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B3 Coach

Finding yourself is not solo work

Published about 1 month ago • 2 min read

SEPTEMBER 2026

THE OBJECT

I rearranged my work storage area one morning this week. Now when I look to my right, I see my books.

That sounds small. But it changed more than the room, it changed my perspective.

Two books I found in the (now organized) clutter I’ve had since high school. My photography teacher gave me the first, a book of Dorothea Lange’s photographs. He wrote inside the cover: I hope you continue to use your camera to express your strong emotions and sense of justice.

Even at seventeen, being seen and acknowledged felt powerful.

The back cover describes Lange as a small, shy, insecure woman who had a strong sense of justice which sparked a silent fury.

I read this and felt found.

The second book is Neruda — Fully Empowered. The bookmark was still where I left it, in “Nace” (It Is Born). The first line: Here I came to the very edge.

That is exactly where I am. At an edge, wings open, waiting for the morning when everything is blue again.

WHAT IT OPENED

I have never fit neatly into paradigms around me. For a long stretch of my life I read that as something to fix.

These two books are reminders of my permission to live (sometimes loudly) as my authentic self. A teacher who saw me clearly enough at seventeen to name this shining core value that frames my life still — and who was specific about it: the emotion, and the sense of justice. A biographer who described a shy woman with a silent fury, and gave me a way to recognize myself in it.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE WORK

This is the work, actually. Not fixing a team — helping them see the whole of themselves together and the individuals in their system, and enabling them to name it out loud, or naming it myself sometimes.

Teams get assessed constantly. Surveys, 360s, diagnostics that rank them against a benchmark. Very few of them get seen. And a team that has been seen accurately can recognize itself again: this is who we are, this is what we’ve been carrying, this is what we actually care about.

That recognition is what makes change possible.

TRY THIS WEEK

Find the object — the touchstone — that returns you to yourself. The book, the photograph, the letter, the thing someone gave you because they saw who you were.

Then move it. Put it where you look when you look up.

Ten minutes. It works on a team, too — ask everyone to bring one.

ONE QUESTION

What's your touchstone?

Hit reply and tell me. I hope you feel as seen as I do.

The new look is mine now. Angelica Hesse spent months seeing me before she drew any of it — more on why a pomegranate next month.

Supervision groups — open now

Team or 1:1 Coaching or ACC/PCC Mentoring — reply to this email and we’ll find a time

B3 Coach

Relationships are the fuel for every team.

I help small to mid-size nonprofit leadership teams navigate strategic changes intentionally, effectively, and confidently through coaching engagements. My mission is to weave together the fabric of people for a stronger community.

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