Tension
Tension drives growth and it also fuels frustration. While tension often gets a bad rap, the right kind of tension is hugely beneficial for building new skills, expanding trust, and collective problem solving. If we believe that our best relationships…
Three Ways to Make Someone’s Day
Great leaders – the ones who can really get the best out of people – understand the importance of working with folks holistically. It’s essential to treat people as human beings, not just employees, because human beings get pushed on…
Leadership Courage
Leadership courage is the ability to do the right thing even when it’s hard—which, let’s be honest, is basically always. If leadership were easy, we’d just let algorithms handle it. For example. Let’s say we know a director who notices…
Learning is a Non-Discretionary Function
Overseeing upskilling, leadership development, and career growth at a learning organization has eliminated a very specific occupational hazard of mine: involuntary eye-twitching during budget season. It still happens every time I hear or read the phrase “learning is discretionary spending”,…
How to have Better Year End Conversations
Performance reviews and year end conversations are ramping up around the world, which makes a lot of us uneasy because the experience can be clunky (HR systems aren’t slick like apps), emotional (money and personal identity are on the line!),…
A Slop Haiku
Slop season is here. Lies. Tricks. Misinformation. Read through the chaos. – A haiku about critical thinking, investing in reading real paper books, and building a paradox mindset (being able to hold competing or mismatched views simultaneously) can help us…
Do Less to Achieve More in 2026
These days, our attention spans are about as fragile as a house of cards in a windstorm. Between geopolitical chaos, group chats blowing up with memes and hot takes, your kid’s soccer, basketball, and underwater basket weaving classes (okay, maybe…
How Three Simple Changes Made an Impact for Me in 2025
The science of goal setting is both clear and nebulous. Most of us fail or quit our goals by February of the year we set ‘em; however, when we seek to become someone different by establishing regular habits, receiving support…
Three Ideas for Celebrating the Holiday Season
If I’m being honest, there isn’t much to celebrate on the West Coast of Canada these days. The pandemic/endemic is here, restrictions are being implemented, and lockdowns are looming. I feel for everyone who is enthusiastically looking forward to social…
How Recovery Drives Longevity
Longevity is scientifically achieved by exercising every day, eating healthy, and fostering meaningful social connections. Recovery from stress, burnout, bad days, intense exercise, and all the rest of it also inspire longevity. Heather Eliassen expands on these ideas and the…