Your 2021 Who

Think of yourself as a Hero about to embark on a Quest called 2021.

In the first three posts in this Leadership Compass series, you identified what your quest is, you explored why you’re going on it, and you created your roadmap to success.

The thing about heroes is that they are all transformed by the quest they embark on. Whether your taste in heroes runs to Odysseus or Luke Skywalker, Hercules or Harry Potter, the one thing they all share is that they are not the same person at the end of their quest as they were at the beginning. Success on their quest requires them to evolve and change. In his work on the Hero’s Journey (well worth a glance) Joseph Campbell argued that the very reason we are so drawn to hero stories is because they map directly to our lived experience of personal transformation.

Your quest will require you to evolve your who. 

Your beliefs, habits, fears, strengths, needs, passions, thoughts… your WHO… defines the actions you’re likely to take and avoid… and it’s here that you'll need to evolve. We all have strengths and abilities that are going to be helpful on our quests. We also all have vulnerabilities, unhelpful tendencies and unique ways of getting in our own way, and we’re likely going to need to overcome those. Today’s Leadership Experiment focuses here, on who you will need to be to achieve success in your quest.

A note about this wackadoodle moment we’re living through

Whatever state of lockdown you are in in your part of the world, whatever happens to the sector or industry you work in over the coming year, whatever and whenever the new normal may be, the one thing you do have some control over is how you show up. You may not be able to change what goes on in the world, but you can change how you choose to respond to it. The WHO is the one thing you ALWAYS have agency over. 

Your Leadership Experiment

1. What 5 adjectives describe who you will need to be to achieve your 2021 vision?
2. What strengths do you have which you can bring to bear?
3. What strengths will you need to develop?
4. What will you need to stop doing/thinking?
5. What will you need to start doing/thinking?
6. What will you need to let go of?
7. What habits will you need to develop to underpin your success?

Capture your answers, along with your answers to the previous 3 experiments, on one document. Print it out, keep it visible, and make a note in your diary to revisit this work at least once a month.

Good luck on your 2021 Quest and may the force be with you (my taste in hero runs to Jedi).