Leadership

Things I Knew and Didn’t Say” asks whether we have made authenticity too dependent on what other people can see. It distinguishes between revealing ourselves and expressing ourselves, and notes that a quiet colleague can be deeply authentic, though from the outside we cannot tell whether their privacy stems from temperament or self-protection. Rather than urging everyone to be vulnerable, the article asks whether people can disagree without being diminished and whether confidences are respected. It closes by wondering whether we have made room for people to decide for themselves how much to share.

A graduate student recently asked me how anyone practices vulnerability in a business culture that still prizes toughness. It was an honest question. Many of us have heard that openness builds trust, and then we have watched what happens to people who share too much in the wrong room. The tension is real, and it deserves more than a slogan. In "The Exposed Wallet," I explore that tension through a simple image: an open locker with a wallet sitting where anyone could see it. Nothing threatening is happening, and no one is reaching for it. Still, most of us would not leave ours there. That instinct is not fear. It is discernment that marks the difference between being open and being exposed. The article draws on something I first learned nearly forty years ago from Darya Funches, one of my teachers. She paired discernment with Heart and Presence as three gifts of the practitioner. Together, they offer a steadier way to think about vulnerability at work. It becomes a practice of choosing what to share, when, and with whom, rather than an all-or-nothing risk. If you lead, coach, or want to bring more of who you are to your work without losing your footing, this piece is for you.

A reflective essay about what happens when we keep navigating modern work with outdated assumptions. Using the image of a payphone as its central metaphor, the piece explores recognition, disconnection, and the quiet human cost of systems that no longer fit the world we live in.

A dream about getting lost in a familiar city becomes a reflection on leadership, direction, and the difference between losing knowledge and temporarily losing access to it. The article explores how clarity can come from unexpected people and reminds us that losing our bearings does not mean we have lost our destination.

Capable leaders and sound strategy don't guarantee reliable results. Decisions get reopened after they're made, and authority quietly shifts to whoever argues the loudest in the room. A few people absorb the difference, rescuing work that a broken system was never built to hold. This piece looks at why execution breaks down even when the leadership in the room is genuinely strong, and what it takes to build a structure that holds regardless of who's in it.

Some teams look stronger than they are because one or two dependable people keep quietly compensating for everyone else. They clarify what was left vague, repair what wasn't finished, and absorb the consequences of unclear ownership so the group can keep moving. This piece looks at why that pattern is so easy to mistake for shared accountability, what it costs the people carrying it, and what leaders can do to build a system that doesn't depend on who cares the most.