Leadership inspiration from the one and only Dolly Parton
This International Women’s Day we are celebrating the unique and inimitable figure of Dolly Parton and her inspirational quote we often use in our leadership programmes at Dramatic Resources:
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose”
Dolly Parton is not only a singer and songwriter of incredible talent, selling more than 100 million albums, she is also a phenomenal business leader with an estimated net worth $600 million and a keen sense of humour - evident in her recent viral meme, with different versions of herself for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Tinder.
Dolly gets right to heart of the matter when it comes to what makes a leader distinctive, inspirational and authentic. Find out who you are and do it on purpose. Like all great quotes, its brilliance lies in its simplicity.
Let’s take the first part – Find out who you are
Who you are, in part , is determined by how others see you. The first thing we encourage leaders to do is to get honest feedback on how they come across - which of course is not always easy!
Try using this exercise with a group of trusted colleagues: work in pairs and discuss how you might cast each other in a TV series. What kind of role is your partner naturally suited to play? A detective, a forensic scientist, a politician, a restaurant owner?
Another exercise we use asks participants to describe a key turning point in their personal or professional lives. The group then feeds back on the qualities they’ve seen in that person through the story – qualities perhaps like strength, resilience, humour.
A picture begins to form– not of how you see yourself but how you are seen in the world.
The next step - Do it on purpose
Here is an exercise you can try. Choose:
Three adjectives for how you see yourself.
Three for how others see you.
Three for how you’d like to be seen.
Be selective and have fun with your choices. It may might involve your image – the famous Steve Jobs black polo neck, Anna Wintour and her sunglasses. It might be about your purpose: are you going to be the lawyer in your firm known for being a great mentor? Are you the HR consultant known for their ability to inspire and communicate a vision?
This exercise is about consciously shaping your story and your narrative, allowing you to make stronger choices, rather than sticking to your defaults which we all do when we are busy and under pressure.
Have some fun with these exercises and see what you discover. We hope it helps you ‘Be More Dolly’ – and find out who you are and how to do it on purpose.