Let's begin, shall we?

What is pivotal leadership, and why are we talking about it now?

Once upon a time, new beginnings made me nervous.

Today I call those nerves a perfectionist’s anxiety. I wanted to perform at the best I possibly could, with my subconscious set on external validation. I had thoughts like:

What if I don’t do this well? How badly will my reputation suffer if I get this wrong?

Today is a different story. While I still see a need for grit at beginnings, now I see the starting line as the place where you have the longest, clearest view to the horizon.

I am not a new coach, though I am in my early years of entrepreneurship.

I’m launching this newsletter in a channel that’s new to me, about a topic that I’m still evolving.

Starting at zero is worth it because my eyes are set on the long-run.

I have a vision to make the world a better place through oneness and transformation.

After more than 700 hours of active coaching, hundreds of conversations about coaching, and reaching tens of thousands of people through my content in the last year, I know first-hand that there’s a yearning to coalesce around the topic of pivotal leadership.

I define pivotal leadership as:

Pivotal leadership (n):
a form of guiding oneself and others to fulfill a purpose that is centered on truth. Pivotal leadership inspires those in its orbit to center truth, too.

I see this definition as the next evolution of what we call authentic leadership today.

Pivotal leadership is more communal than authentic leadership, which still centers the individual. Pivotal leadership embraces what I call oneness, the idea that all things are interconnected, therefore living in deep community is vital.

This concept is the umbrella for the space I hope this newsletter will create, so we can flesh this concept out together.

As we grapple with leadership models that focus on authority rather than truth, the topic is prime for discussion.

Is this newsletter going to talk about pivots?

It is. This newsletter was born out of my own pivots (check out the About page), though it connects the dots on countless learnings from my work as an executive leadership coach and my many years as an operator in tech through constant change.

When leaders come to me for executive leadership coaching, it’s rarely just about the task in front of them.

That’s why, as a coach, my definition of pivots embraces both the tangible and the intangible:

Pivot (n).
A fundamental shift in your business or leadership that is centered on truth.

The act of pivoting changes not only the roles you play, but also how you engage with the world around you - and how it engages back with you.

This is why this newsletter will include concepts, frameworks, examples, exercises, and inspiration that cover many dimensions of pivots.

The concepts we’re going to engage on are about creation. Getting closer to truth, and modeling leadership that centers on it.

Thank you for being here, at this beginning.

If you’re receiving this first drop of The Pivotal Leader in your inbox - thank you, and I see you. The benefit of starting at zero is you can pause to appreciate every, single, person who shows up!

If you’ve discovered this post another way, welcome. I hope you will join us.

What are your initial reactions to the definitions of pivotal leadership and pivots?

This is a weekly newsletter. Next drop is next Tuesday.