By: Helen Vollmer, President, Edelman SouthwestI just got back from Edelman’s Global Leadership meeting in Germany where our own fearless leader, Richard Edelman, did a brilliant job of articulating where we as a company are headed. As the world’s largest public relations firm, we take very seriously our role in continuing to raise standards and evolving our industry to better serve our clients in relevant, strategic, effective and creative ways that mirror marketplace needs and propel us all forward.
Vision is a tough, risky business. It’s definitely not for sissies. It’s easy to get lost in the weeds and even easier to rest on our laurels. We should be diligent about looking at our work and core values through a different lens periodically, but the details of life often get in the way.
That’s where we all have a role to play. Far too often in organizations, vision is seen as the playground of top leadership only. It’s easy to defer to others rather than taking on the vision mantle ourselves, owning it and acting on ideas that may make some uncomfortable. The truth is that the people we most admire didn’t start out as leaders; Henry Ford and Steve Jobs were just regular Joes like the rest of us. They just stepped up to the plate as visionaries and boldly took us all forward.
My favorite words to live by come from the German philosopher Goethe and say it better than I ever could: “Whatever you do, or dream, begin it now. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
And vision I might add. Our time to step up to the plate is now.
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