Make This Your Best Leadership Year
As we step into the new year, forget about resolutions. Instead, let's talk about choices—real, meaningful choices that can transform how you show up as a leader every single day.
The truth is, you don't need another list of goals to accomplish or habits to build. What you need is the recognition that in every moment, you have the power to choose differently. As Victor Frankl reminded us, everything can be taken from us except one thing: the freedom to choose our response to any situation.
Why Choices Over Resolutions?
Resolutions often feel like promises we make to our future selves, but choices? Choices are immediate. They're tangible. They're available to us right now, in this moment. And it's through these daily choices that real transformation occurs.
Here are the seven fundamental choices that can revitalize your leadership in 2025 and keep you going:
1. Choose Perspective Over Chaos
Instead of being swept away by daily demands, choose to view your challenges from the periphery. Like standing at the edge of a river, you can see both the immediate currents and the broader flow. This vantage point reveals opportunities that remain hidden when you're caught in the middle of the stream.
Allow yourself to step out of the fray. Move to the periphery to find your perspective. Haven’t found it yet? Move farther.
2. Choose Presence Over Distraction
Rather than constantly racing to the next thing, choose to ground yourself in the current moment. True presence isn't about doing more—it's about being fully available for what's happening right now. This choice alone can transform your interactions and decision-making.
Stay present. Turn your phone off. Be where you are.
3. Choose Pleasure Over Obligation
Stop treating leadership like a burden to bear. Choose to embrace the natural enthusiasm that drew you to this work in the first place. When you align with what genuinely energizes you, your impact naturally expands.
Your leadership is like a marathon. Remember that you enjoy running. Getting tired out? These 7P’s are your water stations.
4. Choose People Over Isolation
Leadership can be lonely, but it doesn't have to be. Choose to build authentic connections rather than shouldering everything alone. Like a strong root system, relationships provide both stability and growth.
People are part of your job. Keep yourself fueled through your own networks of relationships.
5. Choose Performance Through Balance
Instead of pushing until you break, choose sustainable practices that keep you grounded. Honor the basics: rest, movement, nourishment. You can't pour from an empty cup.
The fact I have to say this should be enough of a nudge for you. Your work is not more important than your well being.
6. Choose Possibility Over Limitation
When faced with constraints, choose to see them as invitations to creativity rather than roadblocks. Every limit is a doorway to innovation if you're willing to look differently. You may find yourself saying, “Ha! I wish it were that easy.: But…what if it is?
Yes, the door may be locked. The window, closed. But, look—there’s a bike. It really is that simple.
7. Choose Power Through Authenticity
Rather than forcing influence, choose to lead from your genuine strengths. True power emerges naturally when your actions align with your values. Become an amplifier of power by using your influence to elevate others. Remember that genuine strength—leadership strength and human strength—is about giving, not grabbing.
Making These Choices Real
These aren't one-time decisions but ongoing invitations to show up differently in your leadership. Each day presents countless moments to choose again, to realign with what matters most. The beauty of this approach is that you can't fail—you can only learn and choose again. There's no falling off the wagon, no starting over. There's just this moment, and the choice it offers you. Learn more about our 7P Leadership Revitalization Framework.
Ready to Choose Differently?
If you're feeling called to embrace these choices but unsure where to begin, you're not alone. That's exactly why we created our Comeback Leadership program. It's not about adding more to your plate—it's about choosing a different way to show up to what's already there.
As we begin this year, what choice is calling to you?
Which of these seven paths feels like your next right step? The journey of leadership renewal starts with a single choice, made in a single moment—this moment.
Ready to explore how these choices can transform your leadership? Learn more about our Comeback Leadership program and start your journey of sustainable change.