I didn’t think I was an ‘ideas person’ until…

I didn’t think I was an ‘ideas person’. I thought I was an ‘execution person’. I could take a big, audacious vision from any of the brilliant CEOs and MDs I have worked with, craft it into a clear strategy, conceptualize steps, milestones, projects, mobilize a team of brilliant minds, work together to solve challenges, bring about change, and get us closer to our vision. But no, I definitely did not consider myself as an ‘ideas person’, one that could come up with innovative visions and new concepts. That was, until I gave myself space to imagine. 

It was a friend that nudged me to imagine the possibilities. What unique elements could I contribute? How could I participate in this world differently? What would leaning into new possibilities mean? Little snippets of possibility entered my mind, but I still had the barriers of ‘but I should do this’, and ‘that’s not how it works’. 

After leaving my amazing role at the BC Women’s Health Foundation and setting up this consultancy last July, I started making time and space to think. I thought about it when I was walking the dog, on a run, driving somewhere, making dinner or before I went to sleep. Instead of filling my mind with news, podcasts, audiobooks or calls every spare second, I let my mind wonder. And my goodness, what a difference it has made. 

From never considering myself as an ‘ideas person’, I get hit left, right, and centre with ideas as my mind is open to the many possibilities. In a recent SheEO call, the very brilliant Joy Anderson and Katherine Collins mentioned the concept of being a community of ‘imagineers’ (as I think many employees at Disney are referred to). 

I think everyone has the potential to be an ‘ideas person’, to imagine and to wonder. To think beyond how it works now to the possibilities of building a better world. I hear it on every SheEO call, on discussions with the many amazing entrepreneurs, researchers, and non-profit teams I get to work alongside. As I follow my LinkedIn community, I see great ideas popping up in each and every industry.

In fact, as I look back, I think I always was an ‘ideas person’. I just didn’t recognize my imagination coming into play amongst all the noise, know the joy of exercising my imagination, or the passion that imagination invigorates.

What did you imagine today?