A leader I spoke with recently had just come through a high-stakes audit.  A nyone who has lived through an audit knows the feeling: You prepare. You review systems. You check documentation. You cross your fingers that every process you’ve worked so hard to build will hold up under scrutiny. This leader had done exactly that. Their departments had strong systems in place. Teams were monitoring their work carefully and communicating regularly.   Then one question from the audi

Recently a leader confided in me that they were struggling with how to balance the need for compassion and empathy with the need to also maintain expectations and agreements.  We discussed how h olding expectations while showing empathy can feel like walking a tightrope. Lean too far one direction and accountability weakens. Lean too far the other and relationships strain. But there’s another layer leaders often overlook.   Every relationship operates with an emotional bank a

Internal interviews can be some of the most delicate leadership moments.   A role opens. An internal candidate applies. They feel like a shoe-in. They’ve imagined themselves in the position, told themselves a story about what it means, maybe even started planning their next chapter. And then… they aren’t chosen. As leaders, we often sit in the tension of wanting to be honest and protective. There are usually reasons someone wasn’t selected that aren’t appropriate, or helpful,

Of course, we don’t really know what lies ahead.  In many ways, the future always carries some uncertainty. But right now, with the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence, that uncertainty feels particularly visible. AI will absolutely impact the way we work, communicate, and solve problems. What we don’t know is exactly how, when, or to what degree. And because of that, I’ve found myself thinking about a different question lately, "How do we become  AI Resilient ?" We

I hear this concern often from leaders: “I don’t want to micromanage… but I also need to know what’s happening.” Ensuring accurate clock-in and clock-out times. Tracking task and project progress. Following up on deadlines and deliverables. Knowing where where and if hybrid staff are actually working. Sometimes, when some leaders work to increase awareness and follow through, some team members cry "Micromanagement!"  However, these are not signs of micromanagement, they are s

A leader recently shared a situation that many leaders will recognize.  The leader observed an employee respond dismissively and borderline insubordinately to a request during a large group meeting. Not egregious. Not a policy violation. But clearly disrespectful, and potentially influential, given how many others may have witnessed it.  Including the leader's supervisor.   The leader immediately felt the tension but hesitated on how to address it with her employee, so she di

A new supervisor recently shared a moment that stopped her in her tracks. She was adjusting expectations for her team, adding clarity, increasing accountability, and redistributing tasks to better meet current demands. The changes were reasonable… and necessary. And the response? “We’ve never had to do that before.” It came from the team quickly. Firmly. With more emotion than curiosity. The supervisor felt the pull many leaders feel in moments like this: the urge to explain,

When someone is new to a team, one of their strongest needs is simple: belonging. They’re learning the job, the norms, the unspoken rules. They’re watching closely. And often, the first people who reach out, the ones who offer connection quickly, become their anchor. A professional collegue recently shared a dilemma around this exact dynamic.  A new employee had onboarded and, almost immediately, was befriended by a few team members known for their pessimism, disengagement, a

Every team member should be able to say, with confidence: “ I know what’s expected of me and I have the knowledge or support to accomplish it. ” When team members cannot say this with confidence , frustration grows, misalignment creeps in, and leaders often find themselves correcting behavior that was never fully clarified in the first place. This often seems like a motivation issue, but it's more likely a clarity issue . And clarity is one of the most powerful (and underrate

An executive coaching client recently shared their desire to reset expectations for their team.  They had noticed that, over time, a few things had begun to slip: Some team members were no longer meeting full role expectations in what seemed like complacency. Flexibility that had been provided to team members had slowly turned into expectation. Grace had been mistaken for looseness and the eroding work ethic was showing. Others were showing signs of entitlement and a deterior

There’s been a common theme showing up in my coaching practice lately: the tension between empathy and accountability. Leaders want to be compassionate. Flexible. Human.   At the same time, they’re carrying responsibility for performance, follow-through, and results.  It can feel like standing on a fulcrum, trying to keep the scales balanced.Lean too far toward empathy, and expectations will soften into ambiguity.Lean too far toward accountability, and relationships can begin

A client recently shared how challenging it had become to juggle all the dangling pieces each team member was responsible for. They wanted to be supportive. They wanted to maintain accountability. But their own workload and the constant demands of leadership left little time, or mental bandwidth, to track every moving part. They said, “I know I need to follow up more consistently, but I feel like I’m barely keeping up myself.” I get it. Most leaders do. It's helpful to rememb

I was sitting across from a client recently. She had just received approval to add a new position to her team, something she had been hoping for all year. “This is a big deal,” she said.  “I want to get this right. I need someone who can handle the work, but I also need someone who fits into the team dynamic. Someone who doesn’t drain the team. Someone who shows up with the right energy.  They need knowledge, skill, AND the right disposition. I don’t want to spend the next si

I called a local office supply store because I needed a new printer power cord.   The young person who answered the phone was friendly and eager to help. She asked clarifying questions, placed me on hold, came back for more details, then put me on hold again. This happened several times , her enthusiasm never faltering! Finally, she returned sounding thrilled and triumphant. “Okay! I have good news! We do sell that power cord,” she said, then paused and added, “...but it come

I was recently on a customer service call trying to resolve an issue. The company had fully embraced AI, which meant I was initially stuck in a loop with an automated voice determined to “help.” You know the automated kind: cheerful, efficient, and completely incapable of understanding your actual problem. After multiple failed attempts to explain my situation, I was finally given the option to talk to a person. And what a difference that made! The representative who answere

A client once told me about stepping into a C-suite role after her predecessor retired.   The culture she inherited was remarkably toxic. Her new executive assistant explained that under the previous leader, mornings often began with a quick “pulse check.” If that previous leader seemed tense or irritable, the assistant would quietly walk the halls and whisper to staff,  “It’s not a good day!  Lay low!” Imagine the emotional energy that kind of environment consumes.  The coll

At the turn of the year, many of us pause and look back. What worked?What didn’t?What are we proud of? What do we quietly wish had gone differently? Recently, I was talking with a CEO who shared a ritual they’d done around the Winter Solstice. They wrote down what they didn’t want to carry into the new year: habits, patterns, and weight they were ready to leave behind. Then they identified twelve wishes or intentions for the year ahead and burned one each day until New Year’s

It’s the holiday season, which means twinkle lights, plans, parties… and for many of us, pressure. Especially if you’re a "recovering perfectionist". This is the time of year when we want things to go exactly right, every meal on time, every gift thoughtful, every detail handled  just right . We tell ourselves, “It’s fine, I’ve got it,” while quietly holding our breath. And, in reality, we all know that somewhere, somehow, along the way, something won’t go as planned. We’ll f

When you step into a new leadership role, it can feel like drinking from a fire hose: names, systems, expectations, acronyms, timelines, and a hundred new things to learn "yesterday".  You often spend so much time feeling lost, uncertain, and behind.   And even when your heart is in the right place, your brain can only hold so much. I remember a moment early in my leadership journey, after stepping into a role that stretched me well beyond my comfort zone. In those early days

Recently, I opened up social media and the first story on my feed made me literally say out loud, “NO WAY!”   It was that kind of post: intriguing, outrageous, and just believable enough to catch my attention. So, like many of us do, I clicked. And, with my mind thinking, "this can't possibly be true!"... I decided to check Snopes. And, you guessed it, it was a lie. But here’s where it got interesting.  The second post? Also unbelievable - dishonest, divisive, and misleading