I do not believe great organizations have ever been built by trying to emulate another, any more than individual greatness is achieved by trying to copy another 'great person'.
Interpretation
True greatness comes from individuality rather than imitation.
This quote emphasizes the importance of originality and authentic leadership. It suggests that both organizations and individuals achieve their true potential by embracing their unique qualities instead of mimicking others' success. Imitation may lead to temporary success, but true greatness is rooted in innovation and personal authenticity.
In practice
In a leadership workshop, to illustrate the importance of originality.
[Seeds Are Small.] Becoming a force of nature doesn't mean that all of our aspirations must be "grand." First steps are often small, and initial visions that focus energy effectively often address immediate problems. What matters is engagement in the service of a larger purpose rather than lofty aspirations that paralyze action. Indeed, it's a dangerous trap to believe that we can pursue onlhy "great visions."
All human beings are born with unique gifts. The healthy functioning community depends on realizing the capacity to develop each gift.
Learning to see the structures within which we operate begins a process of freeing ourselves from previously unseen forces and ultimately mastering the ability to work with them and change them.
New insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works...images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting. That is why the discipline of managing mental models - surfacing, testing, and improving our internal pictures of how the world works - promises to be a major breakthrough for learning organizations.
In the absence of a great dream pettiness prevails. Shred visions foster risk taking, courage and innovation. Keeping the end in mind creates the confidence to make decisions even in moments of crisis.
The Industrial Age is not sustainable. It's not sustainable in ecological terms, and it's not sustainable in human terms.
I know why the caged bird sings.
However tight things are, you still need to have the big picture at the forefront of your mind.
No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.
Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.
It doesn't matter what one reveals or what one keeps to oneself. Everything we do, everything we are, rests on our personal power. If we don't have enough personal power the most magnificent piece of wisdom can be revealed to us and it won't make a damn bit of difference.
A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.
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