It's time to dream big

We find ourselves living in a period of deep, global change. In the west, the foundations of our economic reality are crumbling, taking banking giants and institutions down with them. Closer to home, Bangladesh is emerging from its own tumultuous reinvention. Change is all around us.
Of course, change can make us afraid. Yet beyond fear, it also offers us unprecedented opportunities. This is a time for dreaming big. It is a time for courageously turning towards the core questions: where are we going and what is my role (and the role of my brand) in supporting the emerging future?
We all have the ability to co-create our emerging future. It is not down to our politicians. It is not down to our business leaders and CEOs. It is not down to our boss or our parents or our friends. It is down to us. The question is, how?
Co-creating our future begins with creating a compelling vision. And visioning requires new skills. It requires much more than the rational mind. Powerful visions come from our hearts and souls. They come through deeply listening to our intuition, trusting our inner wisdom and engaging with the wisdom of the world around us. Once we have a compelling vision, it will draw us towards us magnetically. All we have to do is keep listening, and keep taking daily action, one step at a time, towards our emerging future. This is the power of intuition.
Brands are the building blocks in this journey. They bring our vision into 'reality'; they give our dreams form. They are our spokespeople. They hold our values. They are the stakes we put in the ground, marking out the territory of our emerging world. They say: We believe in this. These are our values. This is something worth protecting. This is something we can support.
Here in Bangladesh, the brand landscape is still relatively under-developed. We could look at that as a challenge. Or we could look at it as a major opportunity. We have a blank canvas. What do we want to paint on it? What kind of a world do we believe in? What are the values we want to build our future on as individuals, brands, organisations and political parties? How can we make our brands a force for good?
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Our task, then, is to create beautiful dreams. And to create the brands that bring those dreams to life. This task belongs to each one of us. Hopefully, in the Bangladesh Brand Forum 2009, we can engage that journey together.

The writer is founder of Wild Courage and works as an intuitive coach.