Coherence: my word for 2026

My word for 2026 is Coherence.

It reflects a year of profound change – letting go of how I’d worked for most of my career and choosing a more aligned way forward.

I spent years being highly functional – and quietly disconnected.

On the outside, I was a trusted anchor.
Building and leading a successful agency.
Someone who seemed steady and unshakeable – keeping self-doubt and fatigue mostly out of sight.
The one who gave an enthusiastic yes when the problem wasn’t clear yet, the timelines were urgent, and the stakes were high.

It worked for a long time. I was successful by most external measures, which made it challenging to let this approach go.
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But on the inside, I was often tired, braced, and efforting.
I’d stay up all night refining a deck on a red-eye flight, then walk into the room the next morning and lead as if I were fully resourced.
I’d facilitate back-to-back ideation sessions while fighting illness, adrenaline carrying me through.
I could be articulate, compelling, and composed, while quietly overriding my body to keep pace.

From the outside, it looked like confidence.
From the inside, it felt like fragmentation.

Coherence is what happens when you stop living in pieces.
When your nervous system feels safe.
When your voice matches your values.
When your leadership no longer requires self-override.

I think many of us start each year thinking that we need to become someone new. When, in fact, what we truly need is to stop operating against ourselves.

For me, coherence (before I knew the word to give it) has become the foundation for better leadership, clearer decisions, and work that isn’t just impressive on paper – but actually feels good in the body and holds up in the real world.

And what I love most about this shift is that, since I started operating this way, business has never been stronger.
Leading feels lighter.
Culture deepens and joy abounds.
Work flows in effortlessly.
And the work itself feels calmer, even as the stakes rise.

We get to the heart of the matter quickly.
Ideas link instead of scatter.
Concepts and decks come together with unusual clarity.
Clients feel it.
Teams feel it.
And the outcomes reflect it.

There’s a magnetism that comes from alignment you can’t manufacture with force.

"Less force. More truth."
That’s the mantra I'm repeating and the direction I’m continuing to move in and build from in 2026. And I'll keep writing about it here.

I would love to hear which word you've chosen for the new year and why it's significant to you. 🙏

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