May 7, 2025 | Breaking the Binary
In Episode 1, we introduced the Spheres of Authentic Action framework—an existentially inspired tool to help leaders navigate complex decisions without abandoning their values. In Episode 2, we bring that framework to life with real-world examples and two new tools to help you apply it to your own organization.
Authentic leadership doesn’t mean choosing between purity and pragmatism—it means navigating across values, strategy, and creativity with intention.
🌀 Navigating Across Spheres
We revisit the three concentric circles of our framework:
- Core Values: The deep impact your organization is committed to creating, beyond language or branding.
- Strategic Flexibility: The ways you communicate and adapt while keeping your core work intact.
- Creative Possibilities: The innovations that emerge when constraints challenge your usual way of doing things.
Drawing from real nonprofit leaders across youth development, health equity, and environmental justice, we explore how organizations are:
- Clarifying what’s truly non-negotiable in their mission
- Developing context-specific language that stays true to their values
- Innovating when traditional approaches are no longer viable
🧠 Thought Experiment: Thinking Without a Banister
Inspired by Hannah Arendt’s philosophy, we guide you through a thought experiment to expand your team’s ethical judgment and adaptive capacity. It’s designed to help you recognize when sector norms limit your vision—and what new possibilities arise when you start “thinking without a banister.”
📥 Free Downloads
Ready to map your own organization’s work across the three spheres?
Download the Spheres of Authentic Action Mapping Template
Download the Strategic Flexibility Communication Guide
🎧 Listen to the Episode
In just 20 minutes, you’ll gain a clearer sense of how to lead authentically through uncertainty, complexity, and constraint. Listen to Episode 2 here and bring the Spheres framework into your everyday practice.
💬 Coming Up Next
In Episode 3, we’ll explore Martin Buber’s concept of the I-Thou relationship and how authentic connection can shift our leadership from individual burdens to shared power.
Until then, map your work, notice your language shifts, and explore what new creative options emerge when you break free from binary thinking.
May 6, 2025 | Breaking the Binary
Episode 1: The Courage to Be — Authenticity vs. Survival
Welcome to the blog companion for the premiere episode of Breaking the Binary. If you’ve just listened to “The Courage to Be: Authenticity vs. Survival”, you know we’re diving into some of the toughest tensions nonprofit leaders face:
How do we stay true to our values when doing so might threaten the very survival of our organizations?
This episode explores what it means to lead authentically in a time of political pressure, funding shifts, and identity-based backlash. Using existential philosophy as our guide, we unpack what it means to make conscious choices within real constraints—and how embracing our freedom to choose can actually open up new possibilities for impact.
We hear stories like Tanya’s, a youth mental health leader who faced a wrenching decision when a funder demanded the removal of LGBTQ+ affirming language. Rather than choose between compromise and collapse, Tanya found a third path—rooted not in reaction, but in reflection. Through the lens of philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, we begin to see how freedom, integrity, and strategic adaptation can coexist.
Introducing: The Spheres of Authentic Action Framework
To help you apply these insights to your own work, we created the Spheres of Authentic Action framework—a tool to support decision-making that is grounded, flexible, and visionary.
This framework invites you to think beyond either/or:
- 🔵 Core Values Sphere: What is the real-world impact your organization is here to make? Strip away language, branding, even structure—what must stay true at all costs?
- 🟢 Strategic Flexibility Sphere: What are the aspects of your work that can shift to meet the moment—language, presentation, partnerships—without compromising your core?
- 🟣 Creative Possibilities Sphere: What could become possible if you treat constraints as invitations to innovate?
When applied to a real challenge your team is facing, this tool helps you move past paralysis or reactive compromise. Instead of asking “Do we comply or resist?”, you can begin to ask “Where is our real power to choose, and how can we act with integrity within the current terrain?”
🧠 Download the Free Worksheet
Use the downloadable worksheet below to explore your organization’s current challenge through the Spheres of Authentic Action. Whether you’re navigating funding restrictions, political climates, or value tensions, this tool will help you clarify what matters most—and where you have room to move.
Download the Spheres of Authentic Action Worksheet
🎧 Missed the Episode?
Listen to Episode 1: The Courage to Be and explore how existential thought can illuminate a path through the murkiness of modern leadership. Then grab your worksheet, gather your team, and start reframing your next big decision.
