Unified By a Threat

Unified By Threats?
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

JFK's vision of putting a man on the moon unified a nation towards a goal. Unification can be created through a vision or a threat. Remember the 9/11 bombings of the Twin Towers? What happened immediately after? All of a sudden everyone was nice to each other in America, everybody was patriotic; flags soared throughout our nation. Why? Because, a threat was encountered.

This interesting facet of human behavior works every time in most any situation. Take yourself for example. Have you ever felt lost? Or felt fragmented? Or unmotivated? Probably because there was no vision beyond your current state, or no impending threat. If we can find ways to create compelling visions, or artificial threats we can unify ourselves, and act as a whole towards an objective. Ken Wilber, American Philosopher, said that we seek "self realization, through self-transcendence;" in a way this exactly what we're talking about here.

Competition in essence in its basic form uses this model. Especially team sports where you're working towards a goal beyond yourself. In team sports you not only have a compelling vision to win, but you also have a powerful threat - the opposing team.

How about sales? In a sales you can establish immediate rapport by finding a common vision or threat with your client. Some sales forces already do something similar. For example, some finance companies will have the sales agent play the role of "being on your side" against the corporate presidents that will either deny or approve you. The sales agent becomes a team with you against the threat of the fickle executives.

The ultimate utopian vision of world peace and harmony would easily occur spontaneously upon the threat from outside our planet. If we were suddenly under attack by aliens....wallah!...the world would unify and differences, inadequacies, beliefs, history, and everything else would vanish and we would come together.

Angel Armendariz

The Visionary Returns

I was asked by a reader to elaborate on the Vision theme. Let me start by referring to the value of a vision. According to Jack Welch, legendary GE CEO, in his words, when asked what he most looks for when promoting someone, "You clearly want someone who can articulate a vision. They have to have enormous energy and the incredible ability to energize others."

To articulate a powerful vision start with yourself. In a sense you have to play with your mind until you see what clicks. I referred in my previous blog post to coming up with emotional "why's" that would give you a vision. Maybe I should give you some of my "why's." One of my why's is that I desire to help people realize the divinity, value, and uniqueness they harbor. Another of my why's is that I would love to help kids realize their potential, and improve educational systems to nurture a more powerful mind & body.

I have many why's, however, from these 2 why's you start to see how I create my vision. A vision as to what I must do. A vision as to what I must become. A vision as to what I must improve on personally; including abilities, capacities, and so on. The vision created allows me to create scenario's that I wish to become reality, say 5-10 years from now.

I then give the vision life by animating it with the actions I'll be taking, the people I will be around, and the service I'll be providing. This is incredibly compelling to me, because it is fused with my personal why's.

Now the thing is that my "why's" probably mean nothing to you...at least maybe not at an emotional level. Everyone has sufficient why's in their lives, that give them the resource to galvanize the internal fire of passion.

For example, Suze Orman, the financial lady on T.V. is an incredibly passionate person. This isn't merely a good acting job though; she is truly passionate about helping people w/ their finances. She relates a story from her childhood in an interview from Carmine Gallo's book, 10 Simple Secrets of The World's Greatest Communicators, of having the stigma and scars of growing up poor and watching her father fail at business.

In one particular incident her father ran into a burning building to retrieve a cash register w/ less than $100; he almost lost his life.
These emotional why's gave Suzy a vision of what she had to do...the emotion that feels when she tries to help people avoid the pain she went through as a child.

So the emotional why's can be from your life's experinces or simply a compelling imagined future that makes your heart race, and makes you feel limitless and passionate. It begins with learning more about yourself. Instead of simply following the old trodden paths for the sake of following something.

-Angel Armendariz

Vision - The Secret Formula - For Sales/Communication

John Chamber, CEO Cisco Systems, is a renowned tech leader. He's been described as a "visionary," and his keynote speeches are annotated epics of mass hysteria. Alright I'm exaggerating a little, however, Mr. Chamber's is commonly described with adjectives such as "electrifying" and "passionate." I saw a video of him posted online, from Sept. 2006. I definitely saw a charismatic leader with a clear vision.

Vision is, according to many wise individuals, the power behind passion and results. Arnold Schwarzenneger said, "If you show people what's coming and how to get there, it changes everything." Vision is also what Arnold used to propel him to bodybuilding glory; he used to visualize becoming Mr. Universe as early as age 15, and by age 20 realized his vision become manifest.

I think we can start to see a clear pattern here. But wait...vision can't be everything...sure it sounds inspiring, but so what? Well, let me give you another good example. USAA is a privately held insurance company w/ its main headquarters in San Antonio, TX. They are ranked #1 or close to #1 in almost every meaningful business category; from customer service, to employee turnover.

Having worked their many years back, I got some insight into this highly acclaimed organization. USAA is, pardon the word, "cult-like," in the sense that it galvanizes and makes people feel as though they are part of a larger whole. The first 2 weeks of a new-hires orientation are spent in "corporate culture." They drill into the minds of every employee a vision that is so powerful, that their turnover ration is ridiculously low. They are a perfect example of what a properly used vision belief can do.

The science behind success is not to be forgotten; i.e., product development, self-discipline, etc. Vision, however, being somewhat intangible should be the underlying foundation of everything that intends on achieving great heights. A compelling vision is formed by having numerous "why's." This means having emotional ties to the vision...all the reasons why it has to be such and such way. Leverage the power of vision in your own self for your goals, leverage it to inspire the groups you belong to, and use it to lead organizational change if you're a leader.