Each new year I’ve seen people choosing a word to define their approach to the year ahead, and while I always enjoy reading why they’ve chosen that word and the thinking behind it, I’ve never gone there myself. I had one ill fated attempt in Hawaii a few years ago where I decided it was something we would do as a family and we’d all pick a word, but the only word I got back from them was ‘NO’ so that was the end of that.
This year as always I enjoyed seeing the words people chose, and knowing the year ahead is one with plenty of challenges I gave some thought to whether picking a word to define my approach would help. I couldn’t think of anything and let the idea go, but then I got a delivery that changed everything.
Now this may seem like an odd segue, but stick with me!
I love the Lady Dior Art Series which is now in it’s seventh year, and am fortunate enough to to be able to add one to my collection each year. Dior invites artists to design versions of the Lady Dior handbag based on their art, and produce a limited edition run of each. Sometimes my selection is based purely on the visual appearance of the bag, but also often on the artist and the thinking behind their design.
This year’s collection was announced just before we were heading to Egypt for the Dior Menswear show, and my choice was made easy. One of the featured artists was Ghada Amer, the first artist of Egyptian origin to participate in the Lady Art project. The bag I chose is inspired by her sculpture titled ‘Women’s Qualities’ and has words evoking the qualities attributed to women embroidered across the bag.
So the bag arrived this week, and as I unpacked it and held it up to admire it a word jumped straight out at me, and I knew immediately this was the word that was going to sum up my approach to 2023 and the challenges ahead.
DETERMINED
It’s the perfect word for how I’m going to be taking on everything that’s coming my way this year, and the perfect accompaniment to the Arc31 values of Agile, Responsible and Courageous that define our approach to life and business. And I love that once again my passion for fashion has been able to serve up a perfect business and life lesson.
So while I might not be carrying that particular bag into every meeting for the year, I’ll definitely be carrying a determined approach. Let’s go 2023, I’m ready for you!
