Thoughts on Leadership

A staff member pulled me aside and told me my most generous leadership move wasn't landing the way I meant it to.

A staff member asks for a meeting, and you don't know which way it's going to go. Neither did I.

A room full of executive leaders, and no direction on how we were to work out who got to decide.

A roofer once offered to drop my chimney with a shotgun. I said brick by brick — and that choice turns out to be the whole of how leadership actually improves.

You came in capable, and three months later you're quietly failing. Here's the truth no one in the nonprofit will tell you — because they need what you bring too much to say it.

I was the board chair. I'd done the work and I had the evidence. I still couldn't see the one thing everyone else in the room could.

She wanted to know how to train her team to follow her. Then I asked what her business actually does, in one sentence.

You can read another leader’s form in a glance. Your own is the one run you never get to watch.

Real culture doesn't stay in the mission statement. It shows up in 10-minute interactions with strangers.

During transitions, people don't need their leader to be in the same boat. They need an honest captain.

Kindness matters. But small talk does not equal kindness.

The pressure we're under as leaders always comes out somewhere. The question is where.

Stability isn't always a sign of health. Sometimes it's a sign of stuck.

Titles can't make a leader. But at certain moments, titles protect them.

Mission-driven leaders get celebrated for doing everything. That's starting to look like a trap.