Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Dec/Jan 2019 Aspire Magazine Final | Page 76

To be visionary is to find the place where
your passion and the world’s hunger meet,
as Fredrick Buechner says. You can’t feed
hamburgers to a crowd of vegetarians.
Think paper clips and Post-It notes, two
revolu¬tionary products that simplified our
life. Think Chicken Soup for the Soul that
fed us powerful, positive stories we didn’t
even know we needed. Where can you be
more visionary?
PRACTICAL ACTION STEP:
You may not think you are a visionary
thinker but I bet that you are. As human
beings we all have the capacity to be
innovative, imaginative and creative.
Start looking for ways that you can be
of service to your community. Where
could you be serving them differently than
anyone else? Also start looking, listening
and dreaming of ideas, keep a journal
of your insights. The more we practice
brainstorming and creative problem
solving, the more visionary we become.
3. Be creative.
We talked about being visionary now let’s
talk about creativity. When I say be creative, I
am not saying go take a painting class, cook
or dig in the garden although these are all
fun activities. Creativity in business is about
two things: offering information and ideas in
new ways that people have not experienced
before and problem solving.
76
Something the visionary knows is that you
can sell the same product as someone else,
but you have to do it in a way the looks, feels,
smells, sounds and tastes different. Have
you looked in the freezer aisle lately at how
many different brands of vanilla ice cream
that you can buy? Not all vanilla ice cream is
created equal, neither is chocolate or butter
pecan or other popular flavors. When I think
of ice cream, I think of two brands that stick
out for me: Bluebell Ice Cream which is a
Texas-made product and Ben & Jerry’s.
They are both memorable for their marketing
and for making themselves appear unique in
a very crowded marketplace.
Think Chick-fil-A and their cow campaign.
Who doesn’t giggle and smile when they see
a commercial or billboard with cows holding
up “Eat more chikin” signs? The cows
even have their own names and website
biographies. Where can you be creative in
your marketing, messag¬ing and delivery of
your products?
Also, where can you be creative in your
problem solving? Not every problem gets
solved the same way. We will not get new
results if we keep repeating the same
actions over and over. Sometimes stepping
away from a problem is the best way to find
a solution – dig in the garden, go for a walk,
take a nap, dance to your favorite music,
pray, meditate, whatever works for you.
Free your mind to roam and I guarantee a
solution is more likely to appear than if you
keep attacking it with a battering ram.
Successful leaders know that their way is not
the only way. Be willing to listen to possible
creative solutions from those around you:
friends, employees, your spouse, a colleague.
Get fresh input and be willing to make changes.
www.AspireMAG.net | December 2018 / January 2019