Business 4 Good: How Women Leaders Innovate by Centering Equity
The Portland Metro Innovation Hub checked all the equity boxes on paper. I was the unanimous choice to lead it. What happened next became a masterclass in how not to build. Here is what I learned, and why I keep building Business 4 Good, because even if I am no longer in that role, it remains my job to connect resources to the people who need and deserve them.
Start with the End in Mind, or Don't
Start with the end in mind, they say. But also keep iterating and resetting to the present moment at the same time. Is it possible to hold both at once? After some thought, I do not think either is mutually exclusive. Nobody handed us the infrastructure. We built it with whatever we had.
Golden Ticket: Empathy as the Leadership Advantage
Empathy is the most profitable leadership skill you have not fully made yet. It cannot be just because they have to. That is the era of the Soft Boss. We are already in it. I am writing this from a couch in my Soft Boss era, escaping the late-stage capitalism grind. After-all, what does AI eat for breakfast? Human Intelligence, of course.
The Flywheel: Collaboration as Currency
Think of a bike wheel. It spins graciously when it is built correctly, maintained over time with good, kind attention. Now imagine that wheel is a global marketplace built by women for women. This is what the flywheel of collaboration looks like when every spoke is tended to.

