Heroes in our minds

Be a hero

Most of the stupendous leaders do possess neither prominent physical appearance nor vigorous personality. What distinguishes them is the clarity of thought and persuasiveness of their dreams, the depth of their dedication, and the extent of their candidness to continually learning more. They do not ‘have the answer,’ yet they seem to instill self-belief in those around them that, together, ‘we can learn whatever we need to learn in order to achieve the outcome we truly craving.’

Leaders work to build up conceptual and communication skills. Some other leaders strive to pay attention to and be glad about others and their dreams. Some use other approaches. But all are committed to working on their own growth, to ‘struggling to become a human being.’ [Roger Saillant]

Each leader think in a different way, truly valuable leaders seem to come to a shared approval of the power of holding Vision and concurrently looking deeply and honestly at current certainty. People who are truly leading seem rarely to think themselves in that way. Their focus is habitually on what needs to be done, larger ideas in which they are operating. There is always the hazard, especially for those in leadership positions, of becoming ‘heroes in their minds.’ [Bryan Smith]

James Hargreaves led a simple existence, working in the cottage industry that spinning was in the first half of the eighteenth century. His whole family was involved in spinning and weaving. In the Hargreaves’s home, fiber was spun into thread, and thread woven into cloth. In 1764, he built a machine to be operated by one person, which would spin several threads at once. Initially, it had eight spindles, but Hargreaves saw that the machine could handle many more. Hargreaves’s machines nick named after his wife Jenny, was an instant hit with the merchants and entrepreneurs.  Inevitably, others involved in the industry saw the development as a threat to their employment. In 1768, as spinning mills multiplied, Hargreaves’s neighbors attacked his house and destroyed his machines. Hargreaves took his family to Nottingham, where he founded a smaller version of the spinning mill that transformed the industry, one of the major stepping stones in the Industrial Revolution.

‘As businesses, we must be the change we want to see in the world. This will mean that most everything is up for change: our products, our process, our business models, how we manage and lead, and how we are with one another. It is not likely that we can change just bits and pieces and shift the whole’ [Roger Saillant]

It is easy to get lost in thinking about big issues such as climate change, corruption, to feel and think that there is nothing we can do, and may be even that there is nothing anyone can do. Yet big issues are not just big and they are very much right here. We are the carriers of the whole change, leadership and our own dreams to accomplish.

The building block process inside IBM: In response to a highly dynamic IT market place, IBM has defined as reference architecture for each of its product lines, categorized by major market segments. At the highest level, this architecture defines the target market, the competition, and life span of the product platform. At the design level, engineers carefully isolate product functionality and define standard interfacing.

In our real life when we come across complex scenarios and situations as a leader we need to isolate, recognize and keep our Vision intact within our thoughts and deeds to move forward. 

At each small success we should not become our own heroes in our minds.