Diversity

  Diversity is being invited to the part. Inclusion is being asked to dance. Verna Meyers

Every person who walks through our door brings more than their skills, experiences, and resume. They bring a lifetime of experiences. Family traditions. Successes. Disappointments. Culture. Language. Beliefs. Values. None of us arrive at work as a blank slate. Yet we often assume that because we work together, we see the world the same way. The truth is we don’t.

Our perspectives have been shaped by different histories, opportunities, relationships, and challenges. These experiences influence how we interpret situations, solve problems, communicate, and lead. This is diversity. It is much deeper than visible differences. It is diversity of experience. Diversity of thought. Diversity of knowing. The challenge is that we often mistake our own experiences for universal truth. If something has always made sense to us, we assume it should make sense to everyone else. But what if it doesn’t?

One idea frequently discussed in leadership is meritocracy. The belief that people succeed primarily because of their talent and effort. There is truth in this. Hard work matters. Preparation matters. Commitment matters. Yet leadership also asks us to consider another question. Do all people begin from the same starting line?

Some individuals grow up surrounded by mentors, educational opportunities, financial stability, and professional networks. Others begin with barriers that remain largely invisible to those who have never experienced them. Recognizing these different starting points does not diminish achievement. It broadens our understanding of what achievement may require from different people.

Another difficult conversation involves racism. Many people immediately associate racism with intentional acts of hatred or discrimination. Yet researchers also encourage us to examine how assumptions, systems, and everyday interactions can unintentionally advantage some groups while creating obstacles for others.

This is often uncomfortable. Not because people wish to exclude others, but because it challenges long-held beliefs about fairness, opportunity, and identity. These conversations can evoke defensiveness. A response sometimes described as white fragility. Rather than viewing this as a personal accusation, it may be more helpful to understand it as a common human reaction when our deeply held assumptions are questioned.

Discomfort is not failure. Sometimes it is the beginning of learning

Living inquiry:

-------------- janine harrison

Take ten minutes this week to reflect on the questions below. There are no right answers. Only opportunities for great understanding.

     What experiences have most influenced how you see the world?

     When have you felt like you truly belonged?

     When have you felt like an outsider?

     What assumptions do you hold about success, fairness, or opportunity?

     How might someone with a different life experience view the same situation differently?

Coffee Conversations:

Discuss one of the following questions:

          Tell me about a time you felt like you truly belonged.

     What experience has most shaped who you are today?

     Have you ever felt misunderstood because of your background or experiences?

     What is one assumption people often make about you that is not true?

 Find one opportunity to learn about a coworker’s story that you did not know before. Curiosity builds understanding. Understanding builds belonging. Belonging builds stronger teams.

What I Didn't Know I Wasn't Seeing

 Coming with Me is a willingness to see more.

I entered this course believing strongly that people should be treated equally, that hard work matters, and that as a leader my responsibility was to support the person standing in front of me. Those beliefs are still coming with me, but they are no longer enough on their own. What has changed is my awareness of everything that may be operating around that person before I ever enter the conversation.

Intersectionality challenged me to recognize that social identities do not operate independently, and that privilege and disadvantage can exist simultaneously depending on social location. The discussions of meritocracy pushed me even further. I still believe effort, accountability, and mindset matter, but I now question who had access to the relationships, resources, safety, recognition, and opportunities that allowed that effort to become visible in the first place. That was an uncomfortable shift for me because it required me to examine explanations for my own success that I had carried for much of my adult life.

Coming with Me is also the distinction between inclusion and belonging. Throughout the course, I repeatedly returned to the realization that inviting someone into an existing system does not necessarily make that system equitable. This became increasingly clear through our discussions of gender, multiculturalism, reconciliation, and globalization. Whether considering whose leadership is viewed as legitimate, whose credentials are recognized, or whose knowledge is valued, I have learned to look beyond whether someone has been given access and ask what happens after they enter the room.

Perhaps most importantly, Coming with Me is greater responsibility as a leader. Awareness without action changes very little. I cannot assume that because a policy appears neutral, an organization values diversity, or I personally intend to treat people fairly that everyone experiences the same opportunities. I can listen, ask better questions, examine whose voices are missing, challenge assumptions I once accepted without noticing, and remain willing to change my own thinking.

I am leaving this course with fewer simple answers than I entered with, and I think that may be the point. Coming with me is the willingness to remain curious about what I cannot immediately see and the understanding that equitable leadership begins with continually questioning the conditions that shape another person's opportunity to belong, contribute, and succeed.

New Employee Questions

 Remember Your First Day? They do too.

