There’s something about the summer-time—longer days, summer vacations, and a subtle shift in pace—that creates space to step back and reconnect with what matters most. It’s a season that invites more connection, especially with the people we love. For many of us, that means more time with family. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve likely noticed that as your kids get older, that time together doesn’t happen as naturally as it once did.
Everyone has their own plans, their own interests, their own version of fun. And while that independence is something to celebrate, it also means that creating meaningful family moments requires a bit more intention than it used to.
That’s where something we call forced family fun comes in.
In our family, forced family fun isn’t about obligation—it’s about intention. It’s about creating moments that wouldn’t happen otherwise unless we made the effort. Sometimes it’s something simple, like a night at the pool hall followed by sushi. Other times, it’s planning a long weekend or a short getaway.
This year, my family took advantage of the Fourth of July falling on a long weekend and headed out to Colorado together. No friends invited, no splitting off into different directions—just time for us to reconnect as a family. While it may have started with a little resistance due to competing plans and a few questions about why we have to do this, it didn't end that way. What we’re really doing is creating space for connection and once we’re in it—laughing, sharing stories, being present—that initial resistance fades, and what’s left is something much more meaningful.
That idea—of intentionally creating connection—has been sitting with me lately, not just in my personal life, but in the work I do with leaders and teams.
I believe this same dynamic is playing out in the workplace.
The way we work has changed dramatically over the past few years. Hybrid and remote models have created flexibility and autonomy, which many employees value, but they’ve also introduced a new challenge—one that isn’t always immediately visible.
Connection no longer happens organically the way it used to.
And it's not just because people are working remotely. Even in organizations where employees are physically together, many spend their days moving from one back-to-back meeting to the next, often joining virtually from behind their own desks. Increasing workloads, competing priorities, and the constant pressure to keep up can leave little time for anything beyond heads-down execution.
As a result, the informal conversations, spontaneous brainstorming, and moments of shared laughter between meetings—those small, everyday interactions that quietly build trust and relationships—have become far less frequent. In their place, we have more structured communication, more scheduled meetings, more transactional exchanges. And while work is still getting done, something is missing.
Leaders are feeling it in the form of lower engagement, slower alignment, and teams that don’t quite feel as connected as they once did. It’s not that people don’t want connection. It’s that connection doesn’t just happen anymore. It has to be created.
That’s why so many organizations are investing in bringing their people together again.
In fact, according to a recent Korn Ferry commentary on workplace trends, nearly all companies are now hosting off-site events—far more than before the pandemic. At first glance, this might seem surprising, especially in a time when employees value flexibility and autonomy. But when you look a little deeper, it makes perfect sense. Organizations are trying to rebuild something that used to happen naturally—connection, trust, and a shared sense of purpose. In many ways, these off-sites are the workplace version of “forced family fun”. They are intentional moments designed to bring people together, even when it might feel inconvenient or unnecessary at first.
And just like at home, not everyone shows up fully on board. Some employees question the value. Others feel the tension of stepping away from their workload or personal responsibilities. There can be a quiet sense of skepticism—this better be worth it.
Over the course of my corporate career and now in my work with leadership teams, I’ve seen both sides of this.
I’ve experienced off-sites that felt like a nice break from the routine but didn’t create any lasting impact. People connected on the surface, enjoyed the experience, and then returned to work exactly as they were before. I’ve also been part of gatherings that were truly transformative. The difference wasn’t the location, budget, or even the agenda, it was the intention behind it.
When leaders are clear about the purpose of bringing people together—whether it’s to build trust, align on strategy, or create space for honest conversation—the experience shifts. It becomes more than just time away from the office. It becomes a catalyst. Trust, alignment, and connection aren’t built through email threads or status updates. They’re built through shared experiences, meaningful dialogue, and moments where people feel seen and heard. Those outcomes may not show up neatly in a spreadsheet, but they show up everywhere else.
In how quickly teams make decisions.
In how openly people communicate.
In how willing individuals are to support one another and move forward together.
What I find most interesting is how closely this mirrors what happens in our personal lives.
