I don’t make fixed New Year’s Resolutions that I probably won’t reach, so much as set navigational stars to head for, what Teal Unicorn call our matariki. Here are my five work matariki for 2023.
I would dearly love to bring our Teal Unicorn success to improve more people’s working lives. We are always looking for another big client in Vietnam and/or anywhere. We have room for one or two more this year. We make ourselves redundant at our existing clients, leaving them to carry on. ( Or occasionally we walk away when they engage Mc-Bain-loitte. Or we succumb to the corporate immune system, the counterforce of conservativism). We will of course continue to sprinkle the ideas widely through coaching, training, and writing, but nothing beats the satisfaction of helping an organisation really lift itself up.
Teal Unicorn will do more to advance the ideas of “Open”, through our next big book “Open Work”, and our Open Management Academy. We would love to do more advocacy, through speaking and writing, so please reach out.
On a personal note, but still highly relevant to work, I’m heading for defeat of my anxiety, which manifests as pessimism and anger. Having defeated depression six years ago, I peeled that back and found the anxiety lurking underneath. 2022 was an advance, I hope to make even more progress in this one.
I want to grow optimism around me. I’m an optimistic person, more so the older I get. That doesn’t make me unrealistic about the near term. If we are to survive the coming storm, we need the resilience that optimism brings, not the dank gloom and despair that the internet is so good at fostering.
Speaking of that storm, this year I will continue to speak out against the rising tide of fascism, unrestrained capitalist greed, religious fundamentalism, and male machismo. We are going backwards right now in social evolution. I’ll do what I can to swing the heading back towards Teal.
Here’s to 2023. Onward!