There's a specific moment in The Godfather when Michael Corleone abandons himself and joins the family business.
Right then, from a Power Pairs perspective, he pairs his natural Red Anchor dynamic with a new, contextual Purple Spotlight. To learn more about the Anchor and Spotlight dynamics that make up the 49 Power Pairs, read this post.
Power Pair 42: Unifying Fighter
Red Anchor
The youngest son of a mafia don, Michael wants nothing to do with the family business. He goes out on his own, first to Dartmouth College, then to the United States Marine Corps the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This is something a person with a Red Anchor would do. Fighting spirit, quick response, instinctive decisions made on the fly backed up with fast action and seemingly endless stamina.
Purple Spotlight
When the Corleone family faces its own personal Pearl Harbor with a surprise attack on the patriarch, and Michael's Red Anchor gets activated again -- intense and solitary, decisive and instinctive.
While Vito is in the hospital recovering, Michael leans over his father's bed and says, "I'm with you now." This is when he shifts from being focused on himself to choosing a role in the family business.
While Red is fast, energizing, instinctive and individualistic, Purple takes a team based approach, bringing people together to act as a unit rather than individuals who may have different, or competing, objectives. Purple emphasizes belonging, security and safety in a group. A Purple Spotlight reminds a Red Anchor that no person is an island.
Your challenge, hopefully, will be different than Michael Corleone's. But a moment will come when your natural Anchor dynamic will need to be amplified, tempered or matured by a Spotlight dynamic. Our mission is to help individuals and their collaborative groups develop the ability to be Intentional about how this is accomplished.
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