How To Be A Practical Visionary

Buckminster Fuller once contemplated suicide. His daughter had died of polio, he was on the verge of bankruptcy, and life seemed bleak indeed.

Instead, he committed "egocide" and became a veritable force of nature, designing flying cars and floating cities, rethinking social policy, and asking penetrating questions about cosmology, technology, and humanity’s role in the Universe. He received 28 US patents, authored 27 books, hundreds of articles, and corresponded with people all over the world about his ideas.

Kind of inspiring, oui?

Yet he did it all without any of the "usual" trappings of power: he had no financial backing, no prominent corporate or political post. What he did have was an extraordinary mind, and the fearlessness to think so far beyond the box that he invented a whole new vocabulary. His leadership philosophy, as explained in an excellent article about his life on SpiritCrossing.org was simply this: “I always say to myself: What is the most important thing we can think about at this extraordinary moment?”

Here are the ten principles Bucky lived by (but to really understand and implement them in your life, read the entire article):

• Think Comprehensively
• Anticipate The Future
• Respect Gestation Rates
• Envision The Best Possible Future
• Be A Trimtab
• Take Individual Initiative
• Ask The Obvious And Naïve Questions
• Do More With Less
• Seek To Reform The Environment, Not Man
• Solve Problems Through Action.