The portfolio mindset

Author: sarahvlasso

  • The Best Strategists Are Creative Thinkers

    Introduction: Strategy Isn’t Just Logic — It’s Lateral Thinking

    When people imagine a strategist, they often picture someone data-driven, analytical, methodical.
    And yes, those skills matter.
    But if you look closely at the best strategists — the ones who navigate ambiguity, build something truly new, or disrupt industries — you’ll notice a different trait at work:

    Creativity.

    Not the kind you frame or hang on a gallery wall.
    But the kind that sees patterns others miss,
    asks questions others are afraid to ask,
    and imagines futures no one has written yet.

    1️⃣ Creative Intelligence: The Underused Strategy Tool

    Creativity isn’t a personality trait — it’s a form of intelligence.
    And in business, it often gets dismissed as “soft,” “intuitive,” or “non-technical.”

    But here’s what creative thinkers actually bring to strategy:

    • The ability to reframe problems
    • Comfort with the unknown
    • Curiosity that drives deeper insights
    • Imaginative solutions that don’t rely on precedent

    📌 The best strategic moves often begin with what if, not what is.

    2️⃣ Strategic Creativity in Action

    In my own work — from managing product portfolios to designing new ventures — I’ve seen creativity become the unlock:

    • In workshops where logic hit a wall, visual storytelling revealed the real problem
    • In portfolio decisions, metaphors helped align diverse stakeholders across cultures
    • In product work, creative constraints drove smarter, more human-centered solutions
    • In client work, unexpected industry comparisons sparked innovation they hadn’t considered

    📌 Creativity isn’t about being unpredictable.
    It’s about seeing differently — so you can decide differently.

    3️⃣ Why Most Strategic Frameworks Still Need Creative Thinking

    Even the best frameworks — SWOTs, roadmaps, business models — can become checklists if you don’t use creative input.

    Creativity is what allows us to:

    • Spot assumptions baked into the model
    • Design around uncertainty
    • Connect what the spreadsheet can’t measure
    • Build solutions people actually care about

    And this is especially important in cross-industry work.
    If you only think like a product person, you miss branding signals.
    If you only think like a strategist, you may ignore emotional friction.
    If you only use data, you might forget desire.

    📌 The strongest decisions come from both logic and imagination — not one or the other.

    4️⃣ You Don’t Have to Be a “Creative Type” — You Have to Be Open

    Creative intelligence isn’t reserved for designers or writers.

    It shows up in:

    • The ops lead who questions the default workflow
    • The founder who repositions a product using storytelling
    • The manager who sees emotional patterns on their team
    • The strategist who sketches before they plan

    If you’re someone who crosses sectors, disciplines, or roles — chances are, you’re already practicing creative strategy.

    And that’s not a side effect.
    That’s your edge.

    Final Thought: Creativity Makes Strategy Human Again

    Strategy without creativity can be efficient, but empty.
    Creative intelligence brings:

    • Color to your roadmap
    • Empathy to your metrics
    • Unexpected possibility into structured decision-making

    You don’t have to separate the two.
    You don’t have to choose between being “visionary” or “logical.”

    Because the best strategists are creative thinkers —
    and the future will belong to those who can imagine what others haven’t yet dared to build.

  • The Strategy Behind Saying Yes (and No) in a Portfolio Career

    Introduction: When You Wear Many Hats, Boundaries Become Your Business Strategy

    In a traditional career, the path is clear:
    Take the next role, follow the ladder, keep saying yes until someone tells you you’ve “made it.”

    But in a portfolio career, where your value comes from range, insight, creativity, and context, the hardest part isn’t doing the work.

    It’s choosing the work.

    Because every “yes” in a multi-passionate career comes with a cost:
    Time, energy, attention, brand alignment, opportunity.

    That’s why saying yes is a skill.
    And saying no is strategy.

    1️⃣ A Portfolio Career Requires Selective Energy

    When you have multiple streams of work—strategy, product leadership, speaking, writing, consulting—your calendar fills up fast.
    Not because you’re disorganized, but because your capacity is high.

    But even high-capacity professionals burn out.
    And not from “too much” work—but from the wrong mix of work.

    What you say yes to defines:

    • The direction of your career
    • The shape of your reputation
    • The pace of your energy
    • The clarity of your brand

    📌 Your yes is an investment. Make sure you’re getting a return.

