Trust isn’t one thing, it’s layers. From the people who offer small favors to the rare few you’d call at 3 a.m. with a shovel, life has a way of revealing who’s truly in your corner.

A string of frustrating moments, a leak, a fire scare, a broken tooth, turned into one of the most grounding lessons I’ve had in a while. Sometimes the things we wish away are actually protecting or preparing us for what’s next.

“We should follow up… we should make a plan…” You’ve heard it, or said it. The problem is, “we should” feels collaborative but assigns responsibility to no one. In trying to be polite, we trade clarity for confusion.

You’re doing everything right, yet somehow, it’s not enough. Maybe the problem isn’t effort, but visibility. Here’s the quiet truth about being seen.

We all say we have non-negotiables, values or boundaries that define who we are and how we lead. But under pressure, many of those lines start to blur. This piece challenges you to examine what truly stands firm in your leadership and where your standards may have quietly drifted.

Feedback rarely feels like a gift. It’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, and easy to delay. But the moments we avoid are the ones that define our leadership. Feedback isn’t just for others. It’s a mirror, testing our courage, clarity, and willingness to lead with truth.

Ambiguity hides in plain sight, in phrases like “take charge” or “own it.” We think we’re being clear, but those words often mean something entirely different to the person hearing them. This post explores why well-intentioned labels create confusion and how clarity of expectation builds stronger leadership and trust.

We’re taught to chase more, more projects, more goals, more success. But what if the real breakthrough comes from less? Less stress. Less complexity. Less noise. By subtracting, we create space for clarity, focus, and true significance.

When my six-year-old asked, “Why isn’t kindness an Olympic sport?” it stopped me in my tracks. In a world driven by KPIs and dashboards, maybe the real test of success is learning to value what can’t be measured.

Most organizations drown in metrics. Dashboards light up with data, but without clarity on the one number that drives results, teams spin in circles. Confusion creates motion, but clarity creates momentum.

We measure wins in baseball with WAR - Wins Above Replacement. But how do we measure our true value in business and leadership? This piece challenges you to rethink impact, contribution, and what would truly be missed if you weren’t in the game.

Too often, we confuse tactics for goals. A new system or process feels like progress, but those are just tools. Not the destination. True success comes from clarity: knowing what bigger mission those tactics are meant to serve. Before you get lost in the mechanics, ask yourself - What’s the real goal?

Three different leaders told me the exact same thing: “My people won’t make decisions.” The real issue isn’t the people. It’s the system they’re operating in.

“How you do anything is how you do everything” sounds inspiring, but in reality, it’s unsustainable. The key isn’t doing everything perfectly. It’s deciding what deserves your best and letting the rest be “good enough.”

What began as a conversation over a bottle of bourbon turned into something much deeper, a quiet lesson about the value of stillness in a life lived at full speed.

After a decade of growth, a successful firm paused to ask the deeper questions: Who are we now? What do we stand for? And where are we going next? The answer didn’t come from the top, it came from the front lines.

We say trust is earned in hospitals and boardrooms, but maybe it’s really built in a barber’s chair. This piece explores why the person who cuts your hair might be the best listener you know, and what leaders can learn from that 30 minutes of judgment-free honesty.

What you focus on is what you get, good, bad, or somewhere in between. This short reflection explores why our thoughts and energy shape our reality, and how you can steer your life toward what you truly want instead of what you’re trying to avoid.

The fireworks are over, the grill is cold, and the year is halfway done. Plans shift, life surprises us, but there’s still time to shape the rest of 2025 into a year you’ll be proud of. Here’s how I’m thinking about it, and a simple nudge to help you reset and move forward.

We all have bad rounds, in golf, work, and life. The difference is, you can’t fix a golf swing on the spot, but you can own your mistakes with people. That’s how you build trust, get better, and keep getting invited back to play.