10 Major causes of failure in leadership:
#5: LACK OF IMAGINATION: Without imagination, leaders are incapable of meeting emergencies, and of creating plans by which to guide followers efficiently. (by Napoleon Hill in “Think and Grow Rich”)
Imagination is the spark which ignites endeavors that change the world. Imagination coupled with courage generates boldness. Bold enterprise questions the establishment and plots a course to new and unexplored solutions to problems, be it in business or social revolution. Think of the American founding fathers. To create a Continental Congress at the risk of their own lives for the purpose of exploring the wisdom and righteousness of throwing off British rule, and then to follow up this bold act by creating documents which would map out plans for future generations of followers. To execute on this revolutionary plan was an act of immense imagination and collaboration. We often focus on the fight after the birthing of the imaginative solution, but it was the imaginative drafting and courageous signing of the Declaration of Independence and thereafter the Bill of Rights which established the plan around which all other decisions would revolve for many generations. It was this imagination which made possible the fertile environment of the free enterprise and free market economic systems that makes America possibly the best place on the planet to generate yet more entrepreneurial ideas and launch them. Imagination is an act of courage.
Imagination creates great leaders by inspiring faith in followers. That is why Alexander the Great once said: “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”
Imagination empowers the Princely leader to make bold moves, which enable tremendous forward movement towards goals