Leadership
Develop your leadership potential with insights and strategies from our expert contributors, to help you excel in leading others. Whether you're a seasoned manager or aspiring to take on a leadership role, learn essential skills such as effective communication, listening, and team building. Discover how to motivate and inspire your team, navigate the challenges of hiring and recruitment, and implement successful management practices. Enhance your leadership capabilities and drive your team to success with expert guidance and practical advice.
When Reading the Room Becomes a Survival Skill
Emotional intelligence is widely regarded as a workplace strength. The ability to read a room, understand different perspectives, communicate with care and build relationships can make someone an excellent...
Redefining Love in Leadership and a Commitment to Growth, Not Comfort
I once sat across from a school leader who told me, without hesitation, that being a good leader meant being nice. Keeping the peace. Making sure no one felt uncomfortable. I remember my reaction in...
Why Feedback Gives Us the Power of Choice
After writing a recent article on communication overwhelm, I found myself reflecting on another theme that frequently emerges in my coaching conversations. Across industries, roles, and life situations, many...
Rewiring Trust Through Conversational Intelligence
In today’s corporate landscape, communication is often treated as a purely transactional mechanism, a tool for moving deadlines, delegating tasks, and distributing metrics. However, an organization’s...
What is Craft in the Age of 'Good Enough'?
This is one of the most generative moments creative work has had in a long time. The tools available to a single team today would have required a studio of thirty a decade ago. People are exploring things...
Why Self-Awareness is the Foundation of Lasting Leadership Growth
Most of us believe we know ourselves well, until pressure exposes the gap between who we think we are and how we actually show up. This article explores why self-awareness is the foundation of meaningful...
Your Wellbeing Strategy is Failing Because of Your Managers
A bold statement, I know, but please read on because I have some observations and evidence to support it. Over the last few years, I have noticed an interesting contradiction. Organisations are investing...
What 34 Years of Entrepreneurship and 15,000 Aura Readings Have Taught Me About Leadership
When I became an entrepreneur at 28 years old, I thought leadership was primarily about intelligence, determination, and execution. Like many founders, I believed success would come from working...
The Leadership Waiting Room and Why What You Do While Waiting Matters Most
Imagine yourself in a waiting room. Picture it in your mind. What does this waiting room look like? In my mind’s eye, I see a large clock on the wall. Every few minutes, the door opens, and someone’s name is...
The Leader You Became May Not Be the Leader Needed for What's Next
Have you ever noticed that the very qualities that helped you become successful can eventually become the qualities that limit your growth? Perhaps you became the person everyone could rely on. The...
What Crisis Reveals About Leadership, Humanity, and the Invisible Architecture Within
There are moments in history when change unfolds so gradually that we barely notice it. A technological innovation quietly transforms the way we work, a cultural shift slowly reshapes a...
How the Domino Effect Turns One Reactive Leadership Moment Into a Retention Problem
A manager snaps during a busy shift. Within the hour, it looks forgotten by everyone except the operation itself. Turnover, disengagement and inconsistent service usually start exactly this quietly, and almost nobody...
Can Creative Leadership Be Taught?
Creative work is made by groups of people. Designers, engineers, strategists, technologists, producers, usually a lot of them, often more than the credits suggest. So it is strange that the...
Contribution, the Hidden Lever Behind Influence and Reputation
Real influence is not built by chasing access, but by creating value. This article explores how consistent contribution strengthens trust, builds reputation, and opens doors to the networks and...
Why Leadership Fails When We Are Disconnected From Our Bodies
Leadership is often treated as an intellectual pursuit. A common trope I hear is, “I want to make sure that I know what I am talking about before I talk about it.” We read books on influence...
What Childbirth Can Teach the Corporate World About Leadership, Teamwork, and Service
Organizations spend enormous resources trying to improve communication, collaboration, leadership, and workplace culture. Teams attend retreats, hire consultants, complete personality assessments, and participate...
Why Leadership Without Mentorship Falls Short
Leadership is often associated with titles, power, recognition, and influence. But over the last 30 years in coaching, mentorship, and leadership, I have come to believe something very different: true...
You Can't Navigate a Room You Were Never Invited Into
Many professionals are told that career growth depends on speaking up, networking strategically, and building executive presence, but for high-performing individuals, especially women, the deeper issue is often...
