Mark C Winters argues visionary thinking requires innate wiring, but environment determines whether it develops. Someone born with the capacity might stay dormant due to life stage, family, or money. He maps three scenarios and suggests assessing where you fall on the visionary spectrum, then layering experiences to grow into it.
In eos, we talk a lot about the visionary and their genetic coding. They're born with abilities that make them visionaries even before they know what that means. So a visionary has this wiring or nature. They're compelled to do all the things we see in visionaries. They come up with endless ideas. They're forward thinking when solving problems. They think outside the box. So does that mean that a visionary can develop over time? The short answer is no and yes. This is really a classic nature nurture question. If they're not naturally or genetically wired to be a visionary, it will never happen. So that's my no. However, if they are truly wired for it, a visionary does develop over time based on their environment. That's the nurture part. Think of the environment as priming their readiness. It's a combination of different experiences and circumstances over a person's life. Their stage of life and the stage in their career all come into play. Family, marriage, kids, maturity, financial and personal situations all impact whether someone is ready to step into the visionary role. Let me give you several scenarios to explain this. In scenario one, we have someone fully wired as a visionary. They have visionary written all over their DNA. This woman is wired and ready to go. You can't stop her. She's going to make things happen no matter what. In scenario two, someone is fully wired, but something in their circumstance is holding them back. This guy just isn't ready yet. Depending on the situation, he might feel stuck or trapped. Something or someone is keeping him from unlocking his full visionary potential. I bet he doesn't like that and he'll work to get out of whatever situation holds him back. Then in scenario three, we have somebody who doesn't have quite the same visionary drive as the other two. This guy's not wired as much to be a visionary, but he feels ready to step into a visionary role. He's testing the waters to see if he has what it takes. He's dipping his toe into the visionary role and flexing his visionary muscles. And this is the person who may develop more over time. It starts with him knowing his readiness level and what he's best at. There's a whole visionary spectrum to explore. If he owns a business, he needs to know how much of a visionary his business needs to succeed. Much of that depends on the complexity of the company's market and his aspirations for where he wants the business to go. So it's possible to develop as a visionary over time. It all comes down to understanding where you are on the visionary spectrum and stacking up the experiences. You need to grow or grow into the visionary role.
