There's no renewal without reflection

Last year I adopted the practice of writing a “Letter to Ourselves,” reflecting on the year we’ve had at my company, PotentialSquared. Only… in December of 2021 I wrote a letter detailing what happened for us throughout 2022. 

Yes, I can see the future. 

Just kidding! But I do aim to write down what I believe will take place over the next 365 days, from celebrations and wins to monumental failures and losses. And while I don’t have any psychic capabilities that I’m aware of, the letter I wrote last December has turned out to be eerily spot-on. 

More than anything, it’s a beautiful revelation of our journey according to our core values, and the unexpected ways we grow when we let those truly drive us. 

One thing I didn’t see coming, though, was this newsletter—and what a lovely addition it’s been! 

I’m happy to be here with you for our final issue of 2022, but I’m even more excited for what’s coming in 2023. If you’re enjoying my letters and have a friend who might as well, please invite them to subscribe. 

Our wisdom grows as our community does. The more the merrier. 

Welcome back to The Leader’s Playground! I’m glad you’re here. 

My favorite reads of 2022

I usually take this space to highlight one outstanding thing I’m reading or listening to. But it’s always hard to choose just one. And since this is the last issue of the year, it feels like a perfect excuse to share lots of books! 

Here are my top five reads of 2022, as well as a couple that I want to get stuck into in 2023. 

1. Be More Pirate: Or How to Take On the World and Win by Sam Conniff Allende 

Ahoy, fellow leadership-disruptors! Be More Pirate sits at the top of my bookshelf of favorites. Sam Conniff Allende paints the history of the Golden Age pirates, presenting their traits as disruptors and pioneers as inspiration for entrepreneurs and leaders in the 21st century. (Did you know that these outlaws supported same sex marriage and often selected female captains? In the 1700s?) 

Sam’s praise of pirates struck a chord with me—it is my deepest belief that if we want to change the leadership landscape, bringing more connection and elevating unlikely leaders, we’ve got to shake things up. And that involves adopting behaviors that some established folks might find strange, or even “wrong.” 

We’ve got to make work more fun, we’ve got to celebrate failure, and we’ve really, really got to stop acting like leaders are the king and their teams are the common people. 

The very best leaders are facilitators, amplifiers, encouragers, coaches. They lead to see their own people succeed. 

If you see me wearing an eye patch and starting meetings with “Arghhhh,” give it a chance—you never know what will lead to a breakthrough. 

2. Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything Is All of Us by Jon Alexander

If you’ve been subscribed to The Leader’s Playground (or follow me on LinkedIn), you know this one by now. Citizens is just fantastic. Jon outlines the way our paradigms can liberate or limit us—more specifically, how the way we see individuals (as “Consumers,” or “Subjects,” or “Citizens”) informs critical interpersonal and community dynamics.

If we see people as subjects, of course we’re going to create hierarchical organizations. If we see others as consumers, suddenly everything we do becomes a service to be consumed, where people are numbers. But if we see ourselves and others as citizens—each with a unique perspective to offer and critical role to play—then we move toward a world where individuals are empowered to reach their highest potential and thrive on their own and in community together.

If you’re leading a team or looking to shift a community of people, Jon’s insights will go a long way. 

3. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Daily Art of Living by Ryan Holiday

This book began my love affair with Stoic wisdom and Ryan Holiday’s unparallelled work to explore and share that wisdom with our modern world. 

The Daily Stoic is the perfect book to keep on your desk for inspiration and guidance in a pinch. Each page contains a quote from a stoic philosopher along with commentary from Ryan and Stephen Hanselman. With one meditation for each day of the year, this can be your quiet-time companion or a guide to recenter your leadership.  

From personal growth, to life management, to practicing mindfulness, I’ve found each and every page in this book inspiring. 

4. Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World by Jacqueline Novogratz

In 2001, Jacqueline Novogratz founded Acumen, “a global community of socially and environmentally responsible partners dedicated to changing the way the world tackles poverty, few had heard of impact investing.” Her work led to monumental shifts in the way corporate boards and other stakeholders evaluate businesses. Jacqueline’s work helps us see that profit and purpose can indeed go together, and they must if we wish to change the world on a global scale. 

“Impact Investment” is this harmony, wherein leaders create business success that includes not just profits, but also favorable and equitable relationships with their workers and the communities in which they exist. 

This noble yet achievable vision is the same which drives our work at P2—especially the moves we’re making next year. 

