If you’re registered for the September 9 Leadership Through Transition workshop, welcome. I’m really glad you’re joining me. And if you’ve found your way here because you’re navigating a transition of your own, you’re welcome in this inquiry, too.

Transition doesn’t always begin when something changes on the outside. Sometimes it begins with the quiet recognition that something feels different, or that something that once fit no longer does.

In this short welcome, I share why I’m exploring Leadership Through Transition, what you can expect from our September 9 experience, and an invitation to begin noticing what may already be changing.

An inquiry to carry with you:What feels different right now, even if you can’t fully explain why?

Want to keep exploring and stay connected?

→ Join us September 9 for the free Leadership Through Transition live experience: Register here

That contradiction has opened a much larger inquiry:

We can’t separate ourselves from the systems we’re trying to change.

In this conversation with my friend Mindy, we explore some of the questions underneath The Regenerative Edge—regenerative leadership, creating conditions for change, why awareness isn’t enough, and what becomes possible when we begin learning from our own lives, relationships, and the systems we’re part of.

Ways to Engage With the Work

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I had built a career doing meaningful work in climate and systems change. I had increasing responsibility. A strong network. Interesting challenges. A good paycheck. People trusted me to figure things out.

And I usually did.

I could see around corners. I noticed the gaps. I thought several steps ahead. I built bridges between people and ideas. When something wasn’t working, I stepped in.

I was competent, capable, and trusted.

And increasingly, carrying too much.

I was over-functioning. Trying to solve problems that weren’t mine to solve alone. Believing that if I could just find the right approach, build the right bridge, make the right case, I could move something much larger than myself.

From the outside, and on paper, much of this looked like leadership.

For a while, I thought it was, too.

Sometimes misalignment doesn’t look like failure.

It looks like competence.

There was a moment when I recognized something wasn’t right.

It was a feeling at first, like a twist in my gut.

And then it became an ache in my bones.

But nothing was obviously wrong enough to make the decision for me.

There was always another reason to stay.

The paycheck.

The network.

The status.

The opportunity.

The challenge.

The things I was still learning.

I remember telling myself:

If I stop learning, that’s when I’ll know it’s time to leave.

There was only one problem with that logic.

I’m almost always learning.

I’m deeply curious. I love trying new things and considering different perspectives. Give me a good challenge and I’ll usually move toward it. Tell me something can’t be done and some part of me hears that as an invitation.

I had accidentally created a condition for leaving that I might never meet (and I think, deep down, I knew that).

I mean, have you ever made a bargain with yourself like that?

When X happens, I’ll know.

After this project.

Once I get promoted.

If it gets worse.

As long as I’m still learning...

Meanwhile, that bargain I made with myself allowed me to avoid the simpler and much more confronting question:

Do I still want this?

If I don’t want this, what do I want? ← yikes, why does that one feel so difficult?

At some point, I realized I had become very good at describing why my life made sense on paper.

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But, I’ve never loved working on my résumé….because it never felt like me.

The roles I’d held were real. The accomplishments mattered. The experience was mine. I don’t mean to diminish or look down on anything I’ve done. It’s all shaped me.

But somewhere along the way, I had confused the evidence of my success with the definition of it.

What I was identifying as success was, at least in part, someone else’s version of success.

That distinction changed something for me.

Because when I stopped working for the résumé and started listening to myself, I realized I wasn’t even sure what my markers of success were anymore.

If I’m being honest, they’d been bulldozed over a while back.

Buried beneath responsibility.

Expectation.

Achievement.

Being useful.

Being capable.

External validation

Being the person who could handle it.

So deeply buried that I wasn’t sure how to find my markers of success.

We tend to recognize transition when something changes externally.

The job ends.

The restructure happens.

We get promoted.

We quit.

We burn out.

Our body gets sick.

(Note: A few of those were true in my case.)

Something visible changes, and we say:

I’m in transition.

But I’m increasingly interested in what happens before that.

Because I think transition often begins much earlier, internally.

It begins in our knowing.

A feeling in the gut.

A quiet voice.

Something in the heart.

Or, as I experienced it, knowing something in my bones before my mind was willing to agree.

I knew I needed to move on.

And then my mind got very busy explaining why I didn’t.

Fear is remarkably persuasive, isn’t it?

It doesn’t always sound like:

I’m afraid.

Sometimes it sounds perfectly reasonable, practical even.

This isn’t the right time.

You’re lucky to have this.

What would you even do instead?

You have too much invested.

Maybe you’re the problem.

Try harder.

Be patient.

You can make this work.

Whoa. Our inner critic can get loud and mighty when we’re contemplating stepping away from something that still looks good from the outside, is actually quite uncomfortable, but there’s comfort in the familiar.

For a while, I listened.

Eventually I had to become willing to recognize what was already there. There were too many signs and signals.

I recognized this wasn’t the culture in which I wanted to continue growing and being mentored.

I recognized that my voice wasn’t going to move the needle in the way I kept hoping it would.

I recognized I was carrying responsibility that only I knew I was carrying.

I recognized the toll that fighting to remain in a room I no longer wanted to belong in was taking on me (I realized I had outgrown the experience!).

And maybe most importantly:

I recognized that I didn’t need to know exactly what came next in order to tell myself the truth about what was happening now.

What I’ve learned since is that,

We don’t have to quit tomorrow.

We don’t have to have the five-year plan.

We don’t have to know what comes next.

We don’t even have to decide that what we have is “bad” in order to acknowledge that something has changed.

We can appreciate what something has given us and still recognize that we may have outgrown it.

That’s regeneration.

You’re not rejecting or discarding the previous season. You’re metabolizing it.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves in a transition is honesty without urgency.

The honesty to recognize:

This doesn’t fit the way it once did.

And enough space not to immediately turn that recognition into another problem we have to solve.

Instead, we can get curious.

What has changed?

What matters to me now?

What am I carrying that isn’t mine?

What have I outgrown?

What does success actually mean to me in this season?

What might I hear if I stopped trying to talk myself out of what I already know?

Honesty without urgency. Honesty without problem-solving.

Maybe you’ve experienced this, too. Or, maybe you have a friend.

Something in your life or leadership still looks perfectly fine from the outside.

Maybe you’re even very good at it.

But somewhere underneath the competence, achievement, responsibility, or momentum, something has changed.

You don’t have to know what to do about it yet.

Maybe recognition is enough for today.

So I’ll leave you with two questions I’m holding:

What have you outgrown that still looks successful from the outside?

What becomes possible when you allow yourself to recognize it without immediately needing to know what comes next?

I’m spending this season exploring what happens in these moments—the space between what has worked and what wants to emerge—and how we continue leading while becoming more fully ourselves.

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On September 9, I’m hosting a free live experience:

Leadership Through Transition

How do we continue leading while becoming more fully ourselves?

We’ll explore transition not simply as something to solve or get through, but as a developmental threshold we can learn to participate in to become more fully ourselves.

I’d love to invite you to join!

Join the Conversation

Regenerative systems inquiry:
What changes when we stop measuring recovery by our ability to return to what was?

