Ideas on power, ownership, and what comes next
Articles and notes on expertise, communication, and the rooms shaping what comes next.
I Said I Hated Sales. My Sister Called Me Out.
I used to say I hated sales.I don’t do numbers. I don’t love selling. I’m not a salesperson.My sister would hear me and remind me that I’d been selling for years.“You stood in front of juries,” she told me. “You stood in front of judges. You had to sell your client’s story so they would rule in your client’s favor.”I had never thought about my legal career that way.Subscribe nowSales wasn’t…
Read →Why I Invited White People to Talk About George Floyd
George Floyd was murdered on my son’s birthday.That detail made an already horrific event land even closer to my body.My son had also been victimized by police. I knew the fear, anger and helplessness that come with realizing how quickly someone you love can become another hashtag. I’d spoken about bias before the world watched a police officer kneel on George Floyd’s neck. My TEDx talk had been shaped, in part, by…
Read →When Being Easy to Find Was No Longer Enough
My first speaking clients found me.That is the truth.I didn’t build my early business by sending hundreds of cold emails or mastering a complicated outbound system. I had told people I was becoming a speaker. I’d positioned myself around unconscious bias. Then a cultural moment created urgent demand for exactly that work.My topic did much of the prospecting for me.People were searching, and my positioning helped…
Read →I Thought Replacing My Salary Was The Goal
For years, I said some version of the same thing whenever numbers entered the conversation.I’m a lawyer. I use words. I strategize. I don’t do numbers.It sounded almost charming when I said it.It was an expensive way to think.When I became a full-time entrepreneur, I knew how to serve clients. I could speak, train, advise and deliver. I’d invested in positioning, branding and professional development. I had coaches,…
Read →"Speaking, Training and Consulting" Is Not an Offer
Ask a room full of experts what they offer and you will hear some version of the same answer.Speaking. Training. Coaching. Consulting.That was my answer too.I could name every way I knew how to work. I could deliver a keynote, facilitate a workshop, train a team, mentor an individual or advise an organization. Every one of those services was legitimate. Every one drew from real expertise.But none of those words told…
Read →Experts! Your Former Salary Is Data Not a Benchmark
When I was preparing to leave law, I had a number in my mind.I needed to replace my salary.That felt responsible. I’d earned a multiple-six-figure salary, and I wasn’t leaving a long legal career to struggle unnecessarily. If the business could bring in what I’d made in law, I thought I would be fine.There was one major flaw in that thinking.I was comparing two numbers that did completely different jobs.My salary…
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