Visionary: Henri Dunant

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

You don’t need to look too far to formulate a vision in life. Look at what is happening around you, and seek to tap into something that strikes your fancy. When you are so passionate about your vision in life, building your career takes place naturally.

Sometimes, though, a vision in life can take place on a spur of the moment. Reacting a crisis, the way that Henri Dunant, founder of the organization that would become the Red Cross, did, can spell the difference between a successful but otherwise worldweary career or a visionary legacy that can last forever.

Henri Dunant was born in 1828 to a wealthy family that prized social work. After initial career building efforts that he set for himself as a banker did not prosper, Dunant attempted to build a career in Algeria as a wheat mill operator, but he needed the approval of Emperor Napoleon III for documents needed to operate it. Upon travel to Italy, where the emperor was commanding troops fighting the Austrian army, he was taken aback by the sheer number of dead and dying at the battle of Solferino.

Dunant quickly brought a new vision to life by responding to the grisly crisis. He organized the townsfolk around the area to treating the wounded, regardless of nationality. Shortly thereafter, he wrote a book about his experiences, a career-building tome titled A Memory of Solferino. The book led to the creation of the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, an organization that would soon be known to billions as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Dunant’s vision of an organization that responded to crises led to the creation of an organization that has saved countless lives. The question is: if you are in such a crisis, can you respond with a vision greater than the crisis? | 0 comments

February 2008 March 2008 April 2008