For years, I thought recovery had a destination: get my strength back, trust my body again, run again—get back to normal.

After multiple injuries, five surgeries, and years of rehabilitation, I’m beginning to question the premise underneath that goal.

What exactly am I trying to get back to?

In this companion audio reflection to my essay, What If Regeneration Isn’t About Getting Back to Normal?, I explore what my physical recovery is teaching me about regenerative leadership and living systems.

What if recovery isn’t simply the restoration of a previous state? What if it’s also a developmental process—one that asks us to build new capacities to sense, respond, choose, and flourish within the conditions that exist now?

I explore what changed when I stopped treating my knee as an isolated problem to fix and began asking what my whole system needed. I reflect on pain and compensation as feedback, the difference between adaptation and regeneration, and why a system’s ability to keep functioning doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy.

And I explore a question that has become increasingly important in both my recovery and my work with leaders:

How do we bring different forms of knowing into relationship without surrendering our own agency?

My surgeon has knowledge I don’t have. My physical therapist has knowledge I don’t have. My body is providing information they don’t have. And I hold knowledge of my history, goals, fears, values, and lived experience.

No one holds the whole picture.

Perhaps that’s true of the systems we lead, too.

I’m not sharing this because I’ve figured out regenerative recovery. I’m sharing it because I’m practicing it—and because regenerative leadership is giving me new language and new questions for understanding an experience I’ve been living for decades.

I leave you with the question I’m asking myself:

Given what is true now, what does this system need in order to flourish from here?

I’m a lifelong athlete. I played team sports growing up, and as an adult, I’ve trail run, big hiking skied, cycled, occasionally rock and mountain climbed, loved HIIT and strength training workouts, wielded chainsaws, power tools, and done plenty of manual labor.

I just like to move.

And movement has also become one of the places where I’m learning some of my deepest lessons about myself.

And recently, I realized I’ve been carrying a sentence around with me for over twelve years.

About twelve years ago, I joined an indoor soccer league with a friend and colleague.

I’d torn my ACL and MCL playing soccer in high school and had two surgeries, but by then I’d been active for years. I hiked. I trail ran. I cycled. I felt recovered. I’d moved a lot since then.

One night, I arrived late to a game. No warm-up. I went straight onto the field.

Halfway through, something in my quad didn’t feel right. I finished the game, but it continued bothering me, so eventually I went to see a doctor.

I told him my history.

As he examined me, moving my hips and knees, he said:

“Wow, you’re so out of balance. If you don’t fix this, you’re going to continue to injure yourself.”

Twelve years later, I can still hear those words like it was yesterday.

At the time, I don’t think I realized the meaning I had made from them.

This is my fault.

My body is broken because I didn’t fix it.

And if I don’t get this right, I’m going to hurt myself again.

The complicated part is that since then, I’ve accumulated evidence.

I eventually needed hip surgery after an impingement and shredded labrum. There was significant bone growth on the head and neck of my femur that had damaged the cartilage in my hip.

Then came another bone spur - this time in my knee - which grew through cartilage and tore my meniscus.

That required two more surgeries, including cartilage repair.

My surgeon told me recovery would take at least a year before I ran again.

I thought, I’ll do it faster.

Of course I did.

I’ll be really good at PT.

I’ll address my sleep.

My nutrition.

My stress.

I’ll do the work.

And somewhere underneath all of that was a belief I didn’t recognize at the time:

If I do everything right, I will recover.

And if I don’t?

Maybe I’ve failed.

I’m now just over two years post-op.

I’m still seeing my physical therapist.

I could probably have started running again a year ago. But when I tried, I developed Achilles pain on my non-surgical side. Then lower back pain. Then shoulder pain.

My body had adapted.

It had become incredibly good at adapting, actually.

Maybe too good.

And now I’m asking it to adapt again.

Not simply so I can run.

So I can find a new kind of balance, my new ‘normal’.

Over the last year, I’ve started bringing other perspectives into my recovery.

I worked with a hypnotherapist because I sensed something was keeping me from trusting myself in movement.

I’ve started EMDR because I realized this wasn’t only about muscle strength or mobility.

There were experiences I hadn’t processed.

The original injury.

The doctor telling me I was so out of balance that I’d keep injuring myself.

Another practitioner telling me my hips looked so bad I should never do certain movements.

And, more recently, seeing an X-ray and hearing my surgeon casually point out another bone spur at the end of my femur.

The last time a bone spur grew there, I needed two surgeries.

We moved on with the appointment.

I’m not sure my nervous system did.

I’ve begun exploring neurofeedback, too, because I’m realizing just how well my nervous system has learned to scan for pain.

To anticipate injury.

To protect me.

And I’m beginning to understand that my recovery isn’t only about getting stronger.

It’s about developing a different relationship with my body.

With myself

And with what’s possible.

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This is where my physical recovery unexpectedly intersects with the work I do with leaders.

For a long time, I placed a tremendous amount of authority outside myself.

A doctor would fix me.

A physical therapist would tell me what I should be able to do.

Someone else would determine whether I was recovered.

I needed their expertise - and I still do.

But needing expertise isn’t the same as giving away my authority.

That’s the distinction I’m learning.

Today, when I work with a practitioner, I tell them what my goals are.

I don’t wait for them to define recovery for me.

I ask questions.

I notice what my body is telling me.

I bring in their expertise.

I decide what fits, where I still have questions.

We work together.

I can be my own authority and still need other people.

Maybe that’s what partnership actually is.

I see this with leaders all the time.

Especially when we’re in transition.

Something changes and suddenly we’re looking everywhere for the answer.

The book.

The podcast.

The expert.

The consultant.

The next framework, the next role, a new company.

Someone who can tell us what we’re supposed to do.

I’ve done this, too.

But perhaps the work isn’t finding someone who has the answer for us.

Perhaps it’s finding people who can help us hear ourselves again.

A guide.

A practitioner.

A thought partner.

A mirror.

Someone who can bring experience and perspective without asking us to hand over our own authority.

I’m also realizing how much one experience can shape the way we relate to ourselves long after the experience is over.

A sentence.

A diagnosis.

A piece of feedback.

A decision someone made about us.

Something a boss or colleague said.

Something a doctor said.

Something we interpreted as evidence that we weren’t enough, weren’t capable, weren’t ready, weren’t doing it right.

And sometimes the experience isn’t what’s still leading us.

The meaning we made from it is.

That’s what I’m recognizing in myself.

I made meaning from that doctor’s words.

And because life subsequently gave me plenty of injuries and surgeries, I could keep finding evidence that the meaning was true.

See? You’re going to hurt yourself again.

That’s a powerful loop.

And recognizing it doesn’t magically make it disappear.

It gives me the opportunity to relate to it differently.

And that changes where I locate my power.

That’s the practice I’m in now.

When I notice myself slipping into shame or feeling like a victim of the circumstances of my body, I try to notice it.

Not perfectly.

I come back to myself.

What’s happening here?

What am I learning?

What do I want?

What can I choose now?

Then I practice.

And inevitably I don’t get it right.

So I notice again.

What did I learn?

What might I do differently next time?

And I practice again.

That’s why it’s called a practice.

And I’m discovering there is a kind of freedom in this.

Not freedom because everything turns out the way I want it to.

My body may still hurt. I may still get injured. Something I try may not work. I don’t get to control all of that.

The freedom comes from knowing I don’t have to make those experiences mean something about who I am.

I can name what’s happening out loud.

I can get curious instead of defeated - something a mentor has reminded me to practice when things don’t turn out the way I hoped.

I can ask: What is this showing me? What do I need now? What might I try next?

And I can choose again.

There’s something incredibly liberating about maintaining our own authority this way.

It gives us permission to be ourselves.

To be messy.

To be brilliant and imperfect.

To need help without believing we need to be fixed - or giving away our authority in the process.

To practice with all of who we are as we move through this one life.

Maybe that’s part of what becoming more fully ourselves actually looks like.

There’s another reason I wanted to share this story.

Freedom doesn’t mean doing it alone.

Recovery can be lonely.

Transition can be lonely.

Leadership can be lonely.

We can convince ourselves we’re the only person experiencing whatever we’re experiencing.

And we don’t have to carry all of it alone.

Sometimes we need someone who feels safe enough that we can finally say the thing out loud.

Someone who can be a mirror.

Someone who can help us see what has become difficult to see alone.

I’ve found some of those people in this season.

And I know I’ll continue finding different people throughout my life.

Not because I’m giving them the power to heal me.

Because I’ve chosen to have partners in my healing and growth while remaining an active participant in it.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what regenerative leadership means in practice.

I’m beginning to think part of it is this.

Not returning ourselves to some previous version of who we were.

Not fixing ourselves so we can get back to “normal.”

But developing a different relationship with ourselves and our experiences - one that leaves us with greater capacity, choice, and freedom than we had before.

Maybe regeneration isn’t about returning to what was. Maybe it’s asking:

How do we leave something - an environment, a relationship, a system, our minds, even our bodies - with greater capacity for life than it had before?

Today, for me, perhaps leaving something better simply means saying this out loud.

Putting it into the world.

Opening a little more surface area for a conversation someone else might need, too.

Maybe you recognize yourself in some part of this.

Maybe you know someone who would.

Maybe you’re navigating a transition in your leadership, your career, your body, or another part of your life and realizing how much you’ve been carrying alone.

I don’t think the invitation is to stop asking for help.

Quite the opposite.

Maybe it’s to consider what it would feel like to receive support without giving yourself away.

To work with someone who respects your goals.

Who offers perspective without claiming authority over your experience.

Who helps you recognize what you already know but haven’t quite been able to see.

To be supported - and still belong to yourself.

If you’re navigating a transition and this brought something up for you, you’re welcome to reply. I read every note.

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Workshops.
Coaching.
Facilitation.
Writing.

Looking back, I realize I was doing something much deeper.

In this reflection, I share what the first fifteen months of business have taught me about experimentation, courage, cultivating conditions for change, and why I believe meaningful development cannot be forced—it can only be cultivated.

In this episode

• Why I’ve been rethinking what “scale” really means

• What planting seeds taught me about building a business

• The difference between growing bigger and growing deeper

• Why individual work still matters, and why I’m now feeling called toward more systemic work

• The conviction that has quietly become the foundation of everything I do:

Reflection

Where are you feeling called to expand, not because you should, but because something larger is asking for your attention?

I’d love to hear what comes up for you.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes Or listen instead: 8-minute audio reflection

Welcome.

I’m glad you’re here.

Whether you’ve been reading my work for years or you’ve just found your way here, I want to offer a few words about what this space is—and how I hope you’ll experience it.

The Regenerative Edge isn’t simply a newsletter or a collection of articles.

It’s an evolving body of work.

Through essays, audio reflections, and conversations, I explore the questions I expect to spend a lifetime living into.

Most of all, it’s a place to see differently.

Not because I have the answers.

But because I’ve come to believe that meaningful change rarely begins with answers.

It begins with seeing what was already there.

Seeing ourselves more clearly.

Seeing one another with greater compassion.

Seeing our work, our leadership, and the systems we’re part of with fresh perspective.

That’s the invitation here.

An Evolving Body of Work

For a long time, I organized my work around topics like Leadership Thresholds, Inner Shifts, Leadership Recalibration, and The Future of Leadership.

Those ideas are still here.

They’ve simply found a larger home.

Today, this publication is organized around four ongoing inquiries—territories I’ll likely spend the next thirty years exploring.

Human Development

Understanding ourselves more deeply.

How do people grow, relate, heal, and make meaning?

Leadership

Practicing leadership in times of change.

How do we lead ourselves, our teams, and our communities through complexity?

Meaningful Work

Contributing from who we are.

How do we align our work with what matters most?

Regenerative Systems

Learning from living systems.

What conditions allow people, organizations, and communities to flourish?

Everything I write finds a home somewhere within these inquiries.

Together, these four inquiries explore one larger question:

What becomes possible when we become more fully ourselves?

How to Be Here

There isn’t a right place to begin.

Follow your curiosity.

There isn’t one right way to be here.

Some days you may be drawn to an essay.

Other days an audio reflection.

Sometimes a practice.

Sometimes a question that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading.

You don’t need to read everything.

You don’t need to agree with everything.

You don’t need to arrive at an answer.

Questions have a way of changing us over time.

This is a place for reflection more than certainty.

For practice more than perfection.

For conversation more than conclusion.

Take your time.

Return often.

Notice what becomes visible.

Continue the Journey

You might simply wanter.

You might subscribe and continue receiving essays and audio reflections.

Or, when the time feels right, you may choose to practice alongside others through The Regenerative Practice or work together through The Regenerative Way.

Wherever you begin is enough.

My Commitment

People often ask me what I do.

My way of writing.

My way of facilitating.

My way of stewarding a business.

My way of living.

My hope is that every time you spend time here, you leave seeing yourself—and the world around you—a little more clearly than when you arrived.

If that happens, then this space is doing exactly what it was created to do.

Thank you for being here.

I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation.

In the meantime, stay curious.

— Meghan

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For a long time, I thought this space would be where I published articles and shared ideas.

Over time, it became something much more personal.

Today, I think of The Regenerative Edge as a place to see differently.

In this first episode, I share:

• Why this work exists

• The four ongoing inquiries shaping my writing and practice

• Why I believe meaningful change begins with seeing

• What I hope you’ll experience here

Whether you’re joining for the first time or have been part of this journey for years, welcome.

I’m grateful you’re here.

Inquiries explored

• Human Development

• Leadership

• Meaningful Work

• Regenerative Systems

Reflection

As you listen, I invite you to consider:

What conditions have helped you become more fully yourself?

And...

What conditions are you creating for the people around you?

Continue the conversation

📖 Read the accompanying Welcome article

✍️ Subscribe to future reflections.

In the meantime...stay curious.

This reflection marks a quiet shift in how I understand my work. For a long time, I described it by what I did. Recently, I’ve begun to understand it by the conditions I’m trying to create.

If you prefer listening, I’ve included the audio reflection below.

For the past year, I’ve described my work by what I do.