Starting a new job is exciting. It is also one of the most vulnerable experiences an adult can have.

While leaders often focus on onboarding checklists, system access, training schedules, and process manuals, new employees are carrying a much different set of questions into the workplace.

They may not ask them out loud, but they are constantly evaluating their new environment. 

Can I do this job?

Do I belong here?

Can I trust these people?

Research on organizational socializations suggests that the success of a new employee depends on understanding the culture, expectations, relationships, and unwritten rules of the organizations (Bauer & Erdogan, 2011).

In many ways, every new employee enters an unfamiliar culture. 

They are learning a new language, system, personalities, and expectations. They are trying to understand where they fit in and how they can contribute. Every interaction becomes a clue about what is valued, tolerated, and what it takes to succeed. 

As leaders, we often underestimate the emotional work that accompanies learning.

A new employee may appear quiet, hesitant, or uncertain. What we may actually be witnessing is someone trying to make sense of their new environment while managing the natural fear of making mistakes. 

This is where leadership matters most.

Studies have found that role clarity, social acceptance, and support from supervisors are among the strongest predictors of successful onboarding and long-term employee engagement (Bauer et. al., 2007).

In other words, people thrive because someone helps them understand how they fit in.

The best leaders recognize that onboarding is not merely the transfer of information. It is the process of helping someone move from uncertainty to confidence, from outsider to contributor, and from observer to team member.

So, the next time a new employee joins the team, remember that they are not simply learning a job, they are learning whether they matter, belong, and fit in.

Research insight:

-------------- Bauer et al. (2007)

Successful onboarding is influenced by 4 key factors:

1. Role Clarity – emploees need to understand what is expected of them and how success will be measured.

2. Self-Efficacy – new hires need opportunities to build confidence in their ability to preform the job successfully.

3. Social Acceptance – Feeling welcomed, include, and valued by colleagues is a significant predicator of engagement and retention.

4. Knowledge of Culture – Employees must learn the unwritten rules, norms, and values that shape how work gets done.

People rarely leave because they did not learn the system. They often leave because they never felt they belonged.

What are you doing differently to add a layer on belonging?

References:

Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes, and methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(3), 707–721.

Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (2011). Organizational socialization: The effective onboarding of new employees. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Change is Inevitable

 

Between what was and what will be, there is a season of becoming.

It is all around us and it is a journey we must continually take. Sometimes it arrives gently with the seasons. Other times it appears suddenly and demands our attention. Regardless of how it arrives, change asks something of us: let go of what no longer serves us so that something new can emerge.

Every fall, the trees shed their leaves. They do not cling to them or question whether they are ready. The leaves have served their purpose, and in releasing them, the tree creates the conditions necessary for new growth in the spring.

What are you holding onto the needs to be shed?

Perhaps it is an old habit, a limiting belief, a way of thinking, or a process that once worked but no longer serves you. Growth requires space. Before we can embrace something new, we often need to release something old.

Our brains are remarkably adaptable. Neuroplasticity teaches us that our minds are constantly changing and rewiring based on our experiences and the information we consume. We are not fixed. We are works in progress. Every conversation, book, challenge, and lesson has the potential to reshape how we think and who we become.

What brought you to where you are today will not be enough to keep you there tomorrow.

Success has a tendency to tempt us into comfort. We rely on proven methods, familiar routines, and established patterns. Yet the world continues to evolve. Industries change. Customers change. Teams change. Effective leaders and high-performing employees understand that growth requires continuous learning and adaptation.

The good news is that your brain is designed for this. It seeks novelty, challenge, and learning. It wants you to improve. It wants you to become more capable than you were yesterday.

The challenge is deciding to begin.

The moment you become curious, ask questions, seek new perspectives, and intentionally pursue growth, something interesting happens. You discover that opportunities, ideas, and knowledge were waiting for you all along. They were always there – you simply weren’t looking for them yet.

Change is not something to fear.

It is an invitation.

An invitation to learn.

An invitation to grow.

An invitation to become the next version of yourself.

Magnolia Dance

-------------- Celeste Snowber (2021)

How do we know our own blooming,

The beauty in each of us?

As much as you gaxe

On the magnificence of magnolia

Buds are growing within you

Slowly, perceptively

Asking to be watered.

 

The soul, the body thirsts

For air and water as do

the greening in the garde.

You are a garen

A hybrid paradox of beauty

Fragile tendrils lie

In the soil of your heart.

 

Now is the time

to let the life you lead

be the mulch

of your own ripening.

  

Listen to the cadence

Of your body

Hear the hymn of your own heart

Listen to your own

Birdsong.

Maybe It Isn't Energy?

