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One of the chapters from my upcoming book called Essential Habits is about the canvas strategy, which I learned from Ryan Holiday’s book Ego is the Enemy. Although I didn’t know about it before I read the book, unknowingly, I’ve been following the strategy for my career. Let me explain the strategy and then share some of the things that I have learned looking back at how I (unknowingly) followed the strategy.
The canvas strategy is an idea borne from the days when artists had rich patrons, businessmen or politicians financing their endeavours. For the artists, they acted as an anteambulo, that is, one who cleared the path. The antiambulo walked in front of the patrons wherever they went, helping to communicate key messages and making the patron’s life easier.
When we first enter the workplace, we are hungry, ambitious, ready to rise up quickly in the organization. At this critical time in our career, our ego is high — we then receive a dose of reality — no you have to put in the time. No you do not have enough experience yet. No you just do not have enough projects under your belt. Instead, the best way to get ahead, according to the canvas strategy, is to attach yourself to other successful people in your organization and to essentially ‘copy’ what they have done to achieve their success. Make yourself invaluable to that…
