Visioning
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Robert Fritz
Speak in the present tense. Backcasting
Criteria for a good vision:
- You can visualize it
- You can recognize immediately if it's here or not
- You can put it on a T-shirt, and your people would want to wear it
Photographs and drawings naturally make for great visions. For example, while the first photographs of earth from space (e.g. Earthrise and The Blue Marble) were not responsible for the environmental movement, they are often credited with catalyzing it. This also speaks to the power and importance of a compelling vision.
Vision Examples
Wikimedia Foundation
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.
Food Allergies
File:Food Allergy Cartoon - Someday.jpeg
Read Susannah Fox's great blog post about this.
Afghanistan
These photographs are of Afghanistan in the 1960s, but they could easily be used as a compelling vision for the future.
Immigrant Rights
James Corden created this video as a reaction to Trump's immigrant travel ban. While it's meant as social commentary, it also paints a powerful vision — imagine if every immigrant had the same experience as Corden.
North Star
A North Star is a high-level, concrete goal that would be a major step forward in achieving the higher level vision. A North Star can act as a vision statement, but is generally more specific. All of the examples below are both North Stars and visions.
North Star Examples
Bruce Lee
Written when he was 28.
My Definite Chief Aim
I, Bruce Lee, will be the first highest paid Oriental super star in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting 1970 I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession $10,000,000. I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.
Bruce Lee
Jan. 1969
Octavia Butler
File:Octavia Butler vision.jpg
Women's Rights
File:1920-womens-suffrage-postcard.png
Code2040
Our goal is to ensure that by the year 2040 — when the US will be majority Black and Latinx — we are proportionally represented in America's innovation economy as technologists, investors, thought leaders, and entrepreneurs.