YOU MUST BE ABLE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION!
And the question is: WHAT'S THE DREAM?
Plan.
Vision.
Brand statement.
Animating idea.
Beliefs.
All 5 of these notions are important. (Very important.) But none compare with: WHAT'S THE DREAM?
Great Performances are the result of a DREAM. (And, to be sure, a helluva lot of hard work and good luck and ... and ...)
But "it" begins with and is sustained by a ... DREAM.
A DREAM is "required" for an Awesome Business Process Re-definition project. For a training course. For a Great Night ($300 in tips) ... Waiting Tables.
I will go so far as to say that any dream-free project/performance will be less than memorable. "Efficient"? Quite possibly. "Useful"? Quite possibly. "Entertaining"? Quite possibly. But ... RATTLES THE EARTH? Not without the ... DREAM.
Can DREAMS be ... "worked on"?
Absolutely!
I give about 75 speeches a year. Each begins and ends with ... THE DREAM. I start by imagining myself in the conference room-auditorium a month hence, facing 60 or 6,000 people. I AM (I truly am!!) DESPERATE TO MAKE A MARK, LEAVE A MEMORABLE, STARTLING, UPLIFTING CALL-TO-ARMS BEHIND. I cogitate and meditate on ... THE DREAM. An image eventually begins to appear (based on a boatload of research and an eon of enforced intuitive reflection). As the image sharpens (THE DREAM), I work like the devil over the next several days or weeks on the details (95% of my effort). When I'm "finished," I ask myself if the PowerPoint I've prepared as my skeleton ... Measures Up To The Dream? (And then I adjust and adjust and adjust ... and sometimes start over ... if The Dream has become blurred by too many "clever distractions.") Finally, it's a few minutes to show time. As I meditate back stage, I am working internally on only one thing: AM I CLEAR ON THE ... DREAM? IS THE DREAM CLEAR? And it begins. NOW I MUST CONNECT!!! I must ... CONVEY THE DREAM ... one person at a time!!! ... even in that audience of 6,000. (Message: Dreams are "sold" retail, not wholesale. ONE-AT-A-TIME. UP-CLOSE-AND-PERSONAL. Aside: That includes Blogging?!)
So ... imagine your current project.
WHAT'S THE DREAM?