At home, we can’t assume connection will happen as our lives get busier and more complex. We have to create it. We have to make the time, even when it’s not the easiest option. And the same is true in leadership.
We can’t rely on connection to happen organically in today’s work environment. We have to be intentional about creating opportunities for it.
That doesn’t mean every team needs a large-scale off-site. It might be a smaller gathering, a team dinner, or even a well-designed working session that prioritizes meaningful interaction over just getting through an agenda. What matters most is the clarity of purpose.
Why are we bringing people together?
What do we want them to walk away with?
How will this experience help them show up differently afterward?
When those questions are answered with intention, the return becomes clear.
As you move through the summer, I invite you to think about where you might need to create more intentional space for connection. Maybe it’s with your family—planning that trip or that evening together that might not happen otherwise. Maybe it’s with your team—bringing people together in a way that goes beyond the transactional and into something more meaningful. The moments that feel a little forced at first … are often the ones that matter the most.
If you’re thinking about how to create more meaningful connection within your team or leadership group, I’d love to support you. Whether it’s designing an intentional off-site, strengthening alignment, or building trust in a more hybrid world, let’s start a conversation.
Reach out and let’s explore how you can create moments that truly make an impact—for your team and for yourself.
A few weeks ago, I noticed the word “vibe” kept showing up everywhere.
You probably hear it all the time too.
“We had a great vibe.”
“The vibe felt off.”
“I don’t know… something about the vibe just wasn’t there.”
It’s one of those words we use casually, almost instinctively. We may not always be able to explain exactly what we mean, but we know when we feel it.
The vibe is vibing.
And lately, I’ve been thinking about it a lot—especially in the context of relationships and leadership.
At the beginning of this year, I set a personal intention: to make energy decisions.
Not ego decisions. Not obligation decisions. Just energy decisions.
After years of running my own business and working closely with leaders and teams, I’ve become more aware of how precious our energy really is. Where we invest it matters. Who we spend it with matters. And the energy we bring into a room often shapes what’s possible in that moment.
That intention came into focus recently during a simple coffee meeting.
A friend who knows my work introduced me to another woman in our community. She thought there might be some alignment between what we both do professionally, and I’m always open to meeting thoughtful, accomplished people who care about making an impact.
So we met for coffee.
The conversation was nice. She was smart, kind, and clearly passionate about her work. But as we talked, I noticed that I was working really hard to find the connection.
I kept trying to imagine how our work might overlap. I searched for ways we could collaborate or support one another professionally. I found myself asking more questions, digging a little deeper, hoping something would click. It never quite did.
When the conversation ended, I walked away feeling surprisingly drained. Nothing had gone wrong. She was lovely. But I knew that I had just spent an hour trying to manufacture a connection that didn’t naturally exist.
The old version of me probably would have scheduled another coffee. After all, she had been introduced to me for a reason. Maybe the next conversation would reveal something. Maybe I just needed more time to figure out how we could work together.
But I reflected on my intention for the year to make energy decisions. Honestly, the energy just wasn’t there.
For the first time in a situation like this, I made a different choice. When she suggested getting together again, I politely declined. Not because she wasn’t wonderful, but because the energy didn’t feel aligned.
That decision might sound small, but it felt significant. It was a reminder that energy is a form of currency—and we get to choose where we spend it.
Around the same time, I came across a preview of a new book by Adam Grant called VIBE which caught my attention. In introducing the book, he talked about something many of us have experienced but rarely stop to analyze … why some interactions feel electric while others fall flat.
He shared a story about a speaking event where he had to replace a conversation partner at the last minute. On paper, the two of them didn’t seem like an obvious match. They had different personalities, interests, and barely knew each other. Yet when they stepped onto the stage together, the chemistry was undeniable. People assumed they had been friends for years.
He couldn’t stop thinking about why that moment worked so well. What he realized was that connection isn’t really about how much time we spend with someone, it’s about how we spend that time.
