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THE ROOMS THAT MATTER
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If you’ve been following me lately, you know spring gardens are planted in the fall. Careers work the same way.
Companies are setting their plans for next year. Why aren’t you? The stories, work, and plans you hone today will unfold in 2027. But wait, or don’t plan at all, and you’re leaving your trajectory to chance.
Last week, I asked you to look at where your energy actually goes: the Gravity, the Anchor, the Noise. If you tried it, you probably found more of the second and third than you expected.
This week is the harder part: deciding what your energy goes toward instead.
Year-end is when the biggest decisions about next year get made: roles, scope, budgets, who’s ready for more. Most of them are shaped well before anyone says them out loud. I’d rather you walk into January with a plan than a to-do list.
Whether that plan is a bigger role, a clearer path where you are, or the quiet question of whether it’s time to go somewhere else, it starts with calibration. That begins outside of you: what your business needs right now, and what your leadership is looking for. If you’re looking elsewhere, it’s what the next organization needs and values. Once you know where to put your energy, you can start building your own plan.
Here’s the version I walk clients through. It takes about five minutes. Grab a pen.
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1.
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Clarity
Start with direction, not a title. Write fast, without overthinking:
· What do I want more of in 2027?
· What am I done repeating?
· If nothing about my situation changed, would I want to be doing this a year from now?
If the answer is yes, now you know what to protect. If it’s no, or “I’m not sure,” that’s just as useful. You don’t need the full picture. Knowing what you’re done repeating is often enough to steer you.
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2.
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Language
Finish this sentence: If someone who has never worked with me, but were aware of my work – a new boss, a skip-level, a recruiter – had to describe my 2026 in three sentences, they would say…
Write it from their point of view, then read it back. Is it about outcomes, or about effort? “Works incredibly hard” is not a business case. A business case sounds like this: here is what unique business impact do I bring, what I do beyond my title, and what’s at risk without me. Rewrite it until it would hold up in a room you’re not in.
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3.
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Action
Pick two or three moves and spread them across the next few months. These moves should tie to the narrative and language you’re sharpening. At least one should be something you can start this week; the rest build into January. Not goals. Actions. A conversation you’ll start, inside your company or outside it. A piece of work you’ll make visible. An overdue, high impact, project you wanted to start.
For each one, write who needs to hear about it, what you want them to be able to say afterward, and by when. Then put them on your calendar to stay accountable.
The moves you make now shape what gets decided. The ones you make in January build on it. Q4 is the final push, not the final word.
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Where this gets hard
Look at what you just wrote. That’s a real start, and I’d guess some of it came easily and some of it you stalled on.
I’ll be straight with you. You’re too close. Everything on that page came from inside your own head, in the terms you’ve always used. What comes easily to you doesn’t register as valuable to others, and the moves you pick tend to land on what feels safe, not on what would change the most.
That’s what a calibration session is for. This fall, I’m opening a small number of 90-minute Strategic Influence Calibration sessions. I read what you wrote and tell you what I see: where your story is strong, where it’s thin, what you’ve undervalued, and what you’ve left out. We sharpen it until you can say it out loud and stand behind it, and we land on your two or three moves, in order, starting with one you can make this week. You leave with a written plan, so none of it is left on the call.
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You’ll answer two short questions, and then we’ll have a brief conversation to make sure it’s the right fit.
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Whether your next step is here or somewhere else, don’t leave the story about your 2027 to chance.
Lauren
P.S. Not ready for a session? Email me and tell me which exercise was the hardest. I read every response.
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