Vision Part I

Hope your year is off to a good start. I'm feeling good about 2011. Last week a couple of weeks I announced a new success program for women business owners based on my book, The One Thing That Changes Everything, and the fabulous Cyber-Mania added a terrific media page to my website.

Another part of the good start to my year has been reading the book, Matterhorn, a masterpiece about the war in Vietnam. The author, Karl Marlantes, is a Rhodes Scholar who served as a Marine in Vietnam where he was awarded multiple honors, including two Purple Hearts. One of the reviews states, "There has never been a more realistic portrait of a war that ground them cruelly underfoot for no good reason."

As portrayed in Matterhorn the enemy, the NVA, is fighting for their country, a vision to which they are fully committed. Several times in the book a character becomes aware that they lack the commitment to a clear vision that is possessed by the enemy. The know that the NVA will never give up. Our soldiers were motivated by a strongly held sense of duty and love for each other. It propelled them to commit extraordinary acts of bravery and sacrifice. Marlantes conveys that these acts are all the more remarkable because these actions were taken with the knowledge that this was a war that could not be won.

This book gave me a completely new perspective on the war in Vietnam. There are multiple topics for discussion and reflection in Matterhorn. The one I will focus on in my next blog post is related to the power of clarity of purpose, commitment to a vision. I think that it is an important perspective as we begin another new year.