“I didn’t meet many people at HBS like that,” a client said.
He came from an immigrant background.
Grew up with little.
Since he was a kid he’d been dreaming big of what is possible in his life.
Growing up he didn’t have many like-minded people around him.
Nor even at Harvard Business School.
Something I hear all the time
I think this is the loneliest path.
They say that about leading, and perhaps this is a version of leading too.
When you’re dreaming big.
Have a massive vision.
It can be hard to find people who think massive along with you.
And worse, you’ve gotta be careful who you tell it to.
Napoleon Hill has a phrase, “Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it.”
The notion being as another axiom goes—
You must avoid people who talked themselves out of chasing their dreams “trying” to talk you out of yours.
“At least”
That’s how I was going to write it—
Surround yourself with people who dream at least as big as you.
But then, I thought, no, my point here is—
If you’re the biggest dreamer in the room…
Then who is giving you even bigger dreams?
For instance, tell most people you want to build the biggest company in the world and how do you expect them to respond?
Unlikely many will egg you on!
But, why can’t you build the biggest company in the world?
When Jeff Bezos spoke to a class at Harvard Business School in 1997 they told him to sell now!
He proved that in some 20 years you can do it.
And the next generation of builders may be way ahead of him 9 years from now!
Not just dream…
Now, here, of course I’m not saying be delusional with other delusional people!
Everyone can dream.
I’m saying surround yourself with people who encourage you to get it done too.
A client sees this in his business.
It can’t be on him to drive the vision and execution on his own.
So he’s surrounded himself with leaders who at least buy into his vision.
And execute it as seriously as he does.
Ideally, over time he’ll keep finding people who dream even bigger than him and execute at it even more!
But for now, at least is a high enough bar.
How about you?
Look, I’m not totally ignorant to the world around us.
Of course I recognize that now is a time of limitation and fear.
Many people are struggling just to survive, which is why this matters even more.
That those of us who can see our way through, do.
Where people who are inclined to build businesses that serve other people “should.”
More than anything right now we need people who dream and build bigger.
But still, personally, I think what the world needs is secondary to you!!
What do you need?
Which people do you want to be surrounded with?
Who supports you in dreaming massive and bringing your dreams alive too?
A few people is all
That’s one thing my client found at Harvard Business School.
He didn’t need to find dozens or hundreds of people who were dreaming as massive as him.
Finding just a handful, his “crew of visionaries,” was enough for him and them.
I can say that it has been much the same for me.
Nearly everyone I’ve met on this journey wasn’t dreaming big enough for me.
Yet I found that just a handful of inspired people is enough to keep you charging forward.
Especially if these people dream even bigger than you used to!