"You got this!" I found myself cheering on a guy sprinting to catch the bus. With a determined smirk, he dashed forward, headphones in, unaware of my words but acknowledging my encouragement with a quick smile. I watched, hoping my silent support would help him make it. He did.

AI, the inspiration behind the title of this article, fascinates and terrifies me. As a child, I harbored a secret fear that machines would one day dominate the world. Perhaps it was The Terminator, Minority Report, or The Matrix that sparked this fear. Or it may have begun with 2001: A Space Odyssey, Soylent Green, or the Borg in Star Trek. Regardless of the source, I am both amazed and not amazed enough by the fact that we now live in a world where a machine can convincingly mimic a friend in a video.

Shoulders down! Over the past four weeks, I've been telling myself to relax my shoulders and breathe. It’s a small command, but it's made a huge difference. I have been walking around with my shoulders practically up to my ears, holding my breath without realizing it. Health practitioners and healers told me, but I always dismissed their advice—I thought I had more important things to do.

Her gratitude significantly outweighed the gesture. I had just helped an older woman open a locked door to the church on the corner. I identify more as Hobbit than human, and she looked half my height as she shuffled her walker along the sidewalk, moving toward me.

Courage doesn’t always look like the we think. For me, courage has many faces. Choosing hope in the face of impossibilities. Allowing feelings when I want to numb. Following an internal compass that defies logic and reason.

I have a thought experiment for people my age (or even a little younger) and me: stop getting annoyed by the younger, entitled people in your business. I have been guilty of this, and I think I am wrong. We can get bothered by young people who aren't willing to [fill in the blank-work the hours, make the sacrifices, do what it takes] or because they [fill in the blank-want to be rewarded for what they do, expect too much from companies, etc.].

I love trees, always have. As a kid, I would doodle trees and still have some grade school papers with trees on them. (I also drew eyes, but I have no clue what that's about!).

I am learning that we are collectively on a journey of one. What works for me doesn’t work for every single person I coach. What works for a youtube expert or TikTok influencer only sometimes resonates with me or works for me. My job in working with people is to help them find their way, and the same is true for me. On that journey, we have loads of ideas to share. Something that clicked for me might help someo

I am shifting my view of data, facts, intelligence, and leadership. I notice a significant disconnect between the body and the brain for me and the people I coach. No matter how much I know better, I view decisions as a cognitive thing the brain does separate from the body. That view contains some major underlying assumptions that are faulty.

My back and leg hurt. I'm lucky because I have had almost zero back issues or challenges before the last few weeks. I tweaked my back and am experiencing the loud voice of the usually silent sciatic nerve. I have been to the doctor, am starting PT, and doing everything you should do in this situation. BUT IT HURTS.

Productivity can be the holy grail of a business person or any human. I am blessed to be surrounded by women who care about me and support me. When I launched my business, I was doubly blessed to join a group of hard-core women entrepreneurs who are dedicated to helping each other achieve financial success, along with a lot of joy.

Have you ever noticed yourself getting angry over the little things and taking it out on someone or something? Even with significant training in emotional intelligence, this sign on a bathroom stall door made me think.

"Do you know that Joe is telling people that you aren't working and are just sleeping around?"  A fresh college graduate in my first job out of school, a co-worker shared this short but gut-wrenching piece of information with me. Joe (the name has been changed to protect the guilty) did a lot more harm than that.

Lion King I really enjoyed the Lion King performance when it came to Chicago again. I first got to experience dancing and singing on Broadway with my husband. This time we took our kids. The singing and dancing still move me.   But I couldn’t help but watch the story being told with a little more skepticism than the first time. The king of the jungle raising the prince, protecting the ladies? Hmmmm…sounds eerily close to the Cinderella fairytales we grew up on…pretty to watch, doesn’t match reality.

Life is in the Transitions by Bruce Feiler. This book recently took up lodging in my ears and chats with me during my commutes and walks. I usually "read" (translation: listen on Audible to) two or three books concurrently. I let myself pick and choose what to digest based on my mood. Bruce Feiler's book highlights the fact that we live nonlinear lives. He finds that we face dozens of disruptors in our lives, and part of our job in mastering our lives is mastering change. Well written.

Should I feel confident? Scores of companies rank confidence as an essential leadership trait. Countless women's leadership workshops offer participants the prospect of career advancement as they learn to embody confidence. I do enjoy a certain kind of confidence when I see it…not the puffed-up kind, but the authentic, genuine, grounded…. "I've seen some shit, and I'm okay with myself" kind of confidence. 

A Sobering Lesson in How to Feel Like You are Enough (or at least starting the journey) “How often do you look at your steps tracker while walking?”  …..Oooh, this question delivered a big boot kick in my gut. My therapist asked it in the kindest, most enfolding way, but it sent me reeling.  I recently started walking more, particularly in the morning before my day started. I love the feeling of my body getting more energized before I do anything else. Her harmless question evoked a slightly unequal reply on my part….I wanted to flat-out punch her. 

When I was a kid, we compared belly buttons-are you an outie or an innie? As an adult, I still try to pay attention to being an outie or an innie...but not related to my belly button. Julian B. Rotter, in his social learning theory of personality (1954), shared the term locus of control.

I was fortunate in my twenties to get to be a volunteer for hospice as a patient companion. If you are too young to care about the word…hospice means taking care of people who are about to die, maybe in a week, maybe in six months.

Him….“Barbara, I think you are amazing. I could hire you right now, but I am missing a word. One word. If you can give me that one word, we can close this deal right now." Me…"Sorry, Joe, I have no clue what word you are looking for, so you might as well tell me." Him…."MONEY! I need to know that money is THE THING that motivates you."

Impostor Syndrome: Alive and Thriving Impostor syndrome still thrives in our corporate halls, even if many of those halls are online. I almost didn't write about imposter syndrome. Thousands of people have written about it. Articles, blogs, and videos on the topic fill our channels. But I talked to too many people recently not to bring it up AGAIN.

I remember Darwin from school. Here is what I remember...

Are you looking to other people to show you how to be? In a coaching session with a female executive who had tremendous success and was at the top of their organization, they were trying to reason the “right” way to do something at their company.

Have you failed at something? Maybe your belly still churns when you think about an error you made or something you could have handled better.