(And Why That Wasn’t an Accident) You may have noticed we’ve been a little quiet over the last couple of weeks. No flurry of year-end posts.No reflective LinkedIn threads.No “here’s what’s coming in 2026” announcements. That pause was deliberate. Because December has a habit of doing something subtle but powerful to us. Even as calendars …
For decades, women in leadership have often been criticized for qualities like empathy, collaboration, and vulnerability—traits dismissed as “soft” or “unprofessional” in traditional corporate environments. Yet, as workplaces grapple with the complexities of today’s world, these very traits have emerged as critical to success. Consider Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, whose …
When I first read Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, one phrase jumped off the page: fear of conflict. It triggered a memory from my early career, sitting in a leadership meeting where a young manager disagreed openly with the CEO. The room went still. You could almost hear people silently begging, please …
A few weeks ago, a Gen Z cousin and I were talking about career plans over coffee. When I asked if they were eyeing a leadership role, their response was disarmingly candid: “I don’t want to be the person stuck between unhappy employees and demanding bosses. I’d rather do meaningful work, learn, and live a …
I was just entering my middle management years when I was handed my first real opportunity to lead something from scratch. A large-scale project that didn’t exist yet in form, but was full of potential. It was all heart and all grit. Long days, high stakes, but the joy of creating something meaningful made it …
At 8:00 AM, the boardroom is calm. By 8:15, the CFO is pushing back on headcount. By 8:27, your inbox pings with a client crisis. And by 9:00, you’re already on your third coffee, wondering how you’re supposed to think strategically when you barely have time to think at all. Sound familiar? For most senior …
The financial year reset is upon us, and with it comes the sacred ritual of budget planning. Across boardrooms, spreadsheets glow with freshly projected figures, and leaders make the annual pilgrimage to debate costs, investments, and—somewhere in the mix—employee wellbeing. Traditionally, this conversation culminates in a well-intentioned yet predictable line item: the grand annual offsite. …
“…Because I’m happy Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof Because I’m happy Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth..” I’ve been humming Happy by Pharrell Williams for the last couple of days. You know how a song gets stuck in your head, and suddenly, everything seems to …
A few years ago, I had a moment of realization that changed the way I think about leadership. I was working on a particularly thorny challenge one of those problems that doesn’t have a clear solution, just layers upon layers of shifting variables. At some point, I found myself longing for a simpler time, a …
Yes, we know—it’s a bit of a cliché to start a Women’s Day post with Maya Angelou. But honestly, nobody puts it better than she does. So sometimes, cliches are good. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them …
