What are the pathways to developing both high agency and high consciousness?

The most common archetype I’ve seen amongst people who can hold both starts out with someone focused on external agency.

Usually there’s a pendulum experience where they go all in on the outer world, then all in on their inner world, before eventually finding a balance.

Anyone who's been through this can verify that having your world turned upside down (and often shattered) like this can be incredibly challenging.

It begs the question, is this required?

Is there a way to work on both at the same time that doesn’t require so much suffering?

Brian Whetten is one of the most incisive leaders I’ve met on this topic.

I took some time recently summarize some of the main ideas from our recent podcast conversations in a new blog post.

YES, you should continue to use all the opportunities life gives you to do your inner work.

But there’s also other key distinctions you can focus on that will help you grow yourself, so you can grow your leadership and agency.

These distinctions are:

- Proving worth vs. creating value

- Pushing against “the wall” vs. being pulled through it

- Seeking power vs. finding containers

I really think Brian is on to something here.

Having seen a lot of this play out in my own life, there seems to be an invisible wall that shows up in our lives.

The ideas he offers to move the wall on both consciousness and your ability to make shit happen are very original.

I look forward to leaning into them in my own path of expanding my consciousness and leadership.

You can read more about them here