Pursuing a shared vision

This is going to sound crazy to a lot of people (then again, much of what I talk about probably sounds crazy to a number of people), but I really believe that great businesses come from outside of yourself.

I believe that the great, inspired businesses (and other works of art) are “out there” somewhere, outside of you, in the form of an energy. And you can tap into that energy and sense it, through your intuition and other senses. You can even communicate with it, ask it questions. And you can choose to help bring it into this world, in material form, in the from of a business.

I believe Apple is such a business. I believe Google originated as such a business, but has since lost touch with it.

I can’t explain in any way how the heck that would actually work, on a physical level (except to say that it wouldn’t be newtonian physics). Nor what the implications for life in general would be.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, talks about this in her amazing TED talk:

Steven Pressfield actually talks about this in his famous book, The War of Art, even though it took me years before I saw it, oddly enough (look in part 3).

And my own personal experience, both with my business, and as a coach for other entrepreneurs, tells me this is actually the case.

I think it has profound consequences for how we go about business. Suddenly we find ourselves in service of some “entity” out there - I like to call it the source - that wants to manifest through us. Even though we’re the founder, we’re now the servants. That’s servant leadership, that’s awesome.

It also means that our whole team can access that same source, and they too are now in service to that. That means they’re not in service to the CEO or the founder, which is a good thing. It means they’re now free to use all of their creative powers to pursue that same shared vision, that same source, without the founder having the tell them what to do. You, with your perspective, will see one thing. I will see another. So long as we’re connected to the same source, we’ll just be getting a more complete picture together.

It also means you have to stay true to the source. If you disconnect, you’re gradually going to lose your mojo. Like Google and Microsoft. They’re still raking in cash, but there’s no mojo there. It’s gone. This is why.

I’m curious to hear to what extent this resonates with something you’ve experienced. Please share in the comments.