What does it take to Dream Big?

Each month, LinkedIn gives employees a day to focus on themselves, the company, and the world. A day to invest, inspire and innovate. That day is called Investment Day, or “InDay” for short, and it is one of our unique traditions at LinkedIn.

Our first InDay of the year is themed “Dream Big.” A big vision has always been part of the company, but when our CEO Jeff Weiner coined the term we all started thinking about how to make it part of our daily work.

So, on this InDay, many LinkedIn employees will be dreaming big.  But it’s something we can all do. We can do it within our roles, we can do it in our communities, for our families, even for our planet.

So you’ve got one day, maybe just a couple of hours, to practice dreaming big.  How can you do it?

Number 1: Never dream big alone

Looking back at big dreams, it’s easy to assume that the visionary just came up with that thing all at once. Did John F. Kennedy wake up one day and say “Let’s go to the moon?”

Probably not. Big dreams need big encouragement, and dreams get bigger when we challenge each other to, well, think bigger!

So grab some colleagues or friends who also want to dream big.  And ideally pick a diverse group, with different backgrounds and roles.  Because…

Number 2: Big dreams need to be achievable

It may sound weird, but the only big dreams that matter are the ones we can imagine reaching. I can’t imagine actually flying under my own power, so I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. But I can imagine artificial general intelligence, because I know enough about today’s AI that I believe we can get there. So this particular big dream inspires me.

The more diverse your team, the more likely someone will have an insight to help make the dream seem possible, and inspirational.

Number 3: Build up to your big dream

When you’re starting to dream, dream small. If you start out with a dream of re-foresting the planet, or training one billion with the skills needed to create an economy which will lift everyone out of poverty, you’re likely to get overwhelmed by the problem and give up.

But if you say, “We believe we can reforest 10,000 hectares after a wildfire and ensure those trees grow into a mature forest,” then you’ve got a dream you can get your arms around. Talk about it for a few minutes. What kinds of trees to plant, and how would you choose?  How will you pay for it? Do you plant young trees, or do you plant seeds?

Then challenge yourselves to go up to one million hectares.  Then up to a billion (the likely maximum given available land).  It’s probably not as simple as saying “do more hectares” -- each area requires different species, different expertise, has different costs, different economic consequences and pressures.  What’s different about each stage? Remember, you need to keep that dream achievable -- if only barely.

There are many ways to think challenge yourselves. Can you increase the scope? Decrease the cost, or even make it free? Get it to everyone? Do it faster?

Starting smaller, and working your way up, will give you a big dream with a path you believe.

What should you dream big about?

You can dream big about anything. Start with something you know at least a little bit about. Some stuff that I would love to dream big about:

• Save a local newspaper; then save them all
• Get young people in my area civically engaged; then do it everywhere, and before the next election
• Figure out how to make an online conversation more emotionally expressive; then how to make such a conversation as expressive as face-to-face

When you meet, try two or three ideas.  Don’t be afraid to give up on one if it’s not working. The goal is not to dream big about one specific thing, but rather to have fun dreaming big, on your way to making it a habit.

Have fun, and if you want to share any of your Big Dreams, please do so in the comments.

Happy InDay, everyone!