Thank you, Jacqueline! 

5. Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

This was one of my favorites from the year. Ryan’s “The Daily Stoic” has long been a source of inspiration for me, and Ego Is the Enemy spoke right to my soul. If we’re connected on LinkedIn, you know that ego has been a top-of-mind issue for me the past few months (and if we’re not connected yet, hit follow or send me a connection request!).  

Ryan outlines the ways our egos prevent us from accomplishing our greatest goals and, more importantly, is a disruptor of connection. 

If we let our egos drive, we never truly connect with others in fruitful, meaningful ways. 

***

On my 2023 Wishlist: 

Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by Ari Wallach

Ari Wallach is a warrior of socially-minded action and citizenship, in the way Jon Alexander describes in Citizens. His book, Longpath, shares the wisdom discovered and implemented by his organization, Longpath Labs, an initiative “focused on bringing long-term thinking and coordinated behavior to the individual, organizational, and societal realms in order to ensure humanity flourishes on an ecologically thriving planet Earth for centuries to come.” 

As a leader and coaching consultant whose highest hope is creating a better world for all, by disrupting the standard way of leading, I am so appreciative of Ari’s work and the efforts he’s putting in to building connection and care for each other, our greater community, and our world. 

I’m looking forward to this read fueling me in 2023. 

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Most of you know I’ve read this one already, but it’s so good I want to read it again. There’s always more to learn! After all, we’re heading into a new year—new habits, new practices, right? 

James Clear’s bestselling book teaches us about the psychology of changing our habits, starting with the systems we implement them in. He also teaches us that tiny changes can lead to remarkable results if we’re willing to stick with it. 

If you haven’t read this yet, 2023 is your year. Or, better yet, knock it out in a day or two round the fire on holiday and wield your new wisdom heading into January. 

From the Lab at P2

I don’t believe in reminiscing on the past just for the sake of it, but I do like to reflect on where we’ve been in order to see where we’re going. 

As I shared in the introduction, I wrote a “Letter to Ourselves” last December (2021), as if it were now: December 2022. And despite being a perfectly normal, non-psychic human, the guesses I took at where we’d be now—what successes and failures we’d have experienced, and where we’d be headed—were freakishly spot-on. 

This bit in particular reminded me that, so long as we know our purpose and pursue it in all that we do, the details really just fall into place—sometimes better than we could ever imagine or plan.

“The profit that we have made is being reinvested in providing development and opportunities direct to the undiscovered leaders. We have a story now that being profitable and having a hugely positive social impact is possible. We are changing the conversation about the real value of organisations and the balance sheet. Social impact and specifically equity is now firmly on the agenda.”

Our work at P2 has always been aimed at creating better leaders, for a better world. But only in the past year did we realize—surprising even to us—just how core that was to what we do. 

As I shared in our last newsletter, The500 initiative was a special project aimed at equipping today’s leaders with the skills and wisdom to build and inspire the teams of tomorrow, all while delivering a positive social impact. 

It was a fantastic project, but it wasn’t enough. By throwing ourselves into this work, centered around that desire to marry social good and profitable business models as highlighted in my “Letter to Ourselves,” we realized that was the very essence of P2’s mission. 

“We are truly living and breathing our core values as an organisation —it has been remarkable to witness, and I am grateful to have been a part of it.”

We will continue living and breathing—and sharing—those core values in 2023. We have exciting changes coming, and we hope you’ll stay on board to celebrate them with us. 

Stay tuned. 😉

The Leadership Tales Podcast

We’ve wrapped Season 3 of The Leadership Tales and are excited to share Season 4 with you in the new year. Keep an eye out for the first episode, launching in January! 

And in the meantime, if you missed any episodes from Season 3, go back and give them a listen here. 

Finally, if you haven’t left a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify yet, I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Not only does it help me get better as a host and creator, but, more important, the more reviews we have, the better reach we have.

And the reason I do this is to share more voices and stories that matter. 

Well, folks, that wraps up our year. I launched this newsletter in the Fall, and it’s been lovely sharing wisdom as a community. I appreciate each and every one of you—and especially the responses and questions you send my way.

And if you like what I’m doing and know someone who might enjoy it too, please forward them this email or invite them to subscribe below. 

Happy, happy holidays, and see you in 2023! 

Cheers,Colin

To learn more about my book, Be More Wrong: How Failure Makes You an Outstanding Leader, click here.