The Art of Reinventing Yourself

How to shed your old identity and inspire others through personal transformation

If there’s one thing my mentor has ingrained in my brain this: “leadership is the art of inspiring others to struggle for a common cause.”

Everything you need to be a great leader is condensed to this single sentence. It’s worth reading that sentence again. The spirit of a team, and their tolerance to struggle, is dependent on the identity built collectively between the members. Identity forms comradery.

One of Steve Jobs' maxims in the early days of Apple was “it’s better to be a pirate than join the navy.”¹ A pirate was a rebel. Pirates take pride in being outlaws devoid of rules. There’s a willingness to take what they feel they’re owed. Jobs instilled this identity in the Macintosh team.

The original Apple "pirates".

The identity of being a pirate became a part of the Macintosh team's culture. On Jobs’ 28th birthday the team bought a billboard that said “Happy 28th Steve. The Journey is the Reward – The Pirates.” The team also climbed the roof of the Apple building late one night to hoist a flag they had painted up. Their identity waved high in the wind for everyone to see.

If you want to inspire others around a common cause, give them an identity that taps deep into their spirits desires.

Identity isn’t just important for a strong team dynamic. It’s important for a leader to have a strong personal identity that others find inspiration in. A leader with a strong identity is like a lighthouse drawing the team towards better values, principles and a clearer vision.

Memories shape your perception of the present and expectations of the future. Those expectations cause your identity to shift and change. What would your identity be if the one you had at 9 or 10 years old was fixed?

Shed who you're not

Identity is often built on shifting sand.

There’s no better school to study the evolution of your identity than the past. When most people look at the identities they’ve held for themselves in the past they’re left cringing or burdened by various memories. Negativity bias breeds this tendency in you.

Half of the battle is viewing evolution objectively.