Your 100-Year-Old Self: A Powerful Tool for Authentic Leadership Today
Can you see yourself at 100? This isn't just a question for the aging, but rather an invitation to a profound exploration into your core values and motivations, the guiding principles that often remain unexpressed or even unrecognized. These profoundly influence your decisions, ethos, and vision, shaping the trajectory of your organization. In our relentless pursuit of immediate metrics and quarterly results, these foundational values and motivations are frequently overlooked. However, envisioning your life at 100, contemplating your potential legacy, and your long-term impact can unlock insights, allowing them to be more consciously integrated into your leadership. These insights can help you align your actions with your deepest values for increased authenticity, effectiveness, and fulfillment. This introspective journey is not a passive prediction, but a proactive engagement with your future self, igniting a dialogue between your present actions and your long-term aspirations.
A bulletin board outside a primary school classroom in Singapore invites children to reflect on the probability of being active at 100.
The traditional career arc – work 40 years, retire at 65, and then slow down – is rapidly being rethought, thanks to increasing lifespans and changing societal norms. The opportunity to spend 30 or even 40 years beyond the traditional retirement age has profound implications. It invites not just a redefinition of your professional and personal trajectory, but a chance to reassess your foundational values and how they guide your leadership. It poses the opportunity to imagine a future that extends far beyond the immediate horizons of business cycles and strategic plans, a future that is woven with the threads of your deepest ambitions and yearnings.
This forward-looking perspective empowers you to reflect on your current actions and decisions in a new light. It's more than just weighing the pros and cons of your daily choices; it's an exploration into the subconscious realm where your true values and passions reside. It encourages you to question: are my actions today in harmony with these core values that define my long-term aspirations? If the answer is 'no' or 'not entirely,' it is an invitation to pivot. It is a chance to let those deeply embedded values surface, to acknowledge them, and to realign your leadership approach in congruence with these fundamental principles.
To realign your leadership approach with your envisioned future is not a drastic overhaul but a refining process that nudges your direction towards more authenticity and congruence with your core self. This introspective process is not a diversion from your responsibilities but rather a unique way to enhance your leadership effectiveness, making it more grounded, purpose-driven, and personally fulfilling.
Your intellectual mind can’t extrapolate beyond the next few years. Asking the question forces your brain to tap into deeper things, like your intuition, and dreams you might have always had, in the background.
Try accessing your intuition when you practice your favorite type of mindfulness or meditation, whether formally sitting on a cushion, or by running, swimming or taking long showers.
Imagine you’re 100. Then explore with your imagination.
Who is around you? Friends? Family? Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren?
Where do you live? In a city, in nature, or maybe by the sea?
What are you doing in your vision?
What emotions are you feeling? What do you see? What does your body feel like?
What activity are you most passionate about?
If you’re already used to speaking in public, imagine you’re on stage, maybe at a conference, speaking about a topic you have grown passionate about. What is that topic? Imagine the people looking up at you, listening intently. How has your life touched and inspired them?
If you have trouble getting an intuitive flash, don’t worry — the answer to “who will I be at 100” is not as important as the question. Most of the value of this process comes from simply reflecting on the question.
As soon as you ask, “who will I be at 100”, your brain shifts to a new understanding that you do have enough time to build a whole new life. Even at 50.
Perhaps you see yourself as an environmental advocate. This vision illuminates your underlying desire: a commitment to stewardship and sustainability. With this insight, you can now align your leadership actions accordingly. You might choose to encourage sustainable practices within your current tech company, which aligns your actions with your future self. This integration enriches your leadership style and the organization, reinforcing the Trust-Building and Holistic traits of your leadership. It could mean adjusting your company's long-term strategy to include more sustainable practices or it could influence your decision-making process to include the environmental impact of each business choice.
Alternatively, your future vision may be as an education reformer. This reflects a desire to empower and uplift others through knowledge. What could this mean for your current role? You could integrate this desire by focusing on developing your team's skills, creating upskilling opportunities, and encouraging continuous learning within your organization. You'd be stepping into the Evolutive and Legacy-Building aspects of your leadership in doing so. It may lead to a restructuring of your company's approach to employee development or a shift in focus toward mentorship and coaching.
Remember, this isn’t a fortune-telling exercise. The key lies in the self-discovery prompted by the question, not necessarily the specific answers you imagine. It's an invitation to introspection and self-realization that allows you to cultivate a more authentic and transformative leadership approach.
The underlying desires reflected in your future vision can guide your current actions, fostering more aligned and fulfilling leadership. By embracing this visionary approach, you acknowledge that the journey to becoming an Enterprise Leader isn’t about short-term destinations but an ongoing evolution. Every decision you make, every strategy you implement, and every interaction with your team can be guided by the wisdom gained from this exercise, allowing your leadership style to become more focused, genuine, and effective.
So... who will you be at 100? Whoever that person is, may the future you be happy, peaceful, healthy, and loved. As you lead, let your envisioned future infuse your present, guiding you towards a balanced, purpose-driven, and holistic form of leadership that transforms not just you, but also your organization.
Image by gpointstudio on Freepik