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?