    2️⃣ Questions I Ask Before Saying Yes

    Every time a new opportunity comes in—collaboration, client, partnership, teaching, event—I’ve learned to ask:

    • Does this align with my values and current direction?
    • Will it grow my long-term visibility or deepen my expertise?
    • Is this energizing, or is it performative?
    • Am I saying yes out of obligation or intention?
    • What will I have to say no to in order to make space for this?

    The clearer your strategy, the faster these questions become instinct.

    📌 If the opportunity isn’t helping you build, it might be slowly eroding what you’ve already built.

    3️⃣ The Cost of an Unstrategic Yes

    Here’s what a vague yes can lead to:

    • Burnout
    • Loss of creative energy
    • Brand dilution
    • Resentment
    • Missed higher-value opportunities

    This is especially important in portfolio careers, where your personal reputation is your business model.

    One wrong-fit “yes” can confuse your audience, weaken your voice, or waste your best thinking on the wrong stage.

    📌 Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean it fits your purpose right now.

    4️⃣ Saying No Doesn’t Mean Closing Doors. It Means Opening the Right Ones

    In portfolio careers, people worry that saying no means missing out.

    But in my experience, the most aligned growth happens after a respectful no.

    When you say:

    • “This sounds great, but not this quarter.”
    • “This isn’t the best fit for my current work, but thank you.”
    • “I’m focusing on deep work right now, let’s revisit in the future.”

    You’re not just protecting your time.
    You’re building clarity, focus, and trust.

    📌 Strategic no’s build credibility, not scarcity.

    Final Thought: You Can’t Grow a Career Based on “Maybe”

    In a nonlinear path, clarity becomes your compass.
    And that clarity doesn’t come from doing more.
    It comes from choosing better.

    Say yes to what aligns.
    Say no with kindness and intention.
    And trust that saying no doesn’t close your path—it sharpens it.

    Because the truth is, a focused portfolio builds more momentum than a scattered one ever could.

  • What Power Looks Like When You Don’t Look Like the Stereotype

    Introduction: Power Isn’t Always Loud, and Leadership Doesn’t Always Look Like a CEO in a Suit

    When you picture “power” in business, what comes to mind?

    A sharp suit, a strong handshake, a deep voice, a fast decision.
    Someone commanding the room. Someone who fits the mold.

    But here’s the truth:
    Power is often invisible, underestimated, and misunderstood—especially when it shows up in the “wrong” body, with the “wrong” accent, or through the “wrong” energy.

    I’ve been in boardrooms, cross-cultural meetings, product strategy sprints, and academic panels where I was the only woman, the only foreigner, or the only person with a nonlinear career.

    And time after time, I’ve learned that power isn’t about how you’re perceived.
    It’s about how you choose to show up anyway.

    1️⃣ You Don’t Need to Perform Power to Have It

    Too often, we equate power with performance.
    We’re taught that to be “taken seriously,” we must:

    • Lower our voice
    • Stand taller
    • Take up space
    • Be more direct
    • Be less “emotional”

    And while communication is important, so is authentic presence.

    Some of the most impactful professionals I’ve worked with didn’t dominate the room.
    They shaped the conversation subtly, with calm confidence and strategic clarity.

    📌 Real power doesn’t always interrupt.
    Sometimes it listens—and still leads.

    2️⃣ Power Can Look Like Softness, Stillness, or Precision

    Let’s redefine how power shows up.

    It can look like:

    • Holding your boundaries in a space that pushes past them
    • Saying “I don’t have that answer yet” with confidence
    • Designing a business model that centers equity
    • Pausing before responding instead of rushing to prove yourself
    • Bringing empathy into strategy conversations—and still being taken seriously

    📌 Leadership isn’t about copying dominant traits.
    It’s about embodying your own presence with intention.

    3️⃣ When You Don’t Fit the Stereotype, You Have to Build Your Own Playbook

    If you don’t look or sound like the default leader, you’ll likely:

    • Be interrupted more often
    • Be underestimated
    • Be asked to explain your credibility more than once
    • Be seen as “less authoritative” and “more emotional”

    I’ve experienced all of this.
    And I’ve had to learn to:

    • Redirect conversations without losing myself
    • Let my track record speak louder than assumptions
    • Choose when to educate—and when to move forward without needing to prove

    📌 Power isn’t about being louder.
    It’s about being so aligned with your impact that you don’t have to shout it.