Leadership development.

Facilitation.

Decision-making.

Advisory.

Workshops.

Those descriptions weren’t wrong.

They just weren’t the whole story.

Over the past few months, and especially over the past few weeks, something has become much clearer.

Whether I’m writing an essay, sitting with a client, facilitating a workshop, or working with a leadership team, I’m rarely trying to give someone an answer.

I’m trying to create the conditions where something becomes visible.

Sometimes it’s a pattern they’ve been living inside without recognizing.

Sometimes it’s a strength they’ve quietly stopped trusting.

Sometimes it’s a question they’ve never given themselves permission to ask.

Sometimes it’s simply enough space to hear themselves again.

That realization has changed how I think about my work.

For a long time, I thought I was helping people become better leaders.

Now I’m beginning to think my work is something different.

Not by telling them who they are.

Not by giving them another framework to master.

But by creating the conditions where they can begin to recognize themselves more clearly.

The more I pay attention, the more I see this reflected in nature.

A forest doesn’t force growth.

A clearing doesn’t make anything happen.

It simply creates enough light.

Enough space.

Enough relationship.

And life responds.

I’m beginning to wonder if leadership works the same way.

Perhaps our role isn’t to force change.

Perhaps it’s to create the conditions where change can emerge…in ourselves, in others, in the space around us…the world even.

That realization is influencing far more than my work with clients.

It’s changing how I write.

How I facilitate.

How I build my business.

Even how I think about leadership itself.

If creating the conditions is the work, then I want every part of my work to reflect that.

I want my writing to create space for reflection.

I want my workshops to create space for recognition.

I want my advisory work to create space for practice.

I want my business to create the conditions for becoming.

Not because becoming has an endpoint.

But because every day offers another opportunity to become more fully ourselves.

Not the person we were.

Not the person we think we’re supposed to become.

The person we’re becoming now.

A Practice

As you move through your own week, I leave you with two questions to sit with:

I invite you to take a few moments to notice what comes up.

If this reflection resonated with you, I’d love to hear what it stirred.

What became visible as you read?

👇 Leave a comment below.

If someone forwarded this reflection to you, you’re welcome here.

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Subscribe to receive future essays and audio reflections exploring leadership, meaningful work, and becoming more fully ourselves.

Looking Ahead

Over the coming months, I’ll also be opening The Regenerative Practice, a space for those who want to move beyond reflection into conversation, practice, and ongoing exploration together.

More to come.

An interesting series of events happened recently - This past weekend, I got to see an artist and human I admire. I didn’t just get to see her perform her music and gifts. I was invited to join a group of women for a weekend of camping, connecting, and music for the soul in The Gorge Amphitheatre in eastern Washington.

We had the pleasure of witnessing Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls, I’m with Her, Sara Bareilles, Bonnie Raitt, and The Highwomen across two stunning evenings in late May.

The love for their craft, the creativity of their collaboration, and the support and admiration for one another were visceral. The experience was a warm hug, a reminder of what happens when we do things that scare us and show up with our humanity.

There was magic and grace being with friends and strangers outside, gathering to support one another, experience masters of their craft, and advocate for a greater good.

It was touching and a little overwhelming at times. It brought tears to my eyes as I looked up at the starry sky and was reminded of the vastness and the smallness and how connected and similar we really are.

A few days later, I was interviewed by Sarah Kent with The Dreamworks Project. She is a curious soul wanting to build deeper connections with and amongst women to grow into their dreams. She began the short interview with a simple question, “What dream would you like to share in our time together today?”

In my work, I start with a similar question: “What do you want?” If I’m working individually with a client, I ask a more intimate version that begins with their vision for their life. If I’m working with a team or organization, I ask a similar question: “What are you working toward?”

Often, the answer can be quite difficult to articulate.

We condition ourselves to look outside ourselves for what we want. That answer is, at first, often about making others happy, not rocking the boat, fitting in with the crowd. It takes time to reconnect with their inner, deeper desires, and that’s ok. It’s completely normal.

I myself began exploring and articulating my big vision and goals a few years ago. It was an iterative process to begin and reflect, then adjust. I’ll admit, it had been a few months since I visited my Vision and Goals (I always have a personal and professional goal that feels big and scary, and I have no idea how I’m going to make it happen so it fuels me, my actions, my work…). So, as this interview neared, I began reflecting and iterating.

During the conversation, I became aware of something that has been quietly maturing within me for months.

What I feel now is a responsibility to bring my gifts, experience, and perspective more fully to those who are ready to receive them.

The leaders, teams, and organizations who can feel themselves at an edge.

The ones sensing that what is breaking down is not themselves, but the assumptions, structures, and leadership models they’ve outgrown.

The ones realizing they no longer want their resume or their to-do list driving their decisions.

The people willing to move beyond fear-based leadership, fear-based belonging, and fear-based decision-making.

The people willing to reclaim their authority, trust their own knowing, and participate in a more conscious and regenerative future.

The people ready to become who they are, not who they’ve been conditioned to be.

And as I gave voice to that truth, I realized my dream had evolved.

It was no longer about building a business or achieving a goal. It had become a clear vision.

A vision of people reclaiming the authority they unknowingly surrendered to expectations, institutions, titles, and old ways of leading.

A vision of helping people become free enough to be fully themselves.

And from that place, they can help create healthier leadership, healthier organizations, healthier communities, and a healthier relationship with the living world itself.

This is something I witness often in my work. Whether with an individual leader, a team, or an organization, there is a moment when what was once an idea becomes something more embodied.

They stop talking about the vision and begin feeling it…and living from it.

There is something that happens when our dreams are witnessed and shared.

It is incredible to witness, to observe the change in body language, the resonance in the tone of voice.

That happened for me in this interview. I didn’t want the conversation to end. Sarah asked questions that brought my dream out in a deeper way and I still didn’t feel like I shared everything I wanted to and it felt so good.

What a gift it was to be asked “What dream would you like to share…?” I encourage you to ask yourself this simple question, what is it you want? And see where it takes you.

A few days later, life offered its own reminder about why these questions matter.

This morning I woke up to a message from my mom. The kind of message you never want to receive. My brother lost a friend and colleague while at work.

If any of you reading have been on a mountain with glaciers, you may have crossed paths with my brother or one of his colleagues - a small community of climbing rangers and mountain guides. It’s alpine climbing season in the United States and due to a low snow winter and stormy spring, the season is only recently picking up. The mountains are crowded with a pressure to climb toward the summits of our glaciated peaks.

I did not meet this colleague of my brothers; however, the news shocked me to my core. I had just had a wonderful video call with him to catch up as he’s often in the wilderness without service for weeks this time of year. He was tired and grateful for a day of rest.

He has an incredible demeanor for work that brings him to some of the most remote and untouched places in the world. It inspires and humbles him. He has a gift for being a light in a very stressful situation, the calm like the eye of a storm.

Today, he and his colleagues had to recover a colleague and friend from the glacier. Other climbing rangers from parks are on their way to provide support and allow for rest and processing of this tragic loss.

