Imagine a world where our collective vision would manifest the great changes we so badly need in our organizations, society, and communities everywhere. This past week watching people gather in Berlin -- an estimated 200,000 people -- when Barack Obama spoke was moving. Something magical happened there in that crowd. Way beyond any political party, it was so heartwarming for a few moments to imagine what would be possible if we could come together across the world, believing in good for all people, ready to roll-up our sleeves to change what we know today. We've been seeing signs for a long time that demonstrate we are ready for the hard work it will take. In Putting Our Differences to Work, the first story about the Habitat Jam is a terrific example. Check out this commemorative exhibit at our Global Dialogue Center KNOWLEDGE GALLERY to see for yourself.
History proves it is possible. Oguchi Nkwocha, M.D., an Igbo visionary from Biafra in southeastern Nigeria, has been instrumental in teaching me about what we can do together with the power of a dream. At the beginning of a new year, a time of renewal and more action for each of us and our businesses and organizations, Oguchi wrote to me about his perspective on the power of vision in propelling people to put their differences to work. He helped me see a familiar story from the perspective of a global citizen. I shared it in its entirety in Chapter 9 of Putting Our Differences to Work. Here is an excerpt:
First, Dr. Nkwocha described President John F. Kennedy's vision to go to the moon. I'd heard the story many times, but not with the specificity and refinements Oguchi's global perspective put on it. He started:
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy articulated a powerful vision and described this dream in his special message before a joint session of Congress on the "Urgent National Needs" of the United States. It was a vision that proves the power of our dreams put into action: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
On July 24, 1969, when Apollo 11 returned with its crew safely to Earth, following its earlier launch on July 16, 1969, and subsequent successful landing at the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon on July 20, 1969, that dream was fully manifested.
It is important to note that in 1961, this was a truly “Impossible Dream.”
Dr. Oguchi taught me that putting our differences to work in this case to achieve what was impossible took "just one sentence with thirty-one words—two or three lines—he articulated and claimed the goal for the nation and its people."
As we look out from our own unique vantage points, wouldn't you like to be part of manifesting "the impossible" at a new time in history. I heard a pundit put this idea of the power of positive vision down today --- cynics and skeptics can be plentiful at times of change --- this one made fun of the notion as a method for change. I don't believe it for a minute! :-)
What about you? What do you think?
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
author, Putting Our Differences to Work
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