There’s a version of executive presence that almost nobody on LinkedIn talks about. It isn’t posture. It isn’t voice. It isn’t the way you take up space in the room. It’s how you handle being uncertain in public. The senior leaders I’ve watched build the most durable authority are the ones who’ve gotten comfortable saying…

One of the most common questions I get from senior leaders is some version of: “How do I know when it’s actually time to leave?” They’ve been restless for a while. They keep talking themselves out of moving. They wonder whether the discomfort is real signal or just the inevitable friction of any job. They…

I get one question more than any other in my DMs. It goes some version of: “I’ve been reading your posts for months. I’m thinking about reaching out about coaching. But I don’t know if I’m the right person, or if my situation is the right situation. How do I know?” Here’s my honest answer.…

There’s a leadership skill that gets harder, not easier, the more senior you become. Almost no one warns you about it. It’s not in the leadership books. It doesn’t show up in the 360 reviews. But in 20+ years of watching senior careers play out, I’ve come to believe it’s the single most important difference…

Senior leaders tell me all the time that they have a strong network. Then they start a job search and discover they don’t. What they have is a list of contacts. That’s not the same thing. In 20+ years on the hiring side, here’s the difference I’ve watched play out: A list of contacts is…

Senior leaders almost never lose authority all at once. They lose it in small phrases, repeated over months, that they don’t even know they’re saying. Five I’ve watched undermine smart, capable executives and what to swap them for. 1. “Sorry, can I just add something quickly?”Translation to the room: I’m not sure I deserve to…

There’s something I tell every senior leader in their first session with me. Almost word for word. I tell them: I’m not here to make you into someone different. I’m here to help you see yourself more accurately.Because here’s what I’ve learned in 20+ years of doing this work. Most of the senior leaders who…

Two senior leaders. Same industry. Same starting point ten years ago. One is now a SVP at a household-name company. Big title. Public profile. Speaking at conferences. The other is a VP at a less-known company. Quieter. Smaller team. Most people would tell you the first one has won the decade. Here’s what I’ve learned…

If you’re a senior leader having a hard quarter right now, this is for you.I’m not talking about the kind of “hard quarter” that ends up in your annual review as a growth moment. The actual kind. The one where the numbers are off, the team is tense, the executive above you is concerned, and…

Twenty-something years ago, someone gave me a piece of feedback I still think about every week.  Early in my career, a senior leader gave me a piece of feedback I’d like to give you. I was about five years into a talent acquisition role. Doing well, working hard, raising my hand for everything. I asked…

Most senior candidates discover the bad culture six weeks after they start. The signs were almost always there in the interview process. They just weren’t reading for them. In 20+ years, here’s what I’ve learned to watch for and what I now tell every senior client to read for during interviews. None of these are…

After 20+ years watching senior careers play out, I’ve come to believe something that sounds dramatic but isn’t: Your career is shaped less by the roles you take than by six specific conversations you have along the way. Most senior leaders can’t tell you when they had these conversations, or with whom, because the conversations…