In a world which is increasingly being wrapped in legislation and regulation, it is still proving to be the case that the most effective leaders are those who are able to apply their imagination to their work.
‘Imagination’ is the “Golden Key” to being different…to offering something different to customers…and to separating your value proposition from that of your competitors. It is easy to spot businesses that lack imagination – they are typically the ones where personnel show an unwillingness to think in any depth about your needs/ problems that you are looking to have resolved, and unless they can apply their “standard stock solution” they’re not interested in helping you out.
We are constantly urging/ encouraging our children to use their imagination…to leave their computer devices alone for a while and rely on their own cognitive processes to serve as the cataylst for an activity to engage themselves in.
‘Imagination’, ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ lie at the heart of strategic planning. If you’re looking for a leader for your organisation then apart from the usual/ mainstream attributes (e.g. communication skills, relationship building skills, etc) that you should be seeing in prospective candidates, look hard to see which candidates have a track record of being creative…a background of “flexing their imagination muscle”. These are leaders who have vision and the capability of opening new doors of opportunity for organisations.
Yes, ‘imagination’ is most certainly the ‘X-Factor’ still which separates “great” businesses from “good” businesses. Embrace imaginative people…they are game changers !