When Your Greatest Strengths Get Hijacked by Stress (And What to Do About It)

A guitar engulfed in flames, representing how a leader's greatest strengths can be pushed to overdrive and destructive excess under stress.

We often think of our strengths as the best parts of us—the qualities that help us succeed, lead, and connect. And they are! But here’s a leadership truth that often goes unspoken: under stress, those very strengths can become our biggest liabilities. This doesn’t mean our strengths vanish. They don’t. But stress hijacks them, puts … Read more

What Is Identity-First Leadership? A New Framework for Leadership and Coaching

A CEO planting a cactus considering an Identity-First leadership framework

Leadership isn’t just about what you do. It’s about who you are—and who you’re becoming. For decades, leadership development has focused on skills, competencies, and behaviors: how to delegate, how to communicate, how to strategize. These matter—but they don’t explain why many highly skilled leaders still end up burned out, disconnected, or on autopilot. The … Read more

Why Leadership Behaviors Don’t Stick Without Identity

A blank business card symbolizing leadership competencies that lack identity clarity and personal grounding.

You’ve seen it before: A leader goes through a training. They learn how to motivate the team, engage a crucial conversation, delegate, hold one-on-ones, or communicate more clearly. For a few weeks, they try out their new skills. But soon old patterns creep back in. Or worse, the “new behaviors” vanish under pressure. Why? Because … Read more

Beyond the Model: Where Liminality Meets the Stages of Change

A cocoon in mid-transformation symbolizing the uncertain, fertile in-between space of liminality that leaders and teams must navigate during meaningful organizational change

When organizations embark on change, they usually reach for familiar tools: Gantt charts, strategy decks, maybe even a change curve. These are essential and I recommend them. But I find that rarely do we initiate or encourage talk about what change feels like—that strange terrain where the old ways no longer work, and the new … Read more

The Power of Community: How True You Collective Can Fuel Your Personal and Professional Growth

A macro shot of the dictionary definition of "Community," symbolizing the power a leader's community has to grow them personally and professionally

In a world where independence and self-reliance are often celebrated, we sometimes overlook the incredible power of community. Being part of a supportive, resource-rich community can be transformative, offering guidance, accountability, and motivation for both personal and professional growth. True You Collective was built on this idea—to provide a space where individuals can find the support, resources, … Read more

Going to Higher Places Requires Letting Go

A waterfall in Triple Falls NC, rushing through a bare winter forest under a clear blue sky, with golden leaves and sun rays in the foreground, representing the natural, powerful momentum that follows when leaders let go of old identities, limiting beliefs, and outdated ways of leading in order to rise to higher places

I chose the Dupont National Forest, NC as the venue for my bi-annual personal retreat this year (practicing what I preach to my coaching clients!) And the Triple Falls Trail (pictured) did not disappoint! While these get-aways are in part purposed for me to set goals, vision cast and strategically plan the upcoming half-year, they have also … Read more

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