Thanksgiving

• I'm looking forward to taking this week off to spend time with my family, who have been patient and supportive as I launch the book
• I continue to love working with my clients to help them have more impact. I've had a few client sessions recently where we can look back and see how much they have grown because of how they handled a situation more effectively, and it's so satisfying to help them develop new capabilities. While this year has been slower, I made enough to pay the bills while working from where I chose, and I had the flexibility to work on the book.
• I live in a safe suburb, where my essential needs are more than covered.
• I am able bodied - while I take it for granted most days that I can walk around and do physical activities with no concerns, it is not guaranteed.
• I benefit from many privileges making my life easier, from being white-passing, male, cisgender and heterosexual, to having had parents who paid for my education, and gave me a diverse set of experiences and lessons as a child.
• I have the space and ability to learn new things when I choose to. In addition to the process of editing and releasing a book this year, I am now a regular podcast guest through podmatch.com, and that's been a fun new hobby.

• I had a great time chatting with Angie Callen of Career Benders on the No More Mondays podcast. We covered a lot of topics, including learning how to say no, how I managed my career and later burnout, and how to align your work and life with your values.
• I reflected on LinkedIn about what constitutes success for the book. While it's tempting to look only at book sales, I decided to think about it in terms of connection and helping people, which feels more aligned with my intention.

• I joined Emily Sander on the Leveraging Leadership podcast to talk about being an effective Chief of Staff (watch on YouTube or listen here), and how that helps leaders create organizational leverage. Having somebody who understands what you care about and can apply that to process, operations and communication so the right things happen is an unlock for many executives.

• Mark Dusseau is one of the most inspiring leaders I know, somebody who did more than escape the challenges of where he started as a foster kid in a rough neighborhood, but immediately turned around and applied what he learned to make things better for others through his social impact work. He has devoted himself to helping others, and stays true to that even when other opportunities might be easier or more profitable. Please take a few minutes to listen to his story and hear about his vision here.
• Seppo Helava is a leader who has always gotten great results and has made sure to take care of his team first, often ahead of his own welfare. He'd be a great person to talk to about building collaborative cultures, about finding product market fit, or about game design. I've always appreciated his thought partnership, and he was a key accountability partner for me in writing the book. If you want to talk about the above topics, you should take advantage of his offer on LinkedIn to share his experience.
• Jerry Colonna is one of my role models, and I was grateful that he supported my book with the blurb I shared above. I can't wait to read his new book, Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong, which was released this week. We can't belong when we shield ourselves from the world, when we mask our true selves for safety. Jerry's message is so critical for leaders to absorb, that leadership is about creating belonging, and responding to fear with love. Yes, belonging creates better work and output, but belonging is not the means to the end; it is the end in itself. You can see Jerry speak about the book here.