I’ve spent a lot of my life in motion.
Behind teams of dogs on frozen trails. Building businesses. Leading organizations. Teaching, studying, producing, creating. Forward movement has always felt familiar, even comforting. In many ways, it was rewarded. Things that move are seen as successful. Things that pause are often questioned.
The first chapter of the book I’ve been writing is called “The First Time Things Went Quiet.” It begins with a small moment on the trail, one that didn’t feel dramatic at the time. The dogs were moving well. The sled was running clean. Conditions were good. Nothing appeared wrong.
That’s when I lost a mitten.
I didn’t notice it immediately. And that part matters. Loss rarely announces itself with urgency. More often, it shows up as a quiet absence that only becomes obvious once the cost starts to register. In my case, it was the cold creeping in. In leadership, it’s often something less tangible. Trust. Clarity. Alignment. Purpose.
What struck me later wasn’t the loss itself, but how easy it was to keep going anyway.
We’re taught to value momentum. To push through discomfort. To stay the course. And sometimes that’s exactly the right call. But sometimes, momentum becomes the reason we stop paying attention. We mistake movement for alignment. Progress for direction.
On the trail, there’s a moment when everything goes quiet. Not literally silent, but internally still. A pause where you realize something isn’t right, even if you can’t yet name it. That moment is uncomfortable. It asks you to choose between continuing forward or turning around to understand what you’ve missed.
That chapter is about that choice.
It’s not a lesson wrapped in theory or advice. It’s a story about learning to notice sooner. About realizing that leadership isn’t just about knowing where you’re going, but about paying attention to what’s happening while you’re getting there.
I’ve been writing this book quietly, on purpose. But I wanted to share this moment now, before anything else, because it’s where the entire journey begins.
More soon.
