Early in my career, if I had a question, I asked it. Didn't think twice about how to phrase it, how it would be received, or whether it might upset someone. I just charged ahead, oblivious to the wreckage I was leaving behind. If something frustrated me, you knew it. My face told the whole story before my mouth even opened. I thought passion and authenticity meant wearing your heart on your sleeve and letting people know exactly how you felt in every moment. I wasn't entire

And you know what happens? When politics enters the workplace, trust exits. Because people can tell. They always can. No matter how polished the performance, people sense when their leader isn't being real. And once they sense it, everything that leader says gets filtered through that lens of skepticism. That's why authenticity isn't just a nice to have quality in leadership. It's essential. Not because being real makes you likable, though it might. But because leading

I worked with a team once whose leader had a habit of taking credit for their work. Not in obvious ways. It was subtle. In meetings with upper management, the leader would present ideas the team had developed without mentioning where they came from. When projects succeeded, the leader's name was front and center. When things went wrong, suddenly it was a team effort and everyone shared the blame. The team noticed. Of course they noticed. And once they did, everything changed.

A few years ago at a leadership conference, someone pulled me aside during a break. They needed to vent about their boss. What they described stayed with me because it wasn't just frustrating. It was a masterclass in how leadership falls apart when one fundamental skill is missing. Their team had been dealing with project timeline issues. Instead of explaining the actual resource constraints they were facing, their leader told stakeholders the organization had implemented

Social awareness is your ability to accurately pick up on emotions in other people and understand what's really going on in social situations. It's reading body language, noticing tone shifts, picking up on group dynamics, and understanding the unspoken undercurrents that affect every interaction. It's not mind reading. It's observation. Attention. Tuning into the people around you instead of being so focused on yourself that you miss everything else.

Tracking the wrong leadership metrics? Here's how to measure what actually matters for team health and effectiveness, not just what's easy to count. Here's a confession: I'm a finance person. Numbers are my language. I love data, spreadsheets, metrics, all of it. I can get genuinely excited about a well-constructed dashboard. (Yes, I know that makes me weird. I've made peace with it.) But here's what I've learned after two decades in leadership: most of the metrics we obses

The things I've gained from other leaders include learning everything I can to make smart decisions, collecting data and taking time to dive into a situation before making a knee jerk reaction, the art of storytelling and making real life situations interesting to help people learn and grow, and true compassion for others. But I've also learned what NOT to do. The things I've observed that I don't want to emulate include overconfidence, leading from ego, making decisions bas

There's something about January that makes us all lose our minds a little bit. We convince ourselves that this is THE month. The fresh start. The clean slate. The moment when everything changes. So we create these elaborate plans. We set impossible standards. We try to overhaul our entire lives all at once while still, you know, living our actual lives. And then reality hits.

I apologize when I have to bother someone to get details about a personnel matter. Even when that matter is as important (or more important) to the person I'm "bothering" as it is to the employee involved. Even when it's literally part of their job to provide me that information. Then on the flip side, I apologize when I have to deliver news that isn't what someone wanted to hear. When a project didn't make the priority list. When the outcome of a situation isn't exactly wha

Let me be clear about something right up front. The number changing from 2025 to 2026 doesn't magically transform anything. January 1st is just another day. The sun will come up the same way it did on December 31st. You'll wake up as the same person with the same life and the same challenges. The calendar switching doesn't create a fresh start. YOU create the fresh start. The calendar just gives us the kick in the pants to do it.

It's the last Monday of the year, and if you're on social media at all, you've seen them. The posts about New Year's resolutions. The ambitious lists. The grand declarations of transformation.

That Sunday evening pit in your stomach about Monday? You're not alone. Here's the 3-step system that helped me eliminate Sunday night work anxiety for good. It's 7 PM on Sunday. You should be relaxing, maybe watching a movie or reading a book. Instead, you're mentally cataloging everything waiting for you Monday morning.

Just promoted to manager? Delegation is one of the hardest skills to learn. Here's your practical, step-by-step guide to delegating tasks without micromanaging or overwhelming your team.

Here's the thing about leadership: we accumulate baggage. Not just physical clutter on our desks (though let's be honest, that happens too), but mental and emotional weight that limits our effectiveness. Habits that made sense at one point but don't anymore. Beliefs about leadership that sound noble but actually hold us back.

We all know social media isn't real life. Nobody posts pictures of their messy kitchen or their kid's meltdown in the grocery store or the fight they had with their spouse about whose turn it is to take out the trash. They post the vacation photos, the perfectly plated dinners, the smiling family pictures. But somehow, we forget that the same principle applies at work. You see other leaders in meetings where they're prepared and confident. You see them giving presentations

Here's the thing: we've created this narrative about generational differences that's doing way more harm than good. We've bought into these sweeping generalizations, Boomers are rigid workaholics, Millennials are entitled, Gen Z can't focus, Gen X is… wait, does anyone ever talk about Gen X? The reality is so much more nuanced and honestly, so much more interesting.

You know that employee who used to be your go-to person? The one who'd volunteer for projects, stay late when needed, and bring energy to team meetings? Yeah, they're still showing up. They're still doing their job. But something's different. The spark is gone. They're doing exactly what's required and not one thing more. Welcome to the world of quiet quitting, and if you haven't noticed it on your team yet, you're either incredibly lucky or not paying close enough attention.

Leadership coaching isn't about fixing broken leaders. It's about helping good leaders become even more effective. It's about having someone who can see your blind spots, challenge your assumptions, and help you develop skills you didn't even know you needed.

Finding your professional voice isn't about learning to speak up if you're naturally quiet. For people like me, it's about learning to speak up strategically, meaningfully, and at the right times.

But regardless of the field, leadership challenges have something in common: they can make you feel like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Like you're the only one who's ever dealt with this particular mess. Like there's no one who could possibly understand the complexity of what you're navigating.