It’s the most wonderful time of the year—time to reckon with darkness. The days are getting shorter and the nights are growing longer. My neighbors and I in the northern hemisphere are now living mostly in the dark, and as the solstice approaches I know it’s going to get darker before it gets lighter. And it’s been a dark year. More than 1 million people (and counting) were laid off in 2025, as economic inequality is at a record high. AI appears to be on an increasingly dystopian trajectory,...

Throughout this year, we've explored what it takes to lead in this stunningly complex and volatile moment—defining clarity, reframing confidence, and rewarding intrinsic motivation. Now, as year-end approaches, we turn our attention to results. The business world organizes its assessment apparatus around what's easily quantifiable. Billable hours. Revenue reports. Performance reviews. Returns on investments. Days in the office. But the leaders who are transforming their organizations into...

The ostrich burying his head in the sand. The chameleon changing her colors to fit in. The zebra who can’t change his stripes. The deer in headlights. The bull in the china shop, bucking around and breaking stuff. The seagull, overseeing from a distance before diving down just in time to be disruptive. Isn't it funny how we use these animal metaphors to capture our very human struggles with change? Especially because we have so much to learn from the natural world about how to navigate the...