I’ve done quite a few LinkedIn audits for leaders in the past few weeks. Across them all, there is one element that stands out.
Purpose. A clear purpose: their ‘why’.
Leaders with a clear ‘why’ resonate more with their audiences. They limit risk. They gain trust. They position themselves as someone ‘worth following’.
I give this advice all the time, and it sits at the core of our most important planning framework at Propel – our Purpose Pyramid.
Now, I normally share practical LinkedIn advice in this newsletter. But given the time of year (farewell school holidays, hello home stretch), I thought I’d simply share my own ‘why’.
I chose to share it on LinkedIn recently and it seemed to resonate with others. I hope it resonates with you too.
Last month was my tenth wedding anniversary. For those who know the very wonderful Gem (on our wedding day above, and our recent tenth anniversary getaway below), you’ll know these ten years have been my favourite.
It also happens to coincide with ten years of Propel. In fact, our wedding was the very reason I started Propel all those years ago.
Back in early 2013, all the plans were coming together. But I was getting increasingly agitated I didn’t have the time or headspace to give proper attention to the biggest day of our lives.
Work was eating into my true priorities, and my fear was getting to September with an empty tank, and not fully embracing that most important moment.
I shared all this with Gem, feeling a bit helpless.
Rather than encouraging me to sit tight in the financial security of a stable job (given wedding expenses!), she encouraged me to do what was right for me.
She backed me to step back and find the headspace I needed, while she stepped up to shoulder more of the load.
It’s that selflessness that sits at the core of her character. As a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend and a professional. And I’m motivated to turn up for her every day because I know she has – and always will – for me.
My ‘why’ is the example she sets, and how we can make purposeful work decisions that provide a better future for our relationship, and a better future for our family.
It is anything but easy (let me tell you…), but these decisions are done in genuine partnership.
So every time a Propel anniversary rolls around, I get that little bit more excited.
Not because I think ‘Well done me’ on another year, but because it’s a reminder of the most important partnership I’ll ever form, and the belief Gem puts in me every single day.
That’s my story, and it’s what motivates and drives me. It’s what we talk to our kids about all the time (and hope it sinks in).
Yours is no doubt different to mine.
But that’s the beauty of your purpose, your ‘why’ – it’s yours.
All I can say is that sharing your motivation with others – like we do with our kids – is a wonderfully energising and centring experience.
There’s nothing you need to do after reading this newsletter. You may even be feeling this sort of story ‘isn’t your style’, and there would be nothing worse than sharing it on LinkedIn. And that’s absolutely fine too.
Either or, my only hope is it’s given you food for thought. Maybe even scratched at the surface of something you’ve kept tucked away from your online interactions. Your own ‘why’.
That ‘why’ is powerful. See how you can harness it and if you do share it, let me know how you go.
At the very least, I hope my ‘why’ gives you a smile.
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