October has passed quickly without a newsletter from me. The weeks since my September edition have been filled with back-to-back events, meaningful conversations, and opportunities to bring people together.
I’ve been an organizer, curator, host, mentor, participant, and a friend cheering from the audience. Across these different roles, a common thread kept emerging: connecting with people, learning different perspectives, and building communities. As the World is pushing us to be online, use AI, I have been more intentionally be in-person, be present in the physical space.
As we enter the final two months of 2026, I’m asking myself, What deserves my attention in the time ahead, and what do I need to make room for it?
You may be asking yourself something similar. There are goals still to reach, commitments to honour, and plans for the new year beginning to take shape. Before adding more to our calendars, this is a good moment to pause and choose where our energy can make the most meaningful difference.
What I’m noticing from the Past Two Months,
Staying curious as leadership changes.
I attended NRTH, formerly Elevate, organized and curated the ICF Toronto Chapter Leadership Impact Summit & Awards Gala, and joined an AI-Powered Women network panel and networking event.
These experiences brought me into conversations about technology, leadership, and our changing world of work.
As AI development continues to accelerate and change the way we work, leaders need to enable their teams with empathy, compassion, build confidence and trust with honest conversations, and not to stop questioning, thinking critically, challenge what we might be assuming, and not outsource our judgement and humanity.
I will continue to help leaders navigate and lead change with authenticity, those learnings through the events supports what I need to pay close attention to.
What have you learned this year that deserves to guide a decision you are making now?
Making room for creativity and community
At our Be the Next 52 Women Paint & Sip gathering, conversations flowed alongside the painting. Each person created something unique, while new connections formed and existing ones grew stronger.
I also attended an Executiv member event exploring creativity through symmetrical drawing. It offered another opportunity to step into a different kind of experience. I attended my Alma Mater Alumni's annual gathering. And at Friday Night Live, I attended a session on “A Game of Status.”
I strongly believe that everyone is creative but we might not have allowed this human advantage to take the lead in our daily work. We must create space to nourish and strengthen our creativity.
Spending time in creative activities energizes me, and activates and expand my perspectives.
Where do you find the space to think differently and reconnect with what energizes you?
Paying attention to voice, perspective, and opportunity
At The Intercultural Exchange, I was there to support two friends sharing their stories. At the Markham Library Girls in STEAM program, I returned as a mentor, joining conversations with Grade 9 students.
Each setting offered a different way to consider how people share their experiences and relate to one another.
The five stories from the Intercultural Exchange shared were very personal and inspiring. It was because they were delivered in a perfect way, but how each presenter let their deep emotion came through and made me felt their pain, challenge, and joy! It reminded me how important to share your experience, perspectives, and the stories can help others learn, reflect, and move forward.
Whose perspective could help you see a current challenge differently? Whose voice could you help make room for?
A Leadership Reset for the Final 60 Days
These reflections bring me back to how we choose to spend the weeks ahead. Here are four questions I invite you to explore, for
yourself and with your team.
1. What matters most now?
Look again at the goals you set earlier this year. Some may still be essential. Others may need to change because circumstances have changed.
Choose two or three outcomes that would make the most meaningful difference by year-end. Be specific about what success looks like and why it matters.
2. What can you release or renegotiate?
Which commitment, meeting, or way of working is taking energy without contributing enough value?
Consider what you can stop, simplify, defer, or renegotiate.
When a new priority arrives, make the trade-off explicit. What will move to create capacity?
3. What learning are you ready to put into practice?
Think about the skills you have developed this year, the feedback you have received, and what experience has taught you.
Perhaps you have become more confident speaking up, clearer about your strengths, or more willing to ask for support.
Choose one insight and identify where you will apply it in the coming weeks.
4. What can you begin now and carry into 2027?
Choose one leadership skill you can practise through work already in front of you: communicating your impact, navigating a difficult conversation, or influencing across different perspectives.
Give yourself a specific opportunity to practise, seek feedback, and build from there.
Protect Capacity as You Plan
As leaders, our year-end decisions shape the demands our teams experience. Preventing burnout needs to be part of those decisions.
Review what can realistically be delivered within the time and resources available, including holidays and planned absences.
Clarify where a high standard is essential and where a simpler approach will serve the purpose.
Ask people what is creating pressure, then act on what can be changed.
Make room for recovery in your own calendar, too. Consider what your working habits signal about availability and expectations.
What would a successful year-end look like if protecting your own capacity and your team’s capacity were part of the definition?
Make Room for Your Own Growth
If understanding your distinct value and communicating it with greater confidence is something you want to strengthen, Hilda Gan and I invite you to the Distinctly You Leadership Lab™ for women leaders on November 7, 2026.
Through the Fascinate® System, reflection, conversation, and practical activities, we’ll explore how to Know Yourself. Own Your Impact. Understand Others.
It is an opportunity to step back, learn alongside other women leaders, and develop insights you can apply in the weeks ahead and carry into 2027.
Explore the Distinctly You Leadership Lab and join us:
Hilda Gan and I are hosting a full day of hands-on learning for women leaders. Together, we will learn how knowing yourself and understanding others can strengthen the way you communicate, lead, and own your impact.
If you are looking for space to reconnect with your strengths and be intentional about your next stage of growth, I would love to welcome you.
#IAmRemarkable | November 20, 2026
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Wishing you a month filled with inspiration, growth, and bold moves forward!
