The Maggie Mindset | Agency| Evil Plans
Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS.
You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach:
Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: an energy (good or bad) word and it’s meaning
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge
LEARN
Something Worth Sharing
The Maggie Mindset
When I was younger, there was a coach at my ice rink called Maggie.
She looked like the actress who played Wonder Woman in the 1970s TV series Wonder Woman. Glamorous, unmistakable and you certainly noticed her when she entered the rink.
But what I remember most was her eyewear.
Her glasses were nothing like anyone else’s - larger, bolder and more dramatic. In the late 1980s, when most frames were small and sensible, hers were unapologetically different.
Years later, I saw her at a party and asked about them. She explained that everyday glasses were dull, but Italian sunglass design was far more interesting. So she bought sunglasses she loved and found an optician willing to fit her prescription lenses into them.
She did not settle for what was available.
She decided what she wanted and then built a way to have it.
That mindset stayed with me.
When I was leading within our family business, much of the advice available did not reflect the complexity we were living. The models felt partial and outdated. The conversations felt narrow. I knew we needed something more integrated, more human, more practical.
So instead of accepting what was on the shelf, I built it.
That was the beginning of GLAS, a framework created to hold clarity, decision-making, governance, identity, resilience and direction in one place. What started as a response to family business complexity is now used far beyond it.
Maggie probably never knew she influenced that instinct. But she did.
Know what you want. If you cannot find it, create it.
ENERGY
An emotion or energy; a stand-out word / s
Agency
The word agency comes from the Latin agere, meaning ‘to do, to set in motion.’
It is the root of words like act and action. At its core, agency is the decision to initiate rather than accept - and to shape rather than settle.
ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference
Build What’s Needed
Identify an area of life - any area - where you have been working within a structure that does not quite fit your needs.
Consider:
What is missing for you?
What do you know is actually needed?
If you stopped waiting for the perfect model, what could you begin shaping yourself?
How can you use the Maggie Mindset?
Then take one small step toward building rather than browsing.
PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)
“Where have I confused “this is how it’s done” with “this is how it must be done?”
This question invites you to notice where habit, convention, or inherited practice has quietly hardened into a rule in your mind, and whether that “rule” is actually necessary.
Previously I have invited me to share your thoughts via email. As we open the doors of the Leapers Club this week, we will be giving you the opportunity to share there!
SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition - my gratitude or to be celebrated.
Thinking Differently
As Steve Jobs said in Apple’s “Think Different” campaign for Apple Inc., “Here’s to the crazy ones.” Just like my Learn and the story of Maggie, thinking differently is rarely comfortable. It asks for courage, it calls for you to move before consensus arrives, and it requires you to act while fear is still present.
The people who reshape things are not fearless - we all feel fear. These people also feel the risk, a tonne of self-doubt, and have the same annoying head noise of others saying “just fit in” - but, they move anyway!
I’m shouting out all those willing to work through fear, not wait for it to disappear, that those search for the right eyewear design and those who choose agency over approval. In my language, these people are Leapers! Here’s to thinking differently and taking the Leap.
From next week, I will also be adding a Shout Out for someone from the Leapers Club - based on their sharings or actions.
BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
This week’s little extra for you - from me
This week’s gift for you is a recreated GLAS visual: Evil Plans by the wonderful and talented Hugh MacLeod. Hugh helped inspire me years ago to start creating these visuals.
The offer (below) is available to you for free (for 7 days) using the code: HUGH when you check out. Access is via the link / button below.
Please note that if you miss the 7 day offer, we can not extend this for you. You can, however always access the download for a nominal charge.
Invisible Influence visual synopsis
The artwork featured in this section is all copyrighted and for private use only. If you wish to use these online, in blogs / features or in presentations etc - we are happy to discuss licences. Please get in touch. The downloads do not have watermarks.
If you’d like to discuss having your ideas, business or culture captured visually - you can also let me know via email.
LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis.
I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:
L: what have you learned?
E: what’s your energy / feeling word
A: what’s one thing you need to do?
P: what are you thinking / processing?
S: who or what can you shout out?