 I have been sitting with a question that refuses to leave me.

How do we come to know another human before we consciously know them?

Long before words are exchanged, before stories are shared, before trust has been earned, something happens. We notice them. We are drawn toward them or gently pulled away. Sometimes we feel an immediate sense of ease. Other times we experience hesitation that we cannot explain.

Perhaps we call it chemistry. Perhaps we call it intuition. Perhaps we simply call it energy.

Whatever name we choose, it raises a fascinating question. Are we recognizing something in another person, or are we recognizing something within ourselves?

From a scientific perspective, psychologists suggest that familiarity and similarity influence attraction. Similarity Attraction Theory proposes that we naturally gravitate toward people who share our values, interests, communication styles, and beliefs. The more familiar something becomes, the more positively we tend to evaluate it. Maybe instant chemistry is simply rapid pattern recognition, our brains efficiently searching for what feels safe and known.

Attachment theory offers another explanation. The people who immediately feel comfortable may unconsciously remind us of significant relationships from our childhood. Sometimes these patterns lead us toward healthy relationships. Sometimes they invite us to recreate dynamics that no longer serve us.

The body seems to know before the mind catches up. Then I wonder about the paradox.

Why is it that one person winks at us and we receive it with warmth and delight, while another person performs the exact same gesture and it feels unsettling?

The action is identical. The experience is completely different.  Perhaps the difference exists in the invisible space between us.

The philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued that we encounter the world through our lived bodies. We do not objectively experience another person as though we are detached observers. We experience them through memory, history, identity, emotion, and culture. Every interaction is relational. Meaning is created not by one person or the other, but in the space where our lives intersect.

Connection is not simply something that happens to us. Connection is something we embody. Lately I have been fascinated by the concept of embodiment. Embodiment is the conscious experience of living through the body rather than solely through the thinking mind. It is the awareness that emotions are not abstract ideas but physical sensations. A racing heart. Relaxed shoulders. A deep breath. A smile that arrives before we realize we are smiling.

Perhaps what I have been calling "energy" is simply my body participating in a conversation before my conscious mind has translated it into language. Perhaps every meaningful encounter is altering something within me. Not just my thoughts but my posture, my nervous system, my expectations, and my future decisions like every connection leaves a trace.

Interestingly, artificial intelligence researchers have arrived at a similar conclusion.

They describe embodied intelligence as the idea that true intelligence does not exist as a disconnected brain floating in isolation. Intelligence emerges through interaction with an environment. It perceives, responds, adapts, and learns through continuous feedback.

In many ways, humans are no different. We become who we are through interaction. We learn through movement, through relationships, through experiences, and through every conversation that changes how we see ourselves and the world around us. Identity is not created in isolation; it is continuously negotiated in the presence of others.

This shifts the question for me. The question is no longer:

Should I keep this person in my life?

Instead, I find myself asking:

Who am I becoming when I am with them?

Do they make me more curious? Do they expand my thinking? Do they introduce me to ways of knowing I have never considered? Do they challenge my assumptions while allowing me to remain fully myself?

The most meaningful relationships are not always the easiest ones. Sometimes they are the ones that invite transformation. Perhaps we are not simply attracted to another person's energy. Perhaps we are recognizing possibilities. A possibility of becoming more compassionate, more courageous, more creative, or more fully ourselves?

There is, of course, a calculated risk in every new connection that allows another human close enough to influence us is to accept that we might change. We gather information. We observe. We feel. Our body responds before our mind has completed its analysis. Then, consciously, we make a choice; to step closer, remain curious, begin a conversation, or walk away.

Every relationship asks us to move. And every movement changes us.

Maybe embodiment is not simply the awareness of bodily sensations. Maybe embodiment is the moment our body, mind, and experience align and ask us to respond. I can. So I will. Perhaps that is what growth has always been. Not certainty. Not perfect reasoning. But the willingness to trust that some connections are invitations to become. And maybe the greatest paradox of being human is this:

We spend so much time searching for people who understand us, when the people who truly change our lives are often the ones who introduce us to parts of ourselves, we have yet to discover.

Maybe we never truly come to know another person first. Maybe, in the brief moment before words are spoken, we are simply catching a glimpse of who we might become because they entered our story.

Who Benefits from the Story you Tell Yourself?

 We all tell ourselves stories. Stories about who we are. Stories about what we are capable of. Stories about why things happen to us and what they mean. Some of these stories are empowering, while others quietly limit what we believe is possible. The interesting thing about these stories is that we rarely question them. We carry them from one experience to the next allowing them to shape our decisions, relationships, and opportunities.

