organizations, churches and ministries and their lucid and practical insights and doable action plans, makes thinking futures exciting, easy and rewarding.

Rey Halili

Wyman/Russell