    4️⃣ Your Difference Can Become Your Leverage

    Over time, I stopped seeing my difference as something to explain away.
    Instead, I started using it to reframe the conversation:

    • Being the outsider helped me ask better questions
    • Being multi-passionate helped me see more patterns
    • Being underestimated gave me insight into how others lead
    • Being calm in fast rooms made my voice carry further

    📌 When you stop trying to look powerful and start acting with clarity,
    your difference becomes your distinct advantage.

    Final Thought: Your Power Doesn’t Need to Be Justified—It Needs to Be Lived

    You don’t have to lead like anyone else.
    You don’t have to shrink to be respected.
    You don’t have to explain your career, your accent, your body, or your tone.

    What matters is this:
    You know what you’re building.
    You know what you bring.
    And you choose to own it—on your own terms.

    That is power.

  • Decision Fatigue Is a Leadership Risk

    Introduction: You’re Not Bad at Decisions, You’re Exhausted by Them

    Let’s be honest.
    Most professionals aren’t struggling with how to make decisions.
    They’re struggling with how many they’re being asked to make, every single day.

    From strategic moves to daily micro-decisions,
    From hiring to what to wear for that investor call,
    From complex roadmaps to endless Slack pings asking “quick” questions,
    The truth is, leaders are making too many decisions, too often, with too little space to think.

    And that’s not just inefficient, it’s dangerous.

    Because decision fatigue doesn’t just wear you out,
    it wears down your judgment.

    1️⃣ What Is Decision Fatigue, Really?

    Decision fatigue is the mental and emotional exhaustion caused by making too many choices in a short period of time.

    Symptoms include:

    • Avoidance
    • Indecision
    • Irritability
    • Defaulting to what’s familiar, not what’s best
    • Delegating poorly, or not at all
    • Overthinking things that used to feel simple

    And the more high-stakes your role becomes,
    the more invisible choices pile up on your plate.

    📌 Fatigue doesn’t always look like collapse.
    Sometimes it looks like saying yes when you meant no.

    2️⃣ Why This Hits Leaders (and Especially Women) Hard

    As someone with a portfolio career, I navigate multiple contexts at once.
    From product strategy to creative work, mentoring, writing, and business development,
    I’ve had to learn: not every decision deserves equal energy.

    And yet, many of us, especially women, find ourselves:

    • Managing mental load at home and work
    • Navigating emotional labor in teams
    • Smoothing tension, absorbing uncertainty, covering gaps
    • Being expected to be “available” and “decisive” at all times

    📌 This isn’t a personal flaw, it’s a systemic drain on clarity and leadership capacity.

    3️⃣ Decision Fatigue Kills Strategic Thinking

    You can’t make bold moves when you’re just trying to get through your inbox.
    You can’t zoom out when your brain is fried from back-to-back micro-decisions.

    That’s how bad strategy gets made:

    • Reacting instead of choosing
    • Over-relying on past templates
    • Prioritizing comfort over clarity
    • Rushing to decide just to feel done

    📌 Strategy requires space.
    And space doesn’t happen by accident.

    4️⃣ How to Protect Your Mental Energy as a Leader

    Here are the practices I’ve adopted to reduce decision fatigue and lead with more clarity:

    ✔️ Design defaults
    Create systems for recurring decisions. Automate the simple stuff, so your energy is saved for the hard stuff.

    ✔️ Batch your decisions
    Group similar types of decisions together in your calendar. Avoid “decision ping-pong” between tactical and strategic.

    ✔️ Build space into your schedule
    Leadership isn’t just meetings. It’s thinking time. Protect white space like you would a client meeting.

    ✔️ Learn to say “this is not a today decision”
    Not every decision needs to be made now. Delay with intention.

    ✔️ Let good enough be good enough
    Some decisions need precision. Others just need progress.

    📌 Every choice costs energy. Spend it where it counts.

    Final Thought: Deciding Less Might Help You Lead More

    The market rewards speed, but long-term leadership depends on clarity.
    And clarity doesn’t survive constant, low-level decision chaos.

