Leading With Meaning

06/03/2026

Read the rest of the story in this week’s newsletter.

06/01/2026

Last week’s newsletter was about my layoff and how I’ve handled it, the good and the bad.

This week is about helping you understand the bigger layoff picture (no holds barred) and how you can regain control over your own career.

If you like it, please consider subscribing. The weekly newsletter is always free.

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Pack My Own Box

05/30/2026

Small habits will get you where you want to go more reliably than massive overnight changes.

05/30/2026

You can't rewire decades of management habits by reading a book on a flight to SFO. You can't do it at a weekend offsite, either. And you definitely can't do it in three cheerleading sessions with someone telling you to believe in yourself.

I wish you could. We all wish you could.

Real change, the kind that holds up on a Thursday morning in October when you're running late and your team needs three different things from you before nine, comes from small new habits replacing small old ones that stopped serving you. It requires accountability, which most of us actively dislike as adults. It also requires being willing to fail a little in front of someone else, which we possibly dislike even more.

Change that sticks comes from doing the small thing, again, with someone in your corner who'll tell you the truth… and then ask what you want to do with it.

05/26/2026

A few weeks ago, I had a meeting with a prospective client, who simply said: “I think I’m lost.”

When we got to talking, I realized it wasn’t so much that she was lost, but that she was stuck.

She had a complete and interesting vision for what she wanted for her life & career.

But she was admittedly a long way off from that point.

Listening to her talk about her journey and her ideal life made me remember why I got into coaching in the first place.

I want to help people realize their vision for where they want to go and do work they find meaningful.

So, we’re working on 2 parallel paths.

1) To get her unstuck in her current career direction and get her out of an unhappy situation

2) Working on the bigger view, towards the audacious thing she wants to do with her life

Eventually, she’ll be in a position where those 2 paths converge, and she’ll be able to take that last step into her dream life.

If you want to learn more about this process and how I work, DM me or visit my website in the comments below.

05/25/2026

A little different this week in the newsletter. A look back at the last year after my layoff. For those going through it now as well, hopefully this resonates a little.

Twelve months in, a blunt look at what working for myself has actually been like

05/22/2026

May is when the “slow season” starts.

Which is adorable.

For leaders, summer often means PTO gaps, school chaos, mid-year reviews, planning cycles, and the sudden discovery that your calendar was already broken.

The buffer was just hiding it.

Harder work will not save you from the summer slowdown.

A better system might.

Read on.

05/21/2026

One of my clients went from being stuck to being in demand.

He came to me wanting to figure out how to progress in his career, and very soon, he got 3 different options to consider.

Together, we went through the pros and cons to figure out what he really wanted.

Not just for his career, but for his life.

It was amazing to see how much had changed for this guy over the last few months.

He came to me feeling stuck in a role he’d been in for several years, going unnoticed and unpromoted, but now he had 3 different executives all trying to recruit him.

And that was all because he leaned on the things that made him unique, and he took the time to develop a strong vision for his life.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, I can help. DM me, let’s work on it together.

05/19/2026

If you’re ready to make a career change or grow in your existing career, it might be time to hire a coach.

But how do you find a leadership coach who matches your personality?

You want someone who understands you and your situation.

And there are so many different coaches out there with different personalities and ways of working with their clients.

To find the perfect match for you, I recommend requesting a free upfront discovery call.

That way, you can see how the coach interacts with you, get to know their personality, and ask about the process.

You can request one with me right now. DM me.

05/14/2026

What’s really holding you back?

Probably not your performance.

Annoying, I know.

You’ve done the math. Solid reviews. Stable team. Good delivery. Trusted across the org. The person everyone turns to when things get messy, sideways, politically weird, or just plain annoying.

And yet the promotion keeps going to someone else.

Here’s the uncomfortable possibility:
You may have made yourself too essential where you are.

Not too valuable to recognize.

Too valuable to move.

Because when your name comes up in promotion conversations, someone is asking, “Who’s going to do what they do?”

And if the answer is “nobody,” that does not make you irreplaceable in the flattering way.

It makes you operationally inconvenient to promote.

So no, this is not a post about working harder, being more patient, or waiting for someone to finally notice your noble little leadership martyrdom routine.

It’s about making your ambition visible.

Building leaders, not dependency.

And making sure someone with actual influence is saying your name in the rooms you are not in yet.

Read on.