Tuesday 22 September 2015

The Power of The Dream


A dream encapsulated into a focused vision is the vehicle for making positive change regardless whether it’s in your business or personal life. Fundamentally our dreams contribute to who we are as people and the ability to make a change that positively benefits others, even if it is only one person in any shape or form is truly a wonderful thing. How do we inspire greatness? – through our dreams! However in order to follow your dreams you need to be brave; be prepared to take a risk; and then go make something happen. Worrying about whether you will succeed or not is merely a distraction and an excuse for guaranteed failure. 

As General Colin Powell said “A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work”. So don’t settle for “What if?” or “If only”; don’t look back with regret on missed opportunities whether in your personal or business life. I know I have and continue to do so and I still constantly struggle to come to terms with it despite Certus being a successful business. 

My favorite quote often attributed to Robert F. Kennedy quoting George Bernard Shaw “Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not.” 

You only have to look at what people have created through their visions, and continue to do so today big or small for inspiration – At the extreme Nelson Mandela united a fragmented country and built a nation; Steve Jobs back in the 70’s wanted to get a computer in the hands of everyday people and Richard Branson vision for the future “is to turn capitalism upside down – to shift our values, to switch from a just profit focus, to caring for people, communities and the planet”. For most of us mere mortals our dreams can be simpler but just as powerful from having a family; getting into university; following a career of one’s choice and most of all to be happy in life. 

My advice is simple and something I drill into my own children “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something?” I know if I had done that when I was 18 I would still be printing bank statements in a basement somewhere instead of building the leading Oracle Cloud consultancy, positively disrupting the Oracle Partner network, and being a pioneer into the unknown of the cloud and having a lot of fun in the process. Why? All because I had a dream that I could build a great company that could enable organisations to transform their businesses through Oracle technology better than anyone else in the market! and also for the most common reason people climb mountains simply “because it’s there and I could” – don’t ever under estimate the power of a dream.

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