Why The Elements Kit Is Helping CEOs Make Better Decisions Under Pressure

Written By Amanda Campbell

Resilience is often pictured as bending like bamboo—flexible, supple, yet unbreakably strong. But what if true resilience goes beyond just bouncing back? What if it's also about having the wisdom and creativity to consciously forge a new path forward?

In this month's Bend Like Bamboo podcast, I had the privilege of speaking with Lisa Johnson about her transformative work with The Elements Kit and how archetypes can unlock authentic resilience. Her insights revealed something profound: one of the most overlooked components of resilience is creativity—the capacity to create your way forward from a place of deep authenticity.

The Shadow Side of Trying Too Hard

Here's the thing: you can't create authentically if you're trapped in the exhausting shadow of who you think you should be. This is the path that leads straight to burnout—constantly trying and doing too much because you're disconnected from your core truth.

Lisa's approach with archetypes offers a different way.

Archetypes ate universally recognisable patterns and symbols—often character-based—that form the foundational blueprints of human experience and storytelling. These symbolic energies—the healer, the warrior, the creator, the sage—act like a compass, guiding us back to our authentic selves. When we understand these archetypal patterns within us, we can recognise both our natural talents and our shadow behaviours.

How Archetypes Align with Bamboo Resilience

The Bend Like Bamboo philosophy teaches us that true strength comes not from rigid resistance, but from flexible adaptation. Lisa's work with archetypes perfectly complements this approach by helping us identify when we're operating from our authentic centre versus when we're caught in exhausting patterns of "should."

When we know ourselves at this deeper archetypal level, something beautiful happens: creativity flows naturally. We stop forcing solutions and start allowing them to emerge from our authentic wisdom. This becomes a profound foundation for both personal and professional growth, enabling us to face challenges with renewed purpose and grace.

Creating from Your Soul, Not Your Stress

The most powerful insight from our conversation was this: when we release the exhausting effort of trying to be someone we're not, we free up enormous creative energy. Instead of reactive survival mode, we can move into conscious creation mode—designing a life that truly reflects our soul's purpose.

This is resilience in its highest form. Not just surviving what life throws at us, but having the creative capacity to transform challenges into opportunities for authentic expression and growth.

The Elements Kit: A Tool for Authentic Self-Discovery

Lisa's Elements Kit provides a practical framework for this deep self-discovery work. By understanding which archetypal energies are most alive in you—and which ones you might be suppressing or overusing—you gain invaluable insight into your authentic operating system.

This isn't just personal development for its own sake. When leaders, founders, and high-achievers operate from their authentic archetypal strengths rather than from stress and "should," they make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and create more sustainable success.

Your Invitation to Deeper Resilience

If you're tired of the exhausting cycle of pushing through with sheer willpower, if you're ready to discover what resilience looks like when it flows from authenticity rather than force, I invite you to explore this work further.

True resilience—the kind that bends like bamboo while staying rooted in who you truly are—requires both flexibility and authenticity. It requires the courage to release who you think you should be in favour of who you actually are.

Watch the full conversation with Lisa about archetypes and authentic resilience here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBuGFYUOG9E

Ready to develop your own authentic resilience? Join our Bend Like Bamboo community and grab your free resilience toolkit as a gift for sustainable high performance: https://www.bendlikebamboo.com/signuptoblb

What archetype do you most identify with? And more importantly, what would become possible if you gave yourself permission to create from that authentic place rather than from stress and expectation?

Connect with Lisa Johnson

Website | LinkedIn 

Connect with Amanda
Amanda Campbell is a Sports Kinesiologist, Speaker, and Author who helps CEOs and leaders build resilience to thrive through life's challenges. She hosts the Bend Like Bamboo Resilience Podcast and offers programs designed to maximise performance whilst reducing stress and preventing burnout.

You are welcome to book a complimentary discovery call to explore how we can work together: ​https://calendly.com/amanda_campbell_/15min?month=2025-01​

 

Speaking & Events: Amanda delivers wellness workshops and keynotes both in-person and virtually. To book: hello@amandacampbell.com.au | www.amandacampbell.com.au

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Amanda Campbell
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