In the Leading with Courage Circles I facilitate, we spend real time on this question. We work on it in the spirit of community, experimentation, and curiosity. This kind of thinking is necessary because the intense pace of change and disruption requires creative thinking about how much we can actually do as leaders, and how we can lessen our mental load. Distributed leadership does more than help people leaders and executives manage that load: it creates meaningful work for others who may be...

Reflecting on conversations, I’ve had with women this past year about ambition, both in traditional workplace, and in the small business space. Women trailblazers came before us, and now we are walking our own paths. We have to own those paths! There’s work that’s just for us to do. The next generation of trailblazing women is among us! Let's make sure they're seen, supported, and celebrated.

Have you ever felt like you paid a price for your ambition? A recent conversation with Dr. Frank Douglas for his Antifragility Reframe Podcast reminded me what what it felt like at a pivotal moment in my career when my ambition was getting me in trouble. I was outgrowing a situation at work, and it felt like just by following my path, I was ruffling feathers. I was straddling an assigned teaching curriculum and a new Deputy Director role for a federal grant of nearly a million dollars. And...