Hi Reader,
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it means to stay human when we’re holding power.
Not just any power – but the kind that comes with budget sign-offs, policy decisions, personnel changes, tax dollars. The kind that makes us the one people wait on, defer to, resent, or revere.
It’s the kind of power that, if we’re honest, scares us a little more than we’d like to admit.
We don’t get here by accident – my clients are the kind of people who’ve made values-based decisions for years.
But what happens when doing the “right” thing still causes rupture? Or when the “right” thing isn’t clear at all?
This month, I’m writing about what happens when shame and fear start to shape our leadership more than integrity. It’s something I see often in my work with nonprofit execs, government leaders, and movement strategists – especially those who’ve fought their way to the top only to feel more isolated than ever.
✴︎ from shame to integrity: embracing conflict as a liberatory practice
It’s rooted in the messy real-life moments where the normal playbook falls short and our hidden somatic patterns take over. And it includes some early steps you can take to move from reaction into relational integrity – especially when conflict threatens to unravel too much.
And if you want a live place to practice?
🌀 Join me at this month's Conflict Clinic – free, unrecorded, and designed for justice-rooted leaders who want a different way to move through power, accountability, and repair. We’ll walk through the dynamics you’re experiencing – and we’ll practice staying in integrity when shit gets hard.
This month, we’re exploring the question of how do we hold it all?
