In my work as an international leadership consultant and speaker, I talk a lot about having a personal or corporate “vision.” There are many definitions of “vision” and no single one is correct. I think of a “vision” as a clearly delineated and inspiring description of a future state that will result from some applied effort. In short, a “vision” is a destination you are striving to attain but have not yet reached.
Several weeks ago while doing business in Sri Lanka, I experienced what can happen when a powerful vision is combined with hard work, tenacity, and innovation. I stayed in one of the country’s premier hotels called the Heritance Tea Factory. As the name suggests, this grand hotel was once a functioning tea factory whose origins date back to the 1870s. At that time, tea was rapidly becoming a popular crop in Sri Lanka (known then as Ceylon) and plantations were springing up in the cool, hilly regions of the country.
The Heritance Tea Factory, then known as Hethersett after the owner’s village in England, was known for its high-quality product. In 1891, for example, its silver tip tea was auctioned in London for 30 times the prevailing average price at the time.
Photo: Grounds of the Heritance Tea Factory
According to the hotel’s website, the original wooden factory was damaged by fire during the First World War, so in the mid-1930s a hill was scalped to create a plateau for the new factory. That factory was considered a marvel of engineering, with an oil fired engine powering an innovative system of fans, flywheels, pulleys, rollers, and sifters.The factory finally closed in 1973 and stood unused for two decades, a silent testament to a bygone era. But in 1992, a Director of Sri Lankan firm Aitken Spence named Mr. G C Wickremasinghe saw something in the Tea Factory that sparked his imagination. As the website states, “He had a vision of transforming the shell into a unique, luxury hotel.” His idea was brought to life in the ensuing years, with all of the original windows and woodwork intact.
Photo: The Heritance Tea Factory
The Heritance Tea Factory opened as a hotel in 1996 and has since won dozens of awards, including the Asia Pacific Heritage Merit Award for preserving the tea factory and its colonial heritage, and the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s prestigious Grand Award, the first Sri Lankan hotel to be so recognized.
Apart from the beauty of the Tea Factory and its surroundings, what struck me about the hotel was its uplifting riches-to-rags-to-riches story. Through the power of one individual’s vision, this magnificent structure was transformed from an empty husk into one of Sri Lanka’s premier hotels. It reminds me of what Michelangelo reportedly said upon completing his statue of David: “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
What will you set free with the power of your vision? Please share your thoughts with me. And as always, thank you for reading.
