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In Leadership, Dreams Are The Stuff That Great Results Are Made
By Brent Filson, Sat Dec 10th
PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished innewsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided tothe author, and it appears with the included copyright, resourcebox and live web site link. Email notice of intent to publish isappreciated but not required: mail to: brent@actionleadership.com Word count: 919 Summary: The importance of motivation in leadership cannot bedenied. But most leaders overlook a critical component ofmotivation, the human dream. The article describes what dreamsreally mean in the realm of leadership.
In Leadership, Dreams Are The Stuff That Great Results Are MadeOf by Brent Filson Leadership is motivational or it's stumbling in the dark. Thebest leaders don't order people to do a job, the best leadersmotivate people to want to do the job. The trouble is the vast majority of leaders don't delve into thedeep aspects of human motivation and so are unable to motivatepeople effectively. Drill down through goals and aims and aspirations and ambitionsand you hit the bedrock of motivation, the dream. Many leadersfail to take it into account. Dreams are not goals and aims. Goals are the results towardwhich efforts are directed. The realization of a dream mightcontain goals, which can be stepping stones on the way to theattaining dreams. But the attainment of a goal does notnecessarily result in the attainment of a dream. For instance, Martin Luther King did not say, "I have a goal."Or "I have an aim." The power of that speech was in the "I havea dream". Dreams are not aspirations and ambitions. Aspirations andambitions are strong desires to achieve something. King didn'tsay he had an aspiration or ambition that " ....one day thisnation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men arecreated equal.'" He said he had a dream. If you are a leader speaking to people's aspirations andambitions, you are speaking to something that motivates them,yes; but you are not necessarily tapping into the heartwood oftheir motivation. After all, one might aspire or be ambitious to achieve a dream.But one's aspiration and ambition may also be connected tothings of lesser importance than a dream. A dream embraces our most cherished longings. It embodies ourvery identity. We often won't feel fulfilled as human beingsuntil we realize our dreams. If leaders are avoiding people's dreams, if leaders are simplysetting goals (as important as goals are), they miss the best ofopportunities to help those people take ardent action to achievegreat results. When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independencethat "Governments derive their just powers from the consent ofthe governed," he was writing about a dream. Not one Europeangovernment at that time was a democracy. There had been few truedemocracies in the West since the fall of the Athenian democracymore than 2,000 thousand years before. But Jefferson's "dream"motivated people to take action. In fact, that dream motivatespeople to act around the world today. Understand the dreams of the people you lead. People will nottell you what they dream until they trust you. They won't trustyou until they feel that you can help them attain their dreams.Acquiring
that understanding can cement a deep, emotional bondbetween you. Dreams are not fantasies. Going to the mountain may be a dream.Standing on the mountain may be a dream. On the other hand,having the mountain come to us is a fantasy. Dreams can berealized, fantasies can't. Focus on dreams, on what isobjectively achievable, not on fantasies. Dreams are positive, uplifting. The Old English word "dream"means "joy, music, and noise-making." But that positive,inspirational quality can have negative effects on anorganization. Negative dreams can damage an organization. For instance,union/management issues are often particularly inflammatorybecause of conflicting dreams, of both sides seeing the other as"the enemy." Your audience wanting to go back to the "good olddays" can be a negative dream. Only a trusted leader can helppeople reshape their dreams. Most people have a dream for their life and work. Even people inabject circumstances, such as prisons and concentration camps,dream of a fulfilling existence beyond their presentcircumstances. If they lose their dreams, they lose an essentialquality of their humanity. People won't be transformed by your leadership if you have a lowopinion of and low expectations for their dream and/or if theyare convinced that you can't help them attain that dream. Many people don't consciously realize what they dream. But thatdoesn't mean that they are not influenced by their subconsciousdream. A subconscious dream can motivate people to act withouttheir clearly understanding why they are acting. Have the peopleyou lead be fully conscious of the content and meaning of theirdream or risk having your organization's activities be impededby a dimly perceived yet none-the-less potent dream. Each dream has a price. It's one thing to think it. It's anotherthing to do it. Know the price people will have to pay to attaintheir dream. Have them understand the price. As a leader, dream with the people! Without hitching our wagonsto stars, the wagons and the stars lose their true meaning inour lives. Dreams give meaning to emotion and purpose to action. People whobelieve they're living their dream see their jobs as part of ahigher cause and will work accordingly. Conversely, people whosee their jobs as antithetical to their dream, may see that workas oppressive; and they too will work accordingly. Dreams are supreme reality. Dream graffiti on a Paris wallduring the 1968 student rebellion said, "Be realistic: Do theimpossible!" 2005 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THELEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TOGIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of TheFilson Leadership Group, Inc. – and for more than 20 years hasbeen helping leaders of top companies worldwide get audaciousresults. Sign up for his free leadership e-zine and get a freewhite paper: "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," athttp://www.actionleadership.com About the author:The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THELEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TOGIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is helping leaders of topcompanies worldwide get audacious results. Sign up for his freeleadership e-zine and get a free white paper: "49 Ways To TurnAction Into Results," at http://www.actionleadership.com
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