In a Disembodied World, the Body is Revolution
We are surrounded by information, yet so many of us are hungry for wisdom. We are more connected than ever, yet often estranged from ourselves. I meet teachers, healers, coaches, and leaders with...
5 Lessons From My Father on Building a Lasting Legacy
We often think legacy is built through major achievements, titles, or defining moments. My father’s recent passing reminded me that it is more often built quietly, through everyday behaviours...
Leadership Starts At Home – What My Son Taught Me About Resilience, Advocacy, and Legacy
Leadership is often associated with the workplace, titles, teams, and performance. But some of the most powerful lessons in leadership are learned far from the spotlight. For me, one of my greatest teachers...
Your Vision Isn't Ahead of You, It's Waiting for You to Catch Up
You've been chasing it. Refining the strategy, updating the roadmap, working toward a future version of something you can almost, but not quite, see. What if the problem isn't the pace? What if vision...
Why Compassionate Leaders Consistently Outperform Fear-Based Leaders
Leadership has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past several decades. Once defined primarily by authority, hierarchy, and control, today's most effective leaders are increasingly recognized...
The Lightness of Being
In a world that constantly demands more from leaders, ancient Taoist wisdom offers a different path, one rooted not in accumulation but in simplicity, presence, and flow. Drawing from personal experiences...
You're Not Burned Out, You're Out of Coherence
Every fix you’ve tried has worked on paper. The earlier nights. The cleaner calendar. The boundaries you finally held. Still, that hum underneath everything. Quiet. Persistent. Waiting. What if it...
The Most Dangerous Thing a Leader Can Do is Stay Legible
You built the brand. Refined the message. Made yourself easy to understand. It worked. People found you. Trusted you. Followed you. Now something underneath that identity is pressing outward. Quiet at first...
You Are Not Broken, You Are Becoming
A lot of people think a great speaker is someone who has never faced tough times. But what truly makes a speaker memorable is showing that you are not broken, but growing. Your brain and your story can...
The Getaway Every Leader Actually Needs
So many people ask me if retreats are worth it. It happens at dinners, at the school gate, after a yoga class. There is always a small pause before they ask. You can see them deciding whether to say the...
Would I Be the Woman I Am Today If I Hadn't Become a Mom at 16?
We are 75 percent water, 25 percent dry mass, 50 percent spiritual beings, and 50 percent physical beings. These are also a map to the layout of our universe. We are lymphatic fluid, bones, and flesh...
Rinse, 'Femwash', Repeat is the Life Cycle of Women in Leadership
The presence of women in leadership roles ticks a diversity box but does not automatically mean there’s equality in the workplace. Are organizations genuinely advancing gender equity, informed by women...
The Visibility Gap – Why Women Leaders Must Claim Credit for Their Ideas
Too many women have learned to accept having their ideas overlooked, repackaged, or credited to someone else as simply part of the workplace landscape. But claiming visibility is not about ego or self-promotion...
Interrupting Mean Girl Dynamics and Choosing Support
I recently had the privilege of supporting a women’s affinity group, Women United, through the United Way of Pierce County, which hosted its first annual afternoon tea. On the surface, it looked...
The Invisible Weight Women Bring Into the Workplace
"I had never considered that my disappointment mattered to anyone." I sat with that sentence at a point in my life when I was professionally depleted, and the behaviors I was showing up with had...
10 Tips for Female Leaders Navigating Motherhood, Career Pressure and Burnout
You have kept going. You made it through sleepless nights, pregnancy losses, burnout that left you shaken, and the quiet grief of returning to a workplace that barely noticed what it took for you to...
Courage Before Confidence and Why the Most Impactful Women Stop Waiting to Feel Ready
Male-dominated industries do not need more women waiting to feel confident. They need more women willing to move before confidence arrives. The biggest leadership lie that women have been sold is...
Five Workplace Lessons Every Autistic Young Adult Should Learn Before Their First Job
Ready to enter the workforce? Here’s what nobody teaches autistic young adults about jobs, coworkers, interviews, and protecting their mental health. For many autistic young adults, finding a job is exciting...
