Final Thoughts:
Reflection, Introspection, and Connection
This book began with one of my all-time favorite New Yorker cartoons: the one with the two guys looking up at the giant billboard that reads, in gigantic letters, “STOP AND THINK,” while the caption below reads: “It sort of makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?”
As we race around each day from home to work and back—often with our heads buried in our phones—too many of us don’t make the time and take the time to hit the pause button and just allow ourselves to stop…and to think. Mindfulness is a resonant trend these days because, as we hurtle through the constant flux of work and life, it’s more important than ever to allow ourselves to be more present, focused, and aware of what’s going on around us. Only then can we find a way to see the invisible…so that we can do the impossible.
One way to be more mindful is to keep in mind these three words: “Reflection, Introspection, and Connection.” This mantra of mine simply calls for making and taking the time to look backward (“Reflection”), look inward (“Introspection”), and look outward towards others (“Connection”).
As you continue on your leadership journey—and especially now, as a more visual leader, with this collection of models, metaphors, and stories now part of your VisuaLeadership tool kit—I encourage you to consciously seek to view things through this new lens…as well as to continue to Reflect, Introspect, and Connect with yourself and with others along the way.
And I have no doubt that, if you do—if you continue to leverage the power of visual thinking and visual communication to get your ideas out of your head and into the heads of others—you will not only change their world…but the world.