The community is showing up for one another. They, and so many others, are offering a warm hug and a reminder of what happens when we do things that scare us and show up with our humanity. In the end, isn’t that what life is about?

I share all of this because it is a reminder that we never know how much time we have, even though we know we only have one life to live.

Over the last few weeks, I have been reminded of three things.

• We need spaces where people can fully express their gifts.

• We need conversations that invite us to speak our dreams aloud.

• And we need reminders that our time here is not unlimited.

They become real when they are spoken.

Witnessed.

Shared.

Not because they are guaranteed to happen, but because they begin to shape how we live.

So I’ll leave you with the same question Sarah asked me:

What dream would you like to share?

And perhaps even more importantly:

What are you waiting for?

I’d love to hear your answer.

Leave a comment

If you're standing at a threshold and sensing that the way you've been leading, deciding, or navigating change no longer fits, I'd love to support you.

Whether you're an individual leader, a team, or an organization, my work helps people move beyond fear-based leadership and decision-making toward greater clarity, trust, and alignment. You can schedule a conversation here:

https://calendly.com/meghan-meghanbcraig/decision-conversation

Sarah’s question— “What dream would you like to share?”—sparked much of this reflection.

If you’d like to explore your own dream with Sarah through The Dreamworks Project, you can learn more or schedule an interview here:

https://www.sarahlkent.com/thedreamworksproject

You can also read the growing collection of dream stories from others and subscribe for free.

A Field of Dreams

🌸 A growing collection of the stories of the dreams and aspirations of women from all over the world 🌸 Visit for inspiration, reflection, and to reconnect with your own dreams 🌸

By Sarah L Kent

Most leadership teams think decisions get stuck because they’re complex, high-stakes, or unclear. But in my experience working with leaders and teams under pressure, that’s rarely the actual problem.

I’ve seen leadership teams spend weeks revisiting the same decision. Not because they lacked strategy or intelligence, but because ownership was unclear, responsibility was over-carried, and trust in the decision-making process had broken down.

Decisions don’t get stuck because they’re hard. They get stuck because of how leadership and decision-making is functioning under pressure.

When was the last time you were responsible for a big decision? What was that experience like for you personally? Consider what it was like for you in your leadership role and for your team or peers.

For me, one particular decision that comes to mind was which role to prioritize hiring to fill one of the many gaps we had on our growing team. I was the final decision maker who would send the materials to finance and HR for approval to start the process; however, I couldn’t make that decision on my own, without input from those closer to the work.

At first, I held that decision close. I thought about it, quite a bit - which role would make the biggest difference, now? I knew pretty quickly that I needed to bring in my team members as their work and day-to-day would be most affected by a new hire.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that the pressure of being the final decision-maker was quietly pulling me toward over-responsibility. I could feel the temptation to carry the entire weight of the decision myself, to protect the team from the risk of making the “wrong” call, and to solve too many steps ahead.

If I wasn’t aware, I could have easily gotten stuck in over-responsibility, over-carrying or over-thinking what decision to make and how to do it. In my work, I’ve found those are very common realities for leaders who are making decisions under pressure, change, and greater responsibility - team growth or reduction, organizational expansion or change, new roles, etc. This can disguise itself but if you look closely, you’ve likely experienced it yourself or in a team setting.

I once experienced the same decision (with different language) being made repeatedly across different departments over several years. On the surface, it sounded productive, but underneath it were layers of over-responsibility, misidentified ownership, and fear of making the wrong call.

The wrong problem was being solved over and over.

I’ve seen these patterns show up in all kinds of ways:

• leaders privately carrying anxiety while publicly presenting calm

• teams revisiting the same conversation across multiple meetings

• endless “collaboration” without clarity on who actually decides

• people waiting for permission instead of contributing directly

• decisions slowing down because no one wants to make the wrong call

What looks productive on the surface is often hesitation, over-responsibility, or fear moving underneath the system.

Have you experienced a decision that kept getting revisited without actually moving forward?

Leave a comment

A mentor recently reflected something to me that completely shifted how I think about leadership decisions: we act as though there’s only one optimal decision. Especially under pressure, we imagine there is one perfect decision waiting to be discovered. The truth is, there’s no such thing.

Life and leadership rarely work that way.

Most decisions are not about finding the optimal path.

They’re about making the clearest decision possible with the information available - then learning, adjusting, and continuing forward.

In times of pressure, change, and high-stress, most teams default to adding more:

• more analysis

• more conversation

• more urgency

• more opinions

But more input without clear ownership rarely creates more clarity.

More often, it creates hesitation and confusion.

The way decisions are being made is revealing how leadership is actually functioning in a team or organization.

If you’re navigating leadership, pressure, or complex decisions inside your team or organization, subscribe to receive future reflections and insights from Edge of Change Leadership.

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Even with well-meaning leaders, a conventional leadership model and organizational structure often leads to confusion and a culture of invisible permission-based structures. Teams defer upward. Leaders over-function. Responsibility concentrates upward toward a few people expected to carry certainty for the whole system. And under pressure, those patterns intensify - often causing delay, frustration, and confusion throughout the system.

If you’re feeling any parts of this in your team- if you’re stuck, feeling bogged down by change and high-pressure - there are things you can do to begin to break down the bottlenecks and shift the decision-making process and culture.

The first shift I introduce with teams is deceptively simple: clarify ownership and clarify the actual decision. I’m often surprised by how many teams are trying to solve problems they haven’t fully defined or making decisions without clear ownership of who actually makes the decision.

Many teams spend enormous time and energy solving the wrong problem simply because they never clarified the actual decision.

Another shift is learning to interrupt the default reaction under pressure. Most teams already have predictable habits:

• rushing

• over-holding

• over-carrying

• over-thinking

Awareness can begin to change the default pattern.

Then we involve the right inputs - introduce a sense of shared responsibility to the process of decision-making. This is where clarity of ownership vs. input is key. I’ve watched teams and groups transform simply by distinguishing between:

• who owns the decision,

• who informs the decision

• who/what needs visibility

Shared responsibility is often the most uncomfortable shift for leaders. Many assume involving others means consensus or democratic decision-making. It doesn’t.

Clear distributed decision-making depends on clarifying:

• Who owns the decision

• What input is needed

• And where visibility matters

That distinction changes everything. It’s about building collective clarity, and that builds trust.

And finally, decide on the right move for this moment. Ultimately, there are three ways to respond in moments of decision-making:

• hold

• shift

• act

Our default is always to action, usually driven by urgency and the pressure to solve too many steps ahead.

This is a moment and part of the process that calls for discernment. As I’ve worked with leaders, opening up the options - to hold and to shift - can bring such relief. Permitting ourselves to open up a decision to be more than always taking action is empowering and important.

If any of this feels familiar, the next step isn’t more.

It’s looking honestly at how you relate to decision-making and how decisions are being made inside your team.

Then:

• clarify ownership

• interrupt default patterns

• involve intentionally

• reflect and adjust

This is how teams build collective clarity under pressure.

The goal isn’t perfect optimal decision-making. That doesn’t exist.

The goal is building the capacity to move through pressure, uncertainty, and change without collapsing into over-control, over-responsibility, or disconnection.

