Virgil was never, not Virgil. This wasn’t by accident, but by design! In everything he did, Virgil always exuded an authentic essence. He discovered a powerful truth early in life that liberated him to consistently live On Purpose. The truth is, the power of design is bigger than the thing designed. That aside from creation itself, everything in this world is man made, and thus flawed, incomplete, and a perpetual work in progress. Viewing himself and his design work as “works in progress” freed Virgil from the perfectionist ideals that plague so many of us. Virgil was wise to recognize that perfectionism doesn't promote the progress of anything, only purposeful iteration can do that.
Design is as much an art as it is a science. Every type of design exists to solve a problem. To see a problem and to find a solution we need data. Better stated, “Design has to work, art does not.” - Donald Judd. Art tells stories, provokes thoughts, and evokes emotion. Design must do all that plus communicate a meaningful purpose. Fully embracing this notion, instead of designing things, Virgil opted to design a lifestyle that embodied his ethos and aesthetic. Ensuring everything he created or did served a higher purpose, his purpose. This purpose-centered approach to life gave Virgil the ultimate freedom to be multiple things, all at once, and none of them at the same time.
When speaking about his work and the industry, Virgil would often say, “we’re a collective, trekking in the same direction. Nothing is new. Everything exists off the backs of each other's iterations.” This is a powerful statement hitting at the heart of the design phase of the Stay the Course leadership framework. It is the idea that while there is no wrong way to design, there is a right way to edit. That the confines make the design, and we should give ourselves constraints because ultimately our impact is a result of our body of work intentionally refined overtime.
Virgil's story helps us appreciate the nonlinear nature of effective design. He gives us permission to intentionally veer, and to always keep those metaphorical doors open. To place ourselves in situations that force us to see things differently because this is how we bring our purpose to new spaces. As transformational leaders our work is to inspire others, that’s it, it’s never about us. Virgil shows us the extraordinary impact possible when one takes an On Purpose approach to their work and lifestyle.
When it comes to achievement of purpose, design will always be of critical importance. Purpose centered design is the commitment to thinking about the bigger meaning of our work and way of living. What do they stand for? As transformational leaders we must embrace the reality that the design of our lifestyle is always communicating something to the world and our job is to ensure that communication is always On Purpose.
How to Live On Purpose and Ensure Our Leadership Lifestyle Results in Meaningful Impact
Design is the process in which we best position ourselves, others, and the organizations we serve to achieve a defined purpose. Good design helps us clearly communicate that purpose to those around us. Design is how we ensure meaningful impact. Where do you start? Here we walk through a simple three step process we’ve developed to help you live On Purpose.
STEP 1: FIND YOUR SIGNATURE
STEP 2: EMBRACE YOUR W.I.P
STEP 3: GIVE YOURSELF CONSTRAINTS
STEP 1: FIND YOUR SIGNATURE
What’s your signature? Your throughline? This was a question Virgil would always pose to challenge the aspiring designers he would speak to. He wanted them to be intentional about being them, because he knew we live in a world where this is becoming increasingly difficult. A time where the forces of social validation are so strong it can feel nearly impossible to explore the roads less traveled. With everyone’s work and lives being instantly accessible across multiple social platforms it’s tempting to chase the trends, to be more of the same. Transformational leadership is what happens when we commit to the pursuit of meaningful contributions while living intentionally. This journey really starts when we make a commitment to living differently, acknowledging our former way of living needs to change and designing a life that is congruent with these new found beliefs. The result of this process will always be an On Purpose projection of who you are, what you stand for, and why you do what you do. This is what we refer to as your, “Your Signature!”.
