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Few leadership moments test your integrity like a layoff. There’s no easy way to tell someone their role is being eliminated. Even when it’s necessary — a restructuring, a funding slowdown, a market shift — it leaves a mark on everyone involved. And while companies often focus on legal compliance, messaging, and PR risk, what really defines a leader in these moments is how they show up. Layoffs aren’t just about who leaves. They’re about who stays.

Every week I sit with ambitious, talented, capable leaders who—on paper—look nothing alike. A founder in Berlin. A director in Dublin. A senior executive in Singapore. A first-time people manager in New York. Different industries. Different backgrounds. Different passports and parenting stories. And yet… the same patterns emerge. High achievers don’t share a personality. They don’t share a resume. They don’t even share a temperament. What they   do   share is the ability to o

Stepping into a management role is already a shift in identity. Stepping into a management role over people who used to be your peers is a different kind of stretch. This is where many new managers get stuck. They know how to do the work. They are less sure about how to lead people who knew them before they were “the manager.”

A few months ago, a founder I coach said something I hear almost every week: "I feel like I'm juggling twenty balls, and none of them can drop." She runs a fast-growing startup.   Her calendar is a wall of back-to-back meetings.   She's managing a team, closing deals, mentoring, hiring, fundraising, fixing ops issues. If this sounds familiar to you, you are not alone.   Whether you're a founder, an executive, or a people manager, the reality is the same: You're constantly pul

You spent six weeks finding the perfect candidate. She nailed every interview. The team loved her. The offer package was ready. Then came the email: “I’ve decided to pursue another opportunity.” It’s easy to blame compensation, timing, or “the market.”   But most of the time, candidates aren’t rejecting your offer.   They’re rejecting your process. When the Process Sends the Wrong Signal I had coffee recently with Marcus, a VP of Engineering who’d lost three senior hires in a

There's a Buddhist parable I come back to when I'm coaching leaders who shy away from visibility. A group sits in a room. It starts to rain. A leak appears in the ceiling. Water drips — quiet at first, then relentless. Everyone shifts their chairs. Someone grabs a bucket. The conversation continues, but now everyone's distracted, uncomfortable, trying to work around the problem. One of them is a plumber. She sees the problem immediately. She knows exactly how to fix it. She's

It was 2:07 AM and I was staring at the ceiling, replaying two paragraphs of feedback in my head for the hundredth time. Earlier that...