The Vision Pioneers Blog

by Miriam Garvi

More and more business concepts these days are focused on accelerating the pace so as to generate returns as swiftly as possible to keep the wheels spinning. As we become more and more skilled at streamlining production in view of controlling the outcome, natural diversity is lost to the benefit of a few «gorilla ideas» that turn all attention towards the harvest.

As nature changes with the season, we are reminded that there is still a time to sow, a time to grow, a time to reap. With the sowing of new seeds we may come to discover new potential. While things grow and mature we may take on and learn to address new challenges. And with the harvest comes the contentment of a job well done as we enjoy the fruits of what we have planted.

There is something both inspiring and comforting about the changing of seasons as we are awakened yet again to new life.

by Miriam Garvi

I am often fascinated by the artwork that comes alive on the celestial canvas where thunderstorms come and go, displaying their strength and power.

Large organizations and institutions pride themselves on size or resource abundance. But there is a strength that goes beyond numbers. When people and vision are interwoven into one organism with different members, an entity - as small and insignificant as it may seem - will come alive with the pulse and the heartbeat that provide a continuous source of strength as the world changes.

The ensuing satisfaction is a priceless sense of meaning.

by Miriam Garvi

This week I am writing from the red sands of the Sahel.

Coming to this part of Africa is like traveling to distant times where life was about sustenance and survival, with no advanced technology to govern our existence. It brings out what I take for granted in everyday life, reminding me again of the framed existence of my Western mind.

In order to conceive of anything that is truly new, we need the courage to go beyond our realities framed by technology, culture and experience and move up to a level where there is freedom to ask a simple question: if nothing existed, how then would we like things to be?

Vision pioneering is about starting from the invisible where there is freedom to envision the qualities we are looking for. It is with such clarity that we can use our knowledge and potential to achieve something that will enrich our existence.

by Miriam Garvi

Last night I was listening to a seminar on modern leadership and the importance of setting magnetic goals.

Nowadays we look to the world of elite sports for leadership guidance and inspiration, a world where years of hard work and training are directed towards that single moment where everything must come together in an outstanding performance. So much of leadership practice seems to be bent on «pumping up our emotions», trying to create a positive emotional balance so as to motivate people to achieve pre-set targets.

When business is defined as climbing new peaks, then what we need from leadership really is quite simple: making people believe in the attainability of the seemingly unattainable and motivating people to stretch themselves so as to reach that target. With the help of visualization techniques and positive thinking, it becomes a matter of pumping up emotions as we push for new records.

But where is the guidance in the emotional magnetism of «feel good» targets? Such coaching cannot help us find the right direction, but it can boost our performance once we know where we want to go.

As I wrote in my previous post Sheltered moments, true progress can never be achieved unless we know the whys of where we are heading. And it requires the kind of dedication to a vision that transcends the volatility of our emotions, where people are committed to making a difference even in the face of adversity because they value the sense of meaning that is generated in the engagement.

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“The leader sees work as part of a larger mission - make a better society for all (institution builder).”

- Georges F. Doriot

(find book here)

by Miriam Garvi

This week’s news have been dominated by the less flattering aspects of ethanol production and combustion.

Since the mass diffusion of the car, radical ideas on how to address everyday needs of transportation and mobility are rare to come by - despite undesirables such as traffic congestion and pollution. As ‘inconvenient truths’ fuel anti-global warming trends, biofuels are being promoted as the sound alternative for any citizen adhering to social responsibility.

But how can ethanol production be a sustainable solution when it is so inefficient that more energy has to be put into the process than what comes out of it? Or when agricultural land is reclaimed for biofuel production thus threatening to make large parts of the world’s poorer, rural population dependent on the World Food Program?

Is this the best we can do? Economic interests aside, when fear drives innovation we are walking backwards into the future. We find ourselves embracing solutions which are not sustainable in the wider perspective. And which upon careful scrutiny may reveal themselves to do as much harm as good - depending on whose interests and needs are in focus.

