Your 2021 Compass - Find your Why

I think of my clients as heroes about to launch on a quest. Together we explore:

• Why they’re on their quest
• What success will look like
• How they're planning to achieve that
• When they anticipate achieving certain milestones
• Who they’ll need to be to succeed on their quest

The answers to these questions give my clients their compass setting for their quest and, even in years like this, when we all threw out the roadmap in March, every adventurer needs a compass. Without a compass, we risk running around in circles. With a compass, when we hit unexpected obstacles, we can adapt, course correct and continue making progress.

Your 2021 Leadership Compass

Your Leadership Compass will consist of the answers to 4 sets of questions. I’ll post all 4 sets before December 18th and you can tackle them one by one, or save them all up for those days between December 25th and 31st when you’re bored of eating chocolate and watching old movies!

These exercises are designed to help you create your Individual Leadership Compass for 2021. You can do a version of this exercise with your team, though you need much more time and a slightly different set of questions (email me if you’d like more insight on that).

For each set of questions, I suggest you set aside 30 minutes where you will be undisturbed and can gift yourself quality time for quality thinking. I’d also suggest you find a buddy, coach or mentor to work with. Not only will that give you the accountability we all benefit from when engaging in important not urgent work, but will also spark new ideas and fresh insights which will enrich your answers.

What’s your 2021 Why?

Every hero has a reason why. 

Simon Sinek’s 'Start with Why' TED talk has been watched over 50 million times for a reason. 

It’s not just Odysseus, Harry Potter or Luke Skywalker we’re talking about here - great leaders and successful individuals are driven by a profound sense of purpose too. A sense of purpose motivates us when things get tough, it anchors us to what’s really important, it makes us more compelling communicators and more inspiring leaders. We do much better in every area of life when we have a clear answer to the question ‘why’?

“We humans appear to be meaning-seeking creatures” Irvin Yalom

Uncovering purpose appears to me to be more art than science. There’s no 1 question that uncovers it for every client I work with. It’s more like doing a watercolour, sometimes you have to do quite a few colour washes until the picture comes clear. Here then, are a set of questions to help you think through your 2021 Why. Pick the questions that speak to you the most, and let yourself doodle and dream on them for half an hour. See what comes up. You don’t have to create a masterpiece of English prose - 1 sentence will do it. And it doesn’t need to be smart or snazzy - you’re not looking for a company mission statement. This is your touchstone, a personal true north for your 2021 Compass.

Your Leadership Experiment

1. What are you most proud of achieving in your life and why? What might that tell you about what’s important to you?
2. What are the biggest challenges you’ve overcome in your life? What might that tell you about what’s important to you?
3. Who do you admire most and why? This could be someone in the public eye, someone from history or someone in your life. What might that tell you about what’s important to you?
4. If you could be part of solving any problem in the world what would it be and why? For the purpose of this exercise, avoid the obvious problems we’d all want to solve… look for something that’s more nuanced and uniquely personal.
5. If you could give everyone in the country a gift what would it be and why? The gift could be real, like an education, or conceptual, like confidence or connection.
6. What would you like your colleagues or clients to say about the impact you’ve had on them? On your business? Sector?

Having reflected on one or more of these questions, try to craft a short statement which encapsulates your purpose. Examples from my clients this year include:

• Be the solution to the problem of ocean plastic
• Impact leaders who impact the world
• Put sustainability at the heart of business
• To power democracy
• Positively impact every person I meet
• Help alcoholics achieve sobriety
• Inspiring and supporting dentists
• Driving confidence through professional excellence
• Build community, connection and support

Write your purpose statement somewhere where you'll see it regularly, and keep it to hand for next week when we'll build upon it and look at your 2021 'What'.