In last week’s newsletter I examined what’s emerging in the world. This week let’s bring the lens closer to your situation.
Because while global shifts shape leadership, they often show up first—and most clearly—inside individual leaders. We are each a mirror for the world around us, just as the world around us a mirror for us as individuals.
Many of the leaders I’ve been coaching describe a similar internal experience right now: a growing discomfort with roles, identities, or leadership styles that once felt right. Not because they’re failing, but because something deeper is asking for alignment.
There’s a useful lens I’ve been sitting with as I observe this moment.
In Chinese astrology, 2026 is a Fire Horse year—a cycle that occurs only once every 60 years.
My time living and working in China, studying its history and culture, opened my eyes to a new way of looking at the world. Whether or not you follow astrology, its symbolism is strikingly aligned with what leaders are already experiencing at this time in human history.
Fire Horse energy is intense and transformational. It accelerates change. It demands authenticity. And it’s unforgiving of what’s false or outdated: in the world and in each of us as individuals.
In practical terms, this shows up as pressure on old structures that no longer serve. Identities built on “shoulds” start to feel brittle. Leadership styles that aren’t aligned with who you actually are become exhausting to maintain.
If you’ve felt like something in you is quietly—or not so quietly—asking for change, this isn’t coming out of nowhere.
What’s emerging in you may be a response to this larger moment: a need to live and lead from a truer place, to integrate who you are with how you work, to stop performing versions of success that no longer fit.
This kind of internal emergence can feel destabilizing. Many leaders try to override it with logic or productivity. But transformation doesn’t respond well to force.
With the right support, learning to listen to and work with what’s emerging can be deeply clarifying—burning off what’s nonessential. At first it may feel scary. Ultimately, it can be liberating—inviting you to be more honest with yourself. And it can be catalytic—accelerating growth that’s been dormant, waiting for the right moment to take you where you need to go next.
But intensity without grounding leads to burnout.
This is where leaders often struggle. Change is happening internally, but there’s no space to process it. No container to balance momentum with regulation. No place to slow down enough to listen.
If something is emerging in you right now—restlessness, curiosity, grief, clarity, or a sense that a chapter is ending—it doesn’t mean you need to act immediately. It means you may need support that allows you to integrate rather than react.
Next week, I’ll be sharing something new I’ve been working on for leaders who find themselves in this space. I am genuinely excited to reveal this to you.
Until then, know this: you don’t need to have all the answers to honor what’s emerging in you.
- For now, I’ll leave you with this reflection:
What if what’s emerging in you isn’t a disruption, but an invitation to lead—and live—more honestly?