Undisruptable

7All Roads Lead to Rome: Organisational Vision

Figure 7.1 Archimedes' death ray

‘The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus’.

— Alexander Graham Bell

During the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, mathematician and inventor Archimedes allegedly constructed a death ray to destroy Roman warships. His contraption concentrated sunlight through a sequence of mirrors to create an intense beam that set enemy ships ablaze. Archimedes pretty much invented the first laser beam.

Normal light, such as sunlight, is incoherent or dispersed; thankfully it does not burn through things like a laser would. Lasers emit particles of light, known as photons. When photons are aligned in lockstep, they are described as ‘coherent’. When light is tightly concentrated like a laser it is not only potent but can stay focused over vast distances. You can see where I am going with this, it provides a powerful analogy for organisational vision.

When leaders align human energy in a coherent way towards a common vision, our efforts are magnified. Sometimes, we mistakenly believe we are aligned. While a leadership team may be aligned, as you move down through the ranks of the organisation, the light becomes increasingly dispersed. As a result, many people appear to be busy, but are like an octopus on rollerblades – lots of movement but no direction. (See Figure 7.2)

Figure 7.2 Octopus on rollerblades ...