resilient capital keeper

The bigger the decision, the less certain you feel making it. That caught me off guard the higher I moved in leadership. You keep waiting to feel sure. To have all the consequences resolved before you commit. On the decisions that carry the most weight, that feeling doesn’t really come. So the real edge becomes…

Have you ever caught yourself doing this on a call? I have. I’m with someone, supposed to be all there for them, and my head is still back on whatever I was chewing on before I got on. The strategy, the money, some problem I couldn’t shake. So I’m only kind of there. The more…

Wondering how to actually work with me? Here’s the simplest answer. If you’re operating at a new level, stepping into bigger responsibility, or moving into a new arena, the first step is a connection call. Not a sales call. A real conversation. A chance to meet, hear what you’re carrying, and see if there is…

An opportunity showed up last week. Pretty aligned with me. My purpose, my skill set. Stuff I’ve actually trained to do. And almost in the same breath, this voice in the back of my head went, “who are you to do that?” Dude. 26 years of leading. Training as a coach. And that voice still…

When the old arena goes away, it can feel like your purpose went with it. The title is gone. The uniform is gone. The mission, team, structure, and rhythm that helped make sense of who you were, all of that changes. For me, that old arena was the Navy. That was the container where a…

For a while, I was equating purpose with income. If this is my purpose, then this must be where the money comes from. I did not realize how much weight I was putting on that one equation. Because once those two things get fused together, the mission can start to feel like something you have…

When things get uncertain around you, it helps to know what is steady inside you. Not in some abstract way. I mean, actually knowing the inventory. The things you’re good at. The work that gives you energy. The values that keep showing up. The parts of your purpose that keep pulling on you. When the…

I finally got to reconnect with my friend Maurice Philogene on his Try Life On podcast. What made this one fun for me is that Maurice and I have a lot of resonance around the same idea, we just come at it from slightly different angles. At one point in my Navy career, my answer…

Most people think the transition starts with a job search. I don’t think that’s the hardest part. The harder part is figuring out what matters to you before life starts feeling urgent. Because once it does, reflection gets crowded out fast. You start doing. Sending resumes. Chasing interviews. Taking calls. Trying to create momentum. And…

I realized something in a coaching session a while back. Not one I was running. One I was in. The realization was this. Earning income and expressing purpose are two separate things. I’d been treating them like the same thing. When you build a business around what you believe your purpose is, it’s easy to…

Two roles on the table. One pays $125K. Big title. Big responsibility. The other pays $75K. Smaller on paper. I asked him which one he’d take if both came through. No hesitation. The $75K. In a heartbeat. Not because he doesn’t want more money. Because the mission of that organization lines up with his purpose.…

“𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻.” That line from Tom in this LRR Chat really stuck with me. When leaders start operating at a new level (e.g. a new role, a new organization, or a completely new arena), the instinct is to build the perfect plan. But over time many of us realize something…