“If you build it they will come”

This quote is at the top of the list of the most relevant quotes in the history of cinema and comes from a late-eighties film titled “Field of Dreams” directed by Phil Alden Robinson and starring Kevin Koster and Burt Lancaster among others, a film about the crazy idea of ​​the protagonist (Ray Kinsella) of investing all of his resources to build a baseball field in his farm by removing all his corn plantation as inspired by dreams and visions of former pro players willing to come to play on it. But in the process Ray discovers himself and his own values. A film therefore talking about dreams, hope and madness in believing in the impossible to achieve the incredible.

This sentence has always been special to me because, as in the film from which the protagonist was faced with the need to embark on a mad enterprise for which he felt an intuition that led him to firmly believe in his business despite all adversity. So the idea that there is no limit to our dreams if not in our mind is a suggestive element of my reflection today.

Dreams almost impossible but in which it is believed and for which it has persevered are often those of successful entrepreneurs in innovative sectors that have created successful global companies and brands. The most shining examples are John Rockefeller (who revolutionized the oil industry at the end of the nineteenth century), Henry Ford (first large-scale car manufacturer), Thomas Edison (the inventor of modern electricity), Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), Walt Disney, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Steve Jobs (Apple and Pixar), Richard Branson (Virgin), Elon Musk (Tesla), Sergey Brin and Larry Page (Google), Jerry Yang and David Filo (Yahoo!), Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Niklas Zennström (Skype), Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA).

All these successful entrepreneurs have in common boundless courage, huge confidence in themselves and the ability to focus their efforts to develop ideas that have revolutionized the world and the market despite no one believed them even though they started from nothing.

Without people who looked beyond the then know reality and knowledge the human race would not have progressed. Of course one can judge the quality of this progress according to one’s own convictions. Without the cars invented by Ford, there would probably be less pollution, without Iphone and Mac there would be other products on the high-tech market, without Tesla’s electric cars, we could have certainly having cars as we could definitely have had coffees without Starbucks. But undoubtedly progress such as that brought by innovative and visionary entrepreneurs such as those above have certainly elevated the human race.

So the concept of believing in the vision before everyone and with the utmost conviction is the basis of any successful initiative in the professional field.

But I believe the same concept can also be applied to interpersonal relationships, when believing in the value of people and persevering can create the best and long lasting relationships: “perseverance” or “consistency” are the keywords I would use.

Demonstrating that one really cares about someone through concrete, constant and continuous actions really gives people the sense of affection we feel for them. So it all starts with getting to know ourselves first and what we rally want, shaping our “vision” like the entrepreneurs above, but in this case having clear values ​​that we intend to pursue and reward with our time and our efforts. So if we believe in friendship we’ll have to show that we hold to our friends, if we want to pursue a professional career we have to choose the paths that allow us to fulfil our aspirations, if we believe in love we have to prove it with concrete and constant gestures.

As in the case of the baseball field of the film mentioned above, the great achievements the human will has reached are therefore the results of the process in which someone believed he could achieve something unthinkable and applied himself with all his means to do so.

I wish you to be on your way to fulfil your boldest dreams.

Paolo