A Trail of Lipstick Smears and Corporate Mediocrity
Corporate America has a fucking problem. We've gotten remarkably good at promoting people who look successful without ever accomplishing a goddamned thing. A trail of lipstick smears and political connections has replaced competence, integrity, and accountability. Meanwhile, the people actually doing the work are left wondering how the fuck we're supposed to accomplish the mission. Is the workforce getting worse, or have I finally climbed high enough to see the corporate bullshit that's always been there?
I Came Back
You spend years building a career, convinced that one day you'll finally earn a seat at the table. Then one morning you realize you've been standing outside the conference room the whole time.
I left an organization years ago because I believed it had become a good old boys club. Fifteen years later, I came back believing it had changed. This is the story of what happens when the place you wanted to finish your career starts feeling painfully familiar again.
Twenty-Five Years Later
Twenty-five years after walking through the doors of this institution, I found myself sitting in a leadership class for first-time managers, raising my hand just to remind people I existed. It wasn't the training that bothered me. It wasn't even being overlooked. It was the realization that after decades of service, battles fought, and lessons learned the hard way, I'm still standing in the same place saying, "Excuse me, I'm over here." Maybe that's the lesson. Maybe after twenty-five years, it's finally time to stop asking for a seat at the table and build a new one.
Resident Tranny
Somewhere along the way, I became the “resident transgender.” The person people call when policies need revising or when someone doesn’t know what to say to a transitioning employee. Yesterday, my former boss called. And for a split second, I almost didn’t answer.
Rolling Stops and Righteous Fools
Motorcyclists live in a world full of backseat drivers and badge-wielding experts who don’t know the first thing about the ride. Two stories, one truth: people love to police what they don’t understand — but sometimes, justice still rolls on two wheels.