Shape Shifters explores how our behavior changes depending on the situations that activate us. Drawing from Adam Grant’s idea of “if-then” signatures and research by Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda, this post looks at how leaders can better understand their own patterns, triggers, and strengths while becoming more curious about those of their teams. When we replace labels with questions, differences become easier to navigate and more useful to the work.

Leadership can be spooky, especially when the real monsters are avoided conversations, disengaged teams, old habits, and the messy weight of the work itself. This Halloween-themed post uses monsters, zombies, ghosts, and horror stories to explore familiar leadership challenges with humor and honesty. Courageous leadership means opening the door anyway, facing what you have been avoiding, and remembering that fear does not disappear before action. We move forward despite it.

Return on Luck explores what leaders do with the unexpected moments that shape their lives and work. Drawing from Jim Collins, Morten Hansen, and the idea of planned happenstance, this post examines how preparation, curiosity, flexibility, and disciplined choices help leaders make more of both good and bad luck. Courageous leadership is not about controlling what happens. It is about being ready to respond, grow, and sometimes become someone else’s “who luck.”

Leadership stories hold power because they remind people that leaders are human, too. In Women, Leadership and Sharing Our Story, Dr. Cindy Petersen reflects on vulnerability, authenticity, imperfection, and the courage it takes to share the messy parts of our journeys. When leaders tell honest stories of struggle, growth, belonging, and transformation, they create connection, build trust, and give others permission to show up more fully in their own lives and leadership.

Main Character Energy explores what happens when leadership becomes too centered on the leader. Drawing from Paul Graham’s “founder mode,” Jamil Zaki’s research, Gallup data, and the idea of supporting-character energy, this post examines how power can narrow perspective and weaken connection. The alternative is a more curious, humble approach to leadership: listening deeply, helping people connect work to meaning, and remembering that leadership is not about owning the whole