Signatures are designed to project what you want others to think of you. Our signature is a persona, a personal facade that one presents to the world. Every time we write our signature on a piece of paper, we make a statement to ourselves and to the rest of the world, proclaiming: “This is who I am. That’s what I want you to think of me. That’s the way I want to be seen and known.” At Stay The Course Leadership Company we believe lifestyle is the ultimate signature, and that it must be meticulously designed to ensure authenticity. Virgil would say your signature is the unique combination of your Ethos and Aesthetic. Ethos representing your moral authority, quality of character, and credibility. Aesthetic refers to the visual appeal, attractiveness, and beauty of something. These two forces combined allow for the development of a strong distinctive voice in a noisy, distracted world. In essence, how a design works is important but how it looks while doing that is a game changer. Our lifestyles are no different.
Define your Ethos. What do you stand for? Why do you do what you do? How will this benefit society?
Find your Aesthetic. What's attractive to you? What is your personal style? Is your outward appearance connected to your inner life?
Create a Signature. What will it look like to live On Purpose intentionally combining your ethos and aesthetic? What vibe will your lifestyle communicate?
STEP 2: EMBRACE YOUR W.I.P
Virgil operated in an industry where most participants derived their worth from the popularity of their work. Designers, like the rest of us looking to have an impact, are deeply gratified when their work “catches on''. But the chase for popularity, or virality in the social media era, has a price. It reduces work down to superficial wins, it stalls real meaningful progress, and encourages perfectionist ideals. Virgil was brilliant in recognizing this tendency amongst colleagues within the industry and committed to illuminating a better way to function in the worlds of high fashion and design. He’s fully embraced the concept of “work in progress”. Meaning he worried less about being cool and focused more on learning how to inject his signature into everything he did.
From Virgil’s perspective, nothing was ever truly finished. It was either good enough to work, or it wasn’t and no one noticed it. There is no “Aha Moments” just “this will do, for now”. It’s about the ideas behind the ideas, the ethos. These things are to be shared freely. The first no, or “fail” is important, it drives us to the really good idea. We hone the good ideas through repetition. Our lifestyles are works in progress that we’ve mistakenly considered to be finished, fixed, or permanent. Virgil embodied the belief that time is a powerful force of change, and when we live On Purpose our true impact will be refined over time. By living this way, Virgil was able to build the credibility to do “great” before he was ever considered “great”. He simply put work out, and learned from the feedback.
What aspects of your lifestyle could benefit from taking on a W.I.P perspective? How will you go about instilling this new approach to living?
STEP 3: GIVE YOURSELF CONSTRAINTS
Does the world really need another, insert whatever you’re thinking about doing here? This was the constraining question Virgil would consistently ask himself before engaging in any creative endeavor. He believed that all output has to have a reason to exist. He also appreciated the fact that things can have value beyond their perceived, practical use case. This enabled him to see the world differently. Boundaries as guidelines rather than walls. Confines as a means to creativity rather than an obstacle to innovation. His work reflected this. His life reflected this.
Common thinking suggests that eradicating all constraints, removing all boundaries, barriers, rules, and regulations would allow for creativity and innovation to thrive. This just isn’t the case, research tells us otherwise, consistently demonstrating that some level of constraint has a positive effect on creativity and innovation. When there are no constraints on the design process, complacent sets in, people follow what psychologists call the “path of least resistance” they go for the comfortable, most familiar idea that comes to mind rather than investing in the development of a better idea. Virgil intuitively appreciated this and adopted what he referred to as the 3% Rule. Which meant restricting himself to an iterative process that would only allow for up to 3% edits at a time. Using this rule to provide focus and a creative challenge that motivated him to search for and connect information from different sources to generate novel ideas for new products, services, and processes.
Imagine the discipline required for someone of Virgil’s capabilities to stay within the confines of this rule. “The confines make the design!” was the mantra Virgil would often repeat to remind himself and those around him that genuine progress and meaningful impact takes time. Applying this disciplined approach to our leadership lifestyle design is how we ensure our purpose never becomes lost in our lifestyle, but rather accentuated.
How can you apply the 3% Rule to your leadership lifestyle? What constraints can you leverage to ensure you’re always living On Purpose?
