On being ready

Some news -- and a live video session on August 1st

I’ve been writing this newsletter for free for three years.

140,000 of you read it. A lot of you have written to tell me it changed something — how you think about trust, how to be perceived in a way that aligns with your goals, how you talk to yourself when something goes wrong. That means more than I know how to say.

And my message is consistent: shoot high, embrace the cringe, manage the emotions around it, succeed. I often have to follow my own advice.

I’m adding a paid tier. I want to be honest about why, because I think you deserve that more than you deserve a sales page.

I am writing a book.

And I am committed to writing a really, really good book.

The writing takes real time. The research takes real time. And now that I have some insight on how writing a book works, I have learned that both the writing and research benefit from a team. Especially when non-fiction how-to books are losing to generative AI. Especially when there were more business best-sellers by men named John in 2020 than all women combined. And especially since I just had my 4th kid and run a business.

“Of the year’s 200 bestselling business books, only 17 were written by women. That’s equal to the number of business bestsellers written by men named John or Jon.”

Susanne Althoff

Here’s what the paid tier includes: the core essays stay free. That’s not changing. I am committed to access. What paid subscribers get is something different — live video sessions where we go deep on one topic together.

Live sessions, with Q&A. A recap, recording, and extracted lessons after each one. And some time for 1:1. The first session is on trust. Saturday, August 1st at 9am Pacific. If you can’t make it live, you’ll get the recording.

If you’ve read anything I’ve written on trust — on what breaks it, what builds it, what it actually costs when it’s gone — you know this is a topic I’ve been circling for years. The first session is going to be the version of that conversation I haven’t been able to have in a newsletter.

The launch price is discounted, you just have to pledge and you lock in the pledge deal as long as you stay subscribed. When I turn on payments in a few weeks, that price goes up.

Whether or not you pledge, I am grateful for your support.