Find the full transcript at yourfuturerealized.com/116.

A client looked at me across Zoom recently, and said, “I just don’t want to get forgotten while I’m gone.”

She was five months pregnant—organized, working all hours. She’d been chasing a promotion all year and wanted to prove she was ready before stepping away. So she pushed harder: wrapping every project, mentoring her backup, rewriting SOPs.

The harder she pushed, the less room there was to breathe… or even wonder what might matter after the baby came. One day she said, almost whispering:

“What if I don’t even want this when I get back?”

That’s when it was clear we had to stop talking checklists and start talking about space.

In this episode, you’ll get a simple approach to design your last 90 days before mat leave so you and your team are ready—without you working straight through to labor.

Find the full transcript, and more resources for operations executives, at YourFutureRealized.com/115.

Once upon a time, a team of rainmaking sales leads were landing big sales. And the company would ring a loud bell to celebrate every close.

But over time, the culture leaned harder on their “close at all costs” style. Downstream, operations was drowning in promises no one had checked, stuck playing “the bad guy” with furious clients.

Those rainmakers were under big pressure to keep revenue flowing, so they’d take the shortest path they knew. That meant skipping reality checks. Resentment grew, scalability tanked. Growth stalled on these few irreplaceable stars.

It’s a common tale: rainmakers making it rain, everyone else mopping up the flood. In this episode, learn simple ways to speak up from the ops seat—bravely, tactfully, and without blowing things up, starting today. .

Find the full transcript, and more resources for operations executives, at YourFutureRealized.com/114.

There’s this story about Prince at the 2007 Super Bowl halftime show, and it goes like this: Right before he went on, people were worried about the rain. It was pouring. The director called him and said, “Hey, it’s really starting to come down—are you okay?” Prince’s answer simply was:

“Can you make it rain harder?”​

I love this story. It’s not just showbiz swagger. It’s a mindset. And it’s the kind of energy I want for operations leaders: you don’t hide from the storm, you face it. You’re willing to look at the chaos with clear eyes, and a low center of gravity, and say, “Okay, then, bring it on.”

In this episode, you’ll hear how to build that kind of steady confidence and use small reinventions to keep going no matter what’s coming at you.

Find the full transcript at YourFutureRealized.com/113.

Every challenge at work has a tech “solution.” Stressed? Get a timer, or a soothing sound app. Overwhelmed? A bot can remind you to drink water. Here’s a game where you can breathe with whales. Gadgets buzz your wrist or zap your ear, promising calm on demand.

But I’ve found the real fix is not on any screen. It’s daylight, sneakers, and a deep breath.

A leader I know was swamped by merger chaos. He started slipping out for 10-minute walks to clear his head.

Honestly? He was just dodging work, not following some big plan. But it worked. It snapped him out of his “ugh, now what?” mode. He’d come back lighter, calmer, steadier. No apps, no monthly fees.

This episode is about how tiny real habits build resilience and help you hit reset when it all feels like too much.

Find the full transcript at yourfuturerealized.com/112.

What if you could start your morning feeling noticeably better and stronger, before the day pulls at you?

I recently coached a leader who was always in firefighting mode, glued to email before sunrise, even before she was out of bed. Always on, her stress set the pace every day.

Then she tried a simple experiment one morning: A five-minute brain dump in her journal before anything else. That day, she found her thinking was clearer, and she could keep what really mattered in focus. She didn’t feel overwhelmed, or snappy. Burnout didn’t get a chance to creep in.

Today, I’ll share the one small routine that’s quietly changing the way high-level ops leaders start their day, why most skip it, and what actually could happen if you give it a try—starting tomorrow.

Find the full transcript at YourFutureRealized.com/111.

Every leader I know is saying the same thing: The world’s just getting messier, faster, and less predictable every day. Ops leaders are under fire nonstop, keeping things moving while everyone’s watching and waiting for you to fix it. You do it all because, honestly, if you don’t, who will?

It’s easy to feel like “if I don’t do it, it won’t get done”. Pause? Delegate? Yeah, right. Most days, it doesn’t feel that simple particularly when nobody else gets it like you do.

What if you could break that cycle to shift gears and lighten your load?

If that “only I can fix this” tape keeps playing in your head, keep listening for a way to interrupt the grind, lead smarter, conserve your energy for what really matters, and maybe even enjoy the ride.

Find the full transcript, and more resources for operations executives, at yourfuturerealized.com/110.

For all the talk about company and team dynamics, we rarely talk about the culture that matters most—the one between your ears.

Think about the vibe you set for yourself, the stories and doubts you carry into every meeting, every decision, every hard day. What’s it like in there? Is your inner world honest and curious, or constantly judging and second-guessing.

A lot of leaders drive results every day while battling an unforgiving headspace. Here’s what I know: the culture in your own head sets the tone for everything else. What you tolerate inside, shows up outside. When you trust yourself, your team feels it. When you’re stuck in doubt and self-criticism, that’s what you pass on.

In this episode, you’ll get a practical way to start shaping a healthier, stronger culture in your own head.

Find the full transcript, and more resources for operations executives, at yourfuturerealized.com/109.

Back when I ran a PMO, our team basically tripled fast just to keep up with work pouring in.

New faces arrived every month, new technology rolled out constantly. Sometimes the folks selling projects weren’t synced with those delivering—like two bands on opposite sides of the street.

It was a rush to watch the pace ramp up, but the chaos left us reeling, unsure which fire to fight next, or if we’d get through it.

If this sounds familiar, you’re in the right place. In fast-changing companies, chaos isn’t optional, it’s reality. You can’t steer it all. But you can choose your focus and how you talk to yourself in the storm.

Your brain filters what you feed it. Tweak those beliefs even a little, and the situation looks different. In this episode, we’re talking surfing chaos—not sinking.