Trust in visionary power

Trust is a central concept in the business world. But what is it exactly? How does trust interact with visionary power?

Werner Bauer wrote a book on this theme a quarter of a century ago entitled: ‘Dare to trust. With each other instead of against each other’ (*). The central point that this business consultant defends in his book brings us into the spirit of the Eastern world, where self-confidence is seen as crucial to approaching each other with confidence. According to the author, this spirit differs from Western corporate culture in which the pursuit of profit is more important than the inner values that bring employees and managers closer together.

As for myself, I do not assume that there is such a thing as a Western and an Eastern mentality that can be compared. World culture is not a black and white difference, but a matter of shades of gray. I owe this starting point to my anthropological training, which allows me to look at local cultures that can differ from within. This affects, among other things, the corporate culture, which can be particularly location-specific.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bauer's book. The insights the author shares are quite refreshing. They make me think about the concept of visionary power that I focus on. Visionary power is the key concept in my practice with Visionary People Mentoring.

“Visionary power is the power of the vision we have about our lives.”

Visionary power is about imagining our present and future so clearly that we can successfully connect our life goals to them. But this clear representation is always the result of the strength we draw from processing our past. In other words, visionary power can draw a line between past, present and future. That line is based on a confidence in the understanding of the life we have.

Allow me to comment on some ideas from Bauer's book from my understanding of visionary power.

THE SUPERPOWER WITHIN YOU

What does visionary power have to do with confidence? To me this is clear: if our visionary success is the power that helps us realize our life goals, then confidence (including self-confidence) is the superpower. No visionary power without confidence. Therefore: discover your visionary power and at the same time discover where your confidence lies.

Unfortunately, we humans are often not champions of trust. Or let's say we let a lot of things erode our self-confidence. Without a solid foundation of trust, we let our visionary power die out by clinging to unhealthy forms of control.

Bauer puts it this way: "'Control is good, trust is better.' What do you think that sounds like? Unfortunately, we only know this phrase the other way around: trust is good, control is better."

The author does not play off control and trust against each other in this statement. He does warn against eliminating trust, something he often sees happening, he regrets. Why this warning? Because without trust there is no good control as a form of strength. And also, when we all seek to control others, we lack self-confidence and overlook our own responsibility as a source of change. This results in loss of positive energy and ultimately visionary power. Visionary power cannot unfold without positive energy.

We get positive energy from self-management, which is the first source of the change that is at the center of our life projects. It's not just taking personal responsibility. It is also not oppressing ourselves through too harsh self-criticism. These are conditions that self-management must meet if it wants to have visionary power, if it wants to positively reinforce us.

In other words, visionary power unfolds from the development of our own responsibilities that build on the self-confidence we possess. Without this trust we lose the power that keeps control healthy. The control is then apparently stopped and artificially kept alive. Both the employee and the manager are still far away from radiating the own visionary power that is necessary for entrepreneurship to flourish, grow and reach high creative peaks. Trust is an important source of the clarity, openness, and faith that fuel visionary power.

COLLECTIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP

How can we share visionary power with each other? How do we bring synergy, or collaborative advantage, to our individual strengths to achieve greater collective entrepreneurial power?

Werner Bauer talks about this theme in his book where he points out the need for collective visions within entrepreneurship. Because what good is your visions if they are not supported by a team? And because everyone has visions, it isn’t healthy for one’s visions to supersede the other’s. So we must arrive at a joint visionary force from the collection of everyone’s personal potential.

Bringing together everyone’s visionary strengths is one of the most important but difficult exercises in entrepreneurial dynamics. It requires trust on an individual and collective level. Many companies skip this step, resulting in a decline in production, in creative capacity, in the necessary sense of change.

Bauer proposes an exercise to arrive at shared corporate visions. In this exercise he asks the participants to look to the future and give their vision of what they dream of when they think about what their company will look like a few years later.

I personally believe that in our lives we build on the strengths we experience. These strengths arise from the clear vision we have of 'how it works for us'. They lead to successes that give us confidence and ultimately give us new visions on the current change processes. By looking at the past, present and future from our strengths and successes, we keep our visionary potential high. Ultimately, we grow this potential both individually and as a group with our capabilities, dreams, creativity and passion, among other aspects inspired by a high degree of confidence in our life projects.

“Bringing everyone’s visionary strength together is one of the most important, but difficult, exercises in entrepreneurial dynamics. It requires trust on an individual and collective level. Many companies skip that step, resulting in a decline in production, in creative capacity, in the necessary sense of change.”

CHANGE AND ACCEPTANCE

“Only one who accepts himself as he [she] is will accept others as they are. Always with the intention and willingness to get more out of yourself, to continuously learn.”

This is perhaps the most important thesis of Bauer's book. It is the central theme from which the author dreams of companies that are a place of trust. Such as its application to the way in which we as leaders can best provide feedback. In that application, Bauer calls for appreciation above criticism. According to him, both should be aimed at approaching the person positively, stating: “Criticism is usually aimed at the person and appreciation at the thing. The other way around would be better.” Striving for change in ourselves and others works best by instilling confidence. This trust is patient and believes in the power of acceptance as a paradoxical accelerator of change.

Bauer jokingly says that by letting go you can get a donkey to walk. It may be a joke, but the words of the business consultant provide a strong insight into how change processes work. The bottom line is that we must learn to let go of what negatively defines us and others, which lowers the positivism we need to unleash our visionary power. This is best done by balancing acceptance and change through the path of trust. It is a matter of connecting the two, and not sacrificing one for the other.

by Thierry Limpens

Update 2-10-2023

(*) Bauer, Werner (1998): Durf te vertrouwen. Met elkaar in plaats van tegen elkaar. London: Longman.