The hard thing about people problems or “culture bugs” is that they’re hard to fix. It requires a skill set that you never acquired in school, business school or most leadership programs. And honestly, if you’re a leader that got to where you are because you’re masterful at your craft, well this isn’t your craft. That’s the point.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been an optimist. My father was mentored by the literal father of The Power of Positive Thinking, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Every day, my Dad reminded me:

💡 “What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve.”

And now, optimism is even part of my job title—thanks to Simon Sinek, I’m an “Optimist Instructor” on his team of leadership experts.

I’ve always felt my optimism internally, but I never realized how much others saw it—until someone did.

Over the years, I’ve collected thousands of data points from BRAVE® workshops—from coaching high-growth companies, to working alongside Simon Sinek and his team, to helping leaders like you redefine what’s possible for themselves and their people in the face of rapid change, impossible deadlines, and inevitable culture challenges.

We've all seen someone for whom getting the best out of others looks effortless. "How do they do that?!" we wonder to ourselves. We try to create the same results, but something is off. The things we try just don't work.

What too many great leaders miss is that intentions don’t drive impact—execution does. And 95% of leadership and communication trainings don’t teach us the secrets of how to master this important skill. That’s why I created The BRAVE Framework. It gave Patrick the exact structure to turn his good intentions into tangible, game-changing results.

The hardest times don’t just reveal who your team is; they shape who you become. When failure or challenges strike, it’s easy to spiral into blame, frustration, hesitation or silence. Maybe this has happened to you... But what if you saw those moments as opportunities instead? A chance to shift the narrative, to lean in instead of shutting down?

BRAVE was like my life preserver, keeping me afloat when I often felt like I was drowning. I BRAVE’d myself daily. Hourly. To express my needs. To ask for help. To sit with discomfort. To listen deeply, even when I wanted to defend myself or prove my point.

Walking into that negotiation in a business suit with polished tactics addressing him like a peer would’ve been like throwing a pebble at a brick wall. I didn’t need to agree with the way he was, I needed to understand it and use it to my advantage. I needed to be my bravest.

This week in one of our implementation labs, we witnessed a remarkable moment of leadership—a moment that wasn’t perfect but was profoundly BRAVE.

A question for you and your team to reflect on and talk about.

How to be the person at the table that others are grateful for. And priming questions to ask yourself.

How mastering communication impacts our ability to make decisions with calm and clarity.

Examples of what active listening looks like in action, and how to elevate your conversations.

Your good intentions don’t matter, how to ensure you have the impact you desire.

How our responses are a function of what we practice over and over, intentional or otherwise.

Are you waiting for things to happen or are you taking radical responsibility?

Our most shared article an outline of responses look like with and without BRAVE.

Is your team or family navigating a challenge? Here’s your responsibility.

What most companies get wrong when trying to scale and what you can do differently