Leadership Agility When Getting a Punch to the Face
If you look closely at this photo, you’ll notice something I couldn’t quite hide with makeup: a dark bruise forming on my chin. Broken blood vessels. Courtesy of my dog, and physics.
I was opening the trunk of my SUV, freeing my dog’s pulley leash system (the one that lets him pull me on cross-country skis). The metal clasp caught… and released like a slingshot, straight into my face. I didn’t see it coming. I couldn’t have planned for it. And it hurt like hell.
Which got me thinking about leadership, purpose… and resilience. In my years spent in the corporate world, I trained myself to plan for A, B, C, and D.
Risk mitigation.
Contingencies.
Scenarios.
That skill still serves me as the owner of the Executive Coaching firm Potential Unlimited, and as a Mom. I believe in vision. I believe in goals. I believe in thoughtful planning. But here’s what life keeps reminding me:
-Some things will hit you that you never could have predicted.
-No amount of planning would have caught this one.
-And when it happens, you get a choice.
After standing there blinking in the cold, I asked myself: Do I go home… or do I ski? I chose to ski. Not because I had to. Because I wanted to.
That’s resilience too.
We often talk about resilience as “getting back up.” In the past few decades, that was my approach. Pushing through. Power on.
But sometimes resilience looks like:
• pausing
• standing still
• catching your breath
• choosing your next move intentionally
Sometimes resilience is flow, not force. Sometimes it’s trust, not control. Sometimes it’s saying: “I didn’t plan for this… but I trust myself to handle it.”
And that’s where purpose comes in. When you’re connected to why you’re moving forward, you don’t need everything to go perfectly.
You just need to know:
✔ You can adapt
✔ You can pivot
✔ You can decide again
Yes, I still plan. But I don’t confuse plans with certainty anymore.
Because leadership — and life — will occasionally swing something at your face that you never saw coming. And resilience isn’t about pretending it didn’t hurt. It’s about knowing you’ll find your way forward anyway.
If this resonates, I invite you to reflect on this:
Where are you gripping for certainty… instead of trusting your capacity to adapt?
That’s the work I do with leaders — helping them build the inner resilience to lead with clarity when things don’t go according to plan. If you’re navigating change, uncertainty, or a leadership moment you didn’t see coming, I’d love to support you.
You don’t need a better plan.
You need a stronger internal anchor.
Email me to book a complimentary 20-minute discovery session to explore how executive coaching can help you navigate change, build resilience, and lead with greater impact!
