Are you skilled at handling tough conversations, or do you tend to avoid them? I prefer to avoid them altogether. I’m tough conversation-avoidant. Some are tough conversation-relishers. (It’s my article, and I can make up words if I want to.) I dread conversations like when you have to address someone about subpar performance; you need […]

Listen to the blog here. I want to talk about summer reads, guilty pleasures, and the community that is built from “easter eggs.” Let’s start with one of my guilty pleasures: Following Instagram influencers for fashion, wellness, and generally to keep up with the “kids.” One of those is Taylor Owen (and her now-fiancé James Neal), who […]

I wrote an article about AI and it needed editing. I felt lazy. So I decided to ask Claude to edit it then I had a better idea. I had a conversation with Claude about authenticity, creativity, and why your stories make you irreplaceable.   Me: Claude, I’ve been avoiding writing about AI. The whole AI conversation felt like […]

My newsletter is late, and my inspiration is absent. So here I sit in the student union on a college campus in between meetings, fingers poised over my laptop keyboard, waiting for the muse to arrive. Supposedly, the muses don’t show up unless you do the work of showing up first.  I pause, fingers hovering […]

 “Where there is no thought, there is no problem.” – Byron Katie, Loving What Is

In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield shines a light on what he calls “resistance.” It’s the thing that keeps us from doing what we dream of doing.

Do we give too much credit to the power of story? Did that story you told really sell that thing you’re trying to sell? Did it really help you raise those hundreds of thousands of dollars? Did it help you engage your team so well that they got that project done ahead of time and […]

Listen to the blog here. Many of my conversations with leaders right now look something like this:  So I’m writing about them. Today: How to talk to our clients, donors, and people when they feel anxious and uncertain.  “How are you?” No, really. How are you? It’s a heavy question right now. I have a […]

A case of mismatched purpose Hi everyone, and happy April Fools ‘ Day. No jokes in today’s email. Like Halloween, I’ve never been much of a fan of April Fools. I also don’t have an audio version of the blog this week because I’m on an airplane. – I’m glad you like the feature, and […]

Today: What to do about the elephant in the room. In 1814, Ivan Krylov wrote The Inquisitive Man, which tells the story of a man who visited a museum and noticed many things but not the elephant.