The Leadership Investor - issue #3

Hello, and welcome to issue #3 of this newsletter. I’m delighted you’re here. Let’s dive into this week’s insights!

Last week I had lunch with a career comedian who has been gracing stages and studios for more than three decades. I told him I took an improv class shortly after moving to LA and found it wildly uncomfortable because I felt out of control.

“Yes,” he said. “Unlike stand-up comedy, which is usually prepared and about landing the joke, improv requires surrender. And two simple words: yes, and.”

Stand-up is about delivery. You control the timing and drive toward the punchline. It’s more I/me.

Improv is about discovery. You accept what your partner offers and build on it. You do not block the scene by correcting, fixing, or redirecting it back to your script.

That’s the shift. From “me” to “we,” from control to collaboration. Yes, and.

Too often, leaders communicate in “yes, but.”

“Yes, but” shuts the scene down and recenters control. (Us—> me). “Yes, and” does something different.

“Yes, and” requires a pause. You have to actually absorb what was said before you extend it. It demands curiosity and collaboration instead of correction and control.

I get it. This isn’t easy. But the results from the shift are worth it.

The leaders who create energy in a room are not always the fastest or the most brilliant. They are the ones who know how to extend the scene, to harness collective insights and translate into shared outcomes.

Yes, and…keep scrolling.

T-minus a month until the March 17th publication date of my book. As subscribers you’re receiving sneak peeks into the first few chapters. Last week I opened with the, well, opening of my opening chapter. Today I offer the closing to that preface.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
—Lao Tzu

If you’re a leadership investor like me, you know that we are only with leaders for part of their 1,000-mile journeys. While together, we can redirect or accelerate their steps, but those journeys will continue long after we part ways.

How can we optimize the travel experience, making it both practical and purposeful? How can we help organizations get the most out of their leaders quickly and consistently? How can we help individual leaders unleash their full potential? In other words, how do we leave leaders better off for having us as guides and companions? That’s the big question I wanted to answer when I said yes to writing this book.

I hope that we’ll discover the answers together.

Our journey starts here - and my leadership love story continues.

I wrote this book because organizations deserve a smarter return on their leadership investment.

If we, as leadership investors, whether founders, executives, or front-line managers, only influence a portion of a leader’s journey, then what we introduce must be practical, transferable, and sustainable. It must outlast the program and shape decisions long after the slideshow ends and the consultant has left the building.

This book is about helping workplace investors make disciplined, strategic choices about where and how to develop leaders. It is about building capability across the talent lifecycle, not just in isolated moments. It is about ensuring the right skills are applied to the right business challenges in the right ways.

It was not a thousand miles to the summit of that pyramid in Teotihuacán, although under the Mexico sun it felt like it. What struck me most was not the height, but rather the structure itself. Every level intentionally placed, supporting the next. A marvel of human achievement.

We may not build every stone of a leader’s career. But the foundation we design helps determine how high they can climb.

This week I’ll be facilitating a leadership workshop centered on strategic influence - the ability to move ideas from your head into shared action.

It is not about dominating the room or having all the answers. It is about making your thinking persuasive, visible, and credible. I’ll be sharing six ways for leaders to build strategic influence muscle (see graphic below).

“Can you think strategically?” You’re demonstrating strategic mindset. But leading strategically, translating thought into outcomes, requires strategic influence.

I’ll share more next week about the insights and takeaways.

As you’re learning about me, I use all the tools in my toolbox. I integrate my experience as a professional tarot reader, student of astrology, and believer in synchronicity and manifestation into my workplace writing.

And it’s a little wild in the cosmos right now.

On February 17th we are hit with a new moon, a solar eclipse, and the beginning of a new lunar year, all opposing the fixed star Regulus. Translation:

Reset energy + catalytic disruption + seasonal turnover + a mirror held up to your leadership.

The lunar new year begins on February’s new moon. We apply everything we learned from the awakening wisdom of 2025’s Wood Snake to the bold, forward-driving momentum of 2026’s Fire Horse. Fueling the flames is a “ring of fire” (you just can’t make this up) solar eclipse, visible, sadly, only from Antarctica. Eclipses mark cycles of powerful endings and beginnings.

And because all of this is unfolding at 28 degrees of Aquarius, opposite Leo’s “king star” (“Regulus” etymology - “reg” = to rule, and lions “rule” the jungle), the spotlight is on how we use power. How we show up, stand up, and speak up.

Told you it was wild.

You might be asked to move into a more visible leadership role. You might have to shed some skin to reveal a more vulnerable authentic you. And it all might feel scary and overwhelming.

If you’re bouncing between a Leo-DiCaprio-in-Titanic “I’m king of the world!” surge and an “I would like to crawl under my bed now” crash, you are not alone. You are exactly where you are meant to be.

And the tarot card I pulled to ground this energy? Strength. Ruled by Leo the lion. A fire sign. (See above - “you can’t make this stuff up.”)

Bottom line? Trust yourself. You are strong enough to handle the cosmic craziness.

I’m drawn to the transition from the Wood Snake to the Fire Horse, as it’s a doozy of an energy shift.

Each lunar year has an element and an animal. Wood represents growth, creativity, and renewal. The snake brings wisdom and transformation. 2025 was strategic, observant, and internal, helping us evolve. Fire is, well, fiery, and the horse symbolizes vitality, speed, and perseverance. No more hiding in the shadows. No more hoping our contributions and competence will be recognized and rewarded. No more asking for permission to hold space.

The snake’s discernment applied to the horse’s momentum gives us insight-igniting initiative. Jump in the saddle, grab the reins, and take that first step.

Three considerations for the week:

Until next time,

Tina