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A story is told of three stone masons working on the construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. St. Paul’s was designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren and was completed in 1720. For over 300 years it has been one of the most famous and recognizable buildings in the London skyline. At 365 feet tall it was also the tallest building in London until 1962.   When its construction began in 1675 it promised to be one of the most spectacular cathedrals the world had ever seen.

Three stone masons working on the cathedral were each asked the same question by a visitor to the construction site:

“What are you doing?”

The first worker indicated he was mixing mortar.

The second worker indicated he was part of the team building the south wall of the cathedral.

The third worker indicated that he was part of a select group of artisans who had the privilege of creating the most glorious cathedral the world had ever seen to help mankind transcend the ordinary into the divine.

Three men with three different visions, but each doing the same task. Who would you want working in your company?

I would hire the third guy.

The third worker definitely carried a vision that was transcendent. His vision enabled and empowered him to see beyond the ordinary to the ultimate purpose behind the tasks he had to do every day at work. I’ll bet he showed up for work every day motivated to do the best he could, because he had totally bought into the vision behind the work.

He knew what his “why” was.

No matter what kind of work we do there will always be aspects of our work that we enjoy, and aspects we just don’t like doing. What keeps you motivated in the midst of those demotivating tasks? Is it knowing that you need the money from your work to live the way you want to live? That will get stale as a motivator fairly quickly. There has got to be a bigger “why” behind the work we do.

Simon Sinek in 2009 wrote the book, “Start with Why”. In his book he points out the need for organizations to understand their “why” – their purpose, their cause, their belief.

I call that “vision”. What is the compelling vision that keeps you getting up every day to do the very best you can day after day?

There is a statement emblazoned in large letters on the west side of the Peace Tower of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Exactly!

When there is no understanding of our “why”, when there is no understanding of the reason for what we do every day, when there is no vision for the significance of the work that we do, we begin to slowly die. We lose passion, we lose motivation, we lose our capacity to overcome the storms of life.

“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.” Albert Schweitzer

Without a vision people die, but with a vision people thrive. And, the grander and more noble the vision, the more captivating that vision is at a deep heart level. The more captivating that vision is, the more engaged the person and the greater their capacity to do work beyond what they perhaps thought they were capable of. They have an increased capacity to create outstanding results.

So, this begs the question, “What is the vision that drives you?” And therefore, “What is the vision you are cultivating and stewarding in your organization?” And, this begs another question, “What do you believe?”, because belief and vision go hand in hand.

If we are going to lead and live well; if we are going to lead and live wholeheartedly, we must be able to articulate the vision behind what we do. And that vision cannot simply be a slick sounding marketing cliché meant to motivate through the use of attractive phraseology. No, that vision must be built on the bedrock of belief – a belief so deep we are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to accomplish a greater good beyond our own.

Yes, without a vision people perish, but with a compelling vision people thrive.