As I prepare for a session on self-doubt, I ask myself these questions to gain clarity on why? Why do create these stories in the first place? Perhaps more importantly, “What if the story you are telling yourself is no longer serving the person you want to become?

One of the profound lessons I learned through curriculum studies and leadership is that identity is not fixed. William Pinar’s concept of currere invites us to understand our lives as an ongoing process of becoming. We are not simply products of our experiences but are active participants in interpreting those experiences and assigning meaning to them.

The stories we tell ourselves matter because they become the lens through which we view the world. As identity is not something we possess, we continually create and recreate ourselves through reflection, experience, and actions.

Consider what would happen if you began telling yourself, “I am the greatest.” “I am capable.” “I can learn.” How would these statements change the way in which you moved through the world. How would it change your interactions, your confidence, and your willingness to take risks?

True learning is not simply acquisition of knowledge. It is the examination of assumptions. It is the willingness to question what we have always believed to be true. It is the courage to ask, “where did this story come from, and does it still serve me?”

Living inquiry teaches us that learning happens through our everyday experiences. Every challenge, relationship, success, disappointment, and conversation provides an opportunity to examine the narratives that shape our lives. Growth often begins when we recognize that we are not the story. We are the authors.

Who Are You Without Your Job Title?

If I took away your job title, your office, your credentials, and your responsibilities, who would you be?

Take a moment to sit with that question.

For many of us our identities become intertwined with what we do. We introduce ourselves through our careers. We measure our success through promotions, achievements, and reviews. We wear our titles like badges that tell the world who we are.

But what happens when those titles change?

What happens when we retire, switch careers, lose our job, become a parent, experience illness, or enter a new season of life? If our identity is built solely on what we do, we can find ourselves feeling lost when circumstances shift.

An idea I encountered through my studies is the concept of currere, developed by William Pinar. Currere invites us to view curriculum not simply as a course of study, but as the study of one's educational experience. It asks us to examine our past, understand our present. imagine our future and reflect on the relationship between them. Through this process, we begin to understand that identity is not fixed. It is continually being shaped and reshaped through experiences.

We are always becoming.

This idea aligns closely with what I have learned through living inquiry. Learning is not something that happens exclusively in classrooms, workshops, or training sessions. Learning occurs in the everyday moments of our lives. It unfolds through conversations, challenges, successes, failures, relationships, and reflections. We are constantly making meaning from our experiences, and in doing so we are continually recreating ourselves.

The danger lies in reducing ourselves to a single identity.

While each role in your life may be true, none of them fully capture who we are. They are parts of our story, but they are not the entire story.

When we become overly attached to a title, we risk overlooking the deeper qualities that define us: our values, character, beliefs, relationships, and ways of being in the world.

Perhaps the better question is not, "What do you do? but rather, "Who are you becoming?"

That question shifts our focus from achievement to growth. It encourages us to look inward rather than outward. It reminds us that our lives are not measured solely by what we accomplish, but by how we continue to learn, evolve, and contribute to those around us.

As leaders, parents, and community members, we are all engaged in a lifelong process of becoming. We are constantly negotiation our identities and creating meaning from our experiences, The journey is never complete.

So today, I leave you with a question worth reflecting on:

If your title disappeared tomorrow, what qualities, values, and experiences would remain?

The answer may reveal more about who you are than any title ever could.

Pressure reveals the Leader, not the workload

It was one of those Mondays.

The drive-thru was full before the doors even opened. Phones were ringing nonstop, a technician was already behind, and an upset customer was standing at the counter waiting for answers no one felt ready to give.

You could feel it, the pressure building in the room.

I watched as the tension started to ripple through the team. Conversations got shorter. Movement got faster. Patience started to wear thin. And then it happened, a response, sharp and reactive, slipped out in a moment that didn’t leave room for thought.

The energy shifted instantly.

That’s the thing about pressure, it doesn’t just test systems, it reveals people. It amplifies whatever is already beneath the surface. If we’re grounded, it sharpens us. If we’re scattered it cracks us.

In that moment, you have a choice. Match the tension… or change it.

Slow down. Lower your voice.

Look the customer in the eye and acknowledge their frustration. Then turn to the team, not with urgency, but with intention.

 “Let’s reset. One step at a time.”

Nothing about the workload changed. The phones didn’t stop. The lineup didn’t disappear. But the room shifted. Shoulders dropped. Communication opened back up. The team found its rhythm again.

The day reminds us of something simple but powerful. Pressure doesn’t define the outcome; the leader’s response does.

Because in every high-pressure moment, your team is watching. Not for perfection, but for direction.

