The Expert Trap: Why Knowing More Can Sometimes Mean Seeing Less Mar 25, 2026

You've spent years building your expertise. Law school. The bar. Thousands of hours of practice. CLEs. Hard-won experience that sharpens your instincts and earns the trust of your clients and colleagues.

That expertise is real. It matters. It got you where you are.

But here's s...

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The Two Things We Do With Hard Feelings at Work (And the Third Option Nobody Taught Us) Mar 19, 2026

A few years ago, I was facilitating a session at a law firm, and I asked a room full of attorneys a question that seemed simple:

"What do you do when you have a strong emotional reaction at work?"

The answers came fast.

"I push through it." "I go to the bathroom and take a...

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What Happens to Your Legal Judgment After a Bad Night's Sleep Mar 13, 2026

You would never walk into a deposition after two glasses of wine.

And yet, if you woke up at 6:00 a.m. and you're still working at midnight, you've likely been awake long enough for your cognitive performance to resemble a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%, according to the r...

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The 30-Second Reset You Can Use Anywhere Mar 06, 2026

You know that feeling when you've been going all day, and someone asks how you're doing, and "I'm fine" comes out before you even think about it?

You're not lying, exactly. You're just… not stopping long enough to check.

I've been there more times than I can count. Between spea...

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Default Urgency: When Speed Stops Serving You Mar 02, 2026

There's a moment I remember clearly from the early days of my career.

My manager stopped in the doorway of my office, glanced at the stacks of files threatening to overtake my desk, and said, almost admiringly, "You're always moving."

I took it as a compliment. I wore it like a...

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What Taylor Swift teaches about teamwork Feb 18, 2026

When I sat down to watch the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” documentary with my daughter (mostly as an excuse for a little quality time since we’d seen the concert together in Minneapolis), I didn’t expect to walk away thinking about leadership and teams.

Early in the documentary...

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Emotional Intelligence Shows Up In How We Recognize Others Feb 13, 2026

There have been moments throughout my career when I didn’t feel particularly valued for my work.

Not because the work wasn’t acknowledged, because it often was.

But the way that acknowledgment showed up didn’t quite connect. 

Sometimes recognition came publicly when what I rea...

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Say the words, don’t just think the thoughts! Feb 05, 2026

I've been rethinking a conversation I had with someone I’m very close to.

They shared that they’ve been thinking about me every day. They’ve been hoping I was okay, especially with everything happening right now in Minnesota, where I live, and they knew the last several weeks ha...

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Giving Grace ≠ Lowering the Bar Jan 29, 2026

Lately, I’ve been returning to a simple reminder - one I’ve been offering to my team, my clients, and quietly practicing myself:

Have grace.
With yourself.
And with others.

It sounds straightforward. It’s anything but.

There is a lot happening right now. In our communities. In o...

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Two Words We Try to Avoid (But Shouldn’t!) Jan 27, 2026

“I apologize.” Two small words that carry a lasting and immeasurable impact.

Earlier this week, I needed to say them myself. (Ugh!)

I was moving fast - too fast - with too much to do, and too many plates spinning trying to do too many things at once.

In trying to be efficient,...

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Getting Organized Creates Space for What Matters habit productivity Jan 09, 2026

My approach to organizing and decluttering is not about dramatic overhauls.

It is quiet and steady, focused on simplifying upfront and building sustainable habits so I am not recreating the same problems a few weeks or months later.

It recently felt like a natural moment to do ...

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Steady, Not Perfect: A Kinder Way to Move Through The Year Dec 24, 2025

Ever found yourself elbows deep (pun intended) in something that felt overwhelming?

I had committed to baking cookies for a fundraiser at our church. A group of volunteers (myself included) is headed back to El Salvador for a service trip this summer, and one of our biggest fund...

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