Dave Kashen argues leaders should declare bold futures without knowing how to achieve them. JFK's moon-landing pledge created the creative tension that made the impossible possible. The path is made by walking.
There's this quintessential example of DFS, which is John F. Kennedy in 1960: "We will put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the decade." And in that moment, that seemed impossible. Like, technology didn't exist to invent the technology needed to actually make that happen. And it happened, you know, 1969, you know, moon landing. And I think it's a beautiful example because I bring it up because a lot of leaders will go, well, I don't know how to get there. So like, how can I credibly tell the team we're gonna get there when I don't know how to get there? How can I be so bold as to declare, you know, we're gonna build this billion-dollar company, we're gonna get $10 million in EBITDA? And what I often say is the creative tension is a big part of the how. So if you're not willing to create the creative tension because you're scared because you don't know how to get there, you might, it's actually the creativity that is how you get there. So, I think that's a really important point. That's what I think I see the best leaders do. They're willing to declare a future and believe it even when they don't know all the steps to get there. 'Cause they recognize that just declaring it will generate that creativity in themselves and their team that will make it possible. It's not a guarantee, but it becomes possible. So that's some of the how. Um, and you really only have to know the next step, right? You know, the path is made by walking.
