The work of the East is about stalking the possible future, envisioning the possible regardless of how improbable it may seem. The act of seeing makes the shamanic leader available to destiny. Like the eagle or condor riding high on the breeze, the shamanic leader can see over the horizon into the future, something the serpent with its belly to the forest floor cannot.

Steve Jobs meditates daily. Bill Gates retreats into the countryside twice a year to gorge on information and plot the future of Microsoft. What are you doing to stalk the future of your life and your company?

Shamanic leaders are masters of intent—the ability to set a direction, not just a goal, that transcends space, time, and their own lives. The visionary can step into the future and fully experience it with all of their senses. The vision ceases to be a still, flat photo and becomes a living, 3-D sight, sound, smell, taste, touch experience of the future. This is what Peter Schwartz calls the Art of the Long View.

Practices of the Visionary

• Setting Intent
• Journeying into the future
• Shapeshifting the corporate dream

The Shadow Visionary

The dark sides of the visionary archetype are the:

• Oracle - people place too much faith in the predictions
• Fortune teller

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(C) 2003 Jay Arthur (888) 468-1537 knowwareman@mindspring.com

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