Making your (leadership) wishes come true this festive season

As we wrap up another year and step into the festive season it can be the ideal time to consider your past year’s leadership journey—what milestones did you celebrate? What challenges reshaped your strategies? Reflecting back sharpens our future actions and aligns our ambitions with our capabilities and resources.?

This all seems entirely sensible and logical of course, but what if there’s more? As the old year comes to an end it can be?the perfect moment to stop to think about what we’re wishing for - to explore how the wishes we articulate now can be transformed into the achievements of tomorrow. Put another way, it’s often the ideal time to think about what it is that we are hoping to manifest.?

Now, the mere mention of ‘manifesting’ can have a polarising effect. Some people will instantly dismiss it as woo-woo and others will find themselves magnetised to the possibility. The reason I mention it here is that it isn’t just a mystical term; it’s a practical strategy for ensuring that the goals set during these reflective times are actually realised. ?Manifesting - or bringing into being that which we wish for’?- (which?has just been named The Word of the Year in the?Cambridge Dictionary) is not just relevant but crucial in all aspects of our lives - including the business world.

The Manifestation Gap

The golden question is, how do you do it? I’m not saying it’s easy (if it were, frankly, I’d be out of a job), and it may seem especially difficult when you’re seemingly trapped in?what I call the 'Manifestation Gap'—the space between where we are and where we aspire to be, with little idea of exactly how to close it, but what I have noticed through working with all the people and businesses I have helped over the years, is that the same two obstacles to manifesting come up time and time again - and often they are interlinked.

Unseen Mental Barriers:

One of the two most significant hurdles in manifesting is the presence of underlying limiting beliefs.?The wish to bring something into being is effectively cancelled out by underlying limiting beliefs and because these are often held at an unconscious level, they can be difficult to see. What many people don't realise is that they can also occur at a collective level and so entire teams and even whole organisations can also be unwittingly hostage to underlying limiting beliefs.

The Myth of Magic:

While we all love stories of unexpected discoveries and serendipitous success—like supermodels who were scouted while out shopping, ?or bands who were propelled to stardom through an agent ‘just showing up’ at a small gig—relying solely on luck is not a strategy. True manifesting involves clear intention and genuine, undiluted belief. It involves creating opportunities through deliberate actions rather than waiting for them to find us. This includes those companies who set revenue targets without a specific plan to achieve them beyond assuming they’ll do what they did last year, plus ideally somehow materialising a bit more!?

If either or both of these are true for you or your team, the question then becomes what can you do about it? What action can you take to manifest what you want and make your dreams come true? Well, here are two possibilities.

Managing to Manifest - a Christmas gift of clarity and success

This whole topic got me thinking and so starting this January, I’m offering something new. I’ll be leading a transformative 6-week exploration (online) called 'Managing to Manifest’. The journey is designed to help you?turn leadership aspirations into tangible outcomes and focus?not just on setting goals but actively achieving them through strategic insights and practical actions.

I’d love it if you decided to join us and as?a loyal subscriber, I’m pleased to offer you an exclusive early bird registration for the 'Managing to Manifest’ programme. Details are below and please do pass them on to anyone else who you think might benefit.?

Get some free insights to stimulate your reflecting and planning for 2025 and beyond

Gain access to the beta version of the Vibrant Diagnostic tool. It’s free to use and I guarantee it will provide valuable food for thought. I'd love to know what you think of the tool and your results. You are the first to have access to it and details of where to find it are below.

In the meantime, you might like to ponder:?

1. If you could spend the whole of 2025 doing exactly what you wanted, when you wanted, what would you do? Now, what could you do to bring that potential reality into being??
2. What’s your most next important objective, whether professionally or personally? If you knew that you had to succeed since failure isn’t an option, what steps towards achieving it would you take today?

I hope these questions provide helpful food for thought.

Thank you for your engagement and support throughout the year and I wish you a joyful holiday season filled with rest and inspiration. Here’s to a remarkable and vibrant year ahead!

To enroll on the Managing to Manifest Programme, with a 20% discount, follow this link.

To use the Vibrant Diagnostic on your organisation, follow this link: https://scoreapp.thevibrantcompany.com. It is free to use and results are generated and sent to your inbox.