Seven Transformational Leadership Insights I gained from The Great Resignation
Transformational Leadership
Seven Transformational Leadership Insights I gained from The Great Resignation
On the 1st May 2021, I handed in my resignation. I didn’t know it then, but I was joining a global movement which became The Great Resignation. Six months later, as I reflected on my journey, I realised I’d been given a priceless opportunity to internalise seven transformational insights.
Here’s what I discovered
Effective Leadership Flows From a Desire to Invest
Reflecting on my journey leading up to resignation, I discovered that I’d fallen into a classic ‘my identity vs my job title’ trap. My job title had become my identity. It had become important to me that people knew my title. Promotion mattered because that meant I had a more ‘impressive’ title to share with other people.
This insight was confronting. I’d never framed a job title in these terms or for these reasons before. Somehow I’d changed from someone who appreciated leadership for the wonderful opportunity to invest in the life stories of those I led, to someone who spent way too much time climbing an arbitrary corporate ladder.
Spending vs investing. The verbiage contrast was stark.
I was spending time climbing an arbitrary ladder, instead of investing time in the wonderful people who chose to work in the teams I led.
Put that way, what would you choose?
So my first transformational insight was this: true leadership flows from a desire to invest. And the most transformational investment of all is in those around me.
Financial Flexibility Maximises Transformation
At the age of 10, I read a book called Rich Dad, Poor Dad. At the time my family was pretty poor (we had to ration our toilet paper at one point!!!), so I was very attracted to the title (and fortunately found it at a Garage/Yard Sale for 50c).
One point made in the book has never left my mind.
Assets put money into my pocket. Liabilities take money out.
While not accurate from an accounting perspective, the point was clear. Investing in things which put money into our pockets creates space to do more. Spending money on things which take money out, leads to less.
Over the years, despite some mistakes, my wife and I have worked hard to build our assets and minimise our liabilities. This meant that by the time I reached the Great Resignation, we had built up enough capital and passive income to manage the loss of my salary. The financial flexibility gave me space to navigate through an intense period of self reflection, as you can see here and here. Having the financial headroom to to invest in this process made a huge difference — there were some days where I just sat and cried.
My second transformational insight then was this: creating financial flexibility creates space to maximise transformation. And the most transformational place for financial flexibility is for personal growth among myself and my team.
My Wife is More Precious than Diamonds
My experience leading up to the Great Resignation and my journey afterwards reinforced this point over and over again.
My Wife is More Precious than Diamonds. Rubies. Gold. Titanium. More precious than anything.
As we navigated through the ups and downs of COVID 19, lockdowns together, and starting our startup together, there were tough times. Throughout the process, my wife led the way in authentic, powerful and vulnerable communication. These days we are closer than we’ve ever been, and it is from that place of togetherness that our companies have flowed.
However, I also realised that prior to the Great Resignation, I had been taking aspects of her incredible nature for granted. Not deliberately or out of selfish motivation, but rather because I had bought into an approach and culture which didn’t include relationship investment as fundamental to success.
My third transformational insight was this: Any long term effective investment framework must be holistic in nature. It must include close relationships, as well as finance and everything else.
Authenticity Matters
About three months into this journey, I found myself tied up in knots. With all of the toxic social media craziness going on, and brutal take downs seemingly reported every day, I was fearful of saying anything which might be perceived controversial. Whole new acronyms made their way into my reading vocabulary. There was so much anger, so much hurt, so much pain. But very little grace.
Sometimes it felt like I was watching society around me tearing itself apart.
As a man who has a strong, personal belief in Jesus Christ as my loving Saviour, I found this incredibly challenging to navigate. In an effort to avoid anything controversial, I was struggling to be authentic myself. This raised an internal challenge for me — how could I create a culture of authenticity if I myself was not being authentic?
How could we possibly create a place of grace, peace and truth where people are able to bring their whole selves, if I myself was not doing so? Especially when my reason for not doing so was fear.
In the end, I realised that I needed to find a path forward which created space for those around me to feel safe to be authentic, while doing so myself. For me this meant being more open and authentic about my faith (despite my fear of what this might mean), while also working hard to listen to others and hear what they are saying.
As I shared this journey with those around me, more and more people opened up about area’s they were struggling to be authentic in. It was amazing. I was privileged to share in their journey as they shared about things which had previously been challenging for them.
This led to my fourth transformational insight: Authenticity Matters. And the first person who has to be authentic is me.
Purposeful Culture Demands Purposeful Investment
It’s been said that culture beats strategy. My reflection over my life is that this is true.
Every. Single. Time.
I’ve been involved in high performance cultures which bring out the best in everyone. I saw those involved go on to do the extraordinary. I’ve also been involved in cultures which say all the right things, but go ahead and measure things which imply the exact opposite. I saw those involved consigned to frustration and mediocrity.
So I invested several weeks trying to distil everything I’d read, seen and learned through experience into my own personal ‘what works and what doesn’t’ list. I came up with the following.
Culture is built brick by brick. These bricks are comprised of:
- The words we say
- The behaviour we model
- The performance we measure
- The outcomes we reward
- The vulnerability we express
As I did this, I had another transformational insight: Purposeful culture requires purposeful investment. After all, those five aspects above aren’t going to happen by accident. They require intentionality, discipline and consistency.
I Too am on a Journey
About three weeks ago I had a startling insight. Here I was, designing a couple of companies (Atile Coaching and Counselling and Creative Appnologies), and it had led to one of the most intense, rewarding and incredible personal growth spurts I’d ever experienced.
Before my own eyes I was being transformed. My level of intimacy with my wife, with God, with my family and friends was at a whole new level.
It made me realise that I too am on a journey.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I’m always going to be on a journey. To live is to grow and to change. My choice is whether I do this on purpose, by accident, or let’s be honest, kicking and screaming (this seems to be my default choice somehow).
And that’s the essence of my sixth transformational insight. I too am on a journey. Each of our co-workers is on a journey. You the reader are on a journey. Knowing this means we invest together from a place of authenticity ❤
Purpose Transforms…EVERYTHING
My final transformational insight was about purpose.
Knowing my purpose transformed everything for me. I could write a book (or maybe 100 blog posts/medium articles) on the things which have changed for me in the past six months. I’ve lost weight. I’ve invested in things which previously felt impossible. I’ve met incredible people all over the world.
But all of that started with connecting with my purpose.
Purpose Transforms…EVERYTHING
Now, every day starts with connecting with my purpose. I couldn’t imagine doing anything differently.
So Here’s My Challenge To You
If you’ve read to this part of the article, I’ve got a challenge for you.
Why not take some time to write down seven things which stood out to you about this article? What are seven things you’ve learned over the past six months?
If you’d like to share them, I’d love to hear them — you can share in the comments, or contact me via Facebook or Instagram. Whatever it is, I’m completely convinced that you are awesome and incredible. You were created on purpose for a purpose ❤
