How to Name Your Core Values (Even If You Think You Already Have)
After fifteen years with the same three core values, one coaching exercise showed me they’d refined, not disappeared, and that I had more to add. Here’s why naming your values matters, and how to actually do it.
The Productivity Stack I've Spent Years Building
A leadership coach's real productivity stack, five tools with one job each, drafted with a baby on her hip, with links to every one.
3 Steps to Giving Feedback That Lands
No one loves giving tough feedback, but the leaders who do it well aren't more comfortable with conflict. They just have a framework. Here's the 3-step model I use to give feedback that actually lands.
6 Things I Wish Every Client Knew Before Session One
Most people walking into their first coaching session have no idea what they're supposed to bring, say, or do differently. Here are six things that separate a session that actually moves you from one you'll forget by Friday.
I Am an Athlete
Twelve years ago, a month out of college, I journaled a thought I didn't understand yet: maybe if I start talking to myself like the version I hope to be, I'll actually become her. Here's what that idea turned into after a decade of coaching leaders.
The Next Step is Enough
I kept waiting for clarity on the whole path before I'd take a single step. It never came all at once. What I learned about action changed how I make decisions now.
You Can't Lead on Empty
There were days I knew, walking in, that I was about to be a nightmare to be around. Either I hadn't slept or I hadn’t eaten. Here's what I learned about leadership and the body.
Done Is Better Than Perfect
I make lists of my lists. For years I told myself that was thoroughness until I realized it was actually a very organized way of avoiding starting at all.
What You're Actually Responsible For
There was a season I felt responsible for everything: my team's mood, every outcome, whether everyone around me was okay. Then I made a list of what was actually mine.
How Do You Lead People Who Know More Than You?
It's easy to lead when you're the smartest person in the room. It's a different skill entirely when someone on your team knows more than you do.
I Thought the Job Was to Grow the Business. It Wasn't.
Since I was 15, I lived by one rule: the business comes first. It took me years to realize I had the actual job backwards — and what changed once I saw it clearly.
The Word My Sister Used to Describe Me
My 8-year-old sister once described me in one word: "Stressed." It took a eulogy exercise to make me realize that word was becoming my legacy. Here's what I actually changed once I stopped treating margin as a nice-to-have.
One Goal, Eighty Employees
I ran a team of 80 people and never stopped bagging orders myself. Here's why staying in the work — not just managing it — was the thing that actually built trust with my team, and the two shifts that changed how they showed up.
The Girl Who Had Too Many Voices
For years, I had a different voice for every room I walked into — until my brother noticed something I hadn't. This is the story of how I learned to show up as the same person everywhere, and the quick test you can run on yourself today.
The Rich Young Man Who Almost Had It All
There's an old story about a man who had checked every box — until one ask revealed what he actually valued. It's stuck with me for years, and it's changed how I look at my own decisions as a leader. Here's the test I now run before I call something a value.
Whatever You Focus On, Increases
In 2015, my restaurant had exactly one goal on the wall — a number, not a mission statement. What happened next taught me more about leadership focus than any framework I've read since. Here's the filter I still use for every hard decision.