In this episode, Jonathan surfaces what is essential to standing on that new ground and breaking with the past. He’s starting to see more of the big picture, and how to express it as a leader. In answering this next Illuminate question, he then reveals that his vision means we look at each other differently as we walk the city streets.

REFLECTIONS

01:11 Expands on his vision and where language fits into it.

06:57 Today we break with the past and stand on new ground.

10:25 Expressing leadership.

14:00 What leadership is.

18:15 How leaders make powerful declarations.

27:29 What makes the new ground fertile are values and beliefs.

32:45 A story of holding to your values.

38:00 The importance of listening and treating others with respect.

42:15 Your responsibility as a leader.

43:50 How does it feel to have surfaced your vision?

49:58 The chord of resonance. Honouring the visionary. The weight of the vision. Acceptance of leadership role allows the vision to expand. The words compose the chords.

52:38 One ask of the visionary: be willing to accept that you know which chord to pluck to reach them.

54:32 The leader as curator making hard choices without hardening.

59:17 Values and inner wisdom.

1:01:50 A story of the curator’s journey.

1:03:40 What it means to “break with the past”.

CARD 14

1:04:26 Illuminate Question 14

1:09:13 My vision is of a world where we feel less lonely and less anxious.

1:10:22 Today we leave the path that led us to loneliness and despair.

1:12:20 To feel less lonely is to feel we all belong. We are connected, and begin to see each other again.

1:14:29 We will have a new understanding of how important it is to be with each other.

1:16:58 Looking each other in the eye without fear.

1:19:28 To move away from fear, we want to move towards trust.

1:23:02 On the street of a city, we flirt through our eyes.

1:24:35 Flirtation and the spark of light as recognition that “I see you.”

1:26:15 Rescuing the word “flirt”. There’s something more at stake: a light-heartedness and innocence.

1:28:42 It can only happen in a culture of trust.

1:30:57 Eye contact in light of cross-cultural differences and diversity.

1:34:14 Being seen.

1:37:45 An uplifting story of seeing.

1:39:45 Final answer.

Produced by NOVA

Certainty is an illusion. The leader’s task is not to wait for guarantees, but to choose the path that feels true and act with conviction. The moment you step onto that path, the fear of “what if I choose wrong” begins to dissolve. You may not know what the future holds, but you know this much: you are moving in alignment with who you are and what matters most. That choice—liberating, decisive—is where action begins.

Listen to the full episode of The Illumify Game Changer Podcast to explore how leaders to explore how leaders can discover and pursue their true path—and how Illumify can guide you to ignite meaningful change at illumifyinc.com.

When you see what could be that isn’t yet, as Jonathan now does, that can be a change in itself. You’re now in a different place, at a fork in the road. Where do you go from here? Do you stay on the path you know, the one that promises more of the same? Even when less than ideal, there may be some comfort in that. Or do you step off that well-trodden path into unfamiliar territory, knowing that the path to your vision doesn’t yet exist and will have to be cleared by you?

This episode questions whether Jonathan is willing to do what it takes to ignite his meaningful change.

01:25 Illuminate Question 13

02:10 “I’ll work until I’m dead on this.”

05:46 I have a deep desire to save myself.        

08:29 Finally becoming intolerant towards yourself so you can save yourself by living your truth.

09:00 How do the people in your life accept this new version of you?

11:54 What I’m beginning to feel is a way of finding rebirth and regeneration.

15:10 On this day, I perhaps lose the fear forever that I’m on the right path.

16:30 This isn’t therapy. It’s the power of conversation.

23:10 Following your path, even when not obvious.

26:30 Examining what it feels like to find your path.

28:31 You know it’s the only thing that counts.

31:25 Have a love affair with your path.

32:50 The elevated state of poise and calm.

36:30 Final answer

Produced by NOVA

A unifying vision is more than a set of goals—it’s a living force that draws every person, in every role, into the same current of purpose. True leadership means creating a shared sense of belonging where each contribution, no matter its form, is recognised as part of the whole. It’s the leader’s role to hold that vision steady, to embody it so fully that it becomes the air the organization breathes.

When people wake each day knowing they are part of something larger, their work gains meaning, their presence gains weight, and the collective moves with clarity and cohesion. This is how leaders turn a vision from words on a page into the lived reality of a community in motion.

Listen to the full episode of The Illumify Game Changer Podcast to explore how leaders can shape and sustain this kind of unity—and learn how Illumify can support your own journey to igniting meaningful change at illumifyinc.com.

Having a vision of change is how leadership begins to emerge. It represents the difference between what is now and what could be. It takes effective leadership to bridge that gap and that can be quite daunting. Could seeing into the future help?