And sometimes, the strongest move a leader can make... is to slow everything down.

So the next time pressure walks into the room, ask yourself, am I adding to it – or leading through it?

Because pressure doesn’t just show who you are as a leader… it shows your team who they can be.

Listening & Learning

 As the wind blows off the lake the spirit reminds me to breathe and release what is no longer serving me and embrace the fresh breeze as it washes over my body. The waves, rhythmic and repetitive, allow a meditation state pulling at the mind to be. Thoughts nestle, echo, and build upon one another, opening the door for deep introspection. With the crackle of the fire offering comfort through light and heat I found myself emotionally safe to unwind with an ancient calling to calm my nervous system. And the nearby chattered storytelling of friends, I am reminded of connection through narrative arcs – ebbs and flows – rather than raw logic. Listening closely, we make sense of the world around us to lived experiences of our fellow kind and in kinship to the environment queuing our state of being.

Between Motion and Meaning

Traversing life, each of our stories unfold differently. What makes me tick, what pulls me out of bed in the morning, or what fuels my ambition feels so far removed from what drives others. And I often find myself wondering why.

Why do I feel this constant pull toward knowledge?
Why is it so difficult for me to settle into the comfort of consumerism and just be content with things?
Why am I drawn to landscapes, to movement, or the quiet unfolding of nature?

There’s something about the connection to land and gaining knowledge that fills me in a way nothing else quite can. It's grounding and expansive all at once. My thoughts are honest, louder, and clearer without being softened or redirected. I am able to exist fully and take up my space.

And I like that.

There’s a clarity in solitude that doesn’t exist in groups. No expectations. No small talk. No need to respond, perform, or engage beyond what feels natural. Just space, and within that space, a kind of freedom.

I’ve often asked myself if something is missing.

Where are others in these moments?
Should these experiences be shared?
Am I supposed to want that?

It’s not that connection doesn’t matter. It’s that I don’t experience it the same way. For me, connection isn’t constant. It’s selective. It’s quiet. It doesn’t require a crowd, and it doesn’t need to fill every space.

There is a common idea that life is richer when shared more, when surrounded more, when constantly in the presence of others. But there’s another way to move through the world — one that values depth over frequency, stillness over noise, and solitude not as absence, but as choice.

Is solitude what sharpens the experience?

Is the absence of conversation what allows depth of thought?

Or is it something I've unconsciously chosen to explore and process alone, to move through the world in a way that protects that clarity?

When I sit alone with a coffee, or walk through a quiet trail, or drive without a destination — I’m not lacking connection. I’m experiencing it differently.

Maybe the question isn’t why I prefer solitude.
Maybe it’s why we assume we shouldn’t.

There is value in slowing down with others, yes. But there is also value in moving alone, in thinking uninterruptedly, in experiencing the world without needing to translate it for someone else.

For some, meaning is found in conversation.
For others, it’s found in silence.

And maybe both are equally complete.

Prediction Creates Attention

 We remember what we think about, so give your employees something to think about.

If you walked into a meeting room, and on the board was a word, a phrase, or a board full of data, took your seat, and listened to the speaker present, how much would you retain?

Now imagine a different option.

You walk into the same room. The same word, phrase, or data set is on the board. You take your seat. But before the speaker begins, they say, Based on what you see here, what do you predict we will be discussing today?

They then go around the room and invite each person to share their prediction.

How much more would listeners retain now?

The answer is likely: much more.

Why? Because now the room is no longer passive. It has become participatory. The listener is no longer just receiving information; they are interacting with it. They are mentally sorting, guessing, comparing, and preparing to see if they are right. That small shift changes everything.

We are engaged because we are human. Our brains are wired to look for patterns, solve problems, and be correct. The moment we are asked to predict, we are no longer observing from the sidelines. We are in.

Prediction creates investment.

The listener now has something at stake, even if only internally. They want to know if their thinking lines up. They want to test themselves against the material. They are listening not just to hear, but to confirm, revise, or improve what they believe.

This is where learning starts to deepen.

But there is another side to this.

If, halfway through the presentation, the listener realizes they were completely wrong, are they still engaged or have they shut down?

Often, they shut down.

Not dramatically. But they have stopped mental reaching. They pull back. They admit defeat internally and decide to just “get through” the rest of the session. Once that happens, retention drops again because the brain is no longer playing. It has stepped out of the game.

This is where the speaker or facilitator matter.

A strong leader does not leave the learner behind when their first prediction misses the mark. They bring them back in. They ask a new question. They create a second entry point. They give the room permission to adjust.

A simple reset might sound like:

Now that we know more, what’s your next prediction?

