The way we lead shapes how we build. The magic we believe in shapes the solutions we seek.
In my journey from traditional product manager to intuitive guide, I’ve noticed how often we separate “practical strategy” from “creative dreaming.” One is an imperative and the other often cast as frivolous: there is space for one dream at a time, in the form of a company vision statement, if one at all. At work, dreams are a noun, not a verb.
Dreaming is where the magic lives. It’s the vision board before the roadmap, the tarot spread before the sprint planning. It’s imagining your product bringing joy to millions, visualizing your team working in perfect flow, or seeing your company culture bloom into something extraordinary. It’s the raw energy of possibility, untamed by “best practices” or “constraints.”
We are all intuitive creatures. Possibility thinking should be our natural realm, but we’re trained to reject symbols and energy flows, and instead focus on linear frameworks.
I don’t wish to neglect the importance of the rational or the linear, but I do believe that rationally thinking through possibilities is inherently stage two of a two step process. If we are to ground ethereal visions into tangible form, or turn an inspiration into a roadmap, we first need space to imagine.
Structure must emerge from space.
What problem are you really solving? Who needs this magic? How will you measure transformation? What makes good data versus noise? What existing solutions feel incomplete? Where have others missed the deeper truth?
These questions aren’t just practical – they contain ritual-like opportunities of bringing dreams into reality through cultivating inspiration.
Early in my product career, I struggled on where to go from here. The gap between vision and launch felt like a dark forest I couldn’t navigate. And I wasn’t wrong – there was no map, and I found it was my job to co-create one.
I was good at the vision-making part. Breaking that down into something buildable was a skill I had to learn with the help of talented software engineers, data scientists, designers, and business developers.
But while walking through that forest, where building met unexpected and harsh realizations, we kept returning to a space of gratitude that at least our North Star was clear. We had, after all, a dream to fulfill. An inspired vision.
Whether you’re designing a new feature or reshaping an entire organization, the journey from intuitive insight to tangible creation can feel overwhelming. Even when we know our tools and craft, imposter syndrome whispers that we don’t have the authority to bring this magic into the world.
Doubt is natural. So too is dreaming. But thinking well – thinking with both logic and intuition – is an art that requires sacred space and dedicated practice to flourish.
Here you are: reading, dreaming, thinking, building. If these capacities for magic and imagining are innate to us as humans, what should stop us from using business and technology to create it?
What about you?
- When in your career have you felt most aligned with both your intuition and strategic thinking?
- What practices or environments help you access your dreaming mind?
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