Maybe I’m becoming sentimental in my old age, because songs like “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Amazing Grace” give me lumps in my throat and tears in my eyes. Another song that affects me the same way is “The Impossible Dream,” written by Joe Darion for the musical Man of La Mancha. You may remember the words:

“To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star . . .”

Although these lyrics describe knight-errant Don Quixote as he battled injustice (and a windmill) in the name of his beloved Dulcinea, they remind me of the quest of many business leaders. Have you felt that your competition is an unbeatable foe? Or that your strategic direction is going where the brave dare not go?

This song speaks to the spirit of business leadership: pursuing impossible dreams. Where would we be today without business legends such as Walt Disney, Bill Gates, and Henry Ford? These leaders transformed their industries and the way we do business, and they believed that leadership is about influencing people to work together. You must influence people in ways that motivate them. To be an effective motivator, you must share your dream of the future of the organization.

Dreams give purpose to action. People who share and believe in your dream will see their jobs as part of a higher cause and will work accordingly. Every dream has a price. Your employees will help to pay this price if they believe in you, your dream, and its achievement.

“. . . This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause . . .”

There are times when a business leader’s job appears hopeless and the fight becomes a battle between heaven and hell. How do they do it? Successful business visionaries share four important characteristics.

{1} Visionaries use their brains, listen to their guts, and then take that information and run with their dreams. However, I’m not suggesting that anyone should act without thinking. Supplementing one’s cerebral intellect with other capabilities, such as instinct, will lead to a better conclusion.

{2} Visionaries are persistent and not deterred by failure or rejection of their dreams. When President Rutherford B. Hayes said to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?,” Bell didn’t give up on his telephone. Another impossible dreamer was Elvis Presley. His dream was dealt a blow in 1954 when Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired him after only one performance and said, “You ain’t going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to driving a truck.” Having perseverance and dream-chasing ability is critical in today’s global economy, where businesses compete 24/7 in the marketplace.

{3} Breakthrough business thinkers don’t measure success by simply outwitting the competition with products or services that are better, faster, quicker, or cheaper. They realize they must push their industry forward by changing the rules of the game and leap-frogging into the future, because the old way of doing things won’t work forever.

{4} Impossible dreamers are willing to fight for righteousness. They realize that a business leader’s role is to establish values and ethical behavior. Your dreams for the future of your business will never be achieved if you aren’t intolerant of unethical business practices. Greed is idolized in our society, pervades every aspect of our lives, and poisons organizations that don’t take a stand against it. Let everyone in your organization know what your expectations are for their behavior.

Tangible Dreams

I know that writing about dreams is getting into that touchy-feely side of life that businesspeople don’t like to talk about. In fact, that’s probably why most business books give advice about the concrete activities that business leaders perform: building effective teams, turning strategies into action, and measuring and monitoring success.

However, these are all actions that business leaders take. For example, an action would be Henry Ford developing an assembly line to bring the Model T to market. But before Ford could take that action, he had to have conversations with his employees about what he expected. And before Ford found the right words to say, he needed to have a vision. So, it all begins with a dream, an inspiration, a wish, a goal, or whatever you want to call it. The dream comes first.

 “. . . And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star.”

There’s no time better than the present to pursue your dreams, because you never know when it will be your time to “lie peaceful and calm.” So stop thinking about what your organization can’t do, and start dreaming about what it can do. Turn negative thinking into planning for the future. Keep the long-term dream in mind as you make daily decisions, and break it down into manageable steps. Remember the proverb: “Mountains are moved by picking up one stone at a time.”

Every organization is made up of two kinds of people‹Don Quixote knights and Spanish Inquisition soldiers. Soldiers focus on what can’t be done and are jealous of others when they succeed. On the other hand, knights look to the possibilities, provide encouragement, and cheer each other along the way. They aren’t simply cheerleaders, though. They offer constructive criticism because they care about the dream. Do you have enough knights in your organization to make your dream a reality? Hire, motivate, and reward as many Don Quixotes as you can find.

These may be lofty ideas, but recall that in 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., didn’t say, “I have a goal” or “I have a strategic direction.” He said, “I have a dream,” and he shared it with the world. Businesses need impossible dreamers to motivate employees, create new products, and delight new customers.