Coffee with 75 of 2020's Disruptive Leaders
Leaving an organization you create is scary. As you build it, you become it. As you leave it, you question who you are without it.
On exiting my start-up this summer, I was asking myself that same question. Trying to convince myself I had a plan, I found myself saying “I’m going to have 50 coffees and go from there.”
In hindsight, it was brilliant.
On park benches, zoom links, and sandy beaches, 75 people shared visions inspiring and challenging them.
A few of these people were freshly tossed into leadership and are breathing deep into what they have to pull off. A newly minted not-for-profit CEO is charting a course into unknown economic viability. A new-media leader worries about her team’s well-being while herself carrying the weight of disrupting a troubled industry.
Some have clear visions for what they are trying to create, accompanied by real fears about whether they’ll get there. A tech CEO is so concerned with achieving his ten year vision, that he barely blinks at winning entrepreneur of the year. A social-enterprise builder is reflecting on how his values are challenged by launching a for-profit company. And a young Executive Director describes a “swing for the fences” vision for protecting Canadian’s data.
Others are in that messy middle questioning their resolve. A politician staring an election in the eye asks - am I ready to pursue this? While a public servant exhausted by resistance to change searches for inspiration.
Finally others, like me, are painting a new slate. An executive coach is ready to leave her company to create something new. She is more subdued than an innovation leader plotting new ways to achieve her maximum utility, even if that means breaking some things.
If I learned something from these coffees, it is that changing the world is a journey, not an end-state. You are not the title you hold, but the commitment you make to constantly clarifying your vision, and to caring about yourself and those around you as you fulfill that vision. While I now feel more grounded, my appetite for coffees has only strengthened. If you need one yourself, book one any time.