In this case, his conversation partner—an actor—encouraged them to rehearse the rhythm of the conversation backstage. Instead of exchanging long personal stories, they riffed on ideas together. They created momentum and energy before they ever stepped in front of the audience.
Reading that, I found myself nodding along.
In my experience as a coach, the most impactful moments in my work often happen when that same kind of energy is present.
There’s a certain ease to those conversations. I’m not searching for the perfect question or trying to impress anyone with insight. I’m simply present—fully listening, curious, and engaged.
My client is leaning in, I’m leaning in and ideas begin building on each other. Something new starts to emerge in the space between us.
Those are the moments when coaching isn’t “work”, it’s “ease”. The conversation flows, the insight lands and the energy expands.
You could say the vibe is right.
One way I’ve come to think about it is that a vibe is simply energy made visible.
You can feel it in a room. You can sense it in a conversation. You know when it’s present—and you know when something feels off.
Why don’t we always trust that signal?
Often we override it with logic or obligation. We convince ourselves we should keep investing time because the relationship makes sense on paper. Or because someone introduced us. Or because we don’t want to disappoint anyone.
But the longer I do this work, the more I believe that connection is the true catalyst for impact.
When people feel a natural alignment in energy:
In a world that’s moving faster than ever, that ability to connect quickly matters.
We don’t always have months to build relationships anymore. Leaders are navigating constant change, packed schedules, and endless demands on their attention. Many of our interactions happen in short windows—meetings, quick conversations, brief collaborations.
In those moments, the energy we bring matters … your presence matters, your curiosity matters … and the way you listen, respond, engage with others sets the tone for what happens next.
Which means the vibe you create isn’t just a personal experience—it’s a leadership signal.
Energy is contagious.
When a leader shows up distracted or disengaged, people feel it immediately. But when a leader brings genuine presence, curiosity, and openness into the room, the entire dynamic shifts. Conversations become more real. People feel safer speaking up. Ideas begin to flow.
The vibe changes and with it, the possibilities for connection, collaboration, and progress.
So if you’re thinking about how this shows up in your own leadership, here are a few simple practices that can help.
Notice how conversations feel—not just what is being said. Are people leaning in or pulling back? Does the conversation feel open and engaging, or forced and transactional?
Energy often tells you more than words.
In a distracted world, presence is powerful. Put the phone down. Listen fully. Ask one more curious question. When people feel truly seen and heard, connection accelerates.
Pay attention to where ideas start building naturally. Those are often the places where collaboration, innovation, and impact are waiting to happen.
Sometimes the most important leadership decision isn’t pushing harder—it’s recognizing when the energy isn’t aligned and adjusting accordingly.
Lately I’ve been asking myself these questions:
Where does the energy feel expansive?
Which conversations leave me feeling energized and inspired? Which relationships create momentum instead of depletion?
Sometimes the most powerful leadership decision we can make isn’t about doing more. It’s about paying attention to the energy in the room - and trusting what it’s telling us.
If you are curious about how your leadership presence and energy show up for the people around you, I invite you to take my Heart Leader Assessment. It’s a simple way to reflect on the intentional energy you bring to your team, your conversations, and your leadership.
Your vibe might matter more than you think. 💜
There is a shift happening inside organizations right now.
The pace is accelerating. Expectations are rising. And the margin for sitting back and waiting for clarity has nearly disappeared.
More and more companies are asking their teams to move with urgency. And it’s becoming increasingly obvious who is operating with that urgency—and who is quietly leaning out.
Leaders and teams are no longer in a position where they can afford to simply wait for things to settle down.
I know what the waiting looks like.
Early in my corporate career, I was part of an executive team navigating, what felt like, constant change. We were in growth mode, under pressure to hit ambitious targets. Product teams were chasing the “shiny pennies.” New initiatives would surface quickly—sometimes to close a deal before year-end, sometimes to respond to a competitor, sometimes just hoping to find the bluebird that would fix everything.
The pattern was predictable.
A big idea would launch.
Energy would spike.
Resources would shift.
And then, before the strategy had time to fully take hold, another pivot would arrive.
Over time, something subtle happened … leaders across the organization became conditioned to it.