    So if you’re finding it hard to make the “big” calls,
    maybe it’s not because you’re indecisive.
    Maybe it’s because you’re tired.

    📌 The most strategic decision you make this week
    might be to make fewer decisions next week.

  • Creativity Is a Leadership Skill, Not a Personality Trait

    Introduction: Creativity Isn’t Reserved for the “Creative Types”

    When you hear “creativity,” what comes to mind?

    A designer, an artist, maybe a brand strategist.
    Someone who wears color, breaks rules, thinks in moodboards.
    Someone else.

    But here’s the truth I’ve learned, especially leading strategy and product development across industries and cultures,
    Creativity is not a personality trait.
    It’s a professional skill.
    And in leadership, it’s non-negotiable.

    1️⃣ Creativity Is a Thinking Process, Not a Job Title

    Creative thinking isn’t just about ideas.
    It’s about solving problems in new ways.
    Seeing beyond the obvious.
    Connecting what doesn’t seem to connect.

    In product development, innovation, business modeling, and even team design, creativity shows up in:

    • Reframing constraints
    • Asking better questions
    • Challenging stale assumptions
    • Imagining new possibilities

    📌 You don’t have to be a “creative” to be creative.
    You just need to stop defaulting to what’s always been done.

    2️⃣ Why Leaders Need Creativity Now More Than Ever

    Creativity is no longer optional at the top.
    It’s a leadership imperative.

    Because leaders today are tasked with:

    • Navigating uncertainty
    • Making strategic bets
    • Building teams that innovate, not replicate
    • Responding to shifting markets and global dynamics

    Technical knowledge gets you in the room,
    But creativity moves the room forward.

    The best leaders I’ve worked with weren’t the ones with all the answers.
    They were the ones who could unlock a new way of seeing.

    3️⃣ What Creativity Looks Like in “Non-Creative” Contexts

    Let’s break this idea that creativity has to look artistic.

    Here’s where I’ve seen creative leadership thrive:

    • In conflict resolution, when someone reframes a deadlocked debate
    • In operations, when a manager redesigns a workflow to reduce stress
    • In strategy, when we use metaphor or storytelling to align teams
    • In cross-cultural work, when we shift language to build shared understanding

    📌 Creativity isn’t just colorful, it’s contextual.
    It’s the ability to unlock traction where things are stuck.

    4️⃣ How to Lead With Creativity (Even If You’ve Never Called Yourself Creative)

    You don’t need to draw, code, or design to be a creative leader.
    You need to:

    • Think laterally
    • Invite diverse inputs
    • Get comfortable with ambiguity
    • Protect space for exploration

    Some of my most strategic decisions came from quiet moments of “what if…”
    From reading something outside my field,
    From making unexpected industry comparisons,
    From listening deeply to what a team wasn’t saying.

    Leadership is about imagination just as much as execution.

    Final Thought: Creativity Is Not a Luxury, It’s a Leadership Muscle

    In a world of automation, repetition, and noise,
    what stands out is not how fast you move,
    but how originally you think.

    Creativity is how we adapt,
    how we make meaning,
    and how we lead people into futures that haven’t been built yet.

    So, if you’ve ever told yourself “I’m not the creative type,”
    rethink that.

    Because creativity isn’t something you either have or don’t.
    It’s something you practice.

    And the best leaders,
    are the ones who practice it on purpose.

  • The Hidden Advantage of Cultural Adaptability in Business

    Introduction: Your Cultural Fluency Might Be Your Sharpest Strategic Tool

    We often talk about business skills in terms of strategy, communication, innovation, or execution.

    But there’s a critical capability that doesn’t always make it onto resumes or job descriptions:
    Cultural adaptability.

    The ability to read context, shift behaviors, and build trust across cultures isn’t just a “nice to have” for expats or global teams—it’s a strategic advantage in today’s interconnected world.

    After working, teaching, and leading in 5 countries—and collaborating across dozens more—I’ve seen first-hand that some of the most effective professionals aren’t necessarily the most technical.

    They’re the ones who know how to navigate ambiguity, shift lenses, and listen between the lines.

    1️⃣ Cultural Adaptability Goes Beyond Language or Location

    You don’t need to move across the world to need cultural adaptability.

