There’s Nothing Wrong with Dreaming Big
Has anyone ever called you a “dreamer”? If so, did you consider it a compliment or a criticism?
I’ve always believed dreaming is a good thing. I think everyone should go ahead and dream about the person they want to be or the thing they want to do. My mother told me at a young age that when you send energy out to dream, people sometimes show up in your life to help you accomplish it. In fact, that’s the story behind The One Minute Manager®.
In November 1980, My wife, Margie, and I were in the early stages of running our leadership training and consulting business. We had been invited to a reception for local authors because I had coauthored a college textbook titled Management of Organizational Behavior. At the time, I was thinking of writing a new book for managers that shared a few of my leadership concepts.
Spencer Johnson, who, with his wife, Ann Donegan, had written a series of children’s books called Value Tales, was at the same party.
Margie the Motivator
Margie met Spencer first. He was in the process of coauthoring a parenting book, tentatively titled The One Minute Scolding, with a local psychologist. Margie hand-carried Spencer over to me and told us she thought we should meet. Then she said something that would change all of our lives: “You two need to write a children’s book for managers. They won’t read anything else.”
Spencer and I hit it off. I invited him to come and watch me speak at a seminar I was giving in town the following week. He sat in the back, laughing and apparently enjoying my presentation. At the end, he came to me and said, “The heck with parenting—let’s write The One Minute Manager!”
So we started working on a short parable about a manager who knew how to get the most out of his people by empowering them and catching them doing things right. Within a few weeks we had drafted a manuscript we could share with our friends. Everyone who read the manuscript raved about it. The book was unique—unlike any other business book that had been written before.
Before we even met with a traditional publisher, we self-published and sold a whopping 20,000 copies of The One Minute Manager. Then we made a deal with a large publisher in New York and signed a contract for the book to be published in September 1982.
Simple Twist of Fate?
A few months before the book’s launch date, Spencer and I met at the La Jolla Cove to celebrate. With a copy of The New York Times book review section and a bottle of champagne, we set our goals and our dreams for our book. We dreamed big—that we would be able to sell 500,000 copies (no business book had ever sold that many) and that the book would be on The New York Times bestseller list for six months. In a joyful toast, we clicked our glasses together on that beautiful Sunday afternoon.
The next morning, I was flying first class to meet with a business client in Chicago. I introduced myself to the guy sitting next to me, and said, “So, what do you do?”
“I’m a regional sales manager for B. Dalton.”
“You sell books?” I couldn’t believe it.
“Sure, we have 750 stores.”
So on a plane between San Diego and Chicago, the two of us designed a whole strategy to get Spencer’s and my little book in front of the buyers for B. Dalton and Waldenbooks—and into all of their bookstores.
At one point I said to the man, “You weren’t supposed to be sitting here, were you?”
“How did you know that? They goofed up my ticket and at the last minute I was upgraded to first class.”
“You had no choice,” I said with a laugh. “I sucked you into this seat with the energy from my dream and our vision about this book!”
Dreams Can Come True
Spencer and I had a dream for an unusual little book. We wrote it together, got it published, set our goals for success, and never looked back. We couldn’t have imagined that our chance meeting would produce a book that would sell more than 15 million copies and be translated into 47 languages. Our dream came true—abundantly!
And my dreaming didn’t stop after The One Minute Manager. In the past 40 years, I’ve coauthored more than 70 books about leadership. With innovative training programs and expert facilitators, our company has taught leadership skills to millions of leaders across the globe. My biggest dream now is that everyone in a leadership position will become someone who leads at a higher level—who serves first and leads second, catches their people doing things right, and contributes to the greater good.
I know that’s a really tall order, and I probably sound like a dreamer. But read this wonderful quote from Harriet Tubman:
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.
Always remember, you have within you
the strength, the patience, and the passion
to reach for the stars to change the world.”
So why not dream—and dream big? What do you dream of doing that could make a difference or even change the world? Start working toward making your dream a reality today. And don’t hesitate to let other people know what your dream is—they may even be able to help it come true!