Metaphors are helpful until they’re not.
I’ve previously written about the limitations of the chrysalis metaphor to help us understand human transformations. Unlike a caterpillar, that fully dissolves into goo before emerging as a wholly new creature, people navigating change tend to bring parts of their past identities with them even as they add new elements in new seasons.
Continue reading “Grafting”Leveraging our imagination to create our next chapter, organizationally or personally, is not about “rainbows and unicorns.” In fact, it rarely requires trying to think up something the world has never seen before. More often, imagination is an extension or new application of something we’ve experienced in a different context.
Continue reading “Imagine What’s Real”I’m leaning into the idea of imagining being an active, collective verb rather than something that happens alone in your head.
Is there something that your possible future self might love that you could try on for size right now? Not just in your head, but in “real life”?
I’m just back from a month working remotely in a different city. A few people have asked us if we were scouting it out as a possible place to retire. Not really — but we were testing out what it felt like to:
Continue reading “Try it On for Size”This past weekend, my husband and I hiked through an area of Kelowna, British Columbia that had been ravaged by wildfires last August.
This experience was new for us, and eerie.
I was expecting the landscape to be more barren than it was. But many trees were still standing. Some were visibly charred at the base but showing new growth at the top. Quite incredible.
Continue reading “Damaged Roots”When you’re in the midst of adjusting to a new chapter, it’s easy to feel untethered or stuck. It can feel a bit like culture shock — the familiar markers are gone or aren’t serving you well anymore, but you aren’t yet sure how best to interpret the new signals you’re getting. Very disorienting.
So I’ve been thinking about the scaffolding that helps an organization or an individual move from panic to possibilities when navigating a transition.
Continue reading “From Panic to Possibilities”
