Guest Speaker slot

Michael Jacobsen is an Australian-born entrepreneur. He draws on his rich experience of owning and operating global entertainment businesses to provide the practical guidance that creative start-ups need to get going. Here he talks about the importance of daydreaming.

What is vision? It?s the ability to look at what everyone else is looking at, but to see the potential waiting there to be unlocked. It?s the gift of being able to dream with your eyes wide open with your energy and intellect fully on the job. It?s the skill to see the goal before the journey has even begun. The vision is the setting of the course for the journey ahead.

Vision is standing for something in such a way that others will see what they can achieve if they join you on the journey. It?s the light that illuminates the organisation you are building.

At school we are taught not to daydream, but in business we must daydream. This is the critical time at which the vision will be established and the path to implement it will become clear. Only those who look into the distance can free themselves from the confines of present limits.

Entrepreneurs should daydream often ? in fact daily. Bill Gates was renowned, when CEO of Microsoft, for taking weeks out each year just to dream and set strategy. Modern companies such as Google are even building their offices in a daydream-friendly manner to encourage all employees to be able to access this part of their brains at any time during the day. The very windows in your workspace are an invitation to look beyond its confines. The sky is not the limit; dreams will take you further.

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