Vision pioneering is about taking radical steps towards improved fulfillment, driven by a vision of the purposeful rather than avoidance strategies. There can be no progressive thinking unless we shift focus from the products and technologies that we know to those invisible qualities we want to enjoy.

by Miriam Garvi

I once read an article by professor Peter Pruzan where he makes this reflection:

“With the aid of our time’s alchemists - economists - money has been transmuted from a means to the end.”

Let me give you a little illustration of this point. As I was interviewing various people for my dissertation, I sat down with an investment manager at the Skandia Group, an international savings company. When asked what his team were all about, the answer was plain and simple; «We’re small and square - money for our pension beneficiaries, money for our pension beneficiaries, money for our pension beneficiaries…». Small and square? Now there’s an answer that’ll fit right into a business growth matrix or a market plan!

It is amazing how the ‘language of money’ narrows down possible options to one single end, namely maximizing profit - or to be more up-to-date these days, increasing shareholder value. This language makes no room for any reflections on whether +5% is the kind of fulfilment we’re looking for or if it is in fact merely a means for developing and sustaining what we are doing. If it is the latter, then the language of money is doing us the disservice of diverting focus away from the fundamental things in business and life alike, by reducing what we talk about and what we think counts to the measurable and simplistic.

A man with a vision once said: “Business is not about dollars and cents so much as about building for the future.” That future calls us to go beyond the measurable and simplistic and start thinking about the bigger picture.

by Miriam Garvi

Earlier this week I was in Norway doing research for a book project I’ve been working on. Among the people I met was an elderly couple who had spent most of their working lives pioneering hospital care in the mountain areas of Taiwan.

They told me the story of how what is today a modern teaching hospital started with one man who took it upon himself to set up a small ‘treatment center’ of bamboo huts even though he had no other resources than his own drive and determination to do what was needed.

Today taking a professional stance often translates into arm’s length involvement. But then we forget something fundamental: one person’s dedication may be all it takes to set something in motion that can have a strong impact once it comes to fruition.

by Miriam Garvi

In our society, it seems as if the real winners are never those who take the first step. Most money is made by those deft enough to know exactly the right moment to move in and beat others at their own game. Business is for the survival of the fittest - those who have the stamina for playing the ‘gorilla game’.

But who defines winning? And who defines the prize? Chalking up a new sales record is an achievement, but then what? As shown by many a public company these days, it is no longer enough to be profitable - you need to keep exceeding expectations that are fueled by past successes. Expected growth is the curse of success.

It takes courage and conviction not to be drawn into this spiral. But if we are to see other qualities than short-term achievement we need visions that go beyond heeding to the loud demands and expectations of markets and institutions.

by Miriam Garvi

The other day I read about another initiative in alleviating world poverty. It seems that every new initiative these days involves the diffusion of some kind of golden recipe - as in ‘alleviating poverty through technology’ or technology saves the world. This time, the recipe was microfranchising: “The idea is to replicate sound business models and, consequently, to provide microentrepreneurs in developing countries with training and the necessary assistance for success.”

I could write about how such initiatives reek of a neo-colonialistic attitude where the Westerner knows how money is made and so our models of thinking are imposed on other populations without regard nor appreciation for their cultural settings. But today I will draw the parallel to what is happening in other areas of business life. In my study of venture capital, it became clear that a streamlining way-of-thinking is dominating business thinking today. By streamlining I mean these kinds of ready-made formulas, of ‘best practice’, of ‘business recipes for success’, of ’success factors’ - whatever we choose to call them - which are imposed on new ideas, snuffing the flame. As I wrote in the final pages of my dissertation, “it would be a loss indeed if venture capital [or micro finance for that matter or any other service aimed at promoting new initiatives] would mean the death of visions and ideas that can change our conception of the system. Without them, there would be little new to refine and we might never come to enjoy what we have yet to discover.”

It is time we start thinking about the implications of snuffing out the visionary flame with pre-made, easy-to-replicate business models that are designed with one thing in mind: namely how to streamline a business concept so as to maximize its perceived value on a financial market.