Wellness Includes Accurate Self-Regard.

For many years, the language of “healing” has dominated conversations about growth. But for many high-functioning professionals, healing isn’t the word that fits. What they’re seeking isn’t recovery from ca...

Reclaiming Confidence Without Losing Belonging

Many professionals—especially those who are conscientious, emotionally intelligent, and relationally attuned—learn early that confidence carries social risk. Being powerful, visible, or certain can trig...

Why people put themselves down and what it’s really protecting. 

Most people recognize arrogance when they see it. But its quieter twin—self-effacement—often goes unnoticed, even admired. The self-effacing person deflects praise, apologizes too quic...

Most people think therapy is a matter of technique—choosing between CBT, EMDR, DBT, or ACT, as if one were selecting an app from the mental health store. But beneath every model is a deeper structure—a way of seeing the mind, behavior, and relatio...

Not all rooms are created equal. Some environments look lively but produce little growth. They are filled with intensity, validation loops, or posturing. People talk a lot, but the ideas don’t compound. These are low-exchange rooms: they consume ener...

In business and leadership, the difference between progress and stagnation often comes down to agency. High agency leaders refuse to accept circumstances as fixed. They don’t wait for perfect conditions. They absorb the complexity of reality, then...

Field Notes.
By Kristen Tolbert

Most leadership books are written for managers inside stable organizations. The assumption is that leaders operate with the buffer of budgets, teams, and institutional support. Even when things get tough, the system...

You’ve probably noticed it. The raise that once felt life-changing soon feels routine. The promotion you worked years to earn becomes your new baseline. The house, the car, the recognition—what was once extraordinary becomes ordinary, and the expecta...

Neuroplasticity—the brain’s ability to rewire and adapt throughout life—is one of the most important insights of modern neuroscience. It explains how we learn, unlearn, and relearn at any age. But in leadership, neuroplasticity isn’t just about acqui...

The Law of the Instrument describes a bias as old as expertise itself: if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

It’s a simple idea, but in practice it distorts entire fields. A physician sees symptoms through the frame of their spe...