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WTF Wednesday — I Had All the Information… I Just Didn’t Use It There’s a very specific kind of realization that hits differently. It’s not the “I had no idea”  kind. It’s the “Oh… I knew. I just didn’t want to know.”  kind. — I’ve been thinking about this lately through a very non-leadership, very human experience. A friendship from several years ago. Or… what I thought was one. Nothing dramatic. No big blow-up. No obvious betrayal. Just small moments. Comments that landed w

Why Do I Have 3 Hotel Reservations in the Same City? WTF. No really. Why do I have: • Two flights booked… on different days • Three hotel reservations… for the same trip • And one completely non-refundable ticket… for a date I am absolutely not traveling. Then there's the opposite problem. I once arrived at a hotel only for them to tell me I hadn't actually booked a room. I thought I did. I could have sworn I did. In my head I did. But I didn't. I did however, have a room boo

WTF Wednesday. Why the Fighting? I don’t have a funny story today. But I do have a real one. This is what burnout looked like for me. I’m an observer. Of people. Of processes. Of patterns. And as a lifelong operator, I’ve been trained to fix things. Make it better. Make it faster. Make it make sense. Here’s the problem with that. When you’re good at spotting gaps… You start seeing them everywhere. Not just in your lane. In everyone else’s , too. And in some environments—espec

WTF Wednesday. Where the “WTF” is sometimes entirely self-inflicted. Years ago I walked into the grocery store, grabbed a cart, and started shopping. Totally normal human activity. Produce. Bread. A few random things I probably didn’t need. I made it almost all the way around the store  before something caught my eye in the cart. A University of Kentucky Wildcats sweatshirt . Now listen. I am many things. But someone who impulsively throws a Wildcats sweatshirt into a grocery

Several years ago, when I was still in the phase of life where I was transporting children everywhere, I did the thing no one wants to do. I was turning right onto a street in our neighborhood and somehow cut the wheel too sharp and slammed my tire into one of those street drains. Not a gentle graze. A full-on assault. Adrenaline hit. Curse words flew. From the backseat, my daughter calmly observed: “Wow, Mom. You hit that hard.” Thank you, child. Very helpful. I kept driving

WTF Wednesday. Feather Boa. Poor Decisions. There are many reasons I should not be trusted with directions. This is one of them. A few years ago, I was invited to one of my male bestie’s birthday dinner parties at his house. His wife is also my bestie. Important detail. I went to dinner with another friend beforehand, and he kindly offered to drop me off. Now. I am directionally challenged. And occasionally detail deficient. First, I sent him to my friend’s OLD neighborhood.

WTF Wednesday. Where’s the Focus? Have you ever promoted someone you knew in your gut might not be ready — but you rolled the dice anyway? I have. Years ago, I promoted someone with great skills. Smart. Driven. Results-oriented. The kind of person you want on your team when things are on fire. And things were often on fire, as is the norm in healthcare. I knew they didn’t have experience leading people. But I convinced myself their personality — coupled with their ability to

WTF Wednesday: Where’s the Fun I’m a prankster at heart. Always have been. As a kid, my mom was the primary recipient of my antics—and I learned (repeatedly) where “the line”  was. At work, obviously, there are guardrails. Especially when it comes to pranks. But fun? Fun is not against the rules. One of my former colleagues had a habit of leaving his coffee thermos everywhere. One day, I saw an opportunity. I took it. While he walked the halls looking for it, I quietly launch

WTF Wednesday - "WTF." That's the description this week. Disclaimer - if you're a male reading this newsletter - hang in there, I promise there's something in this story for you. I never expected a hot flash in our weekly executive team meeting to be the moment everything shifted — but there I was, palms slick, cheeks aflame, trying to pretend I wasn’t boiling on the inside while delivering a quarterly update. I laughed it off, cracked a joke, and finished my slide deck. But

Embracing Authenticity in Team Building You know what I hate? Ice breakers. Any ice breaker. I don't like forced authenticity. I prefer to show up authentically, on my own terms. When I led my teams, we established ground rules for team building. One of the key rules was "No ice breakers." The activities I organized were designed to inspire people to be themselves. They allowed everyone to express who they are in a way that felt comfortable. Creative Team Activities During CO

WTF Wednesday. What's the Focus? I Don’t Need Motivation. I Need Relief.   In my days as a leader, I often thought: I don’t need motivation. I need relief. There’s no shortage of motivational content aimed at leaders. Get focused. Reframe the challenge. Dig deeper. Push through. But here’s the truth I don’t hear leaders say out loud: Motivation isn’t the problem. It’s the lack of relief from the never-ending churn and burn. Relief from constant decision-making. Relief from be

It’s WTF Wednesday. And today’s version isn’t about leadership frameworks, burnout statistics, or “best practices.” It’s about being human. Here’s the honest truth I don’t see talked about enough: You can be doing the right things. You can be trying. You can be showing up. You can be building structure. You can be setting boundaries. You can be “handling it”…and still feel off. Still tired. Still heavy. Still unsettled. Still grieving things that don’t have clean labels. This

WTF Wednesday — When There’s Fear. I want to be honest about something as we step into a new year. There’s fear. Not the dramatic kind. Not the “everything is falling apart” kind. The quieter kind that shows up when the noise dies down. I’ve felt it lately — around money, around sustainability, around whether the energy I used to have will come back in the same way. around the doubt that creeps in when we make life-altering decisions and the voices whisper, "You're delusiona

When Leadership Feels Heavier Than It Should WTF Wednesday - Not the loud kind today. The quiet kind. Lately, I’ve been sitting with how heavy  leadership feels for a lot of people — especially those at the top. Not because they aren’t capable. Not because they lack resilience. But because they’re carrying more than the role was ever designed to hold. Decisions with no good options. People issues that don’t have clean answers. Pressure to stay composed while absorbing everyo

Theme this week: Why That’s Funny Let me take you back to one of the most unintentionally ridiculous “team-building” experiences of my career — and trust me, that’s saying something. Picture this: A group of women— mostly in their late 50s, 60s, and early 70s —standing in 99-degree heat. We’re all in workout clothes. We’re all sweating. And we’ve all just been informed that today’s “bonding experience” will be… 👉 An outdoor obstacle course. Yes. An actual obstacle course. Li

WTF Wednesday. "What's the Focus?" Featuring: The Weight of Being the Truth-Teller Every team has one. The person who finally says the thing everyone else tiptoes around.   The one who names the elephant.   The one who calls the meeting what it   actually   is. The person who finally says the thing everyone else tiptoes around. The one who mutters, “This is a terrible idea,” while everyone else silently panics. The one who risks the side-eye, the silence, or the dreaded:   “C

Because sometimes leadership lessons come with balsamic dressing .   A few years back, I went on a sales call with a home health exec.   We were having lunch with one of the driest, most awkward physicians on the account list — the kind who blinks once every five minutes and never cracks a smile, and grunts as a means of communication.   Mid-lunch, I somehow managed to dump an entire container of salad dressing into my shoe. Not on my shoe.  In it.   The sales rep saw it happ

This Week's WTF Moment - "Why That's Funny" If you’re a healthcare leader, you already know: some weeks feel like you’re running a triage center for people’s emotions, egos, and expectations — and that’s before lunch.   Oh wait… we don’t eat lunch.   So let’s start with a story.   Remember that little pandemic we had? 😵‍💫   It was the height of COVID. Our leadership team wanted to show staff how much we appreciated them during the holidays. We brainstormed, debated, and fi