Introducing Constellary
A glimpse into what's next
Four years ago I found myself in a bit of a funk. I’d just left my role as a COO at a scaling startup in the developer tools space.
Exhausted after a taxing acquisition, like most are and nursing a nasty bronchitis infection, I spent the first few months on bed rest. This gave me plenty of time to reflect on an intense period of my life. I tried to make sense of my experience and what was next.
I reconnected with a friend who was also in the same place — just out of a leadership position and wondering what was next. While they were certain they wanted to found a startup, I wasn’t sure. Longing to understand my own experience, I talked with others about theirs. I wanted to know if I was the only one who found it difficult and confusing.
I discovered that I wasn’t alone. Many of us came into leadership thinking it was one thing only to discover it was wholly something else. After a while, I started to see patterns and common struggles. I started working with leaders, then with leadership teams. I realized I was still committed to my mission of creating better working environments and more cohesive orgs, something that’s occupied much of my career.
Along the way, I created a framework to help leadership teams become more cohesive. I developed a leadership competency tool to help leaders understand the skills they need and make sense of where they need to grow. I felt deep fulfillment watching leaders grow and teams make progress on important initiatives.
How Constellary was born
After nearly four years of operating under my name, it was time to formally name this work. As anyone who has ever named something knows — naming is hard. Like, really hard. I contemplated and discarded dozens of names. Finally one day I decided that I was going to have a name or at least a direction by the afternoon. I started by looking at art books. I grabbed The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge by Manuel Lima. I turned to this page. There was a ping of resonance.
I took a quick photo. Then I pulled out another one of his books, Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information and found this stunning diagram of Jack Keroauc’s On The Road.
I continued taking photos. Finally, I took a looked back at what I’d saved. They were all organizational forms, systems, constellations of sorts. They reminded me of the kind of complexity leaders must navigate. These diagrams mirrored my perspective on leadership — that leaders are nodes on a bigger system.
After several weeks of playing with names and I’ll admit, some tears, a word came to me.
Constellary.
It’s not actually a word. I made it up. But when it came out of my mouth, I felt a pang of recognition. That’s it.
So, welcome to Constellary.
We help leaders navigate the complexities of leadership. We support companies to build their leaders’ capability in the core leadership competencies, create effective leadership teams, and build the leaders of tomorrow.
The philosophy behind Constellary
I’ve long been fascinated with the point where individuals meet a larger entity. You can see it in what I studied — social psychology, sociology, leadership, and organization development. You can also see it in my former role as a COO. I’ve spent years pondering this intersection. How does the individual change the collective? How does the collective change the individual? How do we form a cohesive collective to build something? What happens when we can’t find agreement? How do we find balance when one node grows more influential than the rest?
After years of study, coaching, consulting with, and facilitating workshops with hundreds of leaders I came to a conclusion.
Leadership isn’t an individual endeavor, it’s a shared experience.
Leaders are a node in a bigger constellation. This means rather than relying on individual effort, we must work as a collective. As a leader, our work is no longer just about the area in which we sit. Our work is about stitching together the pieces of the organization, making connection points between our area and others. Between our team and others.
Treating leadership as a solitary activity won't help us understand how to navigate the complexity of the system. Knowing how to collaborate across the organism is a huge part of our role. That means we have to talk about the stuff that surrounds the strategy and delivery of work — how we make decisions; the kind of conversations we have, the kind we avoid; the role of emotions; how we act under stress, what happens after a mistake, how we influence with intention and integrity, the complexity of being human.
We have to develop ourselves as leaders both as individuals and in relation to other to find our way through the system. We have to remember that we’re better together.
So, welcome to Constellary. If you’re interested in learning more about our work, take a spin around the website. If you want to learn how I might be able to support you or your company, please get in touch.
Lastly, thank you for all your support these past four years. It’s meant the world.
If this piece resonated with you, please let me know and give the heart button below a tap.