THE VALUE OF THE VISIONARY By Jay Jacobson , March 28, 2006 http://kinetic.org Is the common thinking that after the initial spark of vision which got a business going, then visionary talent is not needed? Is the role of the visionary too abstract and intangible to be consciously recognized by most people? Not everyone is a great visionary; it is a very rare, and valuable, talent just like a great sales person or a great engineer. To be truly great at any of these is exceptional. People easily recognize the value of great sales and engineering talent to an organization. Yet the value of great visionary talent is often overlooked or misunderstood. However, the value is very real if you consider some truths. A great visionary will be the company's best problem solver, finding unique answers that nobody else saw. A great visionary will not only imagine concepts, but also have the talent to bring those concepts to reality. A great visionary will make things happen that everyone else said could not be done. This type of talent is priceless, not only at the company's inception, but throughout its entire existence. Why do so many people seem to not realize the value of the visionary? Perhaps visionaries are collectively the world's worst marketers.