Because the way a team makes decisions under pressure doesn’t just shape outcomes.

It shapes trust.

Ownership.

Leadership.

And ultimately, the future culture of the organization itself.

Leave a comment

If you prefer to listen, the full video is above.

If you want to listen, check out Edge of Change Leadership Podcast.
If you prefer to read (or want the distilled version), keep scrolling.

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Every Earth Day, we talk about what needs to change out there…from policy, to systems, to behavior, to industry.

Because if we’re honest, many of us are trying to create a radically different future using the same leadership patterns that created the current one.

And nowhere is that more visible than in the sustainability and social change space.

We are doing incredibly important work.
And we are leading it in ways that are not actually sustainable.

Over-responsibility.
Urgency as the default.
Burnout as normalized.
Pressure to perform….the list goes on.

We say we want long-term, more sustainable outcomes, but we are making decisions from short-term, depleted states.

And that doesn’t just impact us.

It shapes the systems we are building.

The Leadership Problem We’re Not Naming

If we aren’t doing the inner work leadership requires, it shows up in our leadership and in the systems we create.

Because how you lead under pressure isn’t strategy, it’s pattern.

And most of us have been conditioned into patterns that prioritize:

• speed over discernment

• control over trust

• individual performance over collective capacity

• comfort over innovation and growth

So even as we try to build more collaborative, equitable, and innovative systems, we unintentionally recreate the very dynamics we’re trying to change.

What’s Being Asked of Us Now

What’s required right now isn’t just better strategy.

It’s a different way of leading.

Not just sustainability in what we build, but sustainability in how we think, decide, relate, and lead under pressure.

This is where regenerative leadership begins.

It asks a different question:

Can the way we lead actually sustain the future we’re trying to create?

We Are at a Leadership Threshold

Right now, we are in a moment of disruption.

Industries are shifting.
Structures are being challenged.
Certainty is dissolving.

Most leaders respond to this by trying to move faster, to fix, control, or stabilize what’s happening.

But what if this moment isn’t something to manage?

What if it’s something to listen to?

Because these moments are not breakdowns.

They are thresholds.

And most leaders don’t fail at thresholds, they exit them too early.

The Shift: From Reaction to Recalibration

When we stay in a threshold long enough, something different becomes possible.

We begin to see more clearly what is actually needed.

This is where leadership evolves.

Not through urgency but through discernment.

Not through doing more, but through recalibrating how we lead.

Because if we don’t pause long enough to recalibrate, we end up recreating the same patterns in new situations.

So the real question is no longer:

How do I respond faster?

It becomes:

What is actually being asked of me as a leader right now?

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Why This Is Bigger Than the Individual

This isn’t just about individual leadership.

It’s a systems issue.

Because we cannot build regenerative systems with extractive leadership patterns.

Right now, many organizations are in a transition:

Moving from centralized, top-down leadership into something that looks more collaborative.

But here’s the tension:

Even as we invite more voices, more collaboration, and more shared thinking…we are often still operating inside the same underlying structures.

Decision-making remains permission-based.
Power remains concentrated.
Responsibility remains unevenly held.

So what we get is a model that feels better, but doesn’t actually function differently.

The Real Work of Leadership Evolution

Real change isn’t just about adding more voices.

It’s about changing how we relate to:

• power

• responsibility

• decision-making

It’s relational.
It’s structural.
It’s internal.

And it requires us to lead in ways most of us were never taught.

Because there is a kind of wisdom we’ve moved away from:
in how we understand systems,
in how we work with rhythm instead of urgency,
and in how we build in relationship, not just in structure.

These aren’t new ideas.

But they are new to how most of us have been taught to lead.

An Invitation

This moment we’re in is not just disruption.

It’s an opportunity.

Not to react to what’s changing, but to lead differently because of it.

To build differently.
To decide differently.
To stop recreating the same systems in new language.

This is the work I’m exploring in real time—
the future of leadership, regenerative leadership, and what it actually looks like in practice.

If you’re in this work, I’d love to have you in the conversation.

What got us here won’t sustain what’s next.
And that includes how we lead.

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There’s a moment in leadership where everything works, but something feels off.
Most leaders try to fix it. This episode explores why that doesn’t work, and what to do instead.

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For some of us, maybe nothing is clearly wrong, and some of us may already know we’re in a life and leadership transition.

You’re still capable. Still showing up.
And yet… something isn’t landing the way it used to.

In this first live conversation, I explore what I call leadership thresholds, those subtle, often disorienting moments where what used to work no longer fits, and what’s next isn’t clear yet.

These are not breakdowns.
They’re transitions.

If you’ve been trying to figure something out, fix something, or force clarity, and it’s not working, this may help you see the moment you’re in differently.

“Most leaders don’t fail at thresholds, they exit them too early.”

If something came into focus for you while listening, don’t rush to solve it.
Stay with it.

If this resonates, I’m opening a small Leadership Threshold Intensive starting May 11

Leadership Threshold Intensive

These are intentionally smaller, live spaces designed to help you not just think about what’s shifting, but actually stay with it, understand it, and begin to lead differently because of it.

Each Intensive is an immersive experience where you bring what you’re navigating, and we work with it together.

Explore upcoming Leadership Labs

In this short, real-time reflection, I want to share what I shifted this morning when I found myself in that exact place. I needed to recalibrate!

It wasn’t about pushing through or forcing productivity; it was about changing my rhythm.

Here’s what I did:

Breaking My Routine

I decided to break out of my usual patterns. This morning, I didn’t set an alarm and allowed myself to sleep in a bit longer. That simple act of a little more rest made a world of difference.

Nourishment

I took a moment to think about how I could nourish my body. Feeling dehydrated, I focused on hydrating and boosting my energy. I whipped up a warming lemon, ginger, and turmeric tonic, paired with hot oatmeal sprinkled with spices and nuts.

Movement

I dedicated time to gentle movement, exploring lymphatic drainage, and Qigong to help release tension and move lymph and fascia. This felt incredibly rejuvenating. I could literally feel the lymph moving.

Spring Cleaning

I also tackled a few items on my spring cleaning list. The act of decluttering not only cleared physical space but also provided mental clarity. As I worked, I found it easier to contemplate and process my feelings.

Because sometimes, what feels like being “stuck” isn’t something to fix; it’s an invitation for a different kind of attention.

If you’ve been feeling blocked, tired, or out of sync, I hope this resonates with you.

I’d love to hear: what helps you shift when you find yourself in a moment like this?

This image made me chuckle…sometimes my head feels quite puffy and blocked…

And that’s exactly why it’s so hard to question.

Nothing is wrong.
Nothing is broken.

And yet… something doesn’t feel like yours anymore.

This is a moment most leaders don’t talk about.

Maybe because we don’t have the language for it.
Maybe because it feels easier to assume we’re the only ones experiencing it.

But it’s more common than we think.

I remember preparing for a big meeting I was leading.

The kind of moment I should have felt proud of, accomplished. Confident in what I had built.

But instead, I felt… hollow.

A little disconnected.

