The Leadership Throughline is a free monthly newsletter for global-majority leaders and accomplices who want to reshape the stories, systems, and patterns that block effective leadership. Practical insights for leading with emotional intelligence, building psychological safety, and trusting your own read of when to modulate your authenticity, since real leadership was never about conforming.

A Note on Language

Language matters in this work. I generally avoid terms that diminish or erase the communities they describe, though I may occasionally use widely understood shorthand. When I'm speaking about race and ethnicity, I often use "global majority" because it reflects that communities marginalized in Western contexts make up most of the world's population, rather than framing them as minorities or "underrepresented." I broadly define a marginalized identity as someone who identifies in one or more ways as disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, a person of color, or a woman.

In many workplaces and coaching spaces, people commonly use phrases like "blind spots." I choose not to use that wording because it treats blindness and vision impairments as metaphors for ignorance or deficiency. I use "unseen gaps" instead. You’ll see that phrasing reflected across my work.

In This Issue:

• The Throughline: Adaptability
• Voice of the Month: Toni Morrison
• CliftonStrengths Spotlight: Activator
• From the Red Team Thinking Toolkit: Alternative Futures Analysis
• A Resource Worth Your Time: Your Culture Is Your Instrument
• Monthly Reflection Prompt

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Hello Reader,

Welcome to the first issue of The Leadership Throughline! I'm glad to be back in your inbox. I appreciate you waiting two months for my newsletter relaunch. You'll see that it's different from Three-Minute Momentum, but the underlying foundation of emotional intelligence and inclusive leadership is still the same. I hope that you like this new format, but even if you don't, please tell me.

Let's get started!

The Throughline

Anchor Competency: Adaptability

Organizations are changing faster than most teams can comfortably handle. There’s a reorg and another one. It never seems to stop. Planning has become increasingly challenging because of regulation changes, market shifts, and competition. And what about tech disruption and growth outpacing structure? It’s a lot!

You aligned the team on the goals and objectives for the quarter and the timeline for the work has been set. But there’s a problem: the goalposts moved.

What do you do when the plan changes unexpectedly? Or just keeps changing?

There’s pressure to look certain and decisive as a leader. I'm sure you've felt it. You have to course-correct because of changes you often have nothing to do with, and keep things on track.

Now for marginalized leaders, this pressure is compounded because despite considerable skill and competence, we face greater scrutiny and a higher likelihood of our judgment being questioned.

Performing certainty can reinforce our imposter feelings, and being vulnerable could risk confirming doubts others may have about whether we belong.

Adaptability, as an emotional intelligence (EI) competency, allows us to adjust and stay connected to people while staying anchored in our own values.

Adaptability is not about being accommodating. It is an act of discernment, which means knowing what to flex, what cannot be changed, and what will endure.

Discernment means: communicate when things shift. This helps to maintain connection and to avoid confusion turning into drift.

When people don’t get the information they need, they will fill in the blanks on their own and with each other.

Because some people bear the emotional and logistical labor more than others, pay attention to how “business needs” can become a cover for inequitable disruption. The cost of disruption is invisible to those who don't bear it.

EI competencies are building blocks. Here are four examples, one per domain, that go with Adaptability:

Emotional Self-Awareness (Self-Awareness) makes it possible for you to notice what you’re feeling and recognize your reaction before it can affect the room. When you can stay grounded and present with Emotional Self-Control (Self-Management), you’re free to choose the emotion that serves the situation best.

With Organizational Awareness (Social Awareness), you can see the emotional response to disruption and who’ll be most impacted by it. And Conflict Management (Relationship Management) helps you effectively address tensions that arise from disruption.

Adaptability, along with the other building blocks, is the throughline to effectively flex when the plan changes unexpectedly or just keeps changing.

For marginalized leaders, it helps you more fluidly navigate disruption through discernment. That means strategically choosing when to hold steady and when to be vulnerable, instead of defaulting to whichever feels safer.

For accomplices, Adaptability helps you see what’s inequitable so you can take action.

Voice of the Month

~Toni Morrisson

CliftonStrengths Spotlight

Activator

Someone with this strength can quickly turn thoughts into action. They initiate things and create momentum. They leap before they look. They tend to be impatient and move fast. Activator is speed without calibration. The same impatience that might be perceived as "decisive" in one leader would be called reckless in a marginalized one. When the ground is constantly shifting, someone leading with Activator doesn't need certainty to make a move.

From the Red Team Thinking Toolkit

Alternative Futures Analysis

What it is: This RTT tool maps the different ways a plan could unfold, so you can build a plan flexible enough to hold up no matter which future shows up.

Used when: You're heading into a decision where the information isn't just unclear, but shaped by real uncertainty—whether you're still building the plan or want to pressure-test one that's already set. It also works well when a team keeps planning around the one outcome everyone hopes for instead of identifying the ones no one wants to say out loud.

Why it matters for leaders: Most planning defaults to the future that you want. This tool makes you consider the ones you prefer not to imagine. Adaptability is what lets you move well once the ground shifts. This tool helps you map out the different ways it could shift before it does.

A Resource Worth Your Time

Your Culture Is Your Instrument, Daniel Custódio, TEDxVCU

Dr. Custódio's doctoral research traces Latino professionals through five stages of identity work—from making themselves small at work to leading with what makes them different. The reframe he makes: an accent, a family's sacrifices, and growing up between two languages aren't things to manage, but are instuments. He says, "I'm not code switching. I'm code mastering." It's worth taking a look if you've ever thought about how much of yourself to bring into a room. Watch the TEDx talk.

Monthly Reflection Prompt

Pick one plan at work that's already shifted. What are you willing to flex? What can't change? What will endure? Hit reply and tell me which one surprised you.

Kind regards,

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When You're Ready, Here's How I Can Help:

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