Taking The Leap

Today is the day. It's finally here. I feel like I've been waiting for this day for years and it also feels like this is happening so fast.

Today is my first day full time with Trailblazer Leadership. This business that I have been growing and nurturing over the last year is launching with some exciting things ahead. Just as it has felt slow and fast at the same time, it also feels terrifying and exhilarating, peaceful and chaotic. I feel so clear and also so uncertain at the same time. And all of that tells me I'm exactly where I need to be.

Working for myself is, in a way, a step back towards one of my original career choices. After graduating from the Humphrey School, I worked at an incredible consulting organization where we worked on capacity building projects with organizations all over the country. One of my favorite projects was a partnership with PolicyLink to design a year of learning for the civic engagement grantees for the Kellogg Foundation. That's the kind of consulting work I plan to do again through Trailblazer Leadership and I can't wait to see what's ahead. I'm particularly interested in exploring how I can bring a living systems mindset to leaders and organizations, and how we can use the lessons we've learned from nature on how to develop more humane and regenerative organizations, policies, and systems for a different way of being.

I'm also excited about the coaching part of my business, which is growing like crazy. I love working with my clients to explore their opportunities and to build the courage and confidence to just take the next step to see what emerges. My current clients are all at different stages in the careers and at different points of exploring their values and what makes them tick. I'm intentionally weaving emotional intelligence both into my approach and the practices I utilize with clients. 

And I've got some really complex and rich training and facilitation opportunities coming up. I'm learning that I'm gaining a reputation for working with leaders and organizations who need to have difficult conversations. These conversations range from structure to funding and other potential decisions that may have huge impact on organizations and the people who care about them, to identity, trust, vulnerability, and other conversations that are often hard to have with those we love, let alone those we work with.

Even as I read everything I just listed above, I feel like I need to pinch myself and verify that all of this is real. Part of me feels so incredibly lucky, privileged, and potentially unworthy to be doing this. And the other part of me feels like this has always been an inevitable place where my career would lead me. I'm so incredibly grateful to the friends, colleagues, mentors, elders, and family who have provided the support and the security to allow me to take this leap. It's much easier to make the jump when you have faith that if you fall your community will catch you.

Here's to what's next.