Kent Lineback in a recent Harvard Business post talks about the difficulty to convince his boss and colleagues about the need for fundamental changes the company needed to make. They essentially were comfortable with the way things were even it meant losing market share and profits.  They couldn’t see the problem or were in denial. So they did the normal thing – they hired a consultant.

After the consultant made his report, Kent approached him and said "What do you think is going on? Every time I make the same points you just did; people nod their head, yawn.  It’s a NATO organization; you know No Action – Talk Only kind of place.  The consultant said, “You made good and accurate points but you didn’t build any bridges.”

I was on a panel discussing the most important features of leadership at The Hague, Netherlands a few years ago when I heard the most profound story of the importance of coherence and shared vision and the role competition, cooperation and collaboration play in it. 

It seems that after the fall of the Berlin Wall emancipated countries and cities across the Soviet bloc became a beehive of activity to create a new vision.  It seems that in one such city, the newly elected Mayor commissioned an artist to do a rendering of the city that captures its essence.  His hope was to create a mural that would be on display in the lobby of City Hall that displayed the energy and goodness of the city in an image.