For most of my life there was a map to follow. I believed the “authorities” knew what I needed to do, and I listened.
The good news is our purpose is at the core of helping us master the art of map making. The unique gift we bring to the world, our purpose, isn’t on a map. Thus, each of us has the gift of map making inherent within us. What I have found over the years is that the most effective leaders are those who stepped in and had the courage to be map makers.
I am not saying you should always be a map maker, as many things in life are better with a good map. Ordering your Starbucks coffee online is a great map, yet it won’t change the world. I do believe it is good to have a balance of both. Following others’ maps works for the day-to-day and for those things requiring consistency and linear improvement. Doing something that will really change both the world of those around you and yourself requires becoming a map maker.
What is your purpose calling you to step up and bring to life that isn’t about just following someone else’s map?
It turns out, unlike many of you, I was late to the map making party. I spent the first 45 years of my life following other people’s maps. I really believed that the goal in life was to find someone who had the best map and become the best at getting an A+ at following their map.
Early in my professional adventures, I got to work with several professors from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School helping them apply their maps to the world of business.
I discovered that the key to true transformational results depended on the one thing that wasn’t on the map: a truly wise leader. When I had a leader with deep wisdom, no matter what approach we used, it worked. When that wasn’t the case, no matter what proven approach we used (and we tried them all), it failed at some point or just faded away.
When have you really been a map maker in your journey?
As you begin to think about your answer, here is my humble version which hopefully helps you see yours…
In my case, I simply stopped doing anything for 6-9 months. This was pre-purpose times and yes, purpose was working through me as it does for all of us, even if we don’t have words to describe the unique gift we bring to the world, our purpose.
I read everything I could find on how to help leaders access true wisdom and what really made worldclass leaders. It was clear that there were a lot of wise leaders who had written books, but nothing really captured how you get there. In that process, out of my own frustration, I created a map and started teaching what I was discovering. For the first time, I was actually being a map maker versus following someone else’s map. It was very exciting and very scary.
Purpose, when it grabs you and you listen, takes you to opportunities you wouldn’t have the audacity to ask for. I met Bill George as he began to create the Authentic Leadership movement at a conference.
We realized that each of us had pieces of the map that together answered questions we had both been struggling with. For reasons that really didn’t make any sense, we immediately decided to co-write the True North Field Guide, the written map of Authentic Leadership.
Of the pieces I wrote, my greatest contribution was the Map of Purpose. At the time, there wasn’t any map out there, and I found myself taking three steps forward and two steps back as I discovered the path of purpose.
That process of map making created what we now refer to as the Purpose to ImpactTM program that many leaders have experienced.
We each have a medium in which we are map makers. For me, writing and teaching seems to be the means I discover the new maps. Writing the Purpose to Impact HBR article forced me to define the map in eight pages, which was a huge upgrade. Writing the book Leading from Purpose was both following the map I had created for the first half of the book and writing a new map for the second half. Numerous exceptional leaders with profound wisdom, alongside skilled map makers, contributed to the book’s remarkable strength.
Being a map maker is hard work. You face your faults, screw ups, setbacks, negative feedback at such a greater level than when you are following someone else’s map (they take the hit).
Yet, on the other side of it is the possibility of something transformational and something that is a powerful expression of your unique purpose.
Oh, one more thing. I believe I am not the only one who has trusted the authorities in my life or assumed they knew better than me. Yet, at the core
of the word authorities is the word author. By giving our agency and power over to the authorities in our life, we are actually asking them to be the authors of our journey.
I believe for all of us it’s really time we each step up and author our journey, don’t you?
So, time for you to jump into your gift of authorship and what it might bring to the world.
Exercise
- When have you really been a map maker in your life?
- How much did your purpose show up in that adventure?
- What project, adventure, task, or opportunity requires you to be a map maker in the next 3-6 months?
- What could it look like if you really leverage your purpose 100% with this project, adventure, task or opportunity?
