The most important thing you bring to work isn't your strategy. It's your state. And your state walks into the room before you do.
In my early twenties I managed Hooters restaurants. Fifteen years later I was leading go-to-market for SaaS companies. Same job underneath: read the room, set the tone, try not to be the reason people dread Monday stand-ups.
I got good at the measurable stuff. Forecast calls, SKOs, quarterly reviews. What I didn't track was the energy. One Tuesday a rep closed the biggest deal in company history and the room felt dead. Numbers were right. Everything else was off. I realized the thing that was off was me.
That sent me somewhere I wasn't expecting. I started noticing what I carried into rooms before anyone spoke. What my body already knew that my calendar didn't. The gap between the version of me running the meeting and whatever was underneath it.
I'm writing a book with Dr. Carlos Warter. Psychiatrist. Fifty years studying consciousness from inside clinical practice, not outside it. Harvard, the Amazon, twenty-two books in six languages. He doesn't lead with any of it. Park Street Press, spring 2027. Field Notes is where I'm working it out before I have the answers.
Recent Writing
Your Body Knows Before You Do
The hyper-vigilant Sunday night dread that meds and sleep can't fix. Your body noticed months ago.
You Don't Need Ayahuasca. You Need to Pay Attention.
Executives fly somewhere expensive to find themselves. Then they jump on the 405 and nothing changes.
The One-Minute Test
If you had sixty seconds to give someone feedback that could change their career, could you do it?