Dear courageous leaders, I have been sitting with something lately. Not a crisis. Not a dramatic failure. Something quieter and, in some ways, harder to name. I am watching leaders I deeply respect lose their footing. Not because they lack skill or commitment. Not because they do not care. But because the pressure has been sustained long enough that something inside has started to drift. The urgency is real. The stakes are real. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, how I am leading gets...
23 days ago • 5 min read
Dear Courageous Leaders, I am watching something unfold in real time across executive teams right now. The urgency is real.The opportunity is real.The pressure is real. AI is accelerating timelines. Funding realities are tightening. Policy shifts ripple into programs overnight. Boards want movement. Staff are fatigued. Communities still need what they need. Leaders in mission driven organizations are being asked to do more, faster, with deep responsibility to people. And inside that urgency,...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Dear Courageous Leaders, Lately, I have been noticing a pattern in many of the leaders I work with. It is not loud or dramatic. In fact, it often looks like composure. Leaders are holding it together.Staying professional.Keeping things moving. And underneath, something is being avoided. Susan David names three common ways we do this. She calls them shadow avoidance patterns. They are deeply human responses to discomfort, especially under pressure. Some leaders brood. They replay a...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear courageous leaders, Lately, I’ve been noticing how often leaders describe feeling stuck not because they lack options, but because everything feels urgent, heavy, and on repeat. The same conversations.The same patterns.The same internal monologue running on repeat. This is happening at the same time technology is accelerating everything around us. AI promises speed, efficiency, and answers; the promises are delivered before we’ve even finished asking the question. And while these tools...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Courageous Leader, As we move closer to Christmas, I find myself returning to a quieter question than usual. Not what needs to be done, solved, or resolved, but how am I showing up. The Advent season invites us into a different rhythm. One that values nearness over noise and presence over performance. It asks us to pay attention to how we are being with ourselves and with one another, especially when the pressure is real. This season has been asking me to loosen my grip on performance...
4 months ago • 5 min read
Dear Courageous Leader, Advent is the season of waiting, but not in the passive sense. It is the season of becoming. This week, I’ve been reflecting on a framework that has shaped my life again and again, often without my permission: Order → Disorder → Reorder. Richard Rohr calls this the universal pattern of transformation. Its wisdom reverberates across every major spiritual tradition. It’s also the rhythm of adult development and the reality of leadership. Here’s how he describes it: Order...
4 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Courageous Leader, The first week of Advent invites us into watchfulness, not the anxious, bracing kind, but the quiet, courageous kind. Watchfulness asks us to be awake to our lives, to ourselves, and to what is slowly emerging beneath the noise. This invitation took on new meaning for me last week in Santa Fe. I had the privilege of learning with Susan David, the creator of Emotional Agility, alongside 49 extraordinary coaches, consultants, and deeply human leaders at the Modern Elder...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Dear Courageous Leader, Today, as I sit with a cup of coffee and the quiet hum of the holiday morning, I’m reminded that Thanksgiving isn’t just a date on the calendar. It's a posture of the heart. A chance to pause, notice what’s true, and give thanks for the people and experiences that have shaped us. This year, I find myself especially moved by the abundance in my life. By the values and grounding my parents instilled in me. By the humor and tenderness of my blended family. By the gift of...
5 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Courageous Leader, Every fall, leaders face the same question: Where should we invest our limited time, energy, and resources for the year ahead? It’s tempting to focus on what’s most urgent—closing the quarter, balancing the budget, preparing for audits or board meetings. But the most strategic leaders know this season isn’t just about closing chapters. It’s about planting for what’s next. Now is when culture, performance, and capacity are shaped for the year ahead. The choices we make...
6 months ago • 4 min read