You could hear it in quiet hallway conversations:
“If we wait long enough, this will change again.”
“Don’t get too invested.”
“Let’s just see where this lands.”
It wasn’t laziness. It was self-protection.
When change feels temporary, when direction shifts frequently, you learn to conserve your energy. You learn not to overcommit emotionally or strategically.
Instead of leaning in to shape the change, you may begin to lean back.
In looking back on that experience, I will admit that many of those initiatives did fade or morph into something else. So for a while, that strategy worked.
But it doesn’t anymore.
This speed of change is different. The scope of transformation is broader. Technology, AI, market shifts, talent expectations—everything is moving at once. Sitting back and waiting for it to pass is no longer a neutral stance. It’s visible.
And costly.
We are no longer operating in an environment where change cycles quietly reset themselves. The speed of transformation—driven by technology, AI, evolving customer expectations, and global uncertainty—means that leaders who hesitate stand out.
And the data reinforces this reality.
McKinsey has long reported that nearly 70% of transformation efforts fail, with the most common reasons being employee resistance and lack of management support—not flawed strategy. In other words, it’s not the plan that fails, it’s the leadership behavior around the plan.
Gallup research also shows that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement. When leaders are disengaged, hesitant, or resistant to change, their teams feel it immediately—and performance follows.
When you lean out, your team does too.
When you lean in—demonstrating curiosity, courage, and openness—your team has permission to do the same.
When I talk about “going faster,” I am not talking about piling more work onto already full plates. I am not suggesting reactive decision-making or abandoning thoughtful planning.
I am talking about speed in:
The leaders who are thriving right now are not necessarily the ones executing the most tasks. They are the ones who are quickest to reframe. They move more rapidly from resistance to curiosity. They transition more quickly from “Why are we doing this?” to “What opportunity might this create?”
That kind of internal agility is what organizations need.
When a leader leans out—emotionally or intellectually—it becomes apparent. In meetings, they are quieter. Their language is more cautious. Their energy feels reserved. And teams pick up on that subtle withdrawal.
But when a leader leans in—even without having every answer—the impact is noticeable. They ask thoughtful questions. They engage in shaping the outcome. They model adaptability in real time.
And those are the leadership muscles required for what’s next.
If you are honest with yourself, you likely know the answer.
Change fatigue is real. Transformation can feel relentless. It is human to want stability and clarity before fully committing.
But the leaders who will thrive in this season are not the ones who wait for certainty. They are the ones who build comfort with ambiguity. They understand that leaning in does not require blind optimism—it requires engagement.
Here are three practical ways to assess where you stand and, if needed, recalibrate.
Pay attention to how you talk about change.
Are you using phrases like, “Let’s see how this plays out,” or “This will probably shift again”?
Those statements may feel pragmatic, but they can signal hesitation to your team.
Experiment with language that invites ownership instead:
“What would success look like here?”
“How could we test this thoughtfully?”
“What role can we play in shaping the outcome?”
Language influences mindset, and mindset influences culture.
Your team reads your posture and tone long before they analyze your strategy.
Are you contributing ideas? Asking questions? Demonstrating engagement? Or are you observing from the sidelines, waiting for direction to solidify?
Leaning in does not require dominating conversations. It requires visible participation in building the future.
You do not need sweeping gestures to demonstrate commitment.
Often, it is the small, consistent signals that matter most: volunteering to pilot an initiative, publicly sharing what you are learning, inviting feedback on how you are adapting.
These actions communicate forward motion. They signal that you are not waiting for change to pass—you are helping shape it.
The future will not belong solely to the most experienced leaders or the most technically skilled. It will belong to those who are adaptable enough to evolve alongside the change.
Adaptability is not about constant reinvention. It is about maintaining engagement when conditions shift. It is about choosing curiosity over cynicism and contribution over observation. It is about modeling for your team that forward motion is possible—even when the path is not perfectly clear.
The pace of change isn’t slowing down.
But how you show up inside of it is still within your control.
So here’s the question I’ll leave you with:
Where are you leaning?
