Written by: Nad Philips, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
A yearly exercise I make is to read the same poem and find out to what extent my cognitive and emotional development allows me to gain new insights from the same material.
Robert Frost’s “The road not taken” is the poem I use because it allows itself to many interpretations as one matures and initially Frost wrote it as a joke intended for his friend Edward Thomas in response to his own poem “Roads”.
Frost starts by saying that he came to a fork in the road and the two trails seemed similar:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ‒ I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
My interpretation of the poem this year is as follows:
Whether our past choice has been following our gut feelings or by a cost/benefit analysis we give meaning to our decisions in hindsight in ways compatible with our narrative and sense of self.
So, at the start of this new year are you regretting some of your past choices, is this going to bare on this year’s decisions? Will you take more traveled by roads and privilege security or will you trailblaze and choose adventure instead?
One huge advantage of the new year is starting with a clean slate and the ability to start anew.
To enable you to do that and move on, give yourselves and others a “full discharge”, a sort of pardon, forgive and forget.
This will allow you to travel with curiosity and notice what is emerging, seizing the opportunities that present themselves unbounded by the burden of the past. For the past is already a part of you through your learnings and development.
It is true however that you need to set an intention for the year: the area of focus where you will cater to the emerging future in coherence with your own becoming. You need a trained eye to recognize what’s trending. Your intention will set your direction toward your vision which is influenced by the weak signals of the emerging future. How are the resolutions taken in COP 27 and COP 15 affecting your business going forward, are there new business models that could disrupt your line of work, how can you harness new technology and digitalization, etc.?
Don’t go for it alone, place yourself under the gaze of those who want to see you flourish, those who believe in you, and nurture you without passing their own anxieties or fears.
If you are working in a team how can you sustain motivation, satisfaction, engagement, and commitment?
What is the world you will inhabit for the next 12 months, and whom are you inviting to share it with?
What will be the road not taken this year? Wishing you all to travel new roads with new eyes and make a difference.
Nad Philips, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Nad is an adult learning and development, global consultant. He specializes in helping teams design prosocial relationships and become future fit. Prior to coaching Nad served as European VP and MD France for a Fortune 500 company. He was an honorary professor with ESSEC Business school. Nad also launched several startups in Europe. He is an Amazon best-selling author and lives in Paris, France.
