I have a dream, do you?

Is it just that time of year, or am I the only one who feels like they’ve been hit by a bus recently?

This weeks topic has had my mind running in a million different directions and I’ve loved it, but I have had
zero time to sit down and formulate or organize a single thought.  

Leadership and vision.  What a crazy concept that the two must go hand in hand.  I love this. Of course
a leader needs vision and any vision needs a leader.  It makes perfect sense.

Leadership without a vision is merely management.  How have I not realized this before now? It’s kind of
beautiful when we pick up on those blatantly obvious things, isn’t it?  Every great leader has had a vision.
Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, Ronald Regan, John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela all
had a beautiful vision and without that vision would have been great leaders whose name you would
have never known.  

For example, if Martin Luther King had not had a vision, he could easily have been just another
protester. Mind you, I’m not saying that the protesters weren’t noteworthy, but how much of the Civil
Rights movement was an actual movement because of Mr. King?  There were many leaders at the
time and during that movement, but without the right leader with the right vision at the right time, what
would have happened (or wouldn’t have happened)?

The Montgomery Bus boycott in 1955, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Memphis
Sanitation Workers Strike, the famous “I Have a Dream” speech were all Martin Luther King.  It’s
because of Martin Luther King and the efforts of his supporters that America came to understand the
power and reality of nonviolent protesting. I imagine the Civil Rights movement taking a lot longer had
Mr. King not had the vision and leadership qualities that he did possess.  Not only did Mr. King lead with
vision, he lived his values. His home was bombed and he prayed for the people who had tried to hurt
him, thus promoting the non violent protesting. He inspired others, he was ethical and he cared about
everyone.  

Throughout my entire life I have felt like I had something to share.  I always knew that I wanted to help
people, but I never could quite figure out how or who to help.  As a child, the first time I learned about
slavery, I cried in the middle of class. The teacher had to call my mom to come and pick me up.  I
never understood how any person could think they had control or power over another person. I still get
angry thinking about these things.  

I’ve spent my adult life volunteering at a million different places always wondering if I was able to focus
my energy in one direction, if I could make an actual difference in the world.  The last three years, I’ve
worked in a field that needs attention. Mr. King had a vision for a world where people were not judged by
the color of their skin. I have a vision of a world where people are not seen by their disability. I’ve fallen
in love with the people I have the pleasure to serve on a daily basis and I finally found my focus.  For
three years now, I’ve wondered what I could do, how I could start making this change. I started grad
school because I knew that I needed that extra push to get me where I needed to be. Man is it working.
  

Something as simple as understanding your own vision and the need to share that with others is my
Step One to success.  

Are you a leader?  What are you missing?  If it’s your vision, then by golly, it’s time you sat down and
defined that vision for yourself so that you can get out there and start sharing it.  Lead us. Inspire us.
We’re all thirsty for a cause to support.