Pull up a chair. Start with what’s on your mind.
You’d like to understand what’s on your mind before you share it with anyone. I’d want the same. I wrote these for the leader I used to be, the one giving everything out and running on empty. Find the line below that sounds like a thought you’ve already had, and start there. Each piece takes a few minutes, and none of them asks anything of you.
“I got what I was working toward and felt almost nothing.”
The launch, the raise, the milestone, the deal. You did the thing you set out to do, and the quiet afterward felt more like a question than a reward. Nothing’s wrong with you. That feeling is often a sign you’re ready for more meaning, and it’s worth listening to gently, before it has to get louder.
“There’s nobody I can tell the whole truth to.”
Maybe you work on your own and there’s simply no one to tell. Maybe you’re surrounded by people all day, and nobody knows what’s really on your mind. Either way, the more people rely on you, the more they soften what they tell you, and the more you soften what you tell them. That quiet distance can be closed.
“By 3 p.m. I can’t make one more decision.”
Forty calls at the office, or forty choices nobody else is there to make, and by the time you’re home, even choosing a restaurant feels like work. What wears you down is how many decisions are still waiting on you, and that number can change.
“There’s a conversation I keep putting off.”
With a partner, a client, an investor, someone on your team, or someone at home. You already know the first sentence by heart. You just haven’t found the right day to say it. A conversation like that gets a little heavier each week it waits, and it’s much easier to prepare for with someone beside you.
“Before I talk to anyone, I’d like to know who’s behind this.”
Of course. You should know who you’d be sitting with. These three short stories are where I learned what I share. Read one, or all three. The rest of my road, including the Marine Corps and the years inside big companies, is on the About page.
The First Door
A stranger’s front door in 1993, and what the first no teaches you about how people really decide. Read the story
We Make Marines
How a proven, patient process can help someone who can’t do the job yet become someone who can, and what that means for you and everyone you’ll ever lead. Read the story
A Message Is Not Decoration
The words you choose decide what people hear, and they matter most when the stakes are high. Read the story
When one of these feels close to home
Reading helps you name it. Saying it out loud to someone you trust is the next step, and I’d be honored if that someone were me. Do a little homework on what you’re building and how your weeks really feel, then pick fifteen minutes on the calendar. If it feels right to us both, we’ll keep talking.
Rather watch than read? New videos go up on the Lead Your Power channel.
Let someone fill your cup for a change
You’ve given so much, for so long, to so many people. You’re allowed to receive a little of it back.
The first step is small. Do a little homework on where you are, then pick fifteen minutes on the calendar.
Not ready to talk yet? That’s fine. Start here, with short reads sorted by what’s on your mind.
Lead your power.