What If Your Imagination Ran Wild

Photo by Antoni Shkraba

When was the last time you let your imagination run wild? 

Not mildly curious. Not slightly ambitious. But fully, unapologetically unhinged from practicality, risk, and fear? 

Most of us, somewhere along the road of adulthood, learned to tame our imagination. We were taught to be “realistic,” to color inside the lines, to stop daydreaming and “focus.” We became masters of the doable, the efficient, the justifiable. 

But here’s the quiet truth: The biggest breakthroughs—whether in innovation, inclusion, art, or leadership—don’t come from careful thinking. They come from people daring to imagine something wildly different. Something better. Something no one else is brave (or free) enough to picture. 

Imagination Isn’t Childish. It’s Leadership. 

We associate imagination with kids, with fairy tales and costumes and make-believe. But imagination is also: 

• A CEO envisioning a radically more inclusive company culture 

• An educator rethinking what student success could really mean 

• A community organizer dreaming up new models of mutual care 

• An employee daring to speak up with a “crazy” idea that solves everything 

Imagination is the gateway to vision. And vision is the heartbeat of change. 

If you can’t imagine it, you’ll never build it. 

Fear Is the Fence Around Imagination 

Why don’t we imagine more? 

Because we’re afraid. 

Afraid of being wrong. Afraid of judgment. Afraid we’ll disappoint someone, or waste our time, or reach too far and fall flat. Imagination asks us to move beyond what’s proven. And that’s scary. 

But fear is not a stop sign. It’s a signal. It tells us something new is on the horizon. Something worth our attention. Something just beyond the comfort zone of our current thinking. 

The question becomes: Can you make space for imagination even when fear tries to close the door? 

A Wild Imagination: Malala’s Father 

Malala Yousafzai’s courage is globally known. But behind her fierce voice was someone else who dared to imagine differently: her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai. 

In a deeply patriarchal culture where most girls were expected to stay silent and uneducated, Ziauddin imagined something else for his daughter. He didn’t just support her; he actively created a world in which her voice could be heard—founding a school, encouraging her public expression, and refusing to clip the wings of her potential. 

When asked what he did to raise a daughter like Malala, he said simply: 

"Don't ask me what I did. Ask me what I didn't do. I didn't clip her wings." 

That’s the power of imagination. It sees freedom where others see boundaries. It chooses potential over precedent. 

Five Ways to Reclaim Your Wild Imagination 

If you’re ready to let your imagination off the leash, start here: 

 Instead of “What’s realistic?”, ask: 

• What would be amazing? 

• What hasn’t been done yet? 
• What if I didn’t care what anyone thought? 

Spend time with people who expand ideas, not shut them down. People who say “ Yes, and…” instead of “That’ll never work.” 

Give yourself moments to be silly, unproductive, curious—play is where  imagination lives. Doodle. Dance. Wander. Role-play. Disrupt your own patterns. 

Notice where you’ve adopted limits without questioning them. Who says you can’t?  Who made that rule? What if you rewrote it? 

Don’t edit your dreams to fit your current resources. First, imagine what’s possible.  Then ask what would be needed to make it real. 

When Imagination Leads, The Future Changes 

What happens when your imagination runs wild? 

• You stop copying and start creating. 

• You become a source of energy, not just efficiency. 

• You invite others to imagine more boldly too. 

• You shift from fear-based maintenance to vision-fueled momentum. 

Your imagination might be your most underutilized leadership tool. It holds your boldest ideas, your most inclusive solutions, your deepest sense of purpose. But only if you give it room to stretch and breathe and play. 

So let’s try it: 

What if your organization felt joyful? 

What if feedback sparked curiosity, not fear? 

What if your next chapter didn’t look like anyone else’s? 

What if equity was the design, not the afterthought? 

What if you stopped asking for permission? 

And finally: 

What if your imagination ran wild… and took you somewhere extraordinary?