“You will not believe this, but they asked US to dance in a competition.” I fully expected him to tell me to kick rocks. Instead, he looked at me and said, “Well… what would we dance to?”

Take a look around your organization.   The people who will lead it five or ten years from now are likely already in the building. Some are obvious. Some are underestimated. Some have potential they have not fully grown into yet.

That realization does not arrive with fireworks. It shows up in a series of painfully slow and uncomfortable moments.

A strong event marketing plan does more than sell tickets. It builds community connection, honors your sponsors, reduces burnout, and creates an event people look forward to year after year.

What cracks me up is that the exact thing that got me hauled into the hallway in seventh grade is now the thing leaders pay me to do.

AI is everywhere now and we’re not mad about it. These are ten of the most recognizable signs that something was written by a bot instead of a human. Get familiar with them, and if you’re using AI for work, let me help you make it sound a little more human.

If you’re a builder, a leader, or a business owner who’s running full tilt toward what’s next, this one’s for you. Here are the books, podcasts, and tools that kept me moving in 2025.

Every so often, a phrase makes its way into my head and stays there for a while. It finds its way into every conversation, every coaching session, every quiet reflection. Lately, that phrase has been a simple lesson I must not be done learning: You gotta bounce.

For the last eight weeks, our team as been focused on the kind of work that never makes a public debut; strengthening our relationships, refining our processes, clarifying our mission, and finding our rhythm as a team.

The truth is, the finish line is never as satisfying as the process that got you there.

A high performer with a bad attitude still costs you- at a rate impacting overall team performance by 30%, conservatively.

I’m 36 today. Not old, not young—just firmly in the “should really know better by now” phase of life…In no particular order, here are 36 lessons I’ve learned in my 36 years.

Because if Barbara Fredrickson is right (and I think she is) the people who thrive aren’t the ones who avoid hardship. They’re the ones who feel it, face it, and still find a reason to laugh.

We’ve been doing this work quietly for a long time—listening well, connecting dots, and making calls that turn into careers. Now we’re giving it a name. And a home.

These are your neighbors, your next board members, your future collaborators. And you didn’t just tell them they mattered. You proved it.

That’s what’s so haunting about the Titanic. It didn’t sink because the professionals didn’t know enough. It sank because they thought they knew everything.

To literally jump into the deep end and trust that your body will remember what it’s learned. That’s not just a new skill—it’s a transformation.

It’s not enough, he said, to simply do some good every now and then. Leadership, whether in government, business, or community work, should refine us.

The second you start watching them instead of working on you, you lose ground. Not because they’re taking anything from you, but because you’re choosing distraction over discipline.

Trust is the cornerstone of coaching. When a leader confides their challenges and hopes, it’s not just about solving problems—it’s about forging a partnership where honest conversation leads to real transformation.