00:58 Illuminate Question 12

02:38 There are people who are swimming against the tide because their inner life is not in tune with the values of society.

05:28 I sense a huge appetite for something different, something better.

06:30 Hope comes first. Regaining it.

08:42 What would it feel like if people could actually breathe life not fear? And be accepted simply for being themselves?

10:00 You’ve brought the vision down from the stratosphere into where we need to be – the ground.

11:25 The power of a vision to unify people

14:28 In its early seconds, a vision has to give hope.

16:24 There has to be evidence that the hope is valid.

17:45 The limits of the language

18:30 How do you convey truth when it may be unrecognizable?

20:22 The limits of hope in politics

22:30 Do you give yourself permission to know what can be?

25:00 “Today we break with the past and stand on new ground.”      

28:38 The evidence of what I know to be true.

29:28 Allowing your voice to come through.

30:30 Final Answer.

Produced by NOVA

A vision for community isn’t just a blueprint for how we live together—it’s an ongoing act of reconciling what’s inside us with the world we’re building outside. We all carry competing urges: the longing for freedom and the pull of responsibility, the comfort of our tribe and the need to reach across differences. True leadership means naming these tensions, not erasing them, and shaping a shared home where our values echo both our inner lives and our collective aspirations.

We need new language, renewed intention, and a deeper commitment to building communities that honour both individuality and belonging. This is how we move from coexistence to true connection.

Listen to the full episode of The Illumify Game Changer Podcast to explore how leaders can shape a vision that’s both political and profoundly human—and learn how Illumify can support your own journey to igniting meaningful change at illumifyinc.com.

Jonathan is about to hit pay dirt after all the digging he’s done to surface the change most meaningful to him. In mere minutes, he expresses what he now sees that could be that doesn’t yet exist. His vision of it becomes even more vivid and compelling as he reflects.

04:15 Final Answer 

07:02 The individual’s freedom can not be violated.

10:38 How do we reconcile individual freedom with our need for each other?

11:42 “Unity in diversity is perhaps the most difficult tension to reconcile. But we have to do it. How do we find the unity of purpose to take action together?”

13:15 This vision is the answer to the question, “What does it mean to be human?”

13:58 It’s a vision, and not a list.

15:10 Is it new?

17:40 It goes beyond Europe.

19:35 This vision starts with the idea of a shared home.

19:50 Is there a correlation between the concept of home and freedom?

20:58 Idea of home where you feel safe but not because we’re enclosed inside the walls of the house.

22:10 A bigger vision of home where we live together in a way that corresponds to our human spirit.

24:58 Reconciling our competing interests, duties, tribes and more in tune with our humanity.

26:58 Vision reconciles the fragmentation inside our selves with how we do that outside in our community.

30:35 Language as the life blood of the vision.

30:57 We need to rescue words and restore them to their original sense and value.

32:19 David & Goliath

34:01 The sculpture of David as a political symbol

35:01 My desire to be the underdog

35:07 Childhood memory of deliberately picking a weaker team

36:36 Doesn’t everyone like an underdog?

38:03 The sense that we would make up the difference.

40:37 Maintaining sacred dignity makes one not of the norm.

Produced by NOVA

Truth isn’t a relic we can set on a pedestal. It’s an ongoing, collective pursuit—one that demands courage, sacrifice, and the willingness to repair what’s been fractured. In a world where some work tirelessly to undermine the very idea that truth matters, our task as leaders is to revive and defend the pursuit itself.

We need new language, new institutions, and above all, a renewed commitment to seeking and sharing what is real, together. This is how we flourish, both as individuals and as a society.

Listen to the full episode of The Illumify Game Changer Podcast to explore how leaders can ignite a vision of truth worth pursuing and learn more about how Illumify can help you ignite the change that matters to your leadership at illumifyinc.com.

This episode begins with Jonathan continuing to explore the meaning of home, all the while holding his ground on how to express his purpose. He then answers the very question that can determine whether or not he even needs to be a leader.

00:58– 1:00:30 Reflection: Jonathan shares his concept of nest, reflects on the state of disrepair inside and out, the need for protection, and the fundamental importance of trust.

1:00:35 Reference card reading

1:02:03 Illuminate Question 10

1:06:55 How we get to the truth matters

1:11:20 Final Answer

Produced by NOVA

True leadership begins with the ability to see what doesn’t yet exist—what could be, should be, must be. Language helps us shape that vision, communicate it, amplify it—but it cannot replace it.

In this episode of The Illumify Game Changer Podcast, we explore why vision is not something we explain into being—it’s something we must see first, and then speak into the world.

You can listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts. And to learn more about the Illumify methodology, visit illumifyinc.com.