This keeps coming up. In dinners. Leadership luncheons. Coaching sessions. All over digital media—because hey, we're all peers now, right? Someone says "I can tell that was written by AI." If you're the one saying it, it lands with a tinge of disdain. If you're experimenting with AI? That's instant panic and self-doubt. As if they've just caught you shoplifting. Let's zoom out for a second. 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 So if something "sounds lik

I’ve been experimenting with AI to compare my communication style with my leader’s. At every level, self-reflection matters — the honest, vulnerable kind. So I fed the agent emails, readouts, and meeting notes. And the verdict? My communication is dense. Not complicated, but layered. Context-heavy. Thorough. Thoughtful. I like to give all the why, all the contingencies, all the possibilities… before I get to the point. My leader? Pure BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front). Three senten

Last week I wrote about leaders who constrain their people—who chain talented individuals to workflows instead of developing them into leaders. That post has been living rent-free in my conversations since. Yesterday, in a session with women leaders, someone flipped the entire premise: "I've got the forge ready. The fire is hot. The tools are there. But I can't forge leaders out of people who refuse to enter the fire." Because we've all seen it—the person who wants the title,

I talked with someone this week who should be thriving. Talented. Sharp. Hungry to lead. But completely demoralized. Why? Because their leader has them so locked into task execution that they can’t see daylight, let alone opportunity. They’re not asking to drop responsibilities. They’re asking to 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. A project. A process improvement. A team initiative. Anything that signals: 𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗶