The Most Important Conversation You’ll Ever Lead

For most of my life I have been a finisher. The one who signed up, so she stays, even when the staying costs more than the thing is worth. So when I finally joined a community group I had dreamed about for years, I went in whole heart, both feet. And then I found a welcome with no structure underneath it, belonging promised at the front door and a feedback form at the back one. So I left. This piece is about what I have come to call self-leadership. It is a two-way practice. You learn to hear your own voice, the true one underneath all the noise, and then you answer it the way you would answer someone you love and respect. Sometimes the most leaderly thing you can do is trust the body that has been speaking all along, let your no be a complete sentence, and let your exit be clean and kind.