Written from the heart Percy Fick
I’ve always wanted to make a significant impact.
Not a quiet, background kind of contribution – a visible one.
In my Top 5 Gallup CliftonStrengths, I carry the theme Significance – and it colours how I see almost everything.
Gallup describes Significance as a talent theme in which people want to make a significant impact, stay independent, and choose projects based on the influence they will have on their organisation or the people around them.
In simple terms:
People with Significance want their work to matter, to change something, to leave a mark – and they prefer to pour energy into work where that impact can be felt.
For me, that lens has been both a gift and a trap.
Stepping Away From the “Safe” Path
When I stepped away from a secure automotive leadership role to start my own business, I didn’t ease into it. I went all in.
High Dominant, Influential and Compliant in my behavioural style means I tend to approach life in a precise way:
- Quick – I move fast.
- Direct – I say what I mean.
- Influential – I want to shift hearts and minds.
- Fact-based – I need the data and logic behind the impact.
In PeopleKeys 4D language, this blend shows up as a Chancellor (CDI/DCI/DIC/CID) style – a person who mixes fun with business to get things done, is determined and results-driven, enjoys working with people, yet still pays attention to details and finishing things correctly and on time.
So I started posting videos, sharing ideas, challenging norms and calling out what I believed needed to change in the industry.
And then the comments came.
“You’re destroying your reputation as a leader.”
“These videos are silly.”
“Why are you doing this?”
The first three years were tough. My effort was high, my results felt slow, and my feedback loop was noisy. Being wired for Significance, I didn’t just hear the feedback – I absorbed it. My impact lens started to distort.
When Feedback Becomes Your Oxygen
At some point, I realised something uncomfortable:
I wasn’t just using feedback as information.
I was using it as validation of my worth.
Positive feedback? I felt powerful.
Silence or criticism? I questioned everything.
Psychology calls this contingent self-worth – when your sense of value leans too heavily on external approval, performance or other people’s reactions. Research shows that when self-worth rests on others’ approval, people are more vulnerable to emotional drops and negative self-image.
Self-Determination Theory adds another layer: we are at our best when our drive comes from within – purpose, meaning, growth – rather than from chasing validation outside ourselves.
I had to admit:
My Significance was running on other people’s oxygen.
The Lie I Believed
The lie sounded like this:
“If people don’t like, comment or praise it, my impact doesn’t count.”
Read that again.
It’s a cruel equation – and completely untrue.
There’s a well-known reminder that keeps circling in different forms:
Your value doesn’t decrease just because someone else can’t see it.
I knew this in my head, but emotionally, I still checked the numbers:
Views. Likes. Comments. Reposts.
The danger with Significance is that the deep desire to matter can slowly slide into needing constant proof that you matter.
Five Years Later: The “Silly” Videos Start to Speak
Fast forward five years.
The same content that was mocked or questioned in the beginning suddenly began to open doors:
- Clients quoted lines from old videos I had forgotten about.
- People told me, “Your post came at exactly the right moment.”
- Workshops, keynotes and partnerships started to align.
Nothing magical changed in one night. The fundamental shift was internal:
I stopped letting feedback define my worth, and started letting it refine my work.
Feedback still matters – deeply. But what we do with it matters even more.
From Social Validation to “Trust the Process”
I made a conscious decision:
- Not to measure my worth by the number of likes.
- Not to let silence decide whether something has value.
- Not to let criticism erase my sense of calling.
Instead, I began to anchor myself in my internal value compass – for me, that is personal freedom and justice.
That compass whispers:
- “You are allowed to think differently.”
- “You are allowed to stand up for what feels fair and right, even if it costs you applause.”
Brené Brown puts it this way:
“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome.”
That sentence describes precisely what it feels like to create, to lead, to post, to speak – when you have no guarantee of how it will land.
At some point, I had to choose:
Stay safe and silent,
or
Risk being seen and trust the process.
I chose the second one.
A Quiet Reframe of Impact
Here is the reframe that changed everything for me:
Impact is not mine to control. It lives in the mind and heart of the person who receives it.
My role is to show up fully – with my voice, my strengths, my style – in the exact moment I am given.
I now live with this belief:
Every conversation, every workshop, every post, every awkward video – I am there for a reason.
Sometimes that reason is visible.
Sometimes it’s hidden.
Many people will never acknowledge the difference you make.
Not because it had no value – but because:
- They are still busy with their own healing.
- They don’t yet have words for what shifted.
- Or, honestly, it simply wasn’t for them – and that is also okay.
A Word to Anyone Who Leads Through Significance
If you, like me, carry Significance high, or if you feel a strong need to matter, this is my message to you:
- Do not measure your worth through the lens of other people’s reactions.
- Use feedback as a guide, not a verdict.
- Let your values, not the algorithm, decide your direction.
- Remember that some of your most powerful impacts will never be publicly acknowledged.
You are allowed to want influence. You are allowed to like your work to be remembered.
Just don’t hand over the keys to your heart to someone else’s comment section.
I am still learning, but this much I know:
My fuel is no longer social validation.
My fuel is “Trust the Process” validation – trusting that if I show up with honesty, courage and consistency, the right people will feel the impact at the right time.
And even when no one says a word,