Jessica Kriegel – WUSA9 – “Surrender to Lead”
When ‘They’ Take Over
We live in a culture that feeds on victimization. That’s an uncomfortable sentence. It risks sounding dismissive in a moment where many people are, in fact, navigating real constraints. Upbringing matters. Systems matter. Leadership decisions matter. Privilege is real. I believe this to be true. But something has shifted in our culture. More and more, people […]
The Problem of Safety Is Never Solved
This week, I was at a safety conference with a manufacturing company that leads its industry in safety performance. They’ve gone more than a decade without a fatality, a record no one else in their industry can match, and they have award winning safety records. For this conference, they could have done a victory lap for what they’ve accomplished. They didn’t. […]
Looks Like I Was Right to Be a Theater Major
I was a theater major. My classes included opera, Native American studies, Buddhism, set design, and a mix of subjects that had no obvious connection to each other. That’s a liberal arts education. Learning a little about a lot. It’s been seen as scattered. Not serious. There has been no clear path, no direct application, no sense that this was […]
Three Words That Cost 1 Billion Dollars
“You’re on mute.” It’s 2026. We’ve been working online for decades now. (I got my first work-from-home job in 2008). And yet we still haven’t figured out the mute button on zoom. I admit it, I just did it on Monday! First, you talk into a muted microphone and what follows is awkward silence until someone says “you’re on mute.” Then the scramble to unmute. The apology. And finally we move on. We’re so used […]
The Most Comfortable Lie About AI
I am so sick of reading LinkedIn posts talking about how “AI can never replace human empathy.” Firstly, there is nothing controversial about that idea. It’s a nothing comment. It is the safest thing you can say about AI. It reassures people. It signals humanity. And it’s already being proven wrong. People have married AI, they have AI best friends, and AI therapists. We are already getting companionship and emotional support from AI today. You can debate whether it’s real empathy, […]
Why Are You Disturbable?
I called my mentor for advice about someone that was frustrating me this weekend. She said, “The question isn’t why are you disturbed. The question is why you are disturbable.” Most of us spend a lot of time explaining our disturbances. We explain why that comment bothered us, why that feedback felt unfair, or why that decision upset the team. We analyze the disturbance, unpack it, narrate it, and justify […]
The AI Anxiety Gap
If you haven’t read this yet, you need to. https://www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic? It is a viral report by Citrini Research that lays out a scenario (not a prediction) of what happens to the economy and industries globally in the next two years thanks to AI. It blew my mind and was the catalyst for the market dip […]
AI Is Everywhere. Adoption Is Not.
This year’s Super Bowl made one thing clear. Artificial intelligence has fully entered the mainstream conversation. The sheer volume of AI commercials was impossible to miss, and people began commenting on it early in the game. Somehow the huge story of the half-time show seemed to be eclipsed by the sheer number of AI commercials that dominated the game. That […]
Are You a Working Person or a Person Working?
“What do you do?” It is uniquely American to ask someone that question as an icebreaker. In moments when I’m feeling shy, I feel it’s the only question my brain conjures to fill the awkward silence. But what does it say about us as a culture that the first thing we want to know of each other is our work? Our […]
How I Surrendered
Writing Surrender to Lead was the most uncomfortable “practice what you preach” experience of my career. First of all, writing doesn’t come naturally to me. Second of all, being vulnerable doesn’t either. At one point we were going to use a ghostwriter, because outsourcing can look like the grown-up answer when the calendar is packed […]
4 Leadership Lessons to Get You Through Q1
I’ve said my New Year’s resolution is to answer a bigger call, and I meant it. The problem is that Q1 doesn’t politely make space for transformation. It shows up with pressure, deadlines, and an endless list of reasons to default to old habits. So if I’m serious about answering a bigger call this year, I can’t rely on motivation. I need lessons […]