Leadership Notes

My 6-year-old asked me what I do at work. I said, “I help companies find their North Star.” She thought about it for a long time. Then she said: “But Mommy… if you turn around, isn’t every star a South Star?” I had to step outside. Fourteen years of strategy work. Humbled by a first grader. Here’s the thing: Children don’t overthink direction. They pick one and go. Maybe that’s the most agile framework of all. 🌟 #Parenting #Leadership #NorthStar #AgileMindset

My golden retriever, Biscuit, has never read a white paper on agentic AI. Yet every morning, without being prompted, he: ✅ Identifies the objective (the newspaper) ✅ Plans a route ✅ Executes autonomously ✅ Returns the output to a human in the loop ✅ Requests feedback (a treat) Biscuit doesn’t need a roadmap. Biscuit is the roadmap. He is, quite literally, retrieval-augmented. 🐕 We spend millions trying to build agents that can do what Biscuit does for free. Maybe the future of AI has been sitting at our feet all along. #AgenticAI #Leadership #AI #Innovation

Yesterday I had to let someone go. It was the hardest conversation of my career. Some of you will remember him. The candidate who arrived 45 minutes late because he stopped to help a stranger in the rain. I hired his mindset. But somewhere along the way, that mindset changed. On Tuesday, he arrived on time. On Wednesday, he arrived early. On Thursday, he stopped helping strangers altogether. Culture isn’t what you say. It’s who you’re willing to let go. I didn’t fire him. I released his potential back into the market. 🕊️ #Leadership #Culture #HardConversations #Growth

Quick poll for my network. 📊 What is the single most important trait of a modern leader? Vote below, and tell me why in the comments. 👇 #Leadership #Poll #FutureOfWork

A candidate showed up 45 minutes late to his interview. No apology. No excuse. No résumé. Most leaders would have ended it right there. I offered him a coffee. Turns out, he had stopped on the highway to help a stranger change a flat tire. In the rain. The stranger? Our largest client’s Chief Strategy Officer. I didn’t hire him that day. I hired his mindset. He starts Monday as our VP of Forward Momentum. Skills can be taught. Character can’t. Let that sink in. 👇 #Leadership #Hiring #Character #Kindness

My barista remembered my order after one visit. One. Oat flat white, extra hot, no judgment. I was so impressed I offered her a role in Client Success on the spot. She declined. She said she was happy where she was. Let that sink in. Her retention strategy is better than ours. Leaders, the best talent isn’t always looking for a new role. Sometimes they’re just looking for your order. ☕ #Talent #CustomerExperience #Leadership #Retention

People keep asking how I get so much done. Here’s my calendar. No gatekeeping. 👇 3:45 – Wake. Visualize the North Star. 4:00 – Cold plunge. 4:15 – Reflect on the cold plunge. 5:00 – Journal: “What did I align today?” 6:15 – Deep work (thinking about deep work) 8:00 – Stand-up 8:15 – Sit-down 9:00 – Strategy 10:00 – Strategy (cont.) 11:00 – Sync on the strategy 12:00 – Lunch (aligned) 13:00 – Inbox Zero 13:05 – Inbox 47 14:00 – Thought leadership (this post) 17:00 – Be present with family 17:30 – Post about being present with family It’s not about time management. It’s about intention management. Save this for later. 🔖 #Productivity #TimeManagement #Leadership #HighAgency

Spoke to a packed room at a leadership summit today. 🎤 The room seated nine. All nine seats were full. That’s 100% capacity. Afterward, one attendee came up to me with tears in her eyes and said: “That was a presentation.” I’ll never forget it. Here’s the thing about impact: It’s not about the size of the room. It’s about the size of the room relative to the number of people in it. Grateful to everyone who made today possible. Especially the nine. 🙏 #Keynote #PublicSpeaking #Leadership #Grateful

I took my first vacation in six years. Here’s what I learned. 🧵 1️⃣ My out-of-office reply outperformed me in every metric. 2️⃣ The team didn’t need me. I’m choosing to see that as great leadership. 3️⃣ Rest is a strategy. So is checking Slack from the beach, quietly. 4️⃣ The ocean doesn’t have KPIs. I asked. 5️⃣ Coming back is the hardest part. 1,142 unread emails is not a number. It’s a journey. Burnout is real, friends. Book the trip. Bring the laptop. #Wellbeing #WorkLifeBalance #Leadership #Rest

The janitor in our building has worked here for 22 years. Never missed a day. Today I asked him the secret to his consistency. He leaned on his mop and said: “Clean as you go.” Three words. That afternoon, I rebuilt our entire operating model around them. We now clean as we go across every workstream. Our backlog is down 40%. Our mopping is up 300%. Sometimes the most important strategy session happens in the hallway. Who’s the unsung hero in your building? 👇 #OperationalExcellence #Gratitude #Leadership

I’m humbled and honored to share some personal news. 🎉 I have been named to the Core Systems Strategies list of Top Voices in Strategic Communications. When I started my career, I never imagined I would be recognized by the very organization where I serve as Director of Strategic Communications. This would not have been possible without my team, my mentors, and the selection committee, which is also my team. To anyone out there doubting themselves: Keep showing up. Keep communicating strategically. Your moment is coming. ✨ #Grateful #TopVoice #Communications #Humbled

Early in my career, I applied to the same company 112 times. I was rejected 112 times. I kept every rejection email in a folder called “Fuel.” ⛽ Today, I am that company’s CEO. I didn’t take no for an answer. I took it 112 times, and then I took the job. To anyone reading this after rejection number 37: Keep applying. To the same place. #Resilience #Career #NeverGiveUp #Leadership

I asked our AI to summarize twenty years of leadership lessons. It returned seven. Here they are. 🧵 1️⃣ Strategy is just execution that hasn’t happened yet. 2️⃣ Your calendar is your strategy. Your strategy is also your strategy. 3️⃣ Never say “no.” Say “not this quarter.” 4️⃣ Culture eats strategy for breakfast. AI eats both for lunch. 5️⃣ If everything is a priority, make a priority matrix. 6️⃣ Great leaders listen 80% of the time and post the other 20%. 7️⃣ Always be aligning. Which one hit hardest? 👇 ♻️ Repost to help someone in your network level up. #AI #Leadership #Lessons #FutureOfWork

I cried in our quarterly business review today. Not because the numbers were bad. Because they were aligned. For the first time, every department’s dashboard told the same story. Green. Everywhere. I looked around the room and realized: This is what we’ve been building toward. Not revenue. Not growth. Shared understanding. (Also revenue.) Leaders, it’s okay to feel things in a QBR. Vulnerability is a strategy. 💙 #Leadership #Vulnerability #EmotionalIntelligence

I sat next to a billionaire on a flight to Denver. I didn’t pitch him. I didn’t ask for advice. I just listened. Somewhere over Nebraska, he turned to me and said one sentence I will never forget: “Most people overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a flight.” Then he went to sleep. I have thought about it every day since. I still don’t know what it means. But I know it changed me. #Mindset #Networking #Leadership #Growth

Unpopular opinion: Waking up at 4 a.m. won’t make you successful. Waking up at 3:45 a.m. will. Those fifteen minutes are where I do my best thinking. Before the emails. Before the Slack. Before the alignment. Just me, a cold plunge, and a whiteboard. Most people will scroll past this. The 1% will set an alarm. ⏰ Which one are you? #Discipline #MorningRoutine #HighAgency #Leadership