Last year, I created a file called “In Case of Emergency – Start Here.” It grew out of a question I’ve found myself pondering increasingly often: if someone else had to step into my role tomorrow, would they know what they needed to carry on? I began thinking about what I knew that no one…
Stop for a minute and think about where expertise actually comes from. Not information. I mean the kind of expertise that lets someone sit across from a CEO and explain why a product can’t launch on time because of geopolitical supply chain issues. The kind that understands which stakeholder needs a call before the meeting,…
AI is helping make companies more efficient, and the short-term gains are real. Tallying the consequences of those efficiencies will take longer. When you remove friction from how work gets done, you remove more than inefficiency. You’re also removing the conditions under which people develop. Judgment doesn’t come from having the right answer a click…
There’s no shortage of “AI is revolutionizing [insert industry here]” takes.The problem with AI adoption is something nearly all of them ignore: capability doesn’t equal behavioral change. I’ve seen this pattern play out. Everything looks aligned on paper, leadership supports the tech, and teams agree it should make work more efficient. And yet. New capability…
As organizations increasingly adopt AI, leadership teams optimizing for productivity today may discover a decade from now that they’ve weakened the succession and leadership pipeline they once took for granted. An Anthropic study published March 5 analyzing Claude usage, along with related labor-market analysis cited by Sakeeb Rahman, highlights an emerging shift: hiring into highly…
Leading with data requires judgment. This April, I’ll be speaking at the 2026 Women in Hospitality Leadership Conference at Wynn Las Vegas about what leading with data really means. In my experience, analytics are rarely the constraint. Interpretation is. Strong leaders don’t react to persuasive metrics at face value. They examine context, surface assumptions, understand…
When Alignment Masks Risk Some of the most expensive strategic mistakes aren’t made in chaos. They happen in rooms that feel aligned. When an executive team reaches agreement quickly, it feels like certainty and momentum. Speed and unanimity create energy. They can also create blind spots. Strong internal consensus is often where risk takes root….
A LinkedIn post by Carolene Meli this week imagined helping Celine Dumont, the impeccably ruthless executive from The Morning Show, reshape her public image. Carolene’s idea was elegant and powerful: help a leader tell her story through consistent writing and speaking that reveals her dimension and credibility. Done well, it benefits both the leader and…
The Strategist’s Edge This is an occasional series about how to lead with intent, nuance, and purpose, whether you’re building brands, guiding teams, or making decisions that matter. Check out the rest of the series here. When was the last time you cut through complexity so effectively that everyone in the room understood what to…
The Strategist’s Edge This is an occasional series about how to lead with intent, nuance, and purpose, whether you’re building brands, guiding teams, or making decisions that matter. Check out the rest of the series here. Whether or not “strategist” is your title, a core part of leading smart, effective agency work is helping ideas…