You're Not as Lost as You Think: A Leader's Guide to Reinvisioning in the Unknown
Next Level Leader, how are you meant to hold vision for others when you're existentially lost?
Start with this premise: You're not as lost as you think.
And consider this: You may be suffering from reinvention fatigue (internal) and/or reinvisioning fatigue (external).
The Actor's Fundamental Questions
Speaking of reinvention, I spent the first act of my life as an actor. An actor's job is to behave naturally in imaginary circumstances. The first questions an actor asks to become a character are:
Who am I?
What am I doing?
Where am I?
Without knowing these answers, the actor cannot behave naturally. They wonder, "What do I do with my hands?"
In this act of radical change, many of us are wrestling with these most fundamental questions—perhaps for the first time since we began our careers.
If you're asking, "Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I?"... how are you supposed to lead team meetings? Communicate with stakeholders? Win new business?
What We Know When We Don't Know
As a leadership coach, when I hear "I don't know," I lean in.
"I don't know" is often a convenient cognitive wall blocking awareness of an inconvenient truth:
I know my market has changed
I know I need to find a new way to use my skills
I know I'm not aligned with the values of this organization
The next time you think "I don't know" in regard to a big question in your career and life, pause. Let the wall fall. Write down three things you do know.
Vision Through the Storm
I define visioning as applying creative, positive imagination to see a possible future reality. This possible future must be malleable.
Rigid adherence to a vision is delusion. Insistence on a desired future outcome in the face of new data and information is a state of insanity we fall into regularly.
Back to my first act as an actor: I decided on a vision at age 6 and stubbornly held to it until my mid-30s. Even as I cultivated a robust career in the leadership development space, I held it as my "survival gig" until the big break came.
It took a major healing intervention to release my attachment to my childhood dream. I allowed my "bread and butter" to become my jam by funneling my creative power into leadership development, using my performance skills to create video trainings and a podcast, while stepping into my writing and speaking—not as characters, but as myself.
The Great and Terrible Void
What they don't tell you about "letting go" is this: When one vision falls away, you're left in the dark. The void space of all possibility can feel too terrible to look into.
And so we cower and seek refuge, building shacks in the dark rather than sitting in the infinite unknown.
Of course we do. The infinite unknown is horrifying.
Building in the Dark
Let's explore what we can hold onto and build upon, even in the dark.
We can build with windows that allow in all possible light and myriad doors, not creating a trap of limitation, but a platform from which to see the next inspired vision.
Your Three Pillars
When vision is unclear, build upon these pillars:
Compass: Core Values Are Your True North. What matters most to me? Why? Drill down until you land on 1-3 core values that feel true for you.
Skills: Your Particular Strengths Are Your How. In what areas do you naturally excel? What strengths are you using? Identify 3-6 strengths. How can you use this fundamental skill set more?
Resources: Harnessing the Power of Your Web. Who's in my web of connections? How can I serve them? How can I be supported by them? What resources are available to me? What does my web need?
[To master Strategic Webbing, book a session including on-demand training and 1-on-1 coaching.]
Building Your Platform in the Unknown
As you seek to regain clarity of vision, ask yourself these three fundamental questions daily:
How can I serve today?
How can I honor my talents?
How can I provide something of value to my community?
Good work takes many forms.
The void is not emptiness; it's infinite possibility waiting for your next inspired vision to enter stage left.
What questions are you wrestling with in this act of radical change? How are you navigating the unknown?
Sometimes the breakthrough begins with simply naming what's true. And, we don't have to do this work alone.
If you're interested in working together to build your beautiful next act starting right where you are now, email me.
#Leadership #CareerTransition #Reinvention #ProfessionalDevelopment #LeadershipCoaching