Last week was a humdinger.

One of those weeks where you hold onto your hat and just keep walking forward, fingers crossed it will all work out!

Client meetings and follow-up Monday, plus the final session of our four- month long Human Systems Guild pilot (graduation!) More to come on that in November for 2027! Tuesday and Weds full-up with client sessions and working on my Thursday-Saturday events, including banal things like nails and hair done.

Thursday, spoke at DisruptHR Bend which was a delight but also hard. 5 minutes, 20 slides, 15 seconds each. I was the second speaker and on "Your culture is your calendar." I find memorizing really hard, so it was a relief to be done and bask in the other speakers. What an honor to share the lineup and contribute to helping HR pros shift their thinking and practice.

Friday and Saturday welcomed 12 new LPP Licensees to Bend, OR for our first official on-boarding event. My heart was so full that these fellow practitioners committed, showed up, and did the work to add this toolset to their businesses to help build more workplaces that are good for people and business, while also building financially solid firms themselves.

Saturday, babysit the grans and sleep like a log! Phew!

A few takeaways from an intense week:

Connection is the Content

A mentor of mine, Peter Block, says this all the time, and I could not agree more. I spent hours last week prepping talks, refining binders and slides, and refining "the things." They mattered for sure, but nowhere near as much as presence, openness, curiosity and generosity. Moments of hearing someone's story and sharing mine are where the magic happens.

Holding Space is a Skill

This one, I know, but am reminded of it after last week. What I teach and know has value, but that value is superseded in all the best ways by people simply being given the space to reflect, to internalize insight, and to apply it in their own lives while being held by a group who cares. Holding space looks like ease and actually takes tremendous energy.

Community Builds On Its Own

When people are given the chance to really see one another, to have enough time to talk to one another and listen, they form the tendrils of shared interest, connective tissue, and future possibility all on their own. We (the space holders) don't have to force or cajole its creation, it happens all on its own with a little push early on through structure and invitation.

Keep Showing Up

Last week I got to reap the benefits of being at this work for a very long time. I was able to receive it mirrored back to me as gratitude in others for what I have built, for how they can access it, and for helping them do the next hard thing. I felt awash in gratitude for them saying yes. I also allowed myself to sink into my own perseverance, the support and mentorship I have had over the years, and the persistent grit I have pulled from all these years to keep putting one foot in front of another, even on the hard days.

Building a business, raising a family, and trying to be a good and healthy human in this wild world is not easy, but it is so very worth it. If you are having one of those weeks or months or years where your hair feels on fire, remember, you've got this.