Vetting a vision takes contemplation, perspective, feedback and refinement. Once established, it becomes a beacon by which everything else is connected. Setting goals toward realizing that vision takes comparable discipline.
When you consider the dynamics that impact running a business – employees, clients, vendors, economies, markets, competitors, governments, technologies – it is amazing that any goal gets accomplished. We spend a lot of time adjusting our plans, sometimes as intentional correction and usually in response to circumstances outside our control. Recognizing events, anticipated or not, and evaluating what is working and what should be abandoned is a full-time occupation for a CEO.
Discernment and flexibility are two leadership characteristics that serve well in today’s world.
Some of us resist change, thinking if we persevere that eventually the rest of the world will correct itself and meet us back on course. Some of us are thoroughly convinced that our ingenious strategies cannot fail. Some of us simply do not like the idea of being proven wrong. Heard often around our Convene Forum table is, “My biggest problems started out as great ideas!”.
The resistance we encounter is often God’s merciful nature keeping us from heading down a direction that is less than ideal or potentially catastrophic. When we hit an obstacle, we can react by charging harder or devising a way around or over the wall. Or we can pause, pray, assess reality and adjust our goal, but not our vision.
When we have a group of trusted advisors who know our hearts, that change in strategy is heard, questioned, clarified, affirmed and refocused. All of this helps us to move forward until the next adjustment is required.
Before becoming a Convene Chair, Joe gained thirty years of business experience in the construction and real estate development industries. After gaining much knowledge he started his own construction company, growing the business from a specialized subcontracting business into multiple entities.