Dear Change Leader, The meeting had been going well — until it wasn’t. Elena, the VP of Client Success, had just finished presenting her team’s quarterly numbers when David, the COO, cut in: “I don’t understand why we keep resources allocated to that program. The data doesn’t support it.” The temperature in the room shifted […]
Stop Defending Your Position. Start Sharing Your Thinking. Read More »
Dear Change Leader, Elena had been in her department head role for two years when the new organizational restructuring was announced. As her team’s questions mounted and anxiety spread through the hallways, she noticed something she hadn’t expected. It wasn’t the most senior people who were steadying the room. It was Darius — a mid-level
The Changemaker in the Room Read More »
Change Is the Constant. What Comes Next Is What We’re Figuring Out Together. Dear Change Leader, When Marcus took over as Director of Operations, he thought the hardest part would be learning the role. He was wrong. The hardest part was learning that the role kept changing — sometimes weekly. A restructuring here. A
A new name — and the idea behind it Read More »
Dear Change Leader, I want to share something I’ve been sitting with. I’ve been talking with colleagues lately — consultants and coaches with deep experience helping leaders navigate exactly the kind of turbulence that’s defining this moment. And almost to a person, they’re describing the same thing: the leaders who most need support aren’t reaching
The silence speaks volumes Read More »
Dear Change Leader, Jennifer kept telling herself that she had been through bigger challenges than this. She’d navigated a merger. She’d led a team through a funding crisis. She’d earned her seat at the table through a decade of hard-won experience. So when her organization restructured, and her role shifted — same level, but a
Who Are You When Everything Around You Changes? Read More »
Dear Change Leader, “We just need to give it more time,” David told me. He was six months into a major restructuring at his regional healthcare network — new reporting lines, redesigned workflows, a leadership team that had been reshuffled twice. On paper, the plan was solid. But the signals were troubling: key staff were
Are You Being Persistent — or Simply Stubborn? Read More »
Preparing for Change: Knowing Who’s With You and Who’s Not When you’re leading change, it’s natural to focus on the work itself—the strategy, the plan, the timeline. But there’s another layer that often determines whether change succeeds or stalls: the people. Every change effort has stakeholders—people who will be affected, people who hold influence,
Leadership In Action: Stakeholders in Change Read More »
Peak performance can be a warning sign. Here’s how to read it before the slide begins. Dear Change Leader, Let me ask you a question that might be uncomfortable: Is your current success setting you up for future decline? Sit with that for a moment. It sounds counterintuitive. Things are working. People are delivering. The
Is Your Success Setting You Up for Decline? Read More »
Dear Change Leader, “I need to protect my team from all this chaos,” Priya told me during a recent coaching session. As CEO of a growing company, she’d been absorbing every shock from the organization’s turbulent environment — shielding her directors and managers from the worst of the uncertainty. She meant well. But when I
Disruption Is Your Teacher: Developing Leaders in Today’s Environment Read More »
One Map, Many Eyes: Learning To See What Surrounds You When the environment around you keeps shifting, it’s tempting to stay heads-down and react to whatever comes next. But that approach has a cost. You end up making decisions based on partial information and assumptions you haven’t examined. Your team may be operating from
Leadership In Action: Context of Change Maps Read More »
Setting Your Change Initiative Up for Success Dear Change Leader, “We don’t have time to plan—we need to act now!” If you’ve felt this pressure, you’re in good company. The urgency to launch, to show progress, to respond to mounting demands—it’s real. Unfortunately, it’s often exactly what derails change before it has a chance
Measure Twice, Change Once Read More »
Dear Change Leader, Janus, the Roman god of doorways and transitions, possessed something most gods lacked: two faces, looking in opposite directions. One gazed backward, at the path traveled. The other looked forward, toward the road ahead. The Romans weren’t being whimsical. They understood something essential about transitions: you can’t move forward well without
“Looking Both Ways: The Janus principle for leaders navigating year-end transitions” Read More »