And what would shift if you leaned in just 10% more this month?
If you’re recognizing areas where you may have been leaning back—or if you want to strengthen your ability to lead with greater adaptability, clarity, and intention in this next season—I’d love to partner with you.
In my work with senior leaders across industries, one conversation comes up again and again—especially for leaders stepping into VP or senior leadership roles for the first time.
They say:
“I know how to deliver results. I’ve built my career on execution and getting things done. But now, the expectations feel different. I’m not just leading a team; I’m expected to influence across the organization, partner with the C-suite and think far beyond my function. How do I make that leap?”
That’s what I call the growth edge—the space between where you are today and the leader you need to become to thrive at the next level.
The shift from delivering results to driving strategy can feel like stepping onto a completely different playing field. And that’s because, in many ways, it is.
At the Director level, success often comes from execution excellence—delivering projects on time, leading teams to hit targets and ensuring operational efficiency. Those skills don’t disappear at the VP level, but they become table stakes. They’re the minimum expectation, not what sets you apart.
At the VP level, the spotlight widens. Suddenly, you’re:
It’s not like there’s a playbook or checklist for this shift. No one hands you a “how to VP” manual. The roadmap is unwritten because the real growth edge isn’t about what you do—it’s about how you show up.
Your growth edge is in your how.
This is where the biggest mindset shift happens—and where many leaders get stuck.
At this level, your how matters more than your what. How you engage your peers. How you frame and communicate ideas. How you build trust across functions. How you elevate the conversations you’re in.
Your growth edge is defined by how you step into that bigger, broader, more visible leadership role. It’s less about the technical mastery that got you here and more about the leadership presence and strategic thinking that will keep you here—and help you thrive.
As I recently shared recently with a team of senior leaders, those who successfully navigate this shift do three things consistently. These aren’t just “nice to do”—they’re essential for leaders operating at the VP level and beyond.
At the operational level, it’s easy to get caught up in the what—tasks, deliverables, and updates. But senior leaders don’t need (or want) to be in the weeds. They care about the why—the business impact, the risks, the opportunities.
Every time you communicate—whether to your team, peers, or boss—ask yourself: Am I framing this conversation around why it matters? Am I connecting this work to the bigger picture?
This small shift in framing elevates your voice and positions you as a strategic partner, not just an executor.
At higher levels, the ambiguity factor skyrockets. Change happens fast, decisions are made with limited information and senior leaders often operate in gray areas. In these moments, clear communication is a superpower.
If you don’t shape the narrative, someone else will. Be intentional about how you communicate, whether it’s a status update, a team meeting, or a one-on-one with your boss. Ask yourself:
Clear, intentional communication helps you manage up and foster alignment across your peers and teams.
It’s easy to get stuck in the day-to-day grind. But the leaders who thrive at the VP level are the ones who carve out time to zoom out. They don’t just execute—they ask bigger questions:
That shift—from short-term tactics to long-term strategy—is a hallmark of leaders who own their growth edge.
The truth is, no one is going to tap you on the shoulder and say, “Here’s exactly what you need to do to succeed at this level.” The most successful leaders write their own playbook, one built on intentional leadership.
Intentional leaders know that how they show up matters as much as what they deliver.
That’s why your growth edge isn’t just a career milestone—it’s a mindset shift. It’s about owning how you show up, how you add value and how you lead when the path forward isn’t always clear.
So, I’ll ask you the same question I asked that senior leader: What’s your growth edge right now?
Maybe it’s elevating your voice in executive meetings. Maybe it’s becoming more comfortable navigating ambiguity. Or maybe it’s building stronger cross-functional relationships to drive enterprise-wide initiatives.
Wherever your edge lies, I encourage you to lean into it—intentionally. The biggest growth happens when we’re willing to step into the discomfort of not having all the answers—and lead anyway.
If you’re navigating this shift—or preparing for it—I’d love to help you explore your growth edge and build the intentional strategies to thrive. Let’s connect to discuss how executive coaching or leadership workshops can help you (or your team) make the leap.
