There's a golfer who is playing at the Masters in Augusta. Full of confidence, he looks down the longest fairway on the course and says to his caddy, "This should be good for one long drive and a putt." With that, he takes a powerful swing, but instead of hitting the ball, he hits the turf and the ball rolls only a few feet away. His caddy calmly looks down at the ball, then down the lengthy fairway, and says, "Boy, this is going to be one hell of a putt.”

Confidence, vision, and planning are important, but you must have the skills and expertise to achieve your goals. Without it, any endeavor is destined to fall short of success, whether it's on a golf course or in a corporate boardroom, expertise comes with experience, from successfully tackling the tasks necessary to attain a goal, and working tirelessly to improve upon what has already been achieved. Once attained, expertise builds the confidence to expand a vision for the future.

An illustration of how we, as agents of change, might view things, some of which we can't control: Imagine three car dealerships in a row. Your dealership is smack in the middle. One day, you wake up and the dealer to the right of you puts up a huge sign that says, "SALE." The dealer to the left of you realizes that he will lose business unless he follows suit and takes immediate action. So he puts up a bigger sign saying, "BIG SALE." Your dealership, stuck in the middle, surrounded by competitive "Sale" signs, will not only need to accept these changes, but react to them as well. So, you decide to take action and hang a sign that reads, "MAIN ENTRANCE." The moral of the story: If you fail to react, you will become a victim of change. Change happens, but only you can make it happen to your advantage.