If you can see your path clearly

Most leaders are running on autopilot. Without knowing it. 88% of the time.

“If the path before you is clear, you are probably on someone else’s.” – Joseph Campbell

If you can see every step of your path laid out before you, consider this: this is not your path. Your path appears with every step you take.

That takes a specific kind of courage. 

Not the loud kind. 

The quiet kind, moving forward without signposts.

For a long time, leadership meant decisiveness, speed, control. Qualities that serve well when the destination is clear. 

But when the goal itself is uncertain, those same traits can work against you. Fog rewards patience, not acceleration.

What’s needed now is 

Presence – I notice what is happening 

Holding – I choose to stay with it, without fixing it  

Capacity – how much can I hold: complexity, tension, uncertainty

This requires unlearning first. 

The habits that made you effective in the past may be the ones holding you back now.

It starts with a pause.

Before the answer – stop. 

Sense what is actually happening. 

That pause is the difference between reacting and responding. Between someone else’s path and your own.

This is where the Enneagram becomes a powerful tool. 

It reveals which inner driver is quietly steering your autopilot: your default speed, your default direction, your default way of handling pressure. 

When you can see your own patterns clearly and understand what motivation is behind it, you can make a conscious choice. 

Same situation, different response. 

That is where real leadership development begins. Not in adding new skills, but in understanding what is running underneath them.

When did pausing open a different path for you recently?

Ready to meet the motivation behind your patterns? The Enneagram iEQ9 assessment is where I prefer to start with every client I work with. Read more about Enneagram coaching and the special offer on my website.