THREE sparkling white buildings! A guest house with grounds! All housing one hundred and four orphans! And yet I remember when all of this wasn’t ever there, not on the ground nor also in the mind of the founder. He had come to me on one of his donation collecting rounds many years ago. He was living under an upturned boat caring for four destitute children.
“Bob,” he had sighed, “I wish I could do more for the orphans of our city!” “So why don’t you?” I had asked. “Me? Alone?” he had asked. “Why not,” I said, “if you can visualize what you want, put it down on paper, prayerise it and start working on it, it will happen.” He did, and now, I see: Three sparkling white buildings, a guest house with grounds, all housing a hundred and four orphans! A close friend sent me something along the same lines, let me share it with you: “I will bet my next month’s salary that many have encouraged you to dream big. I sure heard that a million times right before I graduated. But there’s something better than dreaming big and I learned it from the biggest dreamer of all time; Walt Disney.
When it comes to dreaming big, Walt was the man. No bigger dreams were fulfilled than his. Every leadership book describes him as the ultimate dreamer. In fact, the principle of dreaming and achieving is the core message of the Disney hit song, “When You Wish Upon a Star”, makes no difference who you are; anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do,” so sang Jiminy Cricket.
But is that all he preached in the Disney company? Dream? Well, not exactly. The problem with dreaming is if that’s all you do, you’ll really get nowhere. In fact, you may just fall asleep and never wake up. The secret to Disney’s success is not just dreaming, it’s imagineering’.
You won’t find this word in a dictionary. It’s purely a Disney word. Those who engage in Imagineering are called imaginers. The word combines the words “imagination” and “engineering”. In the book “Imagineers,” Disney’s CEO, Michael Eisner, claims that “imaginers turn impossible dreams into real magic.” Walt Disney explained there is really no secret to this approach.
Imagineering is the blending of creative imagination and the will to do. Eisner says that “Not only are imaginers curious, they are courageous, outrageous, and this creativity is contagious.” The big difference with imaginers is that they dream and then they do! Three sparkling white buildings. A guest house with grounds. Al housing one hundred and four orphans! Don’t just be a dreamer, be an imaginer; visualize, prayerise, and actualise..!
