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Jan 13, 2022
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A New Year’s Resolution

It’s the start of a new year.  

And it feels somehow as though the world is even more tumultuous than the first month of 2021 was. Which didn’t seem possible. 

The morning’s headlines read like a far-fetched apocalyptic script starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Covid rages (still). The environment is at a tipping point (but really this time). Our attention span has been stolen from us by social media magnets (I forget where I was). Supply chain, mid-term elections, cancel culture, and on and on and on.

It can be incredibly challenging to sit at the entryway to a fresh new year with the drive, energy, and creativity required to charge fearlessly into really making an impact. Maybe setting a shiny new resolution to serve as our North Star for the year and keep us focused on kicking ass will help.

So, here it is. I resolve to never set another resolution again. 

Instead, I propose we consider how we can better show up for each other this year. As colleagues, as leaders, as friends, as members of the communities in which we live. How can we map a path to individual purpose vs. relying on others to tell us what we should care about? And how can we do that in small ways every day that add up to something much more significant when we reflect back upon our positive impact on those around us?

Borrowing some wisdom from my good friend and colleague Kristen Lisanti, I am committed to setting an intention for the year that can serve as a gentle yet sturdy reminder to show up with purpose. And that how we treat each other really matters. My intention for 2022 is to bring focused attention to as many moments as possible on any given day. Giving conversations and meetings my full and singular attention, not reacting to phone pings during family dinner with my husband and sons, writing an email from start to finish in one sitting, saying no to multi-tasking.

We work in an industry where we are surrounded by the sharpest, most creative, innovative, strategic minds, and commit each and every day to getting better at our individual crafts. We can relatively easily get smarter on any particular subject matter or hard skill set. But if we don’t figure out how to listen better, empathize more deeply, and support our wins while simultaneously truly learning from our losses, we are not the valued agency partners our clients need us to be. We owe it to our clients to cultivate thoughtful, impactful solutions to major real-world challenges. To do that, we must show up with hearts and eyes wide open.

In a world where nearly everything is beyond our direct control, what we can rely upon is committing to a particular mindset and intention. To hoping that mindset has a positive effect on those around us, and in turn encourages them to demonstrate their own individual practice of self-awareness and encouragement. 

So here’s to 2022!