Each piece examines a widely accepted leadership norm — where it came from, what it actually serves, and what a more rigorous alternative looks like.
The Permission I Gave Everyone But Myself
For years I've told leaders to embrace failure as the cost of building anything new. Then a few people asked if I'd really give up a steady income to go out on my own, and I caught myself holding my own risk to a harder standard than theirs.
Change Doesn't Need Better Management. It Needs Better Leadership
People don't resist change, they resist ambiguity: not knowing if they'll still belong, still matter. Change management handles the mechanics. Leadership creates clarity from uncertainty, and gives people real agency in how they move through it.
The Standard You'd Never Apply to Anyone Else
We expect leaders to look composed on their worst days. That standard is a norm worth rewriting. Leadership isn't measured by avoiding stumbles, but by recovering from them, giving yourself the grace you offer everyone else, and standing back up.
Burnout Is Data, Not Failure
Most leaders treat burnout as a personal failing to push through. It's not. It's information: a signal your role has outgrown what one person can sustain. The skill isn't pushing harder. It's paying attention before you have no choice but to stop.
There Is No Should in Career Planning
We look at successful careers and assume the sequence was obvious all along. The promotion appears inevitable. The move looks strategic. The risk seems intelligent.
The First Six Weeks Without a Map
The norm worth examining is this: we have built whole systems around the destination and not left enough space for what the journey, and the people we meet along it, have to tell us.