Or

What changed in your thinking?

This keeps the learner connected.

It reminds them that being wrong is not failure; it’s part of the process. In fact, some of the strongest learning happens when we predict incorrectly and then have to reorganize our thinking. The role of the leaders is to make that moment safe enough to stay engaged through it.

Tentacles of Adaptation

In the ocean, the octopus is a master of adaptation. It changes color to blend with its surroundings, alters its shape to fit into tight spaces, and even uses its arms (independently of its brain) to explore, sense, and decide.

Each of its eight tentacles can operate semi-autonomously, gathering information, reacting, and problem-solving yet they remain deeply connected to a central purpose. The octopus thrives not because it controls every moment, but because it trusts its own system to respond intelligently to what’s around it.

Compare this octopus to your organization. Is your team autonomous, aware, and trusted to move fluidly in complex environments? Your people should be the arms; sensing challenges you can’t see and making micro-decisions that move the whole body forward.

When you trust your teams’ instincts, you multiply intelligence across the organization. When you empower them to act, adapt, and innovate you create an organism that learns and evolves faster than the competition.

Tap into the collective intelligence, experience, and motivation of the people closest to key business challenges. If your people aren’t identifying what’s holding them back or suggesting solutions and experimenting to achieve them, then you’re not going to evolve into an Octopus organization.

Are you able to choose a tentacle of your team, either one person, one process, or one daily decision and hand it back to your people?

To build an octopus organization, leaders must resist the instinct to overcorrect, overdirect, and over involve. Empowerment is not a slogan; it is restraint in action.

Autonomy does not mean chaos. Each tentacle acts independently, but never independently of purpose. The central brain provides clarity of direction. This is who we are. This is where we are going. The arms determine how to move in response to what they encounter.

Ask yourself: Have I defined outcomes clearly enough that my team can decide how to achieve them?

Am I developing decision-makers, or creating dependency? 

            

Image from Biodiversity Heritage Library

An Octopus can;

 Change its color in 0.3 seconds. How quickly can you pivot strategy when markets shift?

Squeeze through tiny openings. How flexible are your processes when opportunities arise?

Regenerates lost limbs in 2-4 months. How fast do you recover from losing key talent or failed initiatives?

Solve problems through experimentation. Is “try it and see” encouraged or does everything need a business case.

No blind spots – 360* vision. Where are your organizational blind spots hiding risks?

Lifespan 1-5 years (constant urgency) Does your team act with urgency or assume infinite time.

200+ suckers per arm, each moves independently. How many decision points can operate without central control?

Each arm can taste what it touches. Do your teams directly sense customer needs or rely on filtered reports?

 We are all connected to one another and to the mystery at the heart of the universe through our strange and marvelous ability to create words. When we write, we create, and when we offer our creation to one another, we close the wound of loneliness and may participate in healing the broken world. Our words, our truth, our imagining, our dreaming, may be the best gifts we have to give. (p. xix).

Schneider (2003)

Mindset

Belief Changes Your Reality

A few years ago, researchers ran an experiment with two identical milkshakes.

One was labeled “rich and indulgent -600 calories”

The other, “light and sensible – 150 calories”

Participants drank their shakes, and their bodies responded accordingly.

Those who thought they were indulging, felt full and satisfied.

Those whose believed they were “being good” stayed hungry.

As both shakes were the same, the only difference was the story their mind was told.

And that story was powerful enough to change their hormones, hunger, and metabolism.

Now imagine how many areas of our lives follow that same pattern.

Do you believe stress is destroying you or strengthening you?

Do you see feedback as a threat or as fuel to grow?

Do you tell yourself I’m overwhelmed or rather I’m being stretched to new capacity?

Our mindset doesn’t just shape how we think, it shapes how we feel, act, and perform. The brain doesn’t know the difference between perception and reality; it responds to what it believes.

When we view stress as a challenge, our body releases energy hormones that help us focus. When we view it as a threat, we shut down.

The situation is the same, but the story changes everything.

As leaders, this is where our power lies. We can’t always change the workload, the market, or the moment, but we can change the meaning we give it.

A growth mindset tells our teams:

You can figure this out.

You can learn this.

You can adapt.

 And when they believe the story, they will rise to meet it.

What story are you telling yourself in moments of pressure, and how is it shaping your response today? 

Mindset is a lens through which we see the world.

Facts

Mindset is shaped by our beliefs

Mindset impacts our success

Mindset influences health

Your mindset may not be accurate

Your thoughts influence your subconscious

You can change your mindset

Mindset sways our emotions

Mindset is a powerful placebo

Positive mindset leads to a healthier body

Your mindset is quantum energy

Mindset can change reality

Mindset affects how you cope with lifes challenges

What will you do with your Time?

