For more than three decades, one question has shaped my work:
What distinguishes exceptional leaders from everyone else?
I've explored that question from many seats at the table—as a Chief HR Officer, executive coach, consultant, and trusted advisor to CEOs and senior executives across organizations of every size and ownership structure.
Along the way, I've helped leaders navigate growth, transformation, mergers, succession, organizational change—and the everyday realities of leading people.
Yet despite countless leadership models, assessments, and frameworks, I kept arriving at the same conclusion:
Leadership is often made more complicated than it needs to be.
Then something unexpected happened.
I learned to play Mahjong.
Around the Mahjong table I saw the same leadership principles I'd spent decades teaching:
- observation…
- adaptability…
- judgment…
- connection…
- and helping others succeed.
That unexpected discovery became the foundation for Ancient Game. Modern Leadership.
Today, I help executives and leadership teams cut through complexity, focus on what matters most, and create the conditions for people and organizations to thrive.