And then something became very clear:

I was fighting to belong in a room I didn’t even want to be in.

That realization stayed with me.

Because once you see something like that, it’s hard to go back to how things were before.

From the outside, everything made sense.

I had built a successful career.
I was hitting milestones.
Earning respect. Leading teams. Creating impact.

It worked.

And for a long time, I told myself: Just keep going.

But underneath that…I didn’t recognize myself anymore.

I couldn’t answer a simple question: What do I actually want?

And that created a kind of resistance I couldn’t ignore.

Not because I didn’t know what to do, but because I no longer wanted to do it.

At the time, I didn’t think I was in a transition.

I thought I needed to fix something.

Take a break. Optimize. Figure it out.

But nothing was broken; there was nothing to fix.

I was simply no longer aligned with what I had built.

And that’s a very different kind of moment.

Because when everything is working, it’s easy to assume the path is still right.

We keep going. We stay the course.

But sometimes…success becomes the very thing that keeps us from seeing what’s changing.

It becomes a kind of mask.

An older definition of success, one we’ve grown into, been rewarded for, or inherited, that no longer reflects who we are becoming.

And when that happens, it doesn’t create a clear problem.

It creates a threshold.

A moment that isn’t asking to be solved, but recognized.

If you’re reading this, just notice:

Where in your leadership does everything look right…but feel slightly off?

Where are you continuing because it works…not because it’s yours anymore?

You don’t need to have an answer.

Just notice what comes up.

Because if this resonates, you’re likely in a leadership threshold.

Join Me Live

This week, I’m hosting a live session:

Leadership Thresholds 101
Why what used to work no longer does

This is a space to:

• recognize what you’re in

• understand why it feels the way it does

• and begin to respond differently

👉 Join the Live

If you’re reading this later, you can find the next session or upcoming Leadership Labs.

And if you already know you’re in a moment like this where something deeper is shifting beneath the surface, the Leadership Labs are where we work with that in real time.

Learn more about Leadership Labs

You don’t need a new strategy.

You need to recognize the threshold you’re in.

If something here resonated, don’t rush to figure it out.

Just notice it.

Because that’s where this work begins.

There’s a moment in leadership that often goes unspoken: when what once worked… doesn’t. You’re still capable, trusted, and showing up, yet something feels off.

It’s not wrong, just off.

In these moments, many leaders make it personal.

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Often mistakenly assume we need a new strategy or a quick answer to figure things out. Most of us have been trained to take on more, we push ourselves a little harder, think more, ask others for advice, trying to solve this problem in front of us.

Yes, something is changing, but what if this isn’t a problem to solve?

What if you just don’t know how to see it yet?

This is a Leadership Threshold.

I call these moments leadership thresholds, not breakdowns, not confusion, but transitions. Real opportunities to expand how you see yourself - your leadership, your capacity, and what’s possible.

These leadership thresholds are a point where something in your leadership is shifting:

• Your identity

• Your capacity

• Your relationship to responsibility, direction, or impact.

And what got you to this point isn’t what will move you forward.

Join Leadership Thresholds 101 Live

The Earliest Signs You’re in a Threshold

These moments are subtle at first. They can be easy to miss, easy to override if you’re not aware of the moment you’re in.

You may notice

• What used to work feels harder, yet not necessarily wrong.

• You’re questioning things you once felt certain about.

• You feel a pull to change but don’t yet have clear direction.

• You’re trying to “figure it out,” but nothing clicks.

• You feel both capable and unsettled simultaneously.

There’s often no clear problem (though sometimes there is a big life transition). Which is often what can make it so disorienting and feel so personal.

Here’s the truth: you’re not stuck. You’re not unclear. You’re misidentifying the moment you’re in.

And that misidentification matters.

Because when you misidentify this moment, you don’t just feel stuck, you make decisions that pull you further away from what’s actually trying to emerge.

Often, it looks like:

• commiting to paths that no longer fit

• saying yes to things that drain you

• overriding what you know, before you’ve fully heard it

And over time, this compounds. Not into failure, but into quiet misalignment.

Most leaders move too quickly through these moments. They take action, they adjust, they try something new.

But the underlying moment hasn’t been fully understood. So they find themselves here again. Different situation, same feeling.

What looks like progress on the outside can start to feel like misalignment on the inside.

Not because they aren’t doing anything, but because they’re doing the wrong things for the moment they’re in. They’re taking action but not activating growth. The reality is we’ve never been taught how to recognize this kind of moment.

Often, the shift isn’t MORE effort. But asking a different question to shift our perspective.

Rather than asking, “What should I do?” try asking, “What do I actually want?“

It’s simple, but not always easy. Consider the last time you asked yourself, " What do I actually want?” and really considered what came up.

Most leaders have been on a trajectory for a long time. Our minds will tell us…

• It’s too risky to step off

• You’ll miss out

• You should stay the course

• What if I fail

I’ve been there. There was a point where I found myself asking, How on earth did I get here?

Not because anything was wrong on paper, but because something didn’t feel like mine anymore.

And when I looked closer, I saw it clearly: I had said yes…to opportunities, expectations, and paths without fully discerning whether they were actually mine.

Not because they were wrong but because I hadn’t paused long enough to ask, Is this what I truly want?

Before you try to fix it

If you’re in one of these moments, before you push, pivot, or try to force clarity, there’s something more important to do first.

Understand what you’re actually in.

Because this moment isn’t asking you to solve it.

It’s asking you to see it.

Join me Live

If you’re reading this and recognizing yourself, this is the conversation to be in.

I’m hosting a live session:

Leadership Thresholds 101

Why what used to work no longer does

This isn’t training on what to do next.

It’s a space to:

• recognize the moment you’re in

• understand why it feels the way it does

• and begin to respond differently

Join Leadership Thresholds 101 LIVE

If something in your leadership feels like it’s shifting, you don’t need to figure it out alone.

Subscribe now

The way we’re working (and living) has become increasingly demanding. The lines between professional and personal life are blurred. And many leaders are carrying more than ever, often without the space or support to process it.

We explored what’s happening inside the leader before anything changes outside.

For me, there was a point when I realized:

I had achieved success in the conventional sense, but didn’t feel whole or confident in what I was doing. “ Be the change you wish to see in the world” has always been an anchor for me. And still, I reached a point where I could feel the gap.

I was talking about doing great work, but I wasn’t living my great work.

From there, we explored a few threads that kept resurfacing:

The difference between ease and easy.

Creating more ease in how we lead and live doesn’t mean things become simple.

It means that we begin to relate to them differently.

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We also talked about something many people are experiencing, but not always naming:

The moment where you’re still showing up, still delivering…but feel like you’ve somehow left yourself behind.

Where leadership starts to feel more like performance than presence.

And what often follows is the instinct to push harder, to find better strategies,
to keep up with expectations, instead of pausing long enough to ask what’s actually happening.

A big part of our conversation centered on rhythm.

Not routine. Not structure for the sake of control. But a more natural, personal way of moving through work and life. This isn’t about doing; it’s bigger than that. Rhythm is a way of being. It’s something that accounts for:

• energy and rest

• movement and pause

• outward action and inward reflection

Because when we don’t understand or honor our own rhythm, there’s a cost.

