Visionary or Whatisionary?
I heard the most wonderful expression the other day: “Whatisionary.” Not sure who invented, and I certainly can’t take credit for it, but it underscores the difference between those who drive change and those who maintain status quo. The Whatisionary observes, records and reports on What Is. Current reality. The state of things. The Visionary sees things as they could be – and moves us in that direction through inspiring us with her vision.
And here’s the interesting thing underneath: Anything that is right now, was once envisioned by someone who thought it into being. Every device, every technology, every app we use right now, was first a thought and then a design and then a plan developed by someone. Every building we see, every corporation we buy products from – was first a thought in someone’s mind. Someone who refused to take Current Reality all that seriously, but used it as a launching point for creating a new reality. Henry Ford once famously said: “If I had asked my customers what they really wanted, they would have said: ‘faster horses’.” He intuited what people really wanted, imagined what form it could take, and envisioned a reality where this had already happened.
Those who look obsessively at the past – are doomed to repeat the past. Those who look at current reality and assume that this is all there is – will only reinforce current reality. It it only those who go from What Was/What Is to What Could Be – who change their circumstances, and sometimes the very world itself.