Next Generation Leadership

Years ago, I spent five days at the University of California, Berkeley, immersed in scenario analysis. I had been a strategist for a long time, and while I saw the value in strategic planning, I also knew its limits. Traditional strategic planning often assumes we can predict the future, then align our resources and goals accordingly. But the world doesn't work that way. Still, humans need...

Over the years, I’ve led teams, facilitated thousands of conversations, and held space for transformation at every level of an organization. I’ve trained leaders, coached executives, and mentored young people standing on the edge of possibility. And in all of those experiences, one truth has become abundantly clear:

Why giving and receiving support is essential for resilient leadership and collective healing

Why community is a leadership essential, especially in uncertain times.

Now is not the time to lead alone.

It’s a question I’ve been carrying lately. Whispering to myself in quiet moments, wrestling with it when the world feels particularly harsh.

There are days when I can feel them. Not in a ghostly way, but in my bones. The people who came before me.

We are living in a time when despair can feel like the most honest response. The headlines are relentless. The losses, personal and global, compound. For many of us, especially those whose work is rooted in justice, equity, and community, there is a heaviness that sits just beneath the surface—persistent, exhausting, and familiar.

I am writing this within hours of returning from the ceremony, remembering and praying for the lives of the two boys and their families. My son's classmates. They were two of five teenagers in the car, involved in a tragic accident. The living will never unsee, never forget how they felt in those moments.

It’s hard to find anyone who isn’t feeling overwhelmed by the state of the world right now. Political division is running deep. Civil unrest continues to flare. Institutions we once trusted are under scrutiny. Employees are burned out. And leaders—especially those with a deep sense of responsibility—are exhausted, disillusioned, and wondering whether they’re up to the task of leading in such a...