What If Steve Jobs was WRONG...

Steve said, 'You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward.'

He was brilliant, and I disagree with him on this one.

We absolutely can connect the dots forward.

Picture the dots as your EEE - your Experience, Expertise, and Epiphanies.

If you want a new job, to write a book, give a TEDx talk, or start a business - your first step is to evaluate your EEE's to see what you're bringing to the table that is unique and needed.

Your EEE's are what you know, where you've been, what you've done, what you've learned, what you'd like to pass along that has the potential to be crystallized into a meaningful, strategic NEXT that lights you up.

I help clients connect their life and career dots forward by asking a series of questions that a) clarify what they want, b) identify ways to facilitate, create, and expedite that.

We know we've got something viable when we go AHA!

That's how Einstein knew he had a good idea... he laughed out loud.

Similarly, you'll know you're circling in on your potential NEXT - whether that's personal or professional - when you get that visceral aha that lights you up.

I know this "NOW TO NEXT" process works.

I've had the pleasure of helping Oprah's former Executive Producer connect her dots forward, along with the former Director of the Disney Institute, the Founder of Travelocity, the actress who played Christine in Broadways' Phantom of the Opera, the Project Manager for the Hubble Telescope, the former Chief of HR for Apple, and many others.?

They were all at a crossroads. They were moving on from one stage of their life and were ready for their NEXT; they just didn't know what that looked like yet.?

Using my CONNECT THE DOTS FORWARD process, they all had Eureka moments where the lights went on and the band played - and they crystallized a future that leveraged their EEE in a first-of-its-kind way that positioned them for success.?

Want one of my favorite success stories about how quickly this can work?

I was doing a book-signing at a recent Conscious Capitalism Summit. I gathered people around to create a mini-community so they weren't just standing in a single-file line, waiting.

I asked the man in front of me what he wanted to set in motion by the end of the year.

He said, “I want to do more speaking.”

“Great. What’s your topic?”

He gave me his card which said he was in organizational and leadership development.

Hmmm. That's a crowded niche so I started asking EEE questions to see how we could come up with something to help him be one-of-a-kind instead of one-of-many.

He mentioned he loved hosting Shakespeare salons where people act out their favorite sonnet and my light bulb went off.

I pulled out my ever-present notebook and drafted a book cover on the spot. I showed it to the group and they gasped. It said, “To Lead or Not to Lead.”

I said, “Go to GoDaddy right now. If someone hasn’t already claimed that, you just got yourself a million dollar brand name/title that can fast-track a breakout career.”

Can you believe no one had used that title or claimed that domain?!

THAT’S how you connect the dots forward.

Want to do this for yourself?

Message me to request our EEE questionnaire (I promise - no bait-and-switch selling) to start codifying the dots you've collected over the years so you can leverage them into a life and career that just keep getting better and better and better.