Burnout.
Resentment.
Disconnection.
Repeating patterns that don’t actually change anything.

We also explored how much of what leaders struggle with isn’t just individual but shaped by systems that prioritize output over sustainability. Which means many people are internalizing pressure that was never theirs to carry alone.

And underneath all of this was a quieter, but important thread:

This kind of work isn’t about performing better.

It’s about understanding yourself more deeply and learning to lead from that place.

There was a point when I realized that I was talking about it, but I wasn’t living it.

If something in this conversation resonated, we’d love to hear from you…

A question to sit with:

Where in your work or leadership have you started to feel like you’re going through the motions, and what might it look like to reconnect with your own rhythm there?

Leave a comment

To learn more about Meghan and Fiona:

Subscribe to Fiona Grant Leydier, Founder of The Inflection Method, and book an Inflection Session with her here.

Join Meghan’s The First Edge - to understand what’s happening in your leadership when something feels off, before you try to fix it or move past it. Or book a Threshold Session to name what you’re navigating and understand what it’s asking of you.

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What once worked may no longer fit.
Something may feel unclear, unfinished, or ready to change even if you don’t have language for it yet.

In this short introduction, I share what this space is, who it’s for, and why these moments matter more than we often realize.

This isn’t about fixing or rushing to clarity.
It’s about beginning to understand what’s actually happening and seeing your leadership differently.

As you listen, consider: What feels like it’s shifting for you right now?

If this resonates, subscribe for Free to continue exploring Edge of Change Leadership.

Subscribe to Edge of Change Leadership

And if you’re recognizing that you’re in a deeper moment of transition, a leadership threshold, you’re invited to step inside The Threshold Room, where we go deeper to explore and navigate these moments in real time, together.

Explore The Threshold Room Membership

If you’ve found your way here, there’s a good chance something in your leadership or career is shifting.

What used to work… no longer does.
What once felt clear now feels uncertain (hello self-doubt and the voice of the inner critic).

And the way you’ve been leading doesn’t quite fit anymore.

You might even feel a little restless.

You’re not alone in that.

And you’re not doing anything wrong.

This is a space for that moment.

Most leaders misread this moment.

They try to fix it, solve it, or move past it too quickly.

And in doing so, they brush the important bits under a rug. (And those bits tend to find their way back out.)

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I know this because I’ve lived it.

I’m Meghan.

I’m a recovering conventional leader turned Leadership Advisor, and I work with leaders who have outgrown the way leadership has been done.

I’ve spent over 20 years working alongside leaders in climate, social change, and complex systems. I’ve held leadership roles most of my life. I’ve followed the rules, challenged them, worked within systems, and pushed against them.

And over time, I started to notice something: The models of leadership we’ve been taught and conditioned to operate within… don’t hold up in these moments of real change or growing complexity…personally or systemically.

Not because we’re failing or doing it wrong (which is what most of us women leaders think, am I right?).

But because something deeper is being asked of us.

Why this matters

We are living in a time where:

• professional development means skill building & certificates, not capacity building

• leading is becoming more complex

• systems are straining

• transitions are happening whether we want them or not

• burnout is rising

• our silos are getting taller

This space exists for the leader who’s looking for a different way. For the leader who’s willing to navigate their leadership differently.

Not to rush past the threshold, the inner work, or recalibration.
But to sit with the messiness of transition long enough to gain awareness, perspective, and maybe even transform through it.

What this space is about

This is not a space for conventional leadership advice.

And it’s not about rushing transformation either.

It’s a space for us to explore what’s happening when leadership stops working the way it used to.

Here’s what we explore in this space:

Leadership Thresholds

The sacred moments where identity, responsibility, and possibility are shifting.

Inner Shifts Leadership Requires

What leadership requires internally before anything changes externally.

Leadership Recalibration

What needs to change when what once worked no longer does.

The Future of Leadership

Where leadership is going and what’s emerging next.

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Where to begin

If you’re finding resonance here, you may be at the edge of a shift in your leadership.

Inside The First Edge, we begin there.

This is a space to understand what’s happening when something feels off, before you try to fix it, solve it, or move past it.

You’ll find:

• live reflections

• private audio

• focused teachings to help you make sense of what’s shifting

It’s a place to slow down, recognize the moment you’re in, and begin to see it more clearly.

Join The First Edge

What I believe

Most leaders don’t fail at thresholds; we exit them too early.

We tend to look for:

• a new strategy (a new job)

• a clearer plan (the next step in what we already have)

• a quick decision (advice from someone we trust)

Instead of recognizing: This moment isn’t something to solve, it’s something to stay in long enough to grow through.

If you’re here…

You might be:

• navigating a big transition, pivot, or expansion

• feeling the weight of responsibility shifting

• questioning what’s next (even if things “look fine” on the outside)

• sensing that the way you’ve been leading isn’t sustainable

If that’s you, this space is for you.

The Progression

There are different stages to this work. You don’t need to figure out where you are, you’ll recognize it.

Edge of Change Leadership (Free)
You begin to notice something is shifting.

The First Edge
You understand what’s happening with a little more guidance.

The Threshold Room
You move through it in real time, and begin to lead differently.

How to go deeper: The Threshold Room

For those who recognize they’re in a deeper leadership threshold and don’t want to navigate it alone, there is a space to go further.

What's in The Threshold Room

The Threshold Room is my private membership for leaders who are ready to stay with these moments long enough to lead differently on the other side.

This is a founding member space, hosted privately outside of Substack.

Inside, you’ll find:

• private audio reflections - Notes from the Threshold

• live Threshold Salons (guided conversations and reflection)

• deeper teachings and resources

• a space and community to be in this work with others

This is where understanding becomes lived experience.

If you feel ready for that level of depth, you’re invited inside.

For those who want deeper guidance

For a smaller number of leaders, I offer private advisory services and small-group work.

This work is for leaders who are not only navigating a threshold but are ready to transform how they lead.

To apply what’s emerging in real time.
To make aligned decisions.
To build and lead in a way that reflects who they are now.

This is where leadership changes, not just in insight, but in practice. This is where you become the leader who leads what’s next.

If you feel called to explore this level of work, you can reach out or schedule a Leadership Threshold Session

Schedule a Leadership Threshold Session

Who I work with

In my private work, I primarily work with women leaders.

Here on Substack, this space is for all leaders navigating the edges of change.

People who:

• are ready to lead what’s next

• want to build something more sustainable

• and know they can no longer lead the way they used to

Help me shape this work…

I’d love to hear from you!

If you want a prompt…

What feels like it’s shifting in your leadership right now?
And what do you need support with the most?

I’m so glad you’re here.

-Meghan

Regenerative leadership is not just a philosophy. It is a physiological shift.

This episode explores topics, offers reflection prompts for us to gain awareness of some of our patterns, and a few recalibration practices to implement our new awareness of how our nervous system shapes our leadership, why many systems reinforce chronic stress, and how recalibrating internally changes the way we lead, decide, and build.

I’d love to hear what you uncover and learn from tuning in!