🔄 Coming Next
In Episode 2, we’ll go deeper into how different organizations are using this framework in real time—adapting language, shifting strategies, and staying grounded in their missions while building new pathways through complexity.
Until then, remember:
Authenticity and adaptation aren’t opposites. They’re partners in the practice of courageous, values-driven leadership.
Apr 12, 2025 | Business Planning, Work Culture
By Tyonne Boyd-Godfrey, Lifestyle Consultant
Last month, we had a heart-to-heart about why your productivity system might be failing you. If you took my advice and started paying attention to your natural rhythms, you’ve probably noticed something: Time isn’t the only currency that matters. Energy—your physical, mental, and emotional fuel—is what truly drives your productivity.
Let me say this louder for those in the back: You can have all the time in the world and still accomplish nothing if your energy is depleted.
The Time Management Trap
For decades, we’ve been obsessed with managing time. We slice our days into 15-minute increments, schedule back-to-back meetings, and pride ourselves on being “busy.” But here’s what my highest-performing clients have discovered: time management without energy management is like having a sports car with no gas.
Marcus, a finance executive I worked with last year, was scheduling his most complex analytical work for late afternoons because that’s when his calendar was free. But after tracking his energy patterns for just two weeks, he realized his mental sharpness peaked before 11 AM. When he rearranged his schedule to protect those morning hours for deep work, his output doubled—not because he had more time but because he was using his high-energy periods wisely.
Mapping Your Energy Landscape
Let’s get practical. For the next week, I want you to rate your energy levels on a scale of 1-10 at different points throughout the day. Notice patterns:
- When do you feel most alert and focused?
- When do you experience the afternoon slump?
- Which days of the week do you have more energy?
- How do different types of work affect your energy?
This isn’t about judging yourself—it’s about gathering data. Your energy patterns are unique to you, influenced by everything from your sleep habits to your hormonal cycles.
Jasmine, a marketing director and mother of two, discovered that her energy fluctuated dramatically throughout her menstrual cycle. Instead of fighting it, she now plans her most creative work during her follicular phase when her energy is naturally higher and schedules more administrative tasks during her luteal phase when her energy tends to dip.
Types of Energy You Need to Manage
Energy isn’t one-dimensional. There are four types you need to monitor:
- Physical energy: Your body’s capacity for activity
- Mental energy: Your ability to focus and think clearly
- Emotional energy: Your capacity to handle feelings and interpersonal situations
- Spiritual energy: Your connection to meaning and purpose
Each requires different management techniques. For instance:
- Physical energy responds well to movement breaks, proper nutrition, and adequate sleep
- Mental energy benefits from focused work periods followed by genuine breaks
- Emotional energy needs boundaries and time for processing
- Spiritual energy is replenished through activities that connect you to your deeper purpose
Energy Drains and How to Plug Them
We all have energy vampires in our lives—the activities, environments, or people that leave us feeling depleted. Identifying yours is the first step to managing them.
Common energy drains include:
- Decision fatigue: Making too many choices without systems
- Toxic relationships: Interactions that leave you emotionally drained
- Environment mismatches: Working in spaces that don’t support your focus
- Value conflicts: Spending time on activities that don’t align with your core values
Tonya, a client who ran a consulting business, realized that her weekly networking events were draining her introverted battery. Instead of forcing herself to attend every event, she became more selective and developed a recovery routine for afterward. Her business relationships actually improved because she was more present and energized when she did attend.
Building Your Energy Management System
Now that you understand the importance of energy management, let’s build a system that works for you:
- Protect your peak energy hours: Schedule your most important and challenging work during your high-energy periods
- Create energy transition rituals: Develop routines that help you shift between different types of activities
- Design your environment: Set up your workspace to support your energy rather than drain it
- Build in recovery: Schedule regular breaks and longer recovery periods
- Align with your values: Ensure your work and activities connect to what truly matters to you
Remember, this is personal. What works for your colleague or that productivity guru on Instagram might not work for you. Trust your data and your experience.
This Month’s Challenge
For the next 30 days, I want you to experiment with energy management. Start by tracking your energy patterns, then make one change to better align your important work with your natural peaks. Maybe it’s scheduling your creative work for early mornings, or perhaps it’s taking a real lunch break away from your desk.
Document how this change affects not just your productivity but also your overall satisfaction and well-being. Share your results with me on this post.
Because here’s the truth: Productivity isn’t just about getting more done. It’s about having the energy to do what matters most to you in a way that feels sustainable and fulfilling.
