Michelle Nicholson

Entrepreneurship has its moments. I’m a people person through and through. I can meet new people easily, talk to strangers, show up to events alone, work a room, and genuinely enjoy it. Networking, for me, isn’t usually the hard part. But recently, I had an experience that reminded me of something every entrepreneur eventually has to learn: Not every connection is aligned. And, not every “yes” is really a yes. When the Follow-Up Feels Like a Trap I connected with someone at a networking...

There's a particular guilt that haunts leaders, especially those doing mission-driven work. It whispers: " How dare you rest when others are struggling ?" This guilt is not your ally—it's your barrier. I've observed this pattern repeatedly in organizational leadership: professionals who possess resources, education, or economic stability feeling unworthy of rest because of their comparative privilege. This guilt becomes paralyzing, eroding the heart , preventing the very restoration needed...

Let me be direct: Traditional HR is failing us. After 20 years leading HR transformations, I've watched this pattern repeat: Organizations talk about culture while treating HR as a checkbox exercise. They preach best practices but fail to embody them. And when things break—and they always do—everyone acts surprised. The recent $11.5 million verdict against SHRM proved what many of us already knew. As I wrote in my post When the "Experts" Get It Wrong , even the world's largest HR organization...