We each get roughly 4,000 weeks on this planet – give or take a few – and somehow, we spend most of them trying to a race against the clock. Oliver Burkeman calls out the grand illusion of time management; that if we can just get organized enough, disciplined enough, or efficient enough, we’ll finally “get it all done”. But what if the goal was never to get it all done? What if it is about choosing what to do well rather than trying to do it all?

The more efficient we become, the more we take on eluding that we never really accomplish time management. The reward for finishing something isn’t rest, it’s another task. Did you ever really gain anything by finishing that task?

In leadership this might look like responding to every email, solving every problem, or saying yes to every meeting. You end up mistaking activity for impact.

Can you stop for a moment, take the ariel trip overhead and see the most important tasks that drive the entirety of the team?

We don’t get to master time. We get to lead within its bounds. Embracing the finite ~4000 weeks we have is not defeat, it’s liberating. As leaders, your most powerful act in not filling every hour but choosing which hours to make count.

Leadership often confuses responsiveness with responsibility. Being available to everyone, all the time, feels noble, but it quietly erodes clarity. The calendar becomes a record of other people’s priorities, not a reflection of what truly matters. Over time, teams don’t learn how to think, they learn how to wait. Real leadership isn’t proven by how quickly you answer, but by what you choose to protect your attention for.

In a world that whispers do more, leadership whispers do better. Choose what to hold. Let go of what pines your time away. Use your weeks thoughtfully and courageously so that when your time is done, you know you led not just with urgency but with depth. 

 “The more you try to manage time the more it manages you.” Oliver Burkeman

TIK TOK

We fret over calendars, to-do lists, and time blocking as if mastery over every minute is possible. But Burkman jolts us; “The more you try to manage your time with the goal of achieving freedom from human constraints, the more stressful life gets.” Instead, we must learn not to beat time but to dance with its reality.

Up to 60% of work hours are spent on less meaningful tasks.

The average employee is interrupted about 60 times a day, and it takes over 23 minutes to refocus after one.

Checking email consumes 28% of a workday.

82% of people do not have a dedicated time management system.

Knowing the facts, what meaningful changes can you make to your day to have a sense of time control and what can you teach to the people around you to effectively manage their time at work.

Leadership isn’t about squeezing every minute, it’s about choosing what truly matters, and leading with presence.

Place Based Learning

 Today, Jan 31, 2026, I visited a cemetery to aid in my discovery for why cemeteries exist in communities. I found a parking spot out of the way and immediately found some words to share with a site that spoke to me. Finding a napkin and a pen within my truck to jot down my thoughts and offer reciprocity to the site for sharing in this moment with me. Here is where I started;

As I sit here at the cemetery site I notice the stillness, the beautiful view, 

the well-kept grounds. I hope you had a wonderful life while you were present here. 

It is with sadness that you left, but your soul is here to rest. 

I pray for your family and wish them and the generations to come many successes. 

Thank you for sharing this space and time with me. 

I feel closer to your resting space now and see why your here to stay.

Reciprocity

Proceeding out of my truck, I walked the grounds of the cemetery. I was in shock and awe of vast land space accompanying all the souls to rest. I marveled at the flowers left at some sites curious when the grave was last visited. I mourned at the decayed sites where the headstone was no longer legible. I watched as a family of 4 different vehicles came together at a grave site to remember their family member, curious why they did not leave a token of love behind. I found a bottle of Pepsi lying at one location and assumed this person’s favorite drink was such.

Noticing the many people such as me taking a walk through the cemetery stopping at random headstones to read the names and dates. Some elaborate displays were present with fancy plaques, steel fencing around the site, brick walls separating one from the other, flower holding stands at some, or families that had purchased an allotment for generations to be included in the same resting place to mourn the loss as one.

After laying my napkin down at the "Word's" site, I made my way back to my truck and continued up the road to explore further. I found myself at the Chinese pioneer resting grounds where the provincial government had a plaque on display thanking the Chinese for their services in building up BC and apologizing for the discrimination they felt while present on our lands. Included in the act of giving back, a beautiful pavilion was erected for families to share and remember together. I read the many headstones of immigrant's and witnessed several sites of babies who had passed too soon. "One day aged" brought a smile to face and tears to my eyes for the sadness and grief the family felt, while also the youth and appreciation for the one day shared with love for the being who entered the world.

