Are you ready for 2027, or just bracing for it?

Next year will ask for more. Here’s how to decide what’s worth it.

The work you’re doing that nobody sees

The conversation that can change how your extra responsibilities count toward your career.

Doubt was doing my financial planning.

The one question I use to tell a plan from a fear.

A year ago I wrote about the room that broke me open.

My mom died a few weeks ago in a hospice center. My dad died before I left Google. Here is what both rooms taught me.

Are you stuck, or just standing still?

Two years after my layoff, I can finally tell the difference.

The room your resume cannot help you in.

Sitting in the parking lot with the engine still running, a $13,000 sentence changed what I know about leadership.

The Safe Yes is more expensive than you think.

Three questions to ask before you trade away something you may not be able to buy back.

"Should I quit?" is almost always the wrong question.

Are you resting, burned out, or just drifting?

Three states, three completely different responses. Most people diagnose the wrong one.

I danced alone in a hotel room in Sarasota.

The feedback that almost made me quit, and what I did with it

Three invisible filters can change the truth before it ever reaches you.

Who is telling your story when you are not in the room?

What I said to the VP of North America at Google Cloud that landed me on the bench for the next leadership role.

I never told my resignation story. Until now.

The hardest exit I ever made, and how you know when it's yours.

Are you fighting for the role, or fighting to avoid leaving it?

The fog before the leaving is the expensive part. Not the leaving itself.

How to Build a Sponsorship Record for First-Line Managers: An L&D Guide to Closing the Visibility Gap Before It Costs You Your Bench

The smoke wasn't the problem. Not being able to see through it was.

What Chicago's air quality taught me about the work nobody can see you doing

I finally said the name of the book out loud

The Microsoft story I've told before, the ending I never did, and what I'm calling this thing after 20 years

How to Spot High Performers Who Are Quietly Stuck: An L&D Guide to the Activation Gap

Why standard engagement surveys miss your best people, and the four-part framework to catch it before they resign

What are you calling permanent that isn't?

A login screen, a Christmas party, and the thing nobody warns you about.

She didn't rehearse. She just responded differently.

I finished my book this week. Then I did something I'd never have let myself do.

The Activated LeaderTM | Issue #53

She built a six-figure business with no website. That wasn't the interesting part.

What Gaudí knew about starting things you'll never finish.

What are you using achievement to avoid feeling?

A walk through Barcelona revealed something I hadn't seen before.

Why Your Best People Are Burning Out, And It Has Nothing to Do With Workload

What high-achieving employees are actually running from, and what L&D leaders can do about it.

How to make the decision before you feel ready

Three signs you've been right all along.