I was watching an old clip from the Larry King Show back in 2000 interviewing the richest man in the world, Bill Gates. Larry was asking him the attributes of his success. He spoke of timing and perseverance among other things, but the one that stood out to me was vision. Actually, he stated one must have depth of vision.

Gates spoke of being able to see what the computer industry would become versus what others believed it would become. He saw past the business, government and military applications and realized what it would become to everyone in the world. Today, it is hard to imagine our lives without computers, the internet, smart phones and Ipads. The uses probably went beyond Gates vision as well.

Take the story of Sam Walton, the mastermind behind Walmart. After opening his first store in AR in 1962, he had a vision of having the largest retail store chain in the world. He saw things no one else saw in his time. Time Magazine calls him the first information aged CEO by using computer systems to track inventory and sales in the late 1960’s. He used his depth of vision to create the world’s largest chain of retail stores now boasting over 4,200 stores in the US and another 3,600 plus stores in 14 countries. This all happened to a man that most people said it was impossible. People told him it couldn’t be done. I guess 50 years later, we now know who was right. Both Gates and Walton had faith about what is off of their radar screen. Too many people only see what is on their radar screen.

How is your depth of vision? Let’s look at an ordinary acorn. What do you see? Some people see it as an inconvenience to pick up out of their yard. Others see it as simply squirrel food. Then there are some who see it at its potential as an oak tree.  Actually a few more people see it as a forest of oak trees. But only a very few have the depth of vision to see it as houses, furniture and jobs for thousands of people. See that is true depth of vision. The ability to see far into the future, the potential of what something as simple as an acorn can become. What did you see?

“It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision”—Helen Keller

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.