The challenges of being a rising leader are unique.

Reader, When I was younger in my career, it was unfathomable to say no to something important. Less was simply not an option. More was always better.Saying no.One year, our team was preparing to expand our offerings. The whole process of deciding our strategies, laying the foundation for new things, and thinking deeply about the changes ahead…it was overwhelming.If you’d asked what our team capacity was on a scale of 1–10, we would have said -10.Our largest, most-loved event was on the...

Reader, For more than a year now, I’ve been leading live sessions with rising leaders: smart, capable people in their late 20s to mid-30s who are hungry to lead well. When they struggle, it's not because they lack ambition or commitment. It's because leadership feels so different from everything that made them successful as individual contributors... and many haven't been shown what it looks like to lead well. The gaps they experience say a lot about how the next generation of leadership is...

Reader, Building Agency in Your Team. The word agency has been cropping up a lot lately. I love the word. Agency is the catalyst that turns regular teams into entrepreneurial teams: capable of thinking, innovating, acting, and making real progress. It’s the ability to know what to do, why it matters, and take action together. Let’s unpack this so you can find new ways to build agency in yourself and your team. Knowing what to do. If this were easy, every company would be aligned and moving in...

Reader, I live in a small canyon in the mountain range just south of Boulder, Colorado. For years, I worked in downtown Denver and made the commute each day to the city. On my drive, I’d often stop for breakfast and coffee at our local shop. But instead of being a treat, it was usually a test of patience. 1:1 thinking. The exchange went something like this: The worker to the customer in front of me: “What can I get you?”“I’ll have an egg, ham, and cheese, please.” Then the worker would pull...

Reader, In the busyness of year-end, it’s easy to sprint toward the finish line and crash headlong into the holidays. But if next year matters—and you know you want to be a better leader—you can’t afford not to reflect. And reflection doesn’t have to mean hours of deep work. Sometimes, all it takes is the courage to ask the tough questions. “I kept waiting for you…” Years ago, I had a team member I struggled to lead. I always felt like he was frustrated with me. Like we kept missing each...

Reader, Many rising leaders start off strong—only to melt into a swirl of uncertainty and waning confidence. The meeting begins and you’re ready to go…but your good intentions fade in the wake of conversations you didn’t plan. You meet with your team member determined to have that tough conversation…but you end up reacting to their frustrated response. Why is staying the course so hard for rising leaders? Responding is the job. Early in your career, success comes from responding to...

Reader, When I entered my first leadership role, I started to realize the importance of being strategic, but I didn’t always know how to do that well. This email is for any rising leader who wants to be more strategic and make strategic conversations possible with their team. Strategic planning time. One of my first experiences at a new job was participating in annual strategic planning. I admit, I didn’t really get it. We were asked questions like: How much revenue do you think we can bring...

Reader, Being around other leaders has an elevating effect. It challenges, inspires, and changes minds. I’ve had far more opportunities like this than one could hope or expect. Since I was 27, I’ve been surrounded literally by hundreds, maybe thousands, of Founders, CEOs, and senior leaders operating at the highest levels. Someone recently asked, “How is that even possible?” For most of my career, I’ve worked in business organizations and associations with statewide and eventually global...

Reader, I'm about to launch something really exciting! That’s not what this email is about, but it got me thinking about something important. My one aim is to help rising leaders develop themselves into truly great leaders of teams. Why? So they don’t feel stuck waiting around for a fabulous boss or company to make it happen. Being stuck is the worst.But, being stuck is also the best. The feeling we get when we realize we’re stuck screams to us, “Something has to change.” Without that...