Leadership, Vision & The Inner Voice, Pt. 1

"Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one, more important, which he gives to himself."
Gibbon

In connection with the previous post, "The Social Disease of Our Time," I diagnosed a major problem existing in our culture today, and some examples of its devastating effects. This problem has been identified as short-term thinking. Here I will identify the process for Mastering the Context, beginning with one of the most important, fundamentally life-changing tools we have in fighting this social plague and in getting ourselves, our families and our communities back on the road to recovery. This is the What, Why and How of The Inner Voice.

WHAT:

Within all of us there is a voice which acts as an internal commentary on everything we see, hear, feel or do. Imagine you're the pilot of your own aircraft trying to land your plane at LAX. Having lived in Southern California, I know not to go near this airport in Los Angeles if I'm trying to get somewhere in a hurry. This airport and the sky above this airport are some of the busiest in the world. Imagine trying to navigate your aircraft through these busy skies with massive jet liners coming and going round the clock, with out the help and guidance of the air traffic control tower and the specialists inside. Even worse, think of trying to land your aircraft amongst such chaos without this essential element. Trying to bypass this process of establishing your position, listening for guidance, and acting on this guidance, would be short-term thinking and therefore lead to disaster and destruction.

The Leadership process encourages us to discover our inner voice, listen to what it is saying, and create a new voice based on values rather than circumstances; on principles rather than immediate judgments.

The book of Proverbs 30:5 says, "Every promise of God proves true; he protects everyone who runs to him for help." Where does a leader’s vision come from? According to John Maxwell, to find your vision, you must listen to:

The Inner Voice: Vision starts within. Do you know what your life’s mission is? If what you’re pursuing in life doesn’t come from the depths of who you are and what you believe, you will not be able to accomplish it.

The Unhappy Voice: Where does inspiration for great ideas come from? From noticing what doesn’t work. Discontent with the status quo is a great catalyst for vision. No great leader in history has fought to prevent change.

The Successful Voice: Nobody can accomplish great things alone. If you want to lead others to greatness, find a good mentor, an advisor who can help you sharpen your vision.

The Higher Voice: Don’t let your vision be confined by your own limited capabilities. A truly valuable vision must have God in it. Only He knows what you’re really capable of. Have you looked beyond yourself, even beyond your own lifetime as you’ve sought your vision? If not, you may be missing the true potential of your life."

Bennis says, "A part of whole-brain thinking includes learning to trust what Emerson called the 'blessed impulse,' the hunch, the vision that shows you in a flash the absolutely right thing to do. Everyone has these visions; leaders learn to trust them."

Dr. W. Edwards Deming, revolutionized manufacturing, management, and quality control through creating systems focused on "Kaizen," which is Japanese for continuous improvement. Dr. Deming did this by creating the "Deming Cycle," which consists of Plan, Do, Check, Act. Best selling author Orrin Woodward uses a similar cycle called Plan, Do, Check, Adjust. The pre-cursor to this whole process is developing discernment of the inner voice through reading, listening, acting and meditating on the flashes of God-given inspiration in order to develop a compelling enough vision for yourself and others to boldly peruse.

As we can see, this inner voice is what guides us to our vision. It also helps us to be decisive and make adjustments based on what's right in achieving our purpose. It shows us our purpose through flashes of inspiration and impulses and most importantly it comes from an all knowing, all powerful, all loving and of coarse ever present, God.

To close this first post of the "What" of the inner voice, I'd like to transition to the next post of the "Why" by quoting William James. "I have often thought that the best way to define a man's character would be to seek out the particular mental or moral attitude in which, when it came upon him, he felt himself most deeply and intensively active and alive. At such moments, there is a voice inside which speaks and says, 'This is the real me.'"

Keep moving forward,

Rusty Robson