For most of my life there was a map to follow. I believed the “authorities” knew what I needed to do, and I listened.
The good news is our purpose is at the core of helping us master the art of map making. The unique gift we bring to the world, our purpose, isn’t on a map. Thus, each of us has the gift of map making inherent within us. What I have found over the years is that the most effective leaders are those who stepped in and had the courage to be map makers.
I am not saying you should always be a map maker, as many things in life are better with a good map. Ordering your Starbucks coffee online is a great map, yet it won’t change the world. I do believe it is good to have a balance of both. Following others’ maps works for the day-to-day and for those things requiring consistency and linear improvement. Doing something that will really change both the world of those around you and yourself requires becoming a map maker.
What is your purpose calling you to step up and bring to life that isn’t about just following someone else’s map?
It turns out, unlike many of you, I was late to the map making party. I spent the first 45 years of my life following other people’s maps. I really believed that the goal in life was to find someone who had the best map and become the best at getting an A+ at following their map.
Early in my professional adventures, I got to work with several professors from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School helping them apply their maps to the world of business.
I discovered that the key to true transformational results depended on the one thing that wasn’t on the map: a truly wise leader. When I had a leader with deep wisdom, no matter what approach we used, it worked. When that wasn’t the case, no matter what proven approach we used (and we tried them all), it failed at some point or just faded away.
When have you really been a map maker in your journey?
As you begin to think about your answer, here is my humble version which hopefully helps you see yours…
In my case, I simply stopped doing anything for 6-9 months. This was pre-purpose times and yes, purpose was working through me as it does for all of us, even if we don’t have words to describe the unique gift we bring to the world, our purpose.
I read everything I could find on how to help leaders access true wisdom and what really made worldclass leaders. It was clear that there were a lot of wise leaders who had written books, but nothing really captured how you get there. In that process, out of my own frustration, I created a map and started teaching what I was discovering. For the first time, I was actually being a map maker versus following someone else’s map. It was very exciting and very scary.
Purpose, when it grabs you and you listen, takes you to opportunities you wouldn’t have the audacity to ask for. I met Bill George as he began to create the Authentic Leadership movement at a conference.
We realized that each of us had pieces of the map that together answered questions we had both been struggling with. For reasons that really didn’t make any sense, we immediately decided to co-write the True North Field Guide, the written map of Authentic Leadership.
Of the pieces I wrote, my greatest contribution was the Map of Purpose. At the time, there wasn’t any map out there, and I found myself taking three steps forward and two steps back as I discovered the path of purpose.
That process of map making created what we now refer to as the Purpose to ImpactTM program that many leaders have experienced.
We each have a medium in which we are map makers. For me, writing and teaching seems to be the means I discover the new maps. Writing the Purpose to Impact HBR article forced me to define the map in eight pages, which was a huge upgrade. Writing the book Leading from Purpose was both following the map I had created for the first half of the book and writing a new map for the second half. Numerous exceptional leaders with profound wisdom, alongside skilled map makers, contributed to the book’s remarkable strength.
Being a map maker is hard work. You face your faults, screw ups, setbacks, negative feedback at such a greater level than when you are following someone else’s map (they take the hit).
Yet, on the other side of it is the possibility of something transformational and something that is a powerful expression of your unique purpose.
Oh, one more thing. I believe I am not the only one who has trusted the authorities in my life or assumed they knew better than me. Yet, at the core of the word authorities is the word author. By giving our agency and power over to the authorities in our life, we are actually asking them to be the authors of our journey.
I believe for all of us it’s really time we each step up and author our journey, don’t you?
So, time for you to jump into your gift of authorship and what it might bring to the world.
Exercise
- When have you really been a map maker in your life?
- How much did your purpose show up in that adventure?
- What project, adventure, task, or opportunity requires you to be a map maker in the next 3-6 months?
- What could it look like if you really leverage your purpose 100% with this project, adventure, task or opportunity?