Back to Webinars
    WebinarPositive Vision of the Future 2007 60 min

    Trade Up: 5 Steps for Redesigning Your Leadership and Life

    A leader's most important job is to reveal and shift the boundaries of peoples' thinking; starting with our own. Igniting and sustaining context shifts will be the most important leadership competency of the 21st century. Governments, multi-national corporations and not-for profit agencies have all been successful in using Rayona's approach to achieve results that seemed impossible before they began.

    Presenter

    RS

    Rayona Sharpnack

    Key Takeaways

    • 1.A leader's most important job is to reveal and shift the boundaries of their own and others' thinking.
    • 2.The ability to ignite and sustain context shifts is the most critical leadership competency of the 21st century.
    • 3.A five-step framework provides a structured approach to redesigning your leadership and life.
    • 4.Leadership development begins with self-reflection and challenging your own existing mental boundaries.
    • 5.Leaders can drive broader impact and innovation by cultivating an inclusive mindset and incorporating diverse perspectives.
    • 6.Effective leadership requires creating an environment where team members feel empowered to think differently.

    The 21st Century Leadership Imperative

    According to presenter Rayona Sharpnack, the most critical leadership competency for today's complex world is the ability to ignite and sustain "context shifts." This involves actively revealing and altering the boundaries of thinking, both for the leader and their team. A leader's primary function is to challenge the status quo of perception to unlock new possibilities. This approach has been successfully applied in diverse organizations, including governments, non-profits, and multinational corporations, to achieve outcomes that were previously deemed impossible.

    Redesigning Leadership and Life

    This session explores the "Trade Up" methodology, a five-step framework for redesigning one's professional and personal life. The core principle is that to change results, you must first change the underlying thinking that drives actions and behaviors. The webinar provides a structured process for leaders to identify and challenge their own mental models and assumptions.

    Key Areas of Focus:

    • Identifying Mental Boundaries: Learn to recognize the existing, often invisible, limits in your own thinking.
    • The Five-Step Framework: Understand a structured process for redesigning your approach to leadership challenges and life goals.
    • Sustaining Context Shifts: Discover strategies for making these shifts in thinking permanent within teams and entire organizations.
    • The Role of Self-Reflection: Grasp why self-awareness is a foundational and non-negotiable aspect of modern leadership development.

    Practical Application for Leaders

    Leaders can immediately apply these principles to enhance their effectiveness and foster innovation. The key is to move from theory to consistent practice.

    How to Start:

    • Question Assumptions: Consciously question your own mental models and encourage your team to do the same.
    • Implement the Framework: Apply the five-step redesign process to a specific professional or personal challenge.
    • Foster Dialogue: Create psychological safety for teams to challenge conventional wisdom and explore new contexts.
    • Embrace Inclusivity: Actively seek and integrate diverse perspectives to broaden organizational understanding and uncover novel solutions.

    This session, led by Rayona Sharpnack, delves into methodologies for leaders to redefine their professional and personal paths. It emphasizes the critical role of shifting personal and organizational boundaries of thinking to unlock previously unattainable results, a competency increasingly vital in today's complex world.

    What you'll learn

    • How to identify and challenge existing boundaries in your thinking.
    • A five-step framework for redesigning your approach to leadership and life.
    • Strategies for initiating and sustaining significant context shifts within teams and organizations.
    • The importance of self-reflection in leadership development.
    • Ways to cultivate an inclusive mindset to drive broader impact.

    Who this webinar is for

    • Leaders seeking to enhance their personal and professional effectiveness.
    • Individuals interested in personal growth and mindset transformation.
    • Managers looking to inspire new ways of thinking within their teams.
    • Executives and HR professionals focused on developing 21st-century leadership competencies.
    • Anyone motivated to achieve outcomes that currently seem out of reach.

    Why it matters now

    Effective leadership in today's dynamic environment demands continuous evolution and an ability to challenge the status quo. The approaches discussed, though presented in 2007, remain highly relevant as organizations globally continue to navigate rapid change. The ability to shift thinking and foster inclusive environments is not just a desirable trait but a strategic imperative for sustained success and innovation. Leaders who can reveal and shift the boundaries of peoples' thinking, starting with their own, are better equipped to tackle modern challenges and lead their organizations forward.

    How leaders can apply this

    Leaders can immediately begin to apply these principles by consciously questioning their own assumptions and mental models. They can:

    • Implement the five-step redesign framework in a specific area of their leadership or personal life.
    • Encourage open dialogue within their teams to challenge conventional thinking and explore new contexts.
    • Prioritize self-awareness and continuous learning as foundational leadership practices.
    • Actively seek out and incorporate diverse perspectives to broaden organizational understanding and inclusivity.
    • Focus on creating environments where team members feel empowered to think differently and contribute novel solutions.

    About this session

    Key takeaways

    Watching this webinar gives you grounded, practical perspective on Inclusivity. Expect ideas you can use in leadership conversations, not abstract theory, drawn from Rayona Sharpnack's direct experience.

    Who this is for

    CHROs, HR business partners, talent leaders, executive coaches, organizational development practitioners, and senior leaders who are responsible for positive vision of the future inside their organization.

    Why it matters now

    Workforce expectations, hybrid work patterns, and AI-driven change keep raising the bar on culture and leadership. Sessions like this help leaders make smarter, more evidence-informed decisions about Inclusivity.

    How to apply it

    Use the ideas here to challenge a current assumption on your team, design a single concrete experiment in the next 30 days, and bring one finding back to your leadership group for discussion.

    Frequently asked questions

    Topics

    Inclusivity

    Best Practice Institute

    Best Practice Institute is the research organization behind Most Loved Workplace® certification, the SPARK Model, the Love of Workplace Index™ (LOWI™), and The Workplace Report.

    The Workplace Report

    The Workplace Report is BPI's original workplace culture research and editorial briefing series for CEOs, CHROs, people leaders, talent leaders, and employer-brand teams. It turns BPI's 25 years of research, Most Loved Workplace® certification data, SPARK findings, and current workforce signals into practical analysis leaders can use.

    The report format includes executive summaries, research-backed articles, company examples, methodology notes, and practical implications for retention, hiring, culture, leadership, and employee experience. New research and analysis is published on an ongoing editorial cadence at /workplace-report.