If you’re like most of us, you’re in the midst of a dead sprint into the holiday season, juggling professional commitments with personal obligations — and feeling like you’ve somehow been conscripted into a three-ring circus. With the holidays just around the corner,...

Fear is a universal human experience. We all experience it, in different ways and to different degrees. But we have one thing in common: Everything boils down to our default reptilian mode of survival. Our fight, flight, and freeze instincts are always ready to...

Earlier this year, I had a conversation with a woman in southern Oregon that really got my wheels turning around fear, success, failure, and what the heck we do with it all. We talked about how there’s a significant difference between having a negative experience and...

Earlier this month, I challenged you to see your organization in a new light with vertical coaching. And then I made the case for how vertical coaching can foster understanding, build trust, and inspire contributions — for an organization everyone is proud of.  You...

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend of mine (we’ll call him Bart). He made a bold claim: he said that the questionable morals of some wealthy people are justified because, in Bart’s view, that’s what it takes to become wealthy. The ends justify the...

If you’ve been around my work for a while, you might have heard me talk about vertical coaching (I reference it in this recent blog post). It grew out of my work with law enforcement and their hierarchy of rank and came from one of the chief deputies I’ve worked with...

Today, I’m going to take what may feel like a sharp left turn and talk about the process, not a topic. Lately, I’ve tackled some really heavy topics, and I want to be honest and transparent about my approach to this work. If you take nothing else away from this,...

Trigger Warning: This blog post contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know might be struggling with suicidal thoughts or thoughts of self-harm, you can call or text the  988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, or chat online at...

Over the past few weeks, I’ve tackled some tough topics related to race and law enforcement work. And I’ve made a point to be as nuanced and thoughtful as I possibly can in handling these topics.  I shared how an unexpected delivery taught me a tough lesson on...

In my last post, I shared the story of a particular day working with a local sheriff’s office that was especially challenging. After taking some time to revisit what happened, how I approached the topic of racial profiling, and how I wanted to move forward with the...