The long view
A life, in order.
Where the thinking came from, and where it is going. The last few entries have not happened yet. I left them in on purpose.
- 1985 Origins
A curious kid who asked why
Grew up asking how things worked and why people did what they did. That curiosity never left. It became the habit behind everything after.
- 2003 Education
First in the family to go to college
Started college with more questions than money. Learned how to learn, and learned that a degree opens a door but does not walk you through it.
- 2005 Banking
Bank teller at $7.50 an hour
The first real job in finance. Counted other people's money at $7.50 an hour and paid attention to how the whole machine actually ran.
- 2008 Banking
Rising through banking
Moved up from the teller line into roles with real responsibility. Learned banking from the ground, which is the only way to truly learn it.
- 2012 Education
Earned an MBA
Went back for the MBA to put language and structure around what the work had already taught. Theory met practice, and both got sharper.
- 2014 Leadership
Stepped into operations leadership
Took charge of operations and learned that leading people is a different craft than doing the work. Started to build systems instead of just running them.
- 2016 Leadership
Named Director
Moved into a Director role with a wider mandate. The job stopped being about tasks and started being about outcomes and the people who deliver them.
- 2019 Leadership
Promoted to Vice President
Reached the VP level and owned results across whole functions. Learned that the higher you go, the more the job is about judgment and clarity.
- 2021 Leadership
Became Chief Strategist
Took the strategist's chair, where the work is choosing what not to do. Strategy became less about plans and more about hard, honest choices.
- 2023 Writing
Started writing and publishing
Began setting the operating lessons down in writing. What started as notes became field guides, and the field guides became a library.
- 2025 Building
Founded the Ai software work
Started building humane Ai software and helping small businesses use it well. The point was never the technology. It was the people it could serve.
- 2030 What comes next Ahead
One hundred books
A library of a hundred practitioner books, each one earning its place. A shelf people return to across a whole career.
- 2032 What comes next Ahead
A think tank
A place to work out hard questions in public and hand the answers to people who can use them. Ideas built to be argued with, not just admired.
- 2035 What comes next Ahead
An educational platform
A platform that hands working knowledge to the people who need it most, wherever they start from. The door opened wide, on purpose.