Today, Ashlee Berghoff and I are launching something we've been quietly building all year – a podcast miniseries called The Inner Work of Business.
But first, the story of how it started.
Read More
When I was younger, I didn’t understand why people were so crazy about flowering trees. I remember walking through the garden center, pictures in front of each specimen showing the tree in all its flowering glory.
Why, I wondered, did people pick trees based on a snapshot in time that lasts mere moments each year? Shouldn't they care more about what the tree looks like for the other 50 weeks?
But here I am, all these years later, walking through a neighborhood bursting into spring thinking: is there anything on this planet more beautiful than this right now?
Read More
There's a particular kind of tension that shows up in growing businesses.
From the outside, things look solid – a capable team, steady clients, momentum. But on the inside, the business feels heavier than it should. Growth feels constrained not by ambition or demand, but by what the operation can realistically handle.
It's the tension between the business you appear to be and the business you're actually equipped to run.
That tension was top of mind for me last month when I joined a client at their year-end retreat.
Read More
For the past few years, I’ve adopted the practice of choosing a one word theme that sets my intention for the year ahead.
2023: Elevate
2024: Embodiment
2025…
Read More
My husband Joe left the federal government back in May without a next step lined up. It was a giant leap for both of us.
I’m sure you’ve had a moment like that too, standing at the edge of a major decision, unsure if you should jump. Joe wrestled with his for months. Should he stay or should he go? And if he did leave, when would be the right time?
Read More
You might not know this about me, but in high school, I was a sprinter. The fastest white boy at my high school, in fact.
And on our relay team, we practiced our handoffs over and over. This seemingly simple task, is quite tricky in practice.
Tipping points have two sides.
There's the driving force.
And there's the counteracting force.
Too often, we only think about one side of the equation.
A few months ago, I joined Brian Lofrumento on his Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.
I was flattered when, a couple of days after we recorded, he told me our conversation was one of the most thought-provoking he’d had over the 1000+ episodes he’s recorded.
Why? Because we dug into a topic that almost every business owner talks about, but few truly define: scalability.
Read More
Delegation is often practiced. Escalation is not practiced enough.
Read More
(But it makes for a great business consultant)
If you’re a curious person, you’ve doubtless heard the adage "curiosity killed the cat.” Maybe it was even told to you as a warning. But did you know that there’s an important end to the saying that is almost always left out?
Read More
I recently had the chance to sit down with Mark Hayward on the Business Growth Talks podcast, and it got me thinking about some of the common myths that often trip up founders on the path to scale.
Read More
A few years ago, I decided to cut goals out of my life.
Why? They weren't working for me. Simple as that.
And I suspect the way most people set goals doesn’t work for them either.
Read More
How Getting Married Reinforced My Belief in Work-Life Integration
I think most of us have realized by now that the role of work in our lives has fundamentally changed.
Long gone are the days when our work and personal lives were two separate and disconnected worlds. Even the focus on work-life balance – which views work and life as separate but connected – is on its way out.
Instead, in both my own experience and the experience of many I’ve spoken with, the era of work-life integration has arrived. We are whole and complete humans who are living our lives at all times. Work is life. Home is life. Travel is life. Hobbies are life. It’s all just life.
Read More
It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Picture this. I had just graduated from the University of Maryland magna cum laude with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. But instead of following the expected path of working at a big fancy engineering firm, I became employee #2 at a startup energy auditing company running out of the back room of a house in the suburbs.
I was living my entrepreneurship fantasy.
There was just one problem…
Read More
I'm back! Did you miss me?
Did you even know I was gone??
Over the past few weeks, I was enjoying the sunny Mediterranean with my partner, Joe and our families.
But I did a couple of things differently this time.
Read More
Treating imperfection as an operating expense
In 2008, some college friends and I started the first stationless bike sharing program in the North America, a decade before bikes and scooters appeared on the streets of every major city.
And the first question everyone asked us was this...
Read More
This is my culture ethos.
In business, stuff goes wrong. We all know this. And as a company scales, there's more stuff to go wrong. So it will.
And when that inevitable something goes wrong, how do you respond?
Read More
Here’s what a business actually is
How do you think about purpose in the context of what you do? Are the two joined at the hip?
Well here's my hot take. Business is not a purpose.
Read More
If you could have a meal with anyone famous alive or dead, who would you want to have a meal with?
What is the #1 place you have always wanted to visit, but haven’t gotten the chance to go?
What's your favorite podcast?
These were the hard hitting questions Brian Haney asked me when we sat down to record an episode of The Haney Company's Financial Guy Podcast.
Read More
Do you ever wish you had the power to see the future? 🔮
Having a scalable business gives you that power.
Why?
Because when your business is scalable, it has the flexibility and adaptability to respond to future possibilities that you can't see today, but you very much expect to happen.
Read More