Hi {{first_name | default: there}},

I’m sitting down to write to you while I’m packing for a little mix of work and travel. The kind where your laptop comes with you, but so do your walking shoes (and in this case, a swimsuit!). I always notice something shifts for me before a trip. A little more reflection. A little more clarity about what actually matters. Do you feel that too when you step out of your usual routine?

Before I share these reflections, a heartfelt THANK YOU for your support this past week. The podcast launched, and if you listened, shared it, or even just sent a kind note, I felt it. Starting something new always comes with that quiet question of “will this land?” and your support meant more than you probably realize.

Reflection on Leadership Values

Have you ever felt stuck between showing up authentically as a leader and navigating a company culture that just doesn’t fit your values? What if the secret to inspiring others and building real success starts with embracing your unique, even messy, self?

This week’s episode “A Leader’s Personal Brand: Showing Up Authentically in an Automated World w/Thania Guardino” is now live on the HEARTset Studio Podcast, and it touches something I come back to again and again in my client work.

Personal values and work alignment.

We talked about values, identity, and how easy it is to move through your career without ever really naming what matters most to you. Not because you don’t care, but because you’ve been busy doing the work in front of you and getting through the days.

I spend a lot of time helping clients think through their personal brand, especially during job searches. And while it might start with resumes, LinkedIn, or interviews, it almost always comes back to something deeper: getting really clear on what they value. What they want out of their life. What kind of work actually feels aligned with who they are.

This clarity is not just for job searching.

It’s just as important when you’re already in a leadership role.

Because if you’re not clear on those things, it gets very easy to drift out of alignment with yourself. To say yes to the wrong opportunities. To slowly shape yourself around expectations that were never really yours to begin with.

One question I’ve been carrying this week is this:
Where is most of my time going these days… and does it line up with the life I say I want and my values?

There’s no rush to answer this perfectly. It’s just a good one to sit with.

What I’ve been studying

This month I’ve been spending time with research on burnout, and I came across a recent piece in Harvard Business Review that really stayed with me.

What struck me most was how it reframed burnout. Not as a personal issue, but as something shaped by how work is designed. And it looks very different depending on where you sit.

Early in your career, burnout can feel like not knowing what “good” even looks like.
In the middle, it shows up as pressure from all sides without the authority to resolve it.
And at the leadership level, it can start to look more like a quiet tension between what you’re being asked to do and what you actually believe is right.

That last part really stayed with me because I have experienced this in my career.

And it connects back to something I see all the time in client work. When leaders are not clear on their values, or when their time is being pulled toward things that don’t feel aligned, the work doesn’t just feel busy. It starts to feel heavy in a different way.

It makes me think about how often burnout is not about how much we’re doing, but about how closely what we’re doing matches what actually matters to us.

Virtue Signals in the “wild”

Did you hear about…

The continued conversations happening inside AI companies right now around safety, responsibility, and how fast things should move?

Over the past few weeks, you’ve seen leaders across organizations like OpenAI and Google navigating very public tension between innovation and restraint. Moving quickly versus moving carefully. Building what’s possible versus pausing to ask what’s responsible.

What’s interesting is that these are not just technical decisions. They’re values decisions.

And you can feel it in how different leaders talk about them. Some emphasize speed and competition. Others emphasize safety and long-term impact.

Same technology. Very different priorities.

It’s a good reminder that values show up most clearly when there isn’t an obvious right answer.

And it makes me think about how that plays out on a much smaller scale in our own work.

Where are we being pulled to move faster than feels right?
And where might slowing down actually be a reflection of what we care about?

Wherever this letter finds you, whether you’re deep in your current role or thinking about what might be next, I hope you give yourself a little space to think about what you actually want.

Not what makes sense on paper.
Not what looks good to other people.
Just what feels true for you right now.

There’s no rush to have it all figured out. But maybe it is something to sit with this week?

🧡 From my heart to yours,
Lisa

P.S. Carrying something in your heart that you’d rather talk through than keep thinking through? Let’s walk and talk! You can grab a time that works for you here.