    You need it when:

    • You pitch to a client from a different industry
    • You manage a team with mixed backgrounds
    • You lead change in a company with legacy systems
    • You launch a product in a new market

    Cultural adaptability is the ability to flex your communication, expectations, and leadership style—without losing clarity or authenticity.

    📌 It’s not about being agreeable. It’s about being context-aware.

    2️⃣ Why Culturally Adaptive Professionals Lead Better

    Professionals with cultural range tend to:

    • Pick up on nuance faster
    • Handle conflict with emotional intelligence
    • Ask better questions
    • Reduce friction in complex, cross-functional projects
    • Adapt product strategies more effectively for diverse audiences

    In short, they make better decisions.
    Because they’re not just reacting—they’re translating. And that translation is often invisible until you see what happens without it.

    3️⃣ What I’ve Learned Leading Across Borders

    Living and working in Brazil, the U.S., Ireland, Denmark, and Hungary taught me things no textbook could:

    • In some places, “yes” means “maybe.” In others, “no” is negotiable.
    • Silence in meetings can mean disengagement—or deep thinking.
    • Leadership isn’t always about speaking first—it’s about knowing when to speak.

    Each cultural shift reshaped my leadership:

    • I learned to observe before offering solutions
    • I built flexibility into how I manage feedback
    • I designed products and processes that translated across cultures—not just languages

    📌 You don’t lead better by knowing all the answers—you lead better by knowing how to listen across systems.

    4️⃣ Cultural Adaptability Makes You a Bridge-Builder

    Culturally fluent professionals often become:

    • Translators between teams
    • Conflict diffusers
    • Customer advocates
    • Creative integrators
    • The person who “just knows how to make it work”

    That might not come with a title.
    But it’s one of the most valuable roles you can play in a modern business.

    Because in a world moving toward global teams, hybrid models, and cross-sector partnerships…
    The bridge-builders will be the ones who scale.

    Final Thought: Soft Power Is Strategic Power

    You might not get an MBA in cultural adaptability.
    But the leaders who have it?
    They often get further, faster—and with more trust.

    So if you’ve ever felt like your ability to adapt, observe, or navigate “gray areas” wasn’t tangible enough to count…
    Count it now.

    It’s part of your edge.
    It’s part of your leadership.
    And in the future of work, it might be the most strategic skill you bring to the table.

  • How to Talk About Your Multi-Passionate Career Without Sounding Scattered

    Introduction: “So… What Do You Do?”

    It sounds like a simple question.

    But if you have a portfolio career—if you wear multiple hats, lead across industries, or build a life that doesn’t fit in one job title—you know how tricky this one can be.

    I’ve fumbled that answer more times than I can count.

    Because when your work spans strategy, innovation, writing, teaching, coaching, and more, how do you say it without sounding all over the place?

    Here’s what I’ve learned:
    It’s not what you do that confuses people—it’s how you talk about it.
    And once you learn how to tell the story, your career doesn’t look scattered.
    It looks visionary.

    1️⃣ Scattered to You Might Look Strategic to Someone Else

    First, a mindset shift.

    When you say:

    “I’ve done a bit of everything.”

    People hear:

    “I don’t have a focus.”

    Instead, try:

    “My work sits at the intersection of product innovation, business development, and cross-industry insight. I connect dots others don’t see.”

    📌 The more intentionally you frame your path, the more coherent it sounds.

    2️⃣ The “North Star” Method: Start With What Connects Everything

    Don’t lead with your job titles.
    Lead with your value proposition.

    Ask yourself:

    • What’s the thread that runs through my career?
    • What impact do I create, regardless of role?
    • What do people consistently come to me for?

    In my case, whether I’m leading product strategy, mentoring founders, writing content, or managing partnerships—
    I’m helping people and organizations navigate uncertainty with clarity and creativity.

    That’s my through-line.

    📌 Once you identify your core, everything else becomes supporting evidence—not noise.

    3️⃣ Contextualize for Your Audience

    You don’t need to say everything all the time.

    If you’re talking to:

    • A startup founder → focus on your innovation and go-to-market experience
    • An academic or policy contact → highlight your research and public speaking
    • A corporate stakeholder → emphasize leadership, structure, and execution

    📌 You’re not being inconsistent.
    You’re being strategically relevant.