What Tomorrow’s Employees Expect That Organizations Aren’t Ready For
One of my aunts recently shared a horrifying recruitment story with me. She had been approached by two recruiters, and after a few conversations, she realized they were from two different recruitment...
Quiet Quitting or Burnout Fallout – How to Reignite Engagement Through Purpose
Let’s talk about something that’s been bubbling up in workplaces everywhere, disengagement. By now, you’ve probably heard the phrase “quiet quitting.” It’s become the go-to way to describe employees...
The Great Police Exodus and Why Smart Companies Are Recruiting Former Officers
When crisis becomes opportunity: How the exodus from policing is creating an unprecedented talent pool for private enterprise. The statistics are sobering. Police officer departures have reached record...
Hiring Right – What Nonprofit Boards Need to Know Before Appointing Their Next Executive Director
When it comes to nonprofit leadership, few decisions carry more weight than hiring the right executive director. Yet, too often, boards approach this critical step with good intentions but limited...
Unlocking 5 Secrets To Keeping Your Top Talent
In today's competitive job market, opportunities abound for talent with exceptional skills.
Struggling To Grow Your Teams? Consider Fractional Hiring
As a business owner, you know your business can only be as successful as those who work for you.
The Leadership Crisis Behind Employee Turnover and Why Coaching is the Way Forward
Employee turnover is often treated as an HR problem, but the deeper issue is how people are being led every day. Coaching-style leadership can help organizations rebuild trust, strengthen ownership, and keep their...
250 Years, Where Do We Go From Here?
July 4th marks a monumental point in history for the United States, our 250th birthday. Unfortunately, when we discuss the price paid for the freedom we enjoy, the axiom is true, out of sight, out of mind...
Why Smart Teams Become Misaligned and the Four Root Causes of Organizational Frustration
Why do intelligent, well-intentioned people working toward the same goals often experience the same organization in completely different ways? A few years ago, I sat with the leadership team of a successful organization...
What if We Raised Children Like We Were Building Leaders, Because We Are
What if the boardroom and the playroom were never as far apart as we assumed? What if the leader who melts down in a high-stakes meeting and the toddler who melts down on the kitchen floor are running the...
Building the Industries of Tomorrow Through Interconnectedness
The future of progress will not be built by capital alone. Inspired by the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan and the philosophy of Ubuntu, this article explores why interconnectedness, shared purpose...
Why the Enneagram Is the Key to Rebuilding Team Identity and Performance
Have you ever watched a capable team slowly come apart, not for lack of talent, but because something underneath stopped holding them together? We are living through the peak of the...
What Happens When AI Removes the Work That Teaches Us How to Work?
Much of the conversation about AI has focused on productivity. How much time can it save? Which tasks can it automate? How many people can an organisation operate with if AI is doing some of the...
The Unhoused Encounter Significant Barriers to Access Quality SUD Treatment Services
I am a person who has lived through and overcome adversity. I was raised by a single mother, a woman I loved deeply but who struggled with addiction to prescription opioids. My parents divorced when...
How to Speak So People Listen and Remember You
I have worked with executives who closed multi-million dollar deals and still felt nervous walking onto a stage. Not because they lacked intelligence or expertise. But because public speaking exposes...
How to Ace Your Next Presentation
When I was in Grade school, public speaking was part of the curriculum. Everyone from Grade 4 onwards was required to deliver a fully memorized 3 minute speech in front of the class.
Why Recovery Is Non-Negotiable as a Speaker
I was recently flying back from Houston, where I had spent the day directing two of my VIP clients for an intensive filming session on set. We'd done deep work crafting their stories, refining their...
Let’s Talk About the Power of Common-Unity
In today’s rapidly changing world, organizations often struggle with disengagement, isolation, and the growing epidemic of workplace loneliness.
What Public Speakers and Performers Can Learn From Elite Athletes
Are you in it for the long haul or for overnight success? In a world where instant celebrity is yearned for, quick success is pined after, and easy wins are applauded, this question becomes more relevant...
You Don’t Need a Crown to Have Gravitas – Why Authority Is a Choice, Not a Title
What gives someone gravitas? Most people assume it comes from seniority or status, the job grade, the title on your email signature, or the visible signals that suggest influence. But these are surface...
