LEADERSHIP STRATEGY: VISION AS THE FUTURE TENSE OF VALUES

what is believed determines what can be seen

Values help people navigate successfully in unfamiliar territory. The value of values is that they have a future tense called vision. Vision and values can be compared to flip sides of the same coin.  The future of individuals (Vision) is influenced by  a synopsis of their past.

The largest single determinant of how people choose to behave today is the conscious or below conscious expectation of what the future holds in store for them . Values establish boundaries for behavior. People can’t live by rules alone— there will always be new situations not covered by a specific regulation.

Nature hates vacuums, so the space between our ears is filling 24/7 with pictures of possible futures—whether we like it or not. According to Dr. Ronald Lippitt, before the age of five we were programmed negative at a ratio of 12:1. That means left to our own devices we will sense 12 negative possibilities to every positive. That ratio is necessary because without skepticism, we’d blindly follow incompetent leaders off a cliff—like a herd of lemmings.

Most of you have experienced sleepless nights with what I refer to as “chattermind”—unproductive metal dialogues that elevates anxiety. The only way to cope with chattermind (created by our naturally skeptical predisposition) is to fill the empty space between your ears with positive images of possible futures. Positive visioning is easier said than done.

Your history stops at this very moment. Looking back, you’ve accumulated a wealth of opinions from your faith, life experiences, the opportunity to learn from centuries of recorded history, and your formal education. As adults, our memory banks are filled to overflowing—we couldn’t possibly remember or make sense of it all. So our brain adapts by distilling information into a set of fundamental beliefs that help guide us.

These beliefs form a perceptual screen—our unique way of making sense of the world. Even when looking at the same image, separate minds are incapable of reaching identical conclusions or sharing identical emotions—we each view the world through unique lenses ground by our personal experiences.

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