Rebel Leader with a Heart

Rebel Leader with a Heart: Are You Climbing the Right Mountain? with Tony Martignetti

Since the pandemic, a lot of people got in touch with their fragility and mortality. That has led towards what is now known as “the great resignation”, where a huge number are either resigning or thinking about changing jobs. In today’s podcast, I will talk with fellow podcaster and inspired purpose coach Tony Martignetti to find out if you are climbing the right mountain, how you can find clarity in your life so that you can feel energized, fully present, and unstoppable in your current or new job! 

But first, let’s find out who Tony is.

Who is Tony Martignetti?

Tony actually has a similar background to mine. Although he started out in the world of biotech, he soon got into the corporate world, like I did, and stayed there for 25 years. After that journey, he switched to coaching, where Tony got into contact with a lot of accomplished leaders, who felt stuck and didn’t quite know which step they should take next. Now, he is obsessed with helping those leaders reconnect with their inspired purpose. He does this through a podcast called The Virtual Campfire Podcast, his website, and his book Climbing the Right Mountain (you can find the links below). 

Redefining “strength”

Throughout our lives, we’ve been taught to work hard and be strong for the things we want to accomplish. And strength is indeed very important for us to persevere. However, when faced with a difficult situation, most people think they have to be strong by following through, working hard, and shutting down (negative) emotions. But for me, that no longer qualifies as being strong. If you want to inspire others, you cannot lock all these feelings up, because the truth is, people, see through your mask! If you cannot be honest to yourself, then how do you expect others to do the same?

While talking about this subject, Tony quoted an amazing sentence by Peter Bregman.

“If you’re willing to feel everything, you can have anything.”

So what is “strength”? It takes a lot of strength to be true and vulnerable to yourself and to others. And I noticed, that only when I showed what I was truly feeling, that I inspired others.

Soooo, how do you find your purpose?

I asked this very question to Tony, as this is his area of expertise. Yet, there is no clear answer for this question (that would be too easy ). But there are a couple of tips he gave me, which can be helpful for you guys as well! 

A small step you can take is to pay attention to the small things in your day-to-day life that bring you joy and excitement. Those are actually the clues that you want to be taking note of, it’s your soul’s way of communicating your purpose with you.

Another thing you can do is to time travel (not actually time-traveling). Look at the job you have right now. What is it about the work you are doing? What got you to this job? What are the things that drew you into this work? Are those things aligned with what you want in the future? Now that you have diagnosed your path to where you are now, and comparing that with what you would like to reach in the future, try to analyze what you feel is helping you on that path to your desired future. But also try to identify the things you do that aren’t aligned with your future self.

Are you climbing the right mountain?

Tony has written a book called Climbing The Right Mountain. I really wanted to know why so many leaders are climbing the wrong mountain and putting in so much effort to reach that top. 

Well, most people tend to get stuck in a path where society tells them what success looks like. We define success based on what everyone else thinks success looks like. Not measuring up to what everyone else sees as a success, often means that you consider yourself a failure. This also means that you will work even harder to live up to those expectations of success. And Tony emphasizes that climbing the mountain of success, where you work hard to become a CEO, isn’t a bad thing at all. You should absolutely do it. But you should do it for the right reasons. Do it based on your own terms of success.

How can you start climbing the right mountain?

If you know what your mountain of success looks like, that’s great! However, beginning the climb can be a hard thing to do. The important thing here is to know the difference between your goals and your plans. Your goal is your destination. If you had all the resources in the world, what would your private life and your work life look like? Don’t be afraid to be ambitious. Goals are made to put you in the right direction, not necessarily always to attain them exactly as they were laid out. The plan you make is an assembly of small steps you can actively take to climb towards that goal. These can be ambitious as well but have to be realistic. There is a great quote Tony gave me for this “climbing technique”.

“Expand your vision, narrow your focus.”

Don’t be afraid to dream big. Once you’ve set your eye on that dream, focus on the small steps you can take to achieve that dream!