Taking The Leap Into Meaning Driven Leadership

Imagine walking away from everything that you have told yourself mattered. Imagine the courage that would take, particularly if you didn’t know what was next.

Terrie’s anxiety was getting the better of her. Because, until mid-2021, Terrie was a highly respected chief executive officer at a Fortune 100 organization. Today, she is unemployed, not because she was fired or even because she can’t get a position. On the contrary, headhunters regularly offer her multiple highly desirable executive positions.

However, one night around 3:00 AM during the pandemic, she had an epiphany that she was living a highly driven life. The life she lived, a life she had meticulously shaped and controlled, felt strangely empty. Anxiety pulled her between the poles of fear of losing her significance and status and the desire to live a meaningful, purpose-driven, fulfilling life.

There’s a lot of buzz around the Great Resignation. However, the Great Resignation resulted from a desperately-needed pause from the world of hustle. No matter how much Netflix and The Great British Bake-off we tried to distract ourselves with, many people found that the inner and outer noise quietened during the mandated lockdown, and we had to sit with our existential angst. For the first time in as long as most could remember, they heard the secret they had…