Next month, we’ll dive into digital decluttering and how to create a tech environment that supports your energy rather than draining it. Until then, pay attention to what fuels you and what depletes you. Your energy is your most precious resource—manage it accordingly.
Feb 17, 2025 | Children & Families
As we reflect on social progress this Black History Month, we confront an uncomfortable truth: America’s legacy of family separation persists through our modern foster care system. In 2022, over 390,000 children were in foster care across the United States, with Black children bearing a disproportionate burden of this system. While Black youth represent just 14% of America’s child population, they make up 23% of all children in foster care. This isn’t a coincidence – it’s the predictable outcome of policies that have historically targeted and destabilized Black families.
The racial disparities tell only part of the story. For LGBTQ+ youth, particularly those of color, the foster care system represents another layer of systemic failure. These young people make up an estimated 20-30% of youth in foster care while representing only 5-10% of the general youth population. A Black transgender teen in the system faces the systemic racism that drives disproportionate placement rates and the challenge of finding affirming care that respects their identity. These intersecting vulnerabilities create a trap where those most in need of support often face the greatest barriers to receiving it.
The Pipeline to Family Separation
The journey to foster care often begins with a housing crisis. When a single mother faces eviction from subsidized housing due to missed payments, child protective services may label her housing instability as “neglect,” transforming economic hardship into family separation. This scenario, replayed countless times across America, demonstrates how housing discrimination becomes a pipeline to family disruption.
Historical redlining practices confined Black families to specific neighborhoods, limiting their ability to build intergenerational wealth through homeownership. Today, these same neighborhoods often lack adequate public transportation, making it difficult for residents to maintain stable employment. When families struggle to pay rent, they face a cruel paradox – their poverty becomes evidence of parental unfitness in the eyes of the child welfare system.
Policy Choices, Family Consequences
Three key policies created the foundation for today’s crisis. The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act imposed strict work requirements and lifetime benefit limits on welfare recipients, forcing single parents to choose between supervising their children and maintaining benefits. The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 implemented “one strike” policies in public housing, allowing entire families to face eviction based on any household member’s alleged criminal activity. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) requires states to terminate parental rights when children spend 15 of 22 months in foster care – an impossibly short timeline for families struggling with housing instability.
These policies work in concert to create a web of surveillance and punishment that disproportionately entangles low-income families of color. Schools in underfunded districts may report families for children’s torn clothing or missed meals, interpreting poverty as neglect rather than as symptoms of systemic inequality. The recent implementation of technology-based risk assessment tools in child welfare has embedded these historical biases in new technology, perpetuating cycles of poverty and family separation.
A Better Path Forward
Addressing this crisis requires fundamental changes in how we approach both housing policy and child welfare. First, we must understand that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness cannot happen without safe and stable housing. This means implementing robust emergency housing assistance specifically designed to prevent family separation, with prevention-based rapid rehousing options that keep families together while addressing underlying economic challenges.
The criminalization of poverty must end through reformed mandatory reporting requirements. Rather than automatically triggering child welfare involvement when families show signs of economic distress, mandated reporters should first connect families with preventive services and support. This shift would transform community institutions from instruments of surveillance into sources of family support.
For LGBTQ+ youth, particularly those of color, we need comprehensive federal legislation mandating affirming practices in foster care while providing resources for family preservation. This should include funding for family acceptance programs that help parents support their LGBTQ+ children, potentially preventing foster care placement altogether.
The path forward requires more than piecemeal reform – it demands a fundamental reimagining of how we support families. Rather than spending billions on a foster care system that separates families, we must invest in policies that keep them together: universal housing assistance that prevents eviction-based family separation, comprehensive childcare support that eliminates “neglect” charges against working parents, and family acceptance programs that help parents support their LGBTQ+ children.
As we reflect on Black History Month, we must acknowledge that true racial justice requires dismantling systems that tear families apart and replacing them with structures that keep families together. The choice before us is clear: continue funding a system that perpetuates historical patterns of family separation, or invest in policies that strengthen families and communities. The solution isn’t to reform the foster care system – it’s to reduce our reliance on it by ensuring that families have the resources they need to stay together in the first place. Our children deserve nothing less.
