Saturday, I spent part of the afternoon at Art Walk West in Dallas’s Tin District. I already knew several of the artists showing their work, so the event felt less like a casual outing and more like entering a creative ecosystem in motion.
A new standout for me was Josh Dodson. His large wood pieces, painted in whimsical patterns, suggested entirely different worlds. They reminded me of the otherworldly scenes I have seen in Ross von Rosenberg’s paintings.
That experience stayed with me because creative leadership is not only about having answers. It's about noticing what is trying to emerge before everyone else can explain it.
For creative leaders, that can be a difficult practice. We are often asked to turn uncertainty into a plan quickly. Yet many worthwhile ideas begin as something less tidy: a visual pattern, an instinct, a question, or a connection that needs time before it becomes useful to others.
This week, I also recorded conversations for my podcast, Community and Becoming | For the Love of Creatives. During one conversation, the internet connection failed and my guest needed to reconnect. It was not ideal, but it was real.
The moment reminded me that community is not created by perfect conditions. It's created when people remain patient, adaptable, and present with one another when something goes off script. That's true in a podcast conversation, a team meeting, and any creative collaboration.
I am also participating in xchange’s six-week Conscious Leadership Accelerator. Its mindfulness practices have reinforced something I know but do not always live: resourcing myself is part of the work.
When I slow down enough to notice my energy, attention, and internal state, I bring more choice into how I lead and facilitate. I am less likely to rush toward control and more able to listen for what the people in the room may need.
That theme deepened while reading Matrixworks: A Life-Affirming Guide to Facilitation Mastery and Group Genius by Mukara Meredith and Lisa Rome. I had several moments of recognition as its ideas connected with what I learned in the xchange Guide Certification Program and what I am practicing in the Conscious Leadership Accelerator.
The connection is clear: facilitation is much more than moving a group through an agenda. It's helping create the conditions for people to think together, tell the truth, make meaning, and participate in change.
That is especially important in organization-wide change work. People do not need another polished slide deck telling them what will happen to them. They need room to make sense of what is changing, name what matters, and contribute to what comes next.
Try This: The Two-Minute Arrival
Before your next meeting, pause for two minutes before you open your laptop or walk into the room.
Ask yourself:
What am I carrying into this conversation? What do I need to set down so I can be present? What might this group need that is not yet being said?
Don't try to solve the answers. Just notice them.
This small practice can help you shift from managing the room to actually being with the people in it. For creative leaders, that shift can make more room for trust, imagination, and better thinking.
Creative leadership asks us to notice what is emerging. Conscious leadership asks us to notice what is happening within us as we respond. Facilitation gives us ways to hold both, especially when the work is uncertain, unfinished, or changing shape.
What do you notice in your own leadership when you give yourself space to arrive before asking others to contribute?
I am building an organizational facilitation practice rooted in the belief that meaningful change is not delivered to people. It is created with them. I partner with leaders and teams to design conversations that invite real participation, surface shared wisdom, and turn momentum into practical next steps.
If your organization is preparing for change, bringing people together around a complex question, or seeking a thoughtful facilitation partner, connect with me here on LinkedIn. I am always interested in conversations about what becomes possible when the right people are meaningfully involved.