Not every answer comes from the person in charge.
Sometimes the vision comes from the quietest voice in the room.
Wisdom knows how to recognize it.
I do not know why this escapes us, but it does.
I have sat in many meetings that went nowhere.
Talky meetings.
Long meetings.
Unproductive meetings.
Meetings where everyone spoke, but nothing was solved.
The flow was gone.
The energy was gone.
The creativity was gone.
People were present in body, but not in purpose.
That is not a meeting.
That is time being murdered slowly.
A good meeting should mine for answers.
People talk.
Ideas surface.
Questions get asked.
Possibilities appear.
Then suddenly, someone sees something.
A direction.
A solution.
A path.
A vision.
That is what everyone should be looking for.
THE ONE WHO HAS THE VISION.
When someone sees clearly, pay attention.
Do not dismiss it because they are not the boss.
Do not ignore it because they are younger.
Do not reject it because it did not come from you.
Vision can come from anywhere.
Anyone.
Anytime.
The wise person recognizes it.
The foolish person competes with it.
Too often the person with the biggest ego is in competition with the person who has the vision.
Sad, but true.
Ego has killed more good ideas than failure ever did.
A good idea ignored for the wrong reason is a loss for everyone.
When someone brings vision, explore it.
Support it.
Question it.
Strengthen it.
If it has merit, it may become an action plan.
And an action plan is the lifeblood of progress.
I have learned over the years that I do not have to see everything myself.
If I am uncertain, I ask around.
If someone makes sense and has the desire to carry the matter forward, I ask them to take it on.
Then I become support.
That is leadership too.
Not needing to be the source of every good idea.
But knowing how to recognize one when it appears.
Years ago, I was hired to run a large restaurant operation with about eighty people.
In every department, there were professionals already doing their work.
Cooks.
Servers.
Managers.
Hosts.
Maintenance people.
Veterans of the daily battlefield.
They did not need me to pretend I knew everything.
They needed coaching.
Mentoring.
Guidance.
A nudge here and there.
But many of them already had vision for their departments.
They saw what needed to be done.
My job was to help them do it better.
My wife has done this many times with our home.
She will come to me with a vision for our storybook property.
Sometimes I do not fully see it at first.
But if she sees it clearly, I support it.
Then things begin to happen.
The same was true with my children.
They often saw things from a different angle.
Not because they were in charge.
Because they were watching.
Because they cared.
Because they were not always stuck on the front lines like I was.
Their vision mattered too.
As I wrote in Pearls for the Soul:
“The answer may not come from the loudest voice. Sometimes it comes from the one who sees what others missed.”
— Richie Naggar, Pearls for the Soul
That is worth remembering.
Vision is precious.
When it appears, do not smother it with ego.
Do not bury it under rank.
Do not kill it with jealousy.
Support it.
Feed it.
Test it.
Develop it.
Because the one who has the vision may not always be you.
And if you are wise enough to support it, everyone may benefit.
Are you looking for the one who has the vision?
You should be.
Because progress often begins the moment ego steps aside and vision is allowed to lead.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
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