Leaving the cemetery, I pulled over with tears in my eyes and felt extreme guilt for the thoughts I shared publicly as to why cemetery should be restructured or erased within municipal settings. I now see that a final resting place for the soul is of importance for the person and the family to remember the wonderful life shared together.

I then turned on the radio to hear, "Can't buy days like these," by Luke Combs and thanked the Lord for closure on my trip, experience, and place-based learning that was captured in my heart today.

 

Critical Reflection Growth

 Why would we choose to critically reflect on our actions if doing so may challenge the vary beliefs that help us feel confident and competent?

Growth rarely begins with certainty. It begins with a pause.

In a world that rewards speed, confidence, and decisive action, critical reflection can feel counterintuitive. Why slow down to question what already works? Why examine beliefs, habits, or decisions that have carried us this far?

Because progress without reflection is often repetitive, not growth.

Critical reflection asks us to look beneath outcomes and examine the assumptions that produced them. It invites us to move beyond what happened and into why it happened, how we contributed, and what it reveals about our values, blind spots, and patterns. This process can feel unsettling because it disrupts the stories we tell ourselves about competence, intention, and success.

And yet, that disruption is precisely the point.

When individuals avoid critical reflection, learning remains shallow. We may gain skills, but we don't gain insight. We adjust behaviours without questioning the beliefs that drive them. Over time, this limits development because the same underlying assumptions continue to shape our choices, even when circumstances change.

Critical reflection requires courage. It asks us to sit with ambiguity, acknowledge discomfort, and admit that our understanding may be incomplete. It challenges the instinct to defend our actions and instead encourages curiosity about the impact. The shift from justification to inquiry is where real learning begins.

Importantly, critical reflection is not self-criticism. It is not about assigning blame or diminishing confidence. Rather, it is a disciplined practice of sense-making. It allows individuals to integrate experience, theory, and emotion in ways that deepen understanding and inform future action.

Engaging in critical reflection will deepen your self-awareness, adaptability and clarity. You will become more responsive rather than reactive. More intentional rather than habitual. Over time, reflection transforms experience into wisdom.

For leaders, educators, and professionals alike, critical reflection is a responsibility. It shapes how we show up for others. It influences the environments we create and the decisions we normalize. Without reflection, we risk reinforcing systems and behavious simply because they are familiar, not because they are effective or just.

The Year I Chose Prosper

 

I started 2025 with a word in mind, not a goal. Just one word to carry with me, to anchor me when life felt busy or overwhelming. My word was Prosper.

For me, Prosper wasn’t just about money or success. It was about choosing to focus on all good things. It was a reminder that I will rise, and I will Prosper; in my career, in my relationships, in my health, and in the small moments that often go unnoticed.

Keeping this word at the center of my year shaped the way I saw the world. Almost every lunch hour on my walk, I would find a nickel or a dime on the ground. To some, those coins might not seem like much, but to me they became a symbol. A quiet reminder that Prosper was showing up in my life in small, consistent ways. It was as though the world was nudging me to keep my focus on growth and possibility.

The openness to accept shifts in my life led me to take part in the leadership development program with Laurie and the leadership team.

The opportunity was more than just professional development it was Prosper in action. It allowed me to expand my skills, stretch my thinking, and step into new leadership challenges that will continue to shape me for years to come.

Looking back, Prosper didn’t mean every day was easy or that success fell into my lap. It meant that when challenges came, I looked for the lesson, the growth, and the way forward. Prosper kept me grounded in gratitude and possibility. It reminded me that abundance is as much a mindset as it is an outcome.

And now, as I step into 2026, I can see how one word had the power to shift not only how I worked, but how I lived. Prosper became the compass.

What single word, if you held it close, would shift the way you live and lead this year?

A word is like a compass keeping you oriented no matter which turns life throws at you.

Too often we think of the annual new years goal as a checklist: loose the weight, hit the number, save the money. But what if goals aren’t the list at all? What if they are the compasses? Compasses don’t give you every detail, they simply point you in the right direction, keeping you aligned no matter the twists and detours.

This January, I challenge you to pick a word instead of a goal. One word to guide your choices, remind you of your values, and keep you oriented when life gets busy.

Maybe your word is courage. Courage to step outside your comfort zone. Maybe it’s Balance. Lean in to balance your work-life structure a little more strategically. Maybe it’s Growth. Choosing to look for opportunities to grow. Whatever it is, let it be your compass for 2026.

Resolutions are often born from pressure, the need to fix, to hit, to achieve. But words are different. Words invite you to grow, to notice, to rise into opportunities as they come. Challenges will appear, as they always do, but your word becomes your steady compass you hold onto.

Resolutions fade. Words endure. What word will carry you through this year?