08 Feb Be A Thinker, But Follow Through
Do you have a great idea? Do you envision a new product or a product enhancement that will take your technology to the next level? And if you’re a lender, maybe you have this great idea on how to improve your process to remain competitive. That’s great, but what happens next?
Well, that’s up to you. A favorite author of mine, John C. Maxwell, talked about the construction of cathedral in Barcelona. As it turns out, in 1882, construction began on Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia. 129 years later, the cathedral remains unfinished! The church has already been named a UNESCO World Heritage site and attracts more than 2 million visitors each year. Yet, officials estimate another 15 years will be needed to complete it. What does this have to do with your business? A lot actually.
The cathedral continues to attract visitors and donors, but it’s still a work in progress. The designer Antoni Gaudí was passionate about his vision for this cathedral. Gaudi knew the project would not be finished in his lifetime so he left behind detailed sketches that others are still implementing.
Maybe Gaudi can be satisfied with crafting a vision to be implemented over 100 years, but mortgage lenders and technology vendors don’t have that luxury.
As I see this story, there are both positives and negatives to be learned. Maxwell writes, “Gaudí spent over a decade fine-tuning his vision, and its clarity has been the driving force behind a project that has spanned three centuries. The renowned Spanish architect understood a fundamental principle of leadership: what must precede how. Leaders have to define where they’re going before they begin to move.”
That’s a key lesson. We can’t run before we learn to walk. You have to know where your going and how you’re going to get there. That takes a clear plan with clear benchmarks that can be met along the way. As the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
A lot of times I will run into mortgage professionals that have great ideas but they’re not practical and they don’t follow through. They don’t have a strategy for achieving their goals. You can’t just dream about success, you have to act on those dreams to get that success.
Gaudi was a master planner. He sketched every inch of this cathedral. He had a vision and he worked tirelessly to put it on paper. He knew what he wanted to accomplish. In fact, because he made his vision so crystal clear others to this day can act on it and make it happen.
However, on the downside the project has taken over 100 years and it’s still not done. Maybe you have a long project that your thinking about to improve your technology or your lending process, as I mentioned earlier. That’s fine but you have to cut that long-term vision into workable parts that can be implemented now. Make your goal both attainable and manageable.
Let’s face it, the mortgage market is moving too fast for you to lose steam because of a project that is so big that it distracts you from the end goal, remaining focused on your business. So, be a thinker, create a plan and make that plan work for you now even if it is a longer-term project.