| Alan Wilson: |
Dr. Ralph McCall is our guest. Welcome. How do you describe what you do? |
| Ralph McCall: |
It’s a pleasure to be with you. I suppose I’m a bit out of the norm in that I do a lot of different things. I stepped out of the corporate world about eight years ago and since then have worked with numerous startups and then started some companies on my own. I’m the director in a few companies and I’ve been teaching at graduate schools of business around the world, while also writing novels and non fiction books. I started a publishing company. I’m not sure how you put one label on all of that. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
You live in Switzerland. What brought you there? |
| Ralph McCall: |
I came about 30 years ago, met a beautiful Swiss woman and just stayed on. I worked for the United Nations for a few years and then in the corporate Hewlett-Packard for seventeen years. I’ve enjoyed living there and working in a multinational environment. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
We see that you have written a book titled ‘Bring Your Vision to Life’. What made you write a book like this? |
| Ralph McCall: |
During the past three years I’ve been co teaching a course in a number of different graduate schools around the world. The course is called ‘The Soul of the Entrepreneur’ and from that I spun out the book. The course actually deals with the topic of what you want to do with the rest of your life or the next phase of your life. That’s what’s captured in the theme of the book. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
What makes you excited about writing a book like that? |
| Ralph McCall: |
Through the course I’ve seen people find out what they want to do, what’s important for them, and what’s important for the people around them, and once they discover that they get on and do it. And it’s been very rewarding for me to see people make that realization and then take the initiative to do it.
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| Alan Wilson: |
The book seems to be a way of helping people what to do with the rest of their lives. In the book you’ve mentioned entrepreneurship. Is this a book for entrepreneurs? |
| Ralph McCall: |
Yes and no. In the book there are many entrepreneurial principles, but what I did was to make these principles accessible to just about anyone and not just those who think of themselves as entrepreneurs. There are a lot of concepts in the field of entrepreneurship that are valuable for anyone who wants something more, those who want to achieve their dreams and desires. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
Then it’s not just for someone who wants to start a multimillion dollar business. |
| Ralph McCall: |
No. Today if you go to universities with schools of entrepreneurship you will see that entrepreneurship is defined very broadly. It doesn’t just mean someone who starts a business to make as much money as they possibly can. It actually means someone who changes the system, and I like to add it is someone who changes the system in a positive way. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
So anybody who thinks about making a positive difference in their family, their neighborhood, as well a business might be considered an entrepreneur? Is that good enough? |
| Ralph McCall: |
It’s a good starting point. You might think of commercial entrepreneurship or social entrepreneurship. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
So you’re not putting limits on “the system”. |
| Ralph McCall: |
It’s defined very broadly in the book. In fact, I very rarely use the term ‘entrepreneur’ or ‘entrepreneurship’. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
In the book you use vision, yet many people use it in different ways. What do you mean by it? |
| Ralph McCall: |
You’re right in that it is used in many different ways. In the business world it often used as a way of articulating a high level objective. Vision is something more than that. I like the definition in the Bible where vision is seen as “an ecstatic beholding”. This means it is something with passion behind it. It is seeing something and getting excited about it, enough to motivate you to move forward to achieve it.
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| Alan Wilson: |
How do you get the vision? |
| Ralph McCall: |
There are many ways to get to it, but I ask my students to start by looking inside themselves. Often there is some desire or dream that has been sitting on their heart, something they keep coming back to. “If only this could be.” It could be like this is my ideal day, or if I could change the things around me this is what I would like to see. It comes from within. At least that’s the starting place for me. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
Once you get your vision, what do you do next? |
| Ralph McCall: |
Simply to plan for it and then take action. But there are a number of important things to think about within this. I’ve outlined these in the book and had made it into a step by step process so that at the end of twenty-five days anyone can be on their way toward pursuing their vision. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
In reading through the book I see that you use the word redemptive quite a bit and you also refer to God. Is this a religious book? |
| Ralph McCall: |
I guess you need to ask, “What is a religious book?” Every book reflects a world view. Not matter what the book, it reflects a philosophy. I didn’t write it as a religious book. I am a Christian and the book reflects my world view. |
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| Alan Wilson: |
If someone is not a Christian is there something for them in a book like this. |
| Ralph McCall: |
The concepts are relevant for everyone. I’ve presented them to various non-Christian groups in a number of different countries and I’ve been amazed how it has encouraged people to pursue their vision. |
