What if this year were a blank canvas on which you could create something that doesn’t yet exist?
Something that you know would make a real difference, and not just to you.
Something that would benefit others in your world, maybe even the world at large.
Something significant that matters.
A meaningful change.
Would you?
Could you?
Would and could are two very different things.
Would means being willing to do it. And willing is more than a promise to “try”.
When you’re creating something that doesn’t exist yet, and perhaps never has, what you’re doing is changing what is now. And challenging the status quo always brings push back from those who like and benefit from how things are now, as well as from those resistant to change – which may even include some part of you.
Persevering through any resistance can take an inordinate amount of will, courage, conviction, persistence, stamina, and much more.
You may have that now, whether in small or large measure.
If not, you may be able to summon it from a storehouse somewhere deep inside of you.
And that’s essential.
Because when it comes to change, being willing really matters. It means you choose to give up the known what is now in exchange for the unknown what could be. You’re undaunted by that blank canvas, and inspired, possibly even compelled, to create on it.
That in itself sets you apart from many others. It makes you willing to ignite meaningful change. You’re seen by others as a leader, whether you have a big title or not.
However, emerging as a leader is one thing. Being effective as a leader is quite another. We’ve all suffered from those who appear to be leaders and then fail us when they prove to be incapable.
That’s where we get to the critical importance of could.
Could you ignite meaningful change?
Could you create something in 2024 that doesn’t yet exist but that would really matter if it did? Not just something you can do by yourself for yourself. Something you can do for others with others.
That takes leadership capability.
Do you have it?
How do you know?
Well, here are a few of the essentials.
You first have to see what could be better than what is now. It’s not tangible because it doesn’t exist yet. Therefore you can’t hold it in your hand and examine it in whole or in part.
You have to have vision.
And contrary to some of the current theories on leadership these days, there isn’t a distinct kind of leader called “visionary leader”. Every leader needs vision. You can’t see what doesn’t exist yet without it.
Vision is a relative thing, however.
There are different levels of visionary capability. Sometimes you just have to envision the evolution of what is now, and see what it could look weeks, months or a year from now. But sometimes you have to be able to see way beyond the now, past the limits of imagination, and with such acuity that you see even the finest details from a far distant perspective.
Then once you see it for yourself, you have to recognize that others can’t see it the way you do. No one is standing exactly where you are so no one sees it from the exact same perspective. Your vantage point is as unique and distinct as you are.
You therefore have to be able to help them see it too. Otherwise, your meaningful change, no matter how beautiful it looks on that blank canvas, will never materialize in the real world.
The reality is that being an effective leader ultimately depends on your ability to ignite meaningful change, not on managing the status quo. That’s essential too on all that is serving well that should not change. But know there is a difference: you’re either preserving the status quo as a manager or challenging it as a leader.
If you see an opportunity for meaningful change, then your ability to demonstrate effective leadership starts with being able to express it. You will not invoke change unless you can evoke it effectively.
There are three elements essential to expressing the leadership that ignites change, encapsulated in a word I created:
- Illuminate what matters.
- Amplify it so that it matters to those who can help you realize it. And
- Unify them as a collective so they think and act in alignment to ignite it.
Put them together and you’ve got illumify®.
But it’s a lot more than the sum of its parts.
Do all that, and they’ll hear you, and think and act in the ways that ignite your change.
It’s a proven method for highly effective leadership.
Because here’s the thing. When what matters to you to create on that blank canvas matters to them as well, they are willing to do their part to create it.
And together you would and could ignite your meaningful change.
Let this be the year.
