We are in a time where both choice and responsibility are being deeply highlighted.
No matter what we face, seeing we always have a choice to make decisions that will align with what we want to create and experience is essential. When we view life through this lens, it is easier to take full responsibility for what sprouts from the seeds we sow.
I see this season in history as one where we are both supported and challenged to stretch our capacity beyond, perhaps, where we have thought we can, or even think we want, to go.
It is often that I ask the question, “what do you truly want?” only to receive the response, “I don’t know.”
We have almost forgotten how to dream and believe, with hearts wide open, that those dreams can come true.
More and more, as we find ourselves navigating the uncertainties of the world and our individual lives – both personally and professionally – we will need to tap further into learning how to read and trust where our hearts are leading us and how our intuition or gut instincts are informing us.
For more on this, see my article last month, Next Level Visionary Leadership: Intentionally Aligning the Head, Heart and Gut.
From my viewpoint, we are in an incredible time of building new habits, systems and approaches to replace what is simply no longer working. This time can be both magical and miraculous, as well as concerning and scary. Our experiences will depend on how we choose to both address and take action on what needs to change and what is shifting beneath our feet.
This is a great opportunity to consider the definition of power.
What does being empowered or in a place of intrinsic power mean to you?
Empowerment is a choice of how we see and give meaning to things, as well as how we take action on these choices, and what we do with the outcomes we experience. It is something we do for ourselves and not anything others can do for us or us for them.
It is possible to create environments and chances for others to be empowered, but only our individual choices and actions around viewpoints and positions can empower us.
More on Empowerment Dynamics and the roles that support and undermine our ability to be empowered can be found in my article, Cultivating Empowerment and Healthy Boundaries.
In my own work, I have studied, supported and developed awareness, tools and strategies to help the unique needs and inherent behaviors of Visionaries.
My own ability to live and lead according to my truths and internal power is best supported and most valuable and valued when I connect with the information that I can only access within myself.
I find the more I align my choices to what is true to and for me, the more my perspectives and value can be received and can produce benefit and impact for others.
I recently shared this with a client who is beginning to identify and clarify her strengths and challenges as a visionary:
When a visionary focuses more on developing his/her heart brain and gut brain in accordance with the natural desire to build connectivity, then he/she can be quite effective at being both visionary and a leader.
If left to their own devices, visionaries are really naturally in a whole different realm from others and will operate there, unapologetically. This is why visionaries like Steve Jobs, Walt Disney and Henry Ford relied so heavily on others to be the bridge builders for them. They, purposefully, didn’t have ANYTHING to do with the day-to-day operations. They would have killed any ability to form solid structures and organization if they had been in charge of the facilitation and execution of the essential functional details and the management of people.
A little insight about visionaries that I have discovered in my time working with them. Visionaries are always more married to the vision than to people. This doesn’t mean they don’t value relationships. In fact, at the end of the day, the visions they have are often ABOUT people and how to improve or advance their lives. Visionaries simply value their relationships differently. They don’t tend to operate with others in their lives from a place of need. Instead, they choose to surround themselves with people who align with the forward movement of their vision(s).
For centuries, social conditioning has created a view of connection and love (the foundation of relationships) based upon a model of co-dependency. Visionaries severely struggle to function successfully, for any period of time, in relationship dynamics that are reliancy-based. They expect each person in their lives to be self-governing and independent. This is why Visionaries often struggle in positions where they are responsible for managing people. They inherently believe people need to manage themselves, and they typically don’t have the innate skills necessary to do the work to create environments where diverse groups can find individual empowerment.
Whether or not you are visionary or even agree with the above viewpoint, determining for yourself your rightful direction, purpose, impact, and yes, even vision, is critical. And the only place it can be discovered and decided is within you.