Many years ago, in his course at Harvard University, an American academic and business consultant, Professor Clayton Christensen studied some theories trying to put them through a set of lenses that examine companies, businesses, and economies. One of the main questions in that research is:

Can we understand why things are happening the way are happening and what actions would lead to what results?

At the end of the course and on the last day, he asked his students, instead of comparing and examining companies, to look in the mirror and answer the following questions:

Can you explain why your life is the way it is today?

And can you predict what will happen in your life if you continue to do what you are doing now?

It is a remarkable experience to see the students come back on the last day of the class with an explanation of what they need to change in their lives so that their life will be the life that they hoped to live.

As CEOs, and ambitious people who are pursuing clarity in their direction and purpose in their life and career you end up living the life that you hope you will live if you are implementing a personal strategic plan that creates your roadmap of action for the upcoming years and provides you a basis for a determination on how to be up to the task. As a CEO or employer, you may have experienced difficulties in trying to juggle your roles in the different aspects of your life (family, career, moral, intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social). Creating a personal strategic plan means taking leadership of yourself so you can keep your life in balance and perform each of these functions effectively without compromising your family duties.

As a CEO, you are responsible for creating and implementing organisation’s vision and setting the direction for your employees, aligning resources, and motivating everyone to work towards organisational goals. In the same context, following a personal strategic plan gives you the ability to develop and utilise your positive leadership traits to guide the direction of your life instead of letting time and chance determine your progress.

Personal leadership can begin when you decide to be your life coach and live by a purpose and personal mission and vision statements that reflect your values and life goals. Having a clear purpose can lessen these struggles by keeping you organised and thus focused on what matters in your life.

Michael Porter defines strategy as “the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities. If there were only one ideal position, there would be no need for strategy.” It is the same approach for the personal strategic plan, you need to embrace a set of values that involves unique activities. Knowing your values helps you connect with the purpose that offers you a sense of direction in your life. Your purpose is the central motivation of your life. It inspires you to set and shape your goals and thus it guides your decisions.

At the core of the personal strategic plan is discovering your uniqueness that is critical to your professional and personal development. Once you have chosen your values and the words that describe you the most, close your eyes for a minute and imagine what stands out most vividly to you from these characteristics and try to answer the following questions

· What makes me unique as an individual and as a manager?

· What values am I not willing to compromise on?

· What are my values?

When you answer the above questions, you will begin to gain a better understanding of who you are and thus, use this information to envision a fulfilling direction of your life and career. Your personal strategic plan helps you make decisions in your life and career and thus, maintain balance in each aspect of your life, so you are more effective as a leader, parent, friend, colleague, and community member. It will also motivate you to achieve your goals and help you be consistent in your actions and decide where to put your attention and energy, how to balance the different aspects of your life, and when to take corrective steps if something is going out balance.

The end of 2021 is the best time to create your personal strategic plan that can enable you to better articulate to colleagues, and family members what personal work you are engaged in each month, and why these goals are important to you. Happy New Year

By Dr. Rawaa El Ayoubi

Founding Director Aspire Leadership Network