23. Elevate

It has been a while since this newsletter was last published. I took a break to focus my energy on my narrative of working to live vs. living to work.? I traveled a lot in 2022, visiting 10 states and two countries for both work and time with family and friends.?

I helped to move one daughter to Austin and witnessed the other receive her Master's degree in Nursing from DePaul in Chicago.? My wife and I helped to fundraise a record raise for my son’s Gala in Laguna Beach. And, my best friend got married on the shores of Key West.? Each trip allowed me to reconnect with things that matter. And, it was time to be present and enjoy these moments.? Life moments that are important to feed the soul.?

Writing a newsletter is a commitment.? It is also a place of imposter syndrome, vulnerability, and believing that your voice matters.? I am not a writer per se, as defined by being a journalist or analyst who writes for a living.? I would qualify as a craftsman - a person that takes pleasure in the work that he does with a sense of vigor and determination.?

As I have said repeatedly, I believe working on a strategic narrative is like designing a new mosaic. You dig deep into the history of a company.? It’s leadership.? Its stakeholders.? Its prevailing strategy.? Its future roadmap.? Its intentions and purpose for existing.? All to discover the pieces of the past, present, and future.? For when you co-design a new strategic narrative, you are effectively impacting the entire organization and its stakeholders, not just the marketing department.? Plus, my DNA is represented in every narrative I co-create, so it is all-consuming.?

2022 was a year of tremendous growth, along with a few setbacks. I was fortunate to work on several significant strategic narrative projects with companies that took me deeper into the future of work and its implications on humans in the workplace.? I met some great people along the way and even returned to the IRL speaking circuit.?

I lived inside the world of hiring with my client Greenhouse. I lived in the world of hybrid work with my client Robin.? I dove back into a familiar landscape of digital audio with the reimagination of Soundstack as an Audio as a Service martech player leading the way for a traditional medium that is now part of the stream.? I played in my passion zone - the wine world, by working with Bloom.wine and their evolutionary DTC play built on Shopify as their breakthrough approach to modern wine marketing.? I also dove deep into the world of Catalysts with my client Catalyst Constellations to help better define an identity, a way of working and leading a group of people that make the world go ‘round. (see the Stylistics below).?

And, I was hired by a fintech company with global offices that took me on my first voyage to Romania for an in-person workshop.? The first IRL strategic narrative workshop in over three years. It was a rush to be back in a live setting. It was also energizing to deal with a group of executives for whom English was either a second or third language.? And, I got to experience life in a former Eastern bloc country that was now 30 years into its democracy.? All while next door the war was raging in Ukraine - a surreal experience that capstone my prior visit to Kyiv just seven years earlier.?

On the executive side, I was blessed to work with a public company CEO in the CareGiving sector, a CEO Coach, a public company President reimagining the next generation through the platform of sports, and two very unique individuals who stretched my capacity to new levels.?

Amy is a 62-year-old female of Okinawan descent.? She has the biggest smile and an ambition to help women to live to be 100 - by embracing her “Blue Zone” heritage. Okinawa is one of five Blue Zones in the world. This assignment took me deep into blue zones and the history of surviving WWII through the eyes of a kid from Okinawa.?

My last client of the year was Mario.? A 49-year-old man from near Brussels with Aspergers. A brilliant mind, who came into our engagement speaking four languages and left speaking five - as he is going to “awaken the Asperger language” as his strategic narrative going forward.?

I am a father of a 30-year-old adult son who lives on the spectrum.? I have always been curious to learn more about how to improve the lives of neurodiverse people and working with Mario became a game-changing effort. As we brought ChatGPT and Wellbeing.ai into our work as a way to explore ai’s impact on his ability to bridge a divergent thinking brain with that of a neurotypical person (the rest of us).?

All of this leads me to 2023 and my annual new year's resolution.? Each year, I use a word to frame my year ahead.? I have been doing this ritual since 2008. The year I left corporate America for the world of startups and the path of uncertainty.? It has brought me tremendous growth, learning, and new ways of thinking.? And, so it shall be that the year 2023 will be the year to “Elevate”.?

It has taken me a few years to figure out that what I am good at is helping others pull their strategic narrative to the surface. This holds true for both companies and executives. For I see them as similar challenges.? Each brings a level of complexity and curiosity that speak to my nerdy ways of finding intersections and whitespace.??

I have been operating both approaches as separate swimlanes since 2020. Today I see how they are merging together into something more cogent and relevant.? Companies are just containers of people in pursuit of a purpose together.? People are the currency.? And, I am determined to build a new way of thinking, something I call Narrative Worth as my contribution to the world.??More to come on that...

And, in order to do that, I need to elevate my game.? 2023. Elevate.?

NOW

1. What word would you use to frame your 2023 starting today?

NEW

1. Can you align your goals to your word for the next 90 days??
2. It takes 66 days to build your habits into a behavior.? What will your nudge be to ensure your habit keeps building?
3. Do you have a User Guide for YOU?? If not, ping me - I have created one that is now part of The Narrative Playbook experience.

NEXT

What I am reading, listening to, viewing, and drinking. I have two vices: books and wine.

• Elevate, Push Beyond Your Limits and Unlock Success in Yourself and Others - by Robert Glazer.?
• The Future of Purpose-Driven Branding, by David Aaaker.
• The Warrior Within, the Philosophies of Bruce Lee , by John Little
• Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be , by Steven Pressfield
• People Make the World Go Round , The Stylistics

THE PAYOFF

“Wise men don’t need to prove their point; Men who need to prove their point aren’t wise.”?

~ Tao Te Ching, as quoted in the Warrior Within, the Philosophies of Bruce Lee

Follow me on LinkedIn . Or DM me at tobin@ spatialshift.com for more information on how I can be of service to elevate your strategic narrative in 2023.?If you are into wine follow me on IG @wineriesunplugged.

Thanks for reading and please share this newsletter with your friends and colleagues.?