My Resolution

I hope it isn’t too late to wish everyone a happy New Year. In the last week or so, I have been asked a couple of times about my new year resolutions.

To be frank, I haven’t given resolutions a thought for many years, but that hasn’t meant that I haven’t been reflecting on things, over Christmas and new year.

Time away from the office obviously allows one to think about the year past and the one ahead and life generally. I thought about last year’s Anthropy gathering and the development generally of it as a membership organisation and through my thinking, it led me to a profound reassessment of my purpose.

Much is discussed about purpose and as many know I have written books which have been recognised as helping shape contemporary thinking, both for corporates and individuals, and it has featured in my life for decades both personally and professionally.

Previously, I had identified my purpose to ‘help people maximize their potential for good’. This is what has driven my commercial work for the last 14 years, with my own agency originally and then at Omnicom, advising clients to maximise their potential for good business, in all senses of the words.? It has shaped my philanthropic endeavours, and in my personal interactions as a friend and colleague. But now reflecting this Christmas, I have come to realize that this purpose has a broader, higher calling.

My new purpose has undoubtedly been driven and shaped by creating Anthropy back in January 2021. It was driven by my concerns for Britain and its future and has attracted all manner of supporters, around this collective concern. It has made me realise that my purpose now needs to be greater than that of supporting individual organisations.

My purpose for 2024 onwards is to help Britain maximize its potential for a good, as a harmonious, and successful country. This isn’t just an aspiration; it is my calling, one which I hope can resonate with everyone in the Anthropy ecosystem, be it member organizations or individuals. It is about thinking not just bigger than ourselves, but beyond our individual roles or organizations. It is about considering our collective sphere of influence, our national responsibility, our shared future.

As leaders, we have a unique opportunity to shape this future, and have been fortunate to get into the positions of influence we now have. It is our responsibility as leaders, to combine our energies in such a way as to affect real positive change.

Personally, If I am lucky with my health, I believe I have around eight years, with the necessary energy and opportunity to help this national transformative journey. In this period, it is my hope to see Britain navigate through challenging times, embodying the spirit of resilience that has historically defined us, and fostering a sense of cohesion and mutual respect, which I feel has, sadly diminished in the last decade.

So I share this new sense of purpose, in the hope that perhaps it might spark your own.? I suppose if this re-focused personal purpose for the rest of my life isn’t a resolution in itself, then nothing is.

John O’Brien