The Conscious Newsletter

We were excited to hire him. Multiple companies wanted him. We got him. It felt like a win. Then the red flags started showing up. He fought with our best performers. Behind our backs, he was a bully. To our faces, he told us what we wanted to hear. His arrogance bled through in small, then bigger ways. But we didn't act. We kept hoping he'd change. We gave consistent feedback. We told ourselves: "We're too invested in this hire. We can't afford to start over." So we waited.

We've been told for years that emotions don't belong in business. I once worked for a CEO who had a sign taped permanently to the boardroom door that said: "Leave your emotions at the door." This never made sense to me. Businesses are run by people. People are emotional beings. And these emotional beings make decisions. Decision-making is rarely, if ever, devoid of emotion. In fact, neuroscience shows that people with damaged emotional centers in the brain struggle to make de

Kindness is often thought of as weakness in the corporate world. But is it actually a leadership superpower? The best leaders aren't the toughest. They're the ones who build trust, inspire loyalty, and bring out the best in others. And that doesn't come from dictatorship. It comes fastest and easiest from kindness. Why Kind Leadership Is a Competitive Advantage Here's why kind leadership is a competitive advantage: Kind leaders retain top talent. Employees don't quit jobs. T

"Please don't tell me you're also a feminist." That's the comment I got from an old university professor (male) when I shared the interview that accompanied a magazine cover I was on a few years ago. I won't lie. It felt a bit like a slap. And he didn't even see the cover. I hadn't posted it. For a moment, I thought: Why is a group of women in leadership positions talking about our experiences so threatening to some people? Why is "feminist" still used as an insult? Are women

I was traveling back from Sri Lanka to Canada earlier this year when I witnessed something that's stuck with me since. A woman, maybe in her 50s, wearing a beautiful saree, was trying to board through the priority lane at the gate. The gate agent sees her in line and loudly said, "Ma'am, this lane is for business class passengers." Nothing about her affect changed. She just responded, "I am a business class passenger." But he comes down and insists on checking her boarding pa

I've had two very different kinds of leadership moments in my career. One was at a big corporate event with some of the most influential figures in banking and business in Sri Lanka. Polished. High-stakes. The kind of room where every conversation matters. The other was a couple of days later, sitting in a thatched roof hut with a handful of women from one of our farms, talking about sexual harassment awareness. Both mattered. Both were leadership. But thinking about the cont

As kids, we are taught a few safe "nos." Don't get into a stranger's car. Don't take candy from strangers. Those are easy because you don't care about burning those bridges. But in adulthood? Saying 'no' gets quite messy. Because now a boundary can be mistaken for rejection. And with an insecure boss (or colleague or in-law), you might get passive-aggressively punished if you make them feel rejected. You can be called "difficult." Labeled "stubborn." Branded "not a team playe

The photograph below was taken of me at an event and created an unexpected problem at work the very next day. And I was debating posting this at all but here we are. That day I was dealing with a conflict between two very senior people. I was listening to both sides, trying to sort through what was being said, and I could tell one of them wasn't getting at the full story. So I asked this person, "I feel like I'm missing something here. Can you fill me in?" He looks at me and