Dare Dreaming

Dare to Dream

I come from a pragmatic little nation (Aotearoa New Zealand)—one that also prides itself on fairness. Across the political spectrum, “fairness” might just be our most common shared value.

When we opposed nuclear testing in the Pacific in the eighties, it wasn’t just an anti-nuclear stance—it was a stand against overreach. It wasn’t fair to test weapons on the lands and in the waters of our small and defenceless neighbours. We knew, even then, that though all the pacific cultures are different, our oceans connect us. And fairness requires us to act as if that connection matters. We stood up to the biggest powers on Earth, and we held our ground.

Fairness, however, is rarely the most “pragmatic” path in the short term. It demands imagination. It calls on us to challenge the status quo. It often asks us to move before the structures are ready.

And when we don’t invest in imagination, we fall into a deficit of vision. That’s when we spiral. Caught in the story that there’s not enough to go around, that fairness must be doled out equally rather than equitably, we watch the left and right squabble over scraps—each trying to fix a system that was never built for wholeness.

It’s time to stop squabbling and start storytelling.

A new story requires courage. Hope. And what might sound like the opposite of strategy: dreaming.

But I want to offer you this: dreaming is strategic.
Every great board does it when they write a mission. Every strong leader does it when they vision.
We as citizens deserve to do the same. For ourselves. For our relationships. For our society.

I call this practice Dare Dreaming. It’s not about what’s probable. It’s about what would be amazing. It’s about plugging your heart’s GPS into a future worth walking toward.

It’s a discipline.
It’s aspirational.
It’s clarifying.
It lets us glimpse each other’s deepest longings—so we stop settling for “what’s realistic” and start fighting for what’s right.

I have spend the past decade developing my abilities to visualise preferable futures (for myself, and my clients), and even for a visual person it’s not the first position that I arrive at. I have to work at cutting through the smaller narratives to one that feels like a future worth living in and handing on. So I practice it. Fortunately, the practice of Dare Dreaming is a joy and a delight. Better than Netflix, and more useful to our species : )

Here’s one of my Dare Dreams:

Aotearoa becomes the Switzerland of peace-making, reconciliation and healing.

Just as Switzerland’s neutrality emerged from a blend of geography and savvy statecraft, Aotearoa offers a different kind of power: the power of relationship, of repair, of enduring connection even when things are messy and imperfect.

Our long and ongoing work with Te Tiriti o Waitangi has taught us this. It’s not that we’ve got it all right—we haven’t—but the commitment to relationship, to keep turning back to one another, to be curious about the possibilities is a model the world sorely needs.

In my dream, Māori and Pākehā mediators welcome delegates from conflict-affected nations. Not always heads of state—but neighbours, youth leaders, artists, families, soldiers.

Through pōwhiri, they’re welcomed not just onto land, but into relationship.
Held in the bonds of aroha, they listen, speak, mourn, and weave.
From separate stories of pain, they begin to stitch a shared story of recovery.

And they carry it home. The stories ripple out into their worlds; changing the thoughts and brain chemistry of all who hear these stories. More stories are woven. More hearts are healed.

That is what our little nation at the bottom of the south pacific could do.

“Ok, dreamer so tell me how is that deftly strategic?” I hear an exec over at one of the Big Five consultancies scoff.

We made ourselves of such inextricable value to the world - such a light - that we don’t need to invest billions in defence spending. The whole world would rush to our aid if we were threatened. We would be treasured, and our peace-making position would be defended.

I just saved us billions. Boom.

So… what’s your Dare Dream? I would love you to share in the comments, or even message me privately.

x Megan

P.S: This post was burning a hole in me so I had to publish it ahead of my series on Breaking up with Tech. That is still scheduled, but I needed to prioritise this one.