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Case Study

The Lifeline Exercise: A reflective tool for leadership and career development

By Michael D. Watkins

5 pages

October 2025

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Reference: IMD-2672

This exercise provides a structured reflection tool designed to help individuals explore the significant events, emotional highs and lows, and patterns that have shaped their personal and professional journeys. Commonly used in executive education, leadership development programs and coaching contexts, the Lifeline Exercise enables participants to create a visual map of their experiences, identify key themes and gain valuable insights for future growth. The exercise involves creating a timeline graph where participants plot significant life events according to their emotional intensity in a range from deeply challenging experiences to peak achievements. Through this visual representation, participants can recognize patterns in their responses to adversity and success, understand the strengths that helped them navigate difficulties and identify recurring themes in their decision-making and growth. The accompanying teaching note provides comprehensive guidance for facilitators, covering three key stages: setting the stage for reflection, creating the lifeline graph, debriefing the exercise. It offers detailed instructions for conducting the exercise in various settings, whether for large groups, small groups, or individual sessions, and with specific approaches tailored to each context. This reflective tool serves multiple purposes: to increase self-awareness, recognize behavioral and decision-making patterns, gain perspective on how experiences have shaped values and priorities, and clarify future goals based on past insights. The exercise emphasizes the creation of a supportive environment where participants can engage in meaningful introspection while maintaining appropriate boundaries around personal sharing.

Learning Objective

Create a visual representation of personal and professional life experiences to enhance self-awareness
Identify recurring patterns in responses to challenges, successes and transitions
Recognize personal strengths and resilience strategies developed through life experiences
Connect past experiences to current values, decision-making processes and leadership approaches
Apply insights from life reflection to inform future career and leadership development goals

Keywords

Leadership, Coaching, Purpose, Leadership Development, Career Planning, Personal Growth

Type

Generalized Experience

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note

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