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The Power of Imagination: There is Magic in Believing

As a business owner, entrepreneur, or someone aspiring to these labels, it is important not to lose sight of the power and potential impact of imagination. While imagination in an individual or enterprise is not an asset that literally shows up as a line item on a balance sheet, make no mistake about its influence and importance.

Focused Entrepreneurs Keep the Dream Alive

Businesses fundamentally can follow only a handful of pathways once undertaken; they can evolve over time, building upon a reputation and growing more powerful within their niche; they can drift or operate more or less on auto-pilot, dependent upon the whims of fate and chance to either realize profits or loss in a given reporting period; or they can stagnate, failing to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances or market opportunities, invariably losing market share and in worst case scenarios, ceasing to be altogether. Even businesses that start out of the gate with a strong plan and able management can fall victim to complacency or even fear, losing touch with their customers or the very reason why they were founded in the first place.

Imagination, Faith and Courage Drives Entrepreneurs

At the end of the day, businesses are birthed at the intersection of imagination and faith; the courage of a lone entrepreneur or group of entrepreneurs that believe they have found a market opportunity worth addressing, and through an infusion of capital and effort, pursue this vision to make it a reality. Sometimes, truth be told, imagination is not grounded in reality, or faith is stronger than actual business acumen, but the very act of putting oneself out there to offer some form of tangible good or service requires fortitude and successful or not, impacts the economy on multiple levels.

For those that struggle with the creative process or otherwise seek to jump-start their imaginations when envisioning a potential new business, I suggest invoking the phrase, “What if…” By this I mean, once you as an entrepreneur, alone or with any partners, have performed at least a rudimentary SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis with regard to the business you are contemplating starting, which includes an understanding of the market you propose to address, it may be very instructive to look for innovative ways of doing things by asking, “what if…” For example, one can imagine that the initial premise behind Amazon.com might have been along the lines of, “What if we used the Internet as a distribution channel to sell books and other goods at a discount that competitors can’t match?”

Successful Startups Fulfill Unmet Needs

Bear in mind, some of the ideas, perhaps the majority, generated by this exercise may be unworkable, impractical or simply untenable, but this approach does have a tendency to spur more creative thinking, especially when seeking solutions to perceived problems or needs – after all, arguably the best kind of business to have is one that can fulfill a need that has been underserved or can be addressed more efficiently (and perhaps cost effectively) than what the competition currently offers.

What Makes a Company Great

And while stressing the liberating power of imagination to fundamentally redefine “business as usual” or create innovative, highly adaptable organizations which can compete in a globally interdependent world, it is important not to lose sight of the admonition offered by Jim Collins in his bestselling book Good to Great which notes that, “All great companies are brutally honest with themselves.” While imagination is a fine thing, as an entrepreneur your ability to execute on the fundamental premise of your business is paramount, and it you cannot honestly evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the competition (and remember, there is always competition, even if it is indirect), you are doomed from the start.

Analysis Paralysis is Overcome by What If?

We often hear that “failures of imagination” lead to disaster, when the inability to analyze a situation from a fresh perspective leads to paralyzing group-think, misreading of intentions, over-confidence, or another one of the myriad things which can temporarily or permanently disrupt the health of a business. Never underestimate the power of imagination in fueling business success; after all, every venture can likely be traced back to the founder or founders asking the question, “what if…”