21CWL Lexicon
A Page Worth Bookmarking
Language is power.
It provides short-cuts to identifying the nuanced shades of our collective reality.
It ignites our creativity.
21st Century Worklife represents a new frontier so it’s important that we create–and sometimes ‘reclaim’–a new lexicon. Indeed, we intend for the lexicon to help spark your imagination and expand what is possible… not to limit you to the particular terms and definitions that we provide.
Language is also malleable. Use it as you see fit!
Got a new word, concept, or take? Let us know!
Foundational Terms
Affinity Leader: An integrated individual who actively works to understand and co-create opportunities for each Community of Genius member to fully tap into their Calling Card and make their most meaningful contributions. Affinity Leaders take the work of Self-Leaders to the next level by managing the affinities, mutual excitement, and purpose within a COG.
***************************
***************************
Career Caretaker: A person, organization, company or some other entity that traditionally helped you get a job, rewarded you with, at least, a good enough salary, job security, retirement, and/or upward mobility in exchange for your working long and hard, ‘paying your dues’, following the rules, and giving yourself–your time, energy, focus, and loyalty–over to them.
***************************
Career Entrepreneur: An integrated individual who is 1) Open to some risk and 2) Passionate about their endeavors because 3) They are Aligned with their work and this alignment makes them more daring and more committed to making significant contributions and to growing as individuals. Career Entrepreneurs do not separate their potential from their profession and they do not silo themselves into the polarized thinking of work/life balance. They see their work as a kind of leisure (‘time for enjoyment’) and not as a break from daily delight. They align passion, purpose, and paycheck.
*************************
Community of Genius: Usually a collective of two or more individuals living their Calling Card and sharing the trust, resources, synergy, and inspiration that comes when Aligned individuals commune in a sustained, enlivening and enriching manner. COGs sustain galvanizing, positive tension to work together on the Creative Edge and to support each other as Creators, Travelers, Self-Leaders, and Career Entrepreneurs. They also sometimes involve just one individual connecting deeply with art, nature, an idea or some other entity.
*************************
Continuums: The arch between polarized points of view; the realm of critical thinking and personal growth. The points along the continuum are not vastly different from their neighbors but the extremes are quite distinct. Compensation Continuum: Compensation incorporates, but also looks beyond, fiscal returns. It is a continuum of ‘payment’ that encompasses spiritual, interpersonal, energetic, familial, and intellectual remuneration.
***************************
Self-Leader: An integrated individual who continuously works to connect with and thoughtfully manage their authentic power, energy, mind/body/spirit and internal/external resources. Self-Leaders have deep curiosity and an interest in life-long learning and putting the time and focus into getting to know their Calling Card. They utilize their Resistance, fear, anger and other dark emotions to Create and Travel. By intentionally directing their worklife, Self-Leaders serve as their own community organizer/manager/CEO, while also taking responsibility for creating Communities of Genius.
***************************
Worklife: Your worklife encompasses the totality of your experience as an integrated individual who brings the fullness of who you are to everything you do. There is no ‘slash’ in work/life anymore, there is no more ‘either/or’; it is now ‘both/and’. Accept that you aren’t one person at work, another when you’re looking for work and still another at home. Additionally, take responsibility for steering your life, putting energy and time into living in Alignment with your values, talents, and passions. You know who you are and are not, what you are good at and how you most want to contribute.
******************************************************
Other Key Terms
Alignment: The state in which your outer worklife reflects your Calling Card, particularly your values, priorities, passions, and mission. Being in Alignment does not mean that the congruence is 100%, but rather that you bring awareness to any incongruity and consciously work to create meaningful connections between your inner and outer lives.
***************************
Career (verb): To move swiftly in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction. This replaces the traditional noun and adjective definition, both of which imply continuity and longevity. The reality is that one can only ‘specify’ a direction in their 21st Century WorkLife (see Calling Card) and must otherwise be open to the rapid and often uncontrollable aspects of the journey. Discerning your Calling Card and taking the reins of your worklife is imperative in such a volatile, Mobile Talent Market.
***************************
Change Maker: Change is the only constant and it is the role of the Change Maker to guide positive shifts toward a mutually beneficial outcome. Change Makers believe in the power of Communities of Genius and the potential of every Self-Leader to not only proactively shape their workplaces, but to create a new worklife reality for future generations.
***************************
Connectivity Coma: See Technology Trance.
***************************
Creative Industrial Revolution: The revolution bringing about the end of the Information Age and ushering in the next economic era. The fuel of today’s marketplace is creativity and ideas and, as we hone our tools to access this bounty, Self-Leaders and Career Entrepreneurs of the Mobile Talent Market are shaping the new workplace.
