Getting Outside the Jar (Shot of Wonder #17)

Dear Tracker~

Most of us work so close to our own gifts, ideas, and expertise that we can’t quite see them clearly. As consultant David C. Baker says in his book The Business of Expertise, “You can’t read the label from inside the jar.” And yet as leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, and service-centered professionals, the clarity of our “label” — our strengths, our value, our differentiating point of view — shapes how effectively we help others.

In this Shot of Wonder, I unpack Baker’s insight and offer a Tracking Wonder angle on how to step outside your own jar - that is, how to see your work with greater honesty and creative intelligence as well as how to enlist the right people and practices to help you refine what you’re really about.

If you’re sensing that something in your work or identity is shifting but can’t quite name it, I trust you’ll find something valuable here.

We’ve also included a Think Sheet called “Reading Your Own Label” to help you apply insights from this Shot of Wonder.

Let me know what lands with you.

Many readers took to heart the previous Shot of Wonder that challenges us to check our cynicsm and lead with grounded hope. That theme carried through from this Shot of Wonder as well as on leading with hope.

Reminder: I appreciate you as a paid subscriber and publishing partner. You have access to the full Library, our Tracking Wonder Handbook, worksheets, our beta Tracking Wonder Endeavor Canvas, and more. If you’ve benefited from this body of work, your premium subscription is one meaningful way to support it. We’re wondering about future live calls for paid subscribers on specific topics of value to you and our community.

Otherwise, every subscriber reader always gets The Wonder Dispatch and more that you’ve come to trust since 2010.

More good things ahead. Thanks for being here.