On the path of winners
By Bayo Ogunmupe
Fostering the skill of
imagery
As the saying goes: you can
only be as great as you imagine. Which is why you have to cultivate the habit
of visualizing your life goals. The world renowned theologian and teacher,
William Bernbach said, "For the flower to blossom, you need the right soil
as well as the right seed. The same is true to cultivate good thinking."
Good thinkers are always in
high demand. And good thinking starts from imaging your possibilities. That is
why the person who knows how will always land a job but the person who knows
why will always be his boss. Visionary leaders solve problems, they never lack
ideas with which to build organizations. They always have the vision for a
better future. Those who foster the skills of imagery know how to control
themselves even while under oppressors.
Fostering the habits of imaginative thinking isn't
complicated. It is only a discipline to be cultivated. To do this you need a
place to think your thoughts. Charles Kettering a noted inventor and holder of
more than 140 patents, once likened creating a place for thinking to hanging a
bird cage in your mind. This was made clearer by a thousand dollar bet he once
had with his friend. Kettering told a friend that he could make the man buy a
pet bird in the coming year. His friend vowed that Kettering could never make
him buy a pet bird, so he took the bet.
Soon after, Kettering gave his friend an expensive
Swiss birdcage. The man took the beautiful cage home and hung it in his
parlour. But interestingly, every time he had guests, someone would ask him,
"When did your bird die?" "I never had a bird, he will tell
them. Then he would have to explain the whole betting. After doing this
repeatedly, he finally went out to buy a parakeet, and finally paying a
thousand dollar Kettering bet. Kettering later said, "If you hang
birdcages in your mind, you eventually fill them with birds."
As Kettering birdcages attract birds, so too will a
designated place to think attract good thoughts. If you go to your sanctum
expecting to generate good thoughts, certainly you will meet your expectation
by coming up with valuable ideas. For me, the best places to think are in the
bathroom, the car or the plane. For some, places to think are in the spa, the
park or the shower. When you found a place to think, thoughts find a place in
you.
Two, rarely do ideas come fully formed, it is your
sanctum that shapes your thoughts. Thoughts have to stand the test of clarity
before they can stand. A good way to fine tune your thoughts is to put them in
writing. Professor and University vice chancellor, Senator Hayakawa wrote:
"Learning to write is learning to think. You don't know anything clearly
unless you can state it in writing."
Three, find a place to stretch your thoughts. In
order to enliven your imagination and create skills of visualization, you have
to spend time mentally shaping your thoughts in solitude. Thereafter test your
ideas by asking your mastermind group to fine tune it. A great idea evolves from
solitude shaped by the right people in the appropriate environment, bringing
out the desired result.
Four, find a place to anchor your thoughts. Thoughts
have wings, they needed to be landed and anchored for fruition. The real power
of an idea comes when it grows from abstraction to application. A good example
is Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. When he published his theory in
1905, explained it in 1916, they were merely profound ideas. Their real power
came with the development of the nuclear reactor in 1942 and the nuclear bomb
in 1945. When scientists developed and applied Einstein's ideas, they changed
the course of world history. Likewise, if you want your thoughts to make
impact, you need to anchor them with other people so that someday they can be
implemented.
Use yourself and your mastermind group to anchor
your ideas. But a good idea is like a wheelbarrow, it will go nowhere unless
you push it. If you can develop the discipline of imaginative thinking, and
turn it to a life habit, then you will be productive throughout your life. In
order for you to become a great thinker you have to expose yourself to good
thinkers. This you can do by surrounding yourself with brilliant people. Also
you should keep a library of great books. Act on your thoughts. Read other
books to nourish your thoughts. Make a priority of thinking as a discipline.
Create a thinking schedule. Ideas have a short shelf life, you must act on them
before they expire. You cannot wait until you feel like thinking before you
think. One thought does not make a thinker, success comes to those who create
mountains of thought that they continually mine.
Our champion for today is Oliver Eaton Williamson,
the American economist who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics. Williamson
was born in September 1932, specializing in transaction cost economics. He
received his BS in management from Sloan School of Management, MIT, IN 1955,
MBA from Stanford University in 1960 and PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in
1963.
From 1965 to 1983 he was a professor at the
University of Pennsylvania. From 1983 to 1988 he was Gordon Tweedy Professor of
Economics of Law and Organization at Yale University. He has held
professorships in law, business administration, and economics at the University
of California, Berkeley since 1988. Currently he is Edgar Kaiser Professor
Emeritus at Hans School of Business.
In 2009 Williamson was awarded the Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economics for his analysis of economic governance, especially the
boundaries of the firm, sharing it with Elinor Ostrom. By drawing attention at
high theoretical level to differences between market and non-marketing decision
making, management and service provision, Williamson has been influential in
the debates of the 1980s on the boundaries between the public and private
sectors.
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