***************************
Creator: In 21st Century Worklife, we are all creators. We regularly create processes, systems, ideas, critical questions, conversations, moods, impacts, outcomes, and products in our daily lives; we just don’t always necessarily think of them as ‘creation’. Now, however, you have a responsibility to embrace your creative power by seeing expressive potential in all that you do. You put the time, energy, focus, and your Calling Card into discovering how you can continuously make contributions, whether big or small and remain open to the creative possibilities of your Community of Genius.
***************************
Creative Edge: The realm of inspiration, ambiguity, and growth where the most creative work occurs. The Creative Edge can be an uncomfortable space filled with uncertainty, but it is your choice to see it as a space of infinite potential and possibility rather than a space of fear and anxiety that drives you to false comfort (see Career Caretaker) and Resistance. By embracing the positive qualities of tension–much as a clock needs to be wound to run–you can enjoy uncertainty as a muse rather than a weight.
***************************
Financial Serenity: A point of balance between want and need. Choosing peace of mind over financial anxiety. Understanding and living the freedom of the Compensation Continuum and knowing what specific income, benefits, and other forms of compensation bring you serenity.
***************************
Intrinsic Worth: The value you have beyond what you do, say, and create, the roles that you play, or even your Calling Card.
***************************
Job Hunting vs. Job Developing: Job Hunters look only for what is available, think successful job searching is shooting resumes off into cyberspace, and (for some crazy reason) believe in the power of anonymity. Job Developers realize the work world is not fully formed, cultivate and grow, go online to get offline, and believe in the power of connection.
***************************
Mobile Talent Market: Now that the Career Caretaker is the exception to the rule, a new landscape is emerging–one where you need to be a Self-Leader and Career Entrepreneur who steers the direction of your Worklife and acknowledge that you are going to have several careers over your lifetime. Mobile Talents understand that the best use of their time and talent is to work on specific project-oriented outcomes that: tap fully into their Calling Card, allow for professional growth and development, meet the goals of an organization, and factor in the ability to ‘move on’ when the needs of the individual and the organization are met. In the Mobile Talent Market, you need to manage your own salary requirements, benefits, and security along with the uncertainty of the workplace by seeing yourself as a Traveler who learns and grows no matter how long you’re in a particular job or career.
***************************
Mutual Radar Society: A society of good will in which people are thoughtful of each other in a genuine way based on the information they glean from one another’s Calling Card. By actively and heartfully connecting, we ‘keep each other on our radar’ and move beyond the stigmatized concept of networking and ‘selling yourself’. Mutual Radar Society gives people information that can help them help you while also allowing you to glean information that helps you help them.
***************************
Positive Tension:We too often think of tension as bad and much of that judgment comes from the fact that we’ve largely lost the art of civil debate and polite disagreement. ‘Shouting-match’ news culture and groups pushing divisive ideologies have made us more self-selecting in our choice of communities. Like a clock, however, we need tension to propel us. If you don’t ‘wind up’ a clock, it stops working. If you don’t create some positive tension in your life, you can easily become complacent. Success occurs when diverse skill sets and perspectives come together to find places of commonality in a culture that tries to keep us divided. For Positive Tension inspiration, learn more about the Founders of America.
***************************
Resistance: A fear-state of ‘fight or flight’ emotional energy that is–consciously or unconsciously–in opposition to change, newness, Alignment, your Calling Card, Self-Leadership, Career Entrepreneurship, and the integration of the fullness of who you are. Often characterized by persistent avoidance, denial, frustration, anxiety, Technology Trances and Connectivity Comas. Resistance is most insidious when it is externalized and/or denied rather than acknowledged. It is critical to examine your Resistance and to understand what it is really about. Then, you can utilize its energy as fuel for living on the Creative Edge and Creating. The term has been utilized for decades in psychology and has recently been popularized by author, Seth Godin.
***************************
Technology Trance (synonym: Connectivity Coma): The numbed, diminished state of mind, body and soul, which results from persistent overuse of any form of technology. Characterized by a reduction in focus and availability for face-to-face, real time relationships and experience. Side effects may include a decrease in Self-Leadership and Career Entrepreneurship as well as access to your Calling Card, the Creative Edge, and emotional IQ.
***************************
Techreate: To utilize technology in ways that expand your Calling Card and ability to be a Career Entrepreneurand Self-Leader. To minimize Technology Trances and Connectivity Comas by building your muscle to discern when you are using technology as a form of Resistance and when you are using it to Travel, Create, live on the Creative Edge, and contribute thoughtfully to the world.
***************************
Traveler: You have the capacity to grow, change, and move, whether literally from one place to another, virtually, or from one way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. This is especially true in the 21st Century and it is your responsibility to make sure that you manage your Resistance adequately so that you don’t stay continually stuck. Rather, put time, energy, and focus into traveling deep within and outside of yourself, discover your Calling Card, and create Communities of Genius.
***************************
***************************
Got a new word or concept? Let us know!
I am very interested in developing my “Calling Card”.