ISSUE 82 15 APRIL 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, In 10 days, I walk into the first of three major speaking engagements for April. There are workbooks going to the printer. Slide decks to wrap up. Speaker dinners I haven't fully thought about yet. That nervousness of wondering whether I'll show up the way people are expecting. So yesterday, I took the day off. Not because everything was done. It wasn't. Not because someone told me to. Nobody did. My body just stopped. It signaled clearly enough...
8 days ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 81 8 APRIL 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, I'm trying to build a 10x company. This past weekend, I pulled weeds. Not as a metaphor. Actual weeds. In an actual garden that had been completely taken over by ivy, which apparently decided the fence was just a suggestion. I cleared out old plastic containers that had sat there for a couple of years. I cut back what had overgrown. I threw things away. And then yesterday, I went to the nursery and bought lettuce and arugula. Not because I...
15 days ago • 3 min read
ISSUE 80 30 MARCH 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, Tomorrow is the last day of Q1. And I just found my January list. It was folded inside a notebook, under another notebook that has barely moved since February. Reading it felt like finding a note from a stranger. Not because I gave up on everything on it. But because the version of me who wrote that list had no idea what Q1 would actually ask of her. I had a plan. Three big moves. Two new habits. One overdue conversation I kept saying I'd get...
24 days ago • 3 min read
ISSUE 79 25 MARCH 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi there Reader, The solo act is getting old. And yet, we still love the story of the lone genius. The visionary. The person holding the whole thing together with grit, caffeine, and a slightly concerning level of control. But most meaningful things are not built that way. (I think you already know this). They are built through trust. Through shared effort. Through relationships. And through people bringing different strengths to the table and making...
29 days ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 78 18 MARCH 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi there Reader, An old friend was in Seattle this week. Phil Le-Brun. We've known each other for about 20 years. And he did the most Phil thing imaginable -- he made sure I ended up with a signed copy of his new book, The Octopus Organization, co-written with Jana Werner. That's just who he is. Generous, thoughtful, always thinking about the people around him. I read it yesterday (well, skim read - I want to dig deeper with my highlighter when I get a...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 77 11 MARCH 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, I have to tell you about the past two days. Because they’ve been bonkers. I’ve been slowly revealing a collaboration I’ve been working on for a couple of months with a global company. At the same time, I put out a call for coaches. And then - LinkedIn exploded. My posts are getting engagement numbers I haven’t seen in months. Comments, shares, new connections, people messaging me saying, I’ve been waiting for this opportunity. And honestly? It’s...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 75 4 MARCH 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi Reader, I was making my hot chocolate yesterday when my son came to the kitchen for a chat. You see, he recently graduated from university and is doing that very human thing of standing at the edge of his own life, looking out at it, and asking: so ... what do I actually do now? We talked about goals. About direction. About how to start building something that matters. And somewhere in the middle of it, I heard myself say: The reading will only take you...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
ISSUE 75 25 FEBRUARY 2026 | READ ONLINE Hi there Reader, I just got home from a walk (I'm writing this week's newsletter on Tuesday afternoon, and the sun is shining). It was a beautiful hike through my local forest trails. I touched the trees as I passed them, watched the dogs run ahead like they had discovered joy for the first time (again), and caught that impossible blue of Lake Washington through the branches. And I came home feeling like someone had quietly reset my nervous system....
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
ISSUE 74 19 FEBRUARY 2026 | READ ONLINE Hello Reader, My focus this week is surprisingly domestic: Deciding whether I’m going to plant a vegetable garden this year. Now, before you click away, I promise there's method in my madness. You see, I used to have the kind of garden that made you feel quietly smug. Then we made two small changes that completely changed the game: My husband planted a hedge, and now the garden gets less light (which is important in the Pacific Northwest, where we only...
2 months ago • 3 min read