The ‘Circle of Ambition’

Let ambition guide your concerns and what you influence/control

What’s your ambition in life? What do you hope to achieve in the next five to ten years? Does it feel like you are in a driver-less car with the destination constantly getting hacked? These questions are irksome to many. However, ambition could offer the necessary direction to your thoughts and actions. Further, it ought to dictate your priorities. Whether you consider it a guiding light, an aspiration, or a life goal, ‘ambition’ breathes purpose into existence and its presence or absence should be acknowledged.
 

Introducing the ‘Circle of Ambition’
Ambition is the strong desire to do or achieve something. It should inspire the ideas you conceive and the things you attempt. It should urge the caution you adopt and the anxiety you overcome. It should represent what you excel at, as well as, the things you work through. Ambition is often best reflected in what you control, influence, and are concerned by. To some degree this interplay could be understood using the framework of ‘Circle of Concern’ and ‘Circle of Influence’ introduced by Stephen Covey in the book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. However, for further applicability I recommend modifying how this framework is approached as well as encompassing it within a ‘Circle of Ambition’.

Covey’s framework describes things over which we have no real control as the ‘Circle of Concern’, and things we can do something about as the ‘Circle of Influence’. Others have also suggested there is a subset of ‘Circle of Influence’ that we can actually control, referred to as the ‘Circle of Control’.

Modified Framework
This framework when placed within the ‘Circle of Ambition’ sharpens your focus on what really matters. Let your ambition seep through the circles of concern, influence, and control so as to shape them, i.e. expand or contract, as necessary. The aim is to first let your ambition manifest as a concern which you can assess with sincerity. I recommend treating the ‘Circle of Concern’ as a staging area to conduct an honest feasibility assessment of your ambition. Then establish how much of it you can pursue immediately and recognize you might have to revisit the remaining only after you’ve achieved certain short-term influence and control milestones. In order to do so, different influence tactics and support from your network might have to be employed.


Much like the infamous Chakravyuh of the Hindu mythology epic ‘Mahabharat’, these concentric circles have to be navigated methodically, with precision, and in continuous motion. The Chakravyuh was a treacherous battle formation that lured in mighty warriors, isolated them, and eventually overwhelmed them to submission or worse. The key to successfully penetrating the Chakravyuh was in staying constantly on the move and skilfully slaying combatants along the way.

In personal and professional life, it could get overwhelming if you set multiple targets with the expectation to accomplish them in a short timeframe. However, creating such a continuous flow of targets, aligned with your ambition, does offer opportunities to master your craft and in turn builds speed with which milestones can be achieved. The resultant momentum is what everyone longs for, assuming you take measured risk.

New CEO Example
Circle of Ambition - Develop a nationally recognized successful business model and build leverage to impact policies affecting the industry.
Circle of Concern - Assess regional growth opportunities, competitive threats, and product/service innovation potential.
Circle of Influence - Initiate or reinforce commitment to the community; extend leadership and partner with other business leaders to address local issues.
Circle of Control - Restructure the leadership levels as necessary to ensure alignment with the CEO’s and the Board’s strategic vision.

CEO starts with a defined ambition (aligned with the Board’s strategic vision), certain imminent concerns, situations that need to be influenced, and functions over which to exercise immediate control. However, over time the CEO ensures that the ambition percolates through the relevant stages of concern, influence and ultimately under control.

A truly effective individual defines his/her ambition and uses it to guide how concern, influence, and control are administered. In doing so, he/she aims to morph this framework of two-dimensional circles into three-dimensional spheres of accomplishments throughout life. PE

Vivan J. Thomas is a Workforce Strategy & Analytics leader focused on demystifying human capital complexities and addressing related challenges faced by individuals, organizations and communities.  Follow @vivanjthomas Connect Vivan J. Thomas