Feb 13, 2025 | Children & Families
Anti-Trans Legislation and Its Immediate Consequences
Across the United States, a surge of anti-transgender laws is having devastating effects on transgender and nonbinary youth. These laws are framed as protecting children while doing the exact opposite. According to a study by The Trevor Project, suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth have spiked by as much as 72% in states that passed anti-trans legislation(Youth Today)(The Trevor Project). These laws—restricting access to gender-affirming care, bathroom rights, and sports participation—send a clear message to young people that their identities are not valid.
The most affected are youth between the ages of 13-17, who often rely on medical and social support systems to navigate their identities. Denying these young people access to gender-affirming care not only increases their risk of mental health crises but can also lead to self-harm and suicide(WGCU Public Media)(The Trevor Project). In states that have enacted these laws, the youngest trans youth are reporting dramatically higher rates of depression, isolation, and hopelessness.
For these young people, anti-trans laws represent more than just legal restrictions—they symbolize societal rejection. When the law invalidates their existence, they feel powerless, unsupported, and unprotected. The immediate consequence is a worsening mental health crisis that could have been prevented through inclusive, compassionate care.
The Intersection of Identity, Racism, and Discrimination
For transgender and nonbinary youth of color, the burden of anti-trans laws is even heavier. These young people face intersectional discrimination, grappling not only with transphobia but also with systemic racism. Studies have shown that transgender youth of color experience higher rates of suicide attempts than their white peers, as they contend with both race-based bullying and laws targeting their gender identity(Youth Today)(Point of Pride).
In states with anti-trans legislation, the complex social environment creates a toxic environment where young people are isolated, fearful, and unable to access the support they need. For many, discrimination in schools, healthcare, and public life reinforces a sense of rejection on multiple fronts. They are marginalized for their gender identity AND their race, making their mental health outcomes particularly dire.
The rejection they face isn’t just social—it’s structural. Anti-trans laws prevent these youth from accessing gender-affirming care, a critical lifeline for their well-being. And because transgender youth of color already encounter racial disparities in healthcare access, these laws deepen existing inequalities. Without comprehensive support, their mental health suffers, and they are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and self-harm(WGCU Public Media)(KFF Health News).
The Long-Term Societal Impact
The passage of anti-trans laws doesn’t just affect the individual youth—they create a ripple effect that impacts society at large. By restricting gender-affirming care and other basic rights, these laws send a clear societal message: transgender and nonbinary people are not worthy of protection or validation. This not only fosters discrimination but also legitimizes transphobia, creating environments where it’s acceptable to reject and marginalize people based on their gender identity(Youth Today)(The Trevor Project).
For young people, these laws heighten the risk of social isolation, poverty, and long-term mental health challenges. Public rejection through legal action reinforces the idea that trans youth are undeserving of equal rights and opportunities. The result is a systemic cycle of exclusion that prevents these young people from accessing education, employment, and healthcare later in life(Point of Pride)(KFF Health News).
Moreover, when trans youth are denied access to gender-affirming care or forced into hostile environments, the entire community is impacted. Studies consistently show that inclusive policies lead to healthier, more productive citizens, while discriminatory laws only deepen inequality(The Trevor Project)(KFF Health News). For society to thrive, all individuals, especially its most vulnerable, must have the opportunity to live authentically and safely.
A Call for Compassion and Action
As the devastating rise in suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth demonstrates, the stakes are high. Anti-trans legislation does more than limit access to rights—it actively harms some of our most vulnerable young people, pushing them toward mental health crises and social isolation. The data is clear: gender-affirming care saves lives, and denying it has severe consequences(Point of Pride)(The Trevor Project).
We must take action to ensure these harmful policies are reversed. It’s not enough to simply condemn these laws—now is the time to actively support the organizations that are advocating for transgender rights and mental health services. Groups like The Trevor Project, which provides life-saving support to LGBTQ+ youth, and Point of Pride, which helps transgender individuals access healthcare, are on the frontlines, fighting to protect the lives and dignity of these young people(Youth Today)(Point of Pride).
It’s also critical that we advocate for inclusive policies at every level—whether by supporting local initiatives that create brave spaces for transgender youth or by contacting lawmakers to express our opposition to anti-trans legislation. We need to foster a culture of compassion and understanding, one where every young person is valued for who they are, and have the opportunity to thrive.
This moment calls for more than words—it demands action. We must stand up for transgender and nonbinary youth, ensuring that their futures are filled with hope and possibility, rather than fear and rejection.
