Unfolded Maps: Discover Your Inner Landscape of Leadership
Welcome to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build a positive team culture. Our consulting firm has been doing this work for the past 25 years, ensuring that leaders are mentally engaged and emotionally healthy.
In this episode of the Leadership Vision Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Linda and Brian Schubring, co-authors of Unfolded: Lessons in Transformation from an Origami Crane. Together, we explored one of the book’s most profound metaphors—the idea that each of us is made of maps.
Maps are more than tools for getting from one place to another. They represent our inner landscape—our lived experiences, values, memories, and the people who have shaped us. As Brian noted,
“Maps represent our lives, our inner landscape, our lived experiences, and the people that have shaped us.”
When we see our lives this way, reflection becomes just as important as action.
The Power of Inner Landscapes
The Schubrings invite us to look at our maps with dignity and compassion. Dr. Linda put it simply:
“In doing so, you learn to love your map. To not be ashamed of it, not just hide it away. But put dignity and compassion towards how you’ve been created and wired.”
Your inner map contains the terrain of your upbringing, the borders of your relationships, and the landmarks of both triumph and pain. Some parts of your map are well-traveled—patterns and habits you know well. Others remain hidden beneath folds, only revealed during times of change or uncertainty.
This dual reality reflects leadership and life itself. We navigate with what we know, but growth often comes from the detours, the hidden valleys, and the places we might rather ignore.
From Google Maps to Rand McNally
During our conversation, we contrasted modern efficiency with the slower discovery of old road atlases. With GPS, we jump from point A to point B, but we risk missing the richness of the journey. Brian reflected:
“The quick answer and direct nature of a Google map is for action. The map in our book is for reflection—with an intention for discovery.”
Leaders too often default to efficiency. But what happens if we pause, zoom out, and notice the patterns, influences, and shaping events in our own story? That reflection might reveal answers we’ve been searching for all along.
Shaping Influences and Origin Stories
Brian shared his own map: a small neighborhood filled with athletic fields. That environment cultivated teamwork, competitiveness, and high expectations—qualities that still define him today. But he also noted that it could have gone differently. What expanded his map was the dream of his parents, who pushed him toward higher education.
This illustrates a critical leadership truth: we don’t navigate our maps alone. Parents, mentors, and teachers often expand the borders of what we imagine possible. Leaders who reflect on their origin stories gain clarity about why they show up the way they do today.
Seasons, Folds, and Renewal
The Schubrings also emphasized that maps aren’t static. Like origami paper, they fold and unfold through life’s challenges and transitions. Sometimes the answers we need are hidden just beneath a fold. Other times, an old chapter of life can be reinterpreted as a source of wisdom for today.
Maps also carry seasons. The winter of loss eventually gives way to the spring of renewal. Recognizing this cyclical shaping can help leaders trust the process, even in hard times.
Who Helps You Read Your Map?
We are not meant to interpret our maps alone. The Schubrings outline four kinds of teachers who can help:
- Experts – those with knowledge and experience
- Explorers – those who encourage us to take new paths
- Empaths – those who walk with us through emotional terrain
- Entertainers – those who lighten the journey with joy
Leadership is enriched when we invite others to help us see what we might miss on our own.
Final Invitation
Ultimately, our maps are not something to hide but something to honor. As Brian closed,
“Trust the map. There are so many things hidden within our own landscape that are there for us to discover.”
Your map tells a story—of where you’ve been, how you’ve been shaped, and what possibilities still lie ahead. The invitation is simple: pause, reflect, and rediscover what’s already within you.
Listen to the full episode to explore more about your own unfolding map and share it with someone who might need encouragement on their journey.
About The Leadership Vision Podcast
The Leadership Vision Podcast is a weekly show sharing our expertise in the discovery, practice, and implementation of a strengths-based approach to people, teams, and culture. We believe that knowing your Strengths is only the beginning. Our highest potential exists in the ongoing exploration of our talents.
Please contact us if you have ANY questions about anything you heard in this episode or if you’d like to talk to us about helping your team understand the power of Strengths.
If you’d like to be featured on the Leadership Vision Podcast, let us know how you are using Strengths and what impact it has made. Contact us here!
