What That Means for Instructional Designers Right Now This week, my co-presenter Christy Tucker and I attended a Training 2026, and she was chatting with a hiring manager about a recent instructional design opening. 70 people applied. Only FOUR had a portfolio....

If you’re an experienced instructional designer or trainer, you probably don’t struggle with content. You struggle with everything around the content. The formatting. The slide cleanup. The handouts. The small tweaks stakeholders request at the last minute. It’s not...

I do my best leadership design thinking on the trail. Not because I am escaping from work. When I run, my work comes with me. Client conversations replay in my head. Leadership challenges resurface. Program ideas click into place somewhere between base pace and push...

Most people can feel the difference between managing and leading long before they can explain it. You know it when your boss checks boxes, tracks hours, and approves requests but never really connects. And you definitely know it when someone inspires you to stretch,...

This builds on last week’s blog, Leadership Isn’t Always Loud Confidence. To read that one first, head over to our blog.  Why strong leaders burn out quietly, and what actually helps There’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with leadership. It’s not the long...

How is January hitting for you?  I am in a funk. I feel off, distracted, and just not at peace, and I am not enjoying it at all. I know, “this too shall pass”, but my anxiety is off the charts. I am limiting my social media, so I don’t spiral, overusing my calm app,...

January tends to bring a collective urge to purge. I don’t know about you, but the day after Christmas, I filled 5 outdoor trash bags with clothes, household items, linens, and anything else I could get my hands on to purge and donate.  Closets get cleaned. Desks get...

Diverse teams don’t need more control; they need leaders willing to adapt, listen, and connect. A Holiday Table, Two Daughters, and a Leadership Wake-Up Call Over the holidays, we had both of our daughters home at the same time, 21 and 23 years old. If you’ve...

Behind the Scenes: A Stick, a Dog Door, and a Lesson in Letting Go A couple weeks ago, I posted a reel of my puppy, Ellie, who had just followed her sister, Luna, into the house, proudly trotting in with a stick that was way too big to fit through her doggie door, but...

Every year as we head into the holidays, I feel myself slow down in ways that have nothing to do with my schedule. My calendar may be packed, my projects may be wrapping up, and my clients may be sprinting toward the finish line, but something inside me gets quieter....

In early November 2025, Target introduced a new in-store initiative called the “10-4 Policy.” Employees are now required to smile, make eye contact, or wave when a customer comes within ten feet and to verbally greet or offer help when within four feet. At first...

“Leaders today are expected to do more with less — and still inspire their teams.” Behind the Scenes: A Training Room Moment This week, I led a session called Digital Discipline: Turning Email and Teams into Tools for Driving Results and Execution. The leaders in this...