Vision doesn’t last and must constantly be renewed….

Over three centuries ago, a ship filled with travelers landed on the Northeast coast of America. In their first year, they established a town site. The second year, they elected a government. In the third year, the town government announced plans to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness. In the fourth year, the citizens tried to impeach their elected leaders because building a road into the wilderness was a waste of public funds. Who needed to go there anyway?

Here we have people with the vision to see 3,000 miles across an ocean and overcome great obstacles, but within a short time, they could not see five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering spirit.

Leadership is all about vision and the ability to convey it to others….

John Sculley was running Pepsi when Apple Computer’s Steve Jobs invited him to move to California in order to manage his struggling company. Sculley was faced with a real dilemma. Then Steve Jobs said, “John, do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want to change the world?” Sculley says, “That knocked the wind out of me.”

Vision has a way of doing that.

Leadership knows the inspirational value of a great story….

Was the Pocahontas legend true or not? English Captain John Smith wrote his book in 1624 about an event that had taken place in 1607. He told how the Indian princess Pocahontas was in love with him and begged her father, Chief Powhatan, head of the 32-tribe kingdom in the Chesapeake Bay area, to spare his life. Smith said Powhatan was about to kill him with a club when Pocahontas threw her body over his and begged for his life.

Now, researchers who have talked to descendants of the Powhatans learned their side of the story. We’re told they had no written language, only an oral tradition. In order to be accepted into Indian society and be adopted, one had to undergo a ritual death, then be symbolically reborn. That day in 1607, when the tribe made preparations that on the surface appeared to be an actual execution, John Smith would have misunderstood the intent and would have been terrified.

By 1624, Pocahontas was dead as were most of the others in the story, so no one refuted his tale. Historians note that Smith claimed to have been rescued by “fair maidens” on two other occasions.

By doing the math, researchers point out when Smith was rescued by Pocahontas, she would have been only 10 or 11 years old.

So, why does the myth persist? Because everyone loves a good story. (Source: Associated Press, August 30, 1998) The Bible says Jesus never taught without using stories (Mark 4:34).

Leaders know to keep the vision before their people….

A Kansas farmer was stymied. For reasons he could not fathom, both his sons had joined the Navy. Why they made that decision when they’d never even seen the ocean was beyond him. So, one day he asked his brother, a psychologist, about it. The brother was puzzled, too, until he walked into the boys’ bedroom.

On the wall inside the room was a striking painting of the sea, and in the middle of the ocean was a ship. The psychologist called his brother into the room. “Lie down on the bed,” he said. “Now get up.” The man did.

“Now,” the psychologist said, “what do you see when you get up?” The farmer father said, “I see that picture.”

The counselor said, “That’s the answer. The first thing you see when you walk into this room is this picture. The last thing you see at night and the first thing you see in the morning is this ship and the ocean.” He paused and added, “You think about a picture like that long enough and you might become a sailor too.”

That picture had been hanging there since the boys were three years old. The power of vision.

Pastor Don Davidson, who relayed that story to me a decade ago, told the men of his church, “Watch video pornography long enough and you will quickly become dissatisfied with a wife who has a few other responsibilities in life than being ‘Bambi — the love slave.'” Don adds, “Above my childhood headboard was a picture of Jesus kneeling in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. I think I pray more consistently today because my parents hung that picture there.”

What picture have you placed before your children? What vision before those who look to you for direction?

Dedication must constantly be renewed, otherwise it fizzles….

Did you know that in the Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a law enforcement officer on duty the day several students shot up the school and killed a number of teachers and students? And where was the cop all this time? A student gave the answer. The officer on duty mainly spent his time writing tickets to students who parked in faculty spaces.

Lest we condemn his preoccupation with trivial matters while neglecting his real duty of securing the campus, I wonder if you and I can comprehend the boredom that officer must have been experiencing. Day in and day out, nothing was happening. No one was misbehaving, there was no one to arrest. Gradually, the guard fell into a pattern of just marking time, and forgot what he was there for. He spent his days writing tickets to kids who parked in the wrong spots

One of the tasks of a leader is to constantly renew the focus and assignment of those who answer to us.

Sometimes, life-changing direction is given by the simplest of touches….

The American painter Benjamin West lived from 1738 until 1820. He was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, but lived most of his life in London. In fact, he helped to found the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768 and became its second president. But what I wanted to call to your attention is something that happened in his childhood that became critical in giving direction to his life.

That day, his mother was very busy and had asked young Ben to take care of his little sister Sally. Hoping to please his mother, Benjamin decided to paint a portrait of Sally. He was messy and soon paint was spattered everywhere. When his mother returned, she ignored the mess, looked over her son’s shoulder at the picture he was still working on, and said, “Why Benjamin — it’s Sally!”

And with that, she stooped down and kissed her delighted son on the cheek. Later, Benjamin West said, “That kiss made me a painter.”

What power a mother’s kiss or a friend’s encouragement carries.