    4️⃣ Build a “Narrative Sentence” You Can Expand or Shrink

    Instead of rambling through your CV, build a modular answer. Here’s a framework:

    “I’m a [core identity], working across [industries or roles] to [solve X problem or create X outcome]. My background spans [key areas], and I specialize in [core value/skill].”

    Example:

    “I’m a product and strategy leader working across corporate innovation and entrepreneurship. I help organizations build meaningful solutions by connecting insight, creativity, and execution. My background spans academia, business development, and cross-cultural leadership.”

    You can then zoom in or out, depending on the situation.

    5️⃣ Don’t Just Talk About What You Do. Talk About What You’re Building.

    Multi-passionate professionals often worry they sound unfocused.
    But in truth, we’re just multi-directional.

    Instead of listing roles, talk about your mission:

    • What are you building across all these areas?
    • What future are you creating?
    • What questions are you exploring?

    📌 People resonate with vision—not categories.

    Final Thought: You Don’t Owe Anyone a One-Sentence Career

    The world is used to specialists.
    It doesn’t always know what to do with multi-dimensional leaders.

    But that’s changing.

    You don’t need to simplify your career to make it palatable.
    You need to communicate it in a way that’s powerful, purposeful, and true.

    You’re not scattered.
    You’re layered.
    And layers build depth—and depth builds trust.

  • The Portfolio Career Isn’t Confusion — It’s Design

    Introduction: When You Do Many Things, People Want You to Pick One

    There’s a moment every multi-passionate professional knows well:
    That pause after you try to explain what you do.
    That raised eyebrow.
    That well-meaning:
    “Oh… so which one is your main thing?”

    I’ve been there—again and again.
    As a researcher, teacher, product strategist, writer, speaker, mentor, and more.
    I’ve built a life that looks nonlinear on the surface. But beneath it?
    It’s highly intentional. Highly strategic. Highly designed.

    Because a portfolio career isn’t what you fall into when you can’t decide.
    It’s what you build when you want to create a work life that’s bigger than a job title.

    1️⃣ Why People Mistake Range for Lack of Focus

    In traditional career models, success looks linear:

    • Choose a field
    • Specialize
    • Climb the ladder
    • Stay in your lane

    So when someone sees you doing multiple things, across disciplines, industries, or even countries—they assume:

    • You’re unsure
    • You’re distracted
    • You’ll eventually “settle down”

    But portfolio professionals aren’t wandering.
    We’re connecting.

    📌 We see value in cross-pollination.
    We build systems that adapt.
    We’re designing a mosaic—not a straight line.

    2️⃣ A Portfolio Career Isn’t a Mess. It’s a Model.

    Let’s reframe this.

    A portfolio career is:

    • A flexible, multi-stream model for building income, influence, and meaning
    • A structure that includes roles, side projects, creative work, freelance gigs, advisory roles, and more
    • A way of working that reflects how the world actually works now

    In my case, I’ve integrated:

    • Strategic business and product leadership
    • Writing and publishing
    • Public speaking and workshops
    • Cross-cultural consulting
    • Academic research
    • Creative exploration

    Not because I couldn’t choose.
    Because they inform each other.
    They make me sharper, more versatile, and more alive.

    3️⃣ Design Is What Makes the Difference

    A portfolio career with intention looks very different from one built on burnout.

    The key?
    Design.

    ✔️ Know your core strengths
    ✔️ Choose projects that ladder up to your bigger vision
    ✔️ Create boundaries between roles (and seasons)
    ✔️ Build a narrative that connects your story
    ✔️ Make peace with nonlinearity—it’s often the source of your value

    📌 Your career isn’t a résumé.
    It’s a strategy. One you refine as you grow.

    4️⃣ The World of Work Is Already Catching Up

    The rise of:

    • Remote work
    • Fractional leadership
    • Freelance and creator economies
    • Multi-hyphenate professionals
    • Skills-based hiring
      …means the portfolio career is no longer an outlier.

    It’s becoming the norm.

    Organizations want leaders who:

    • Understand multiple disciplines
    • Can translate across teams
    • Bring lived experience, not just credentials
    • Learn fast and adapt faster

    📌 You’re not “too much.”
    You’re ahead of the curve.

    Final Thought: You Don’t Need to Shrink to Fit Someone Else’s Map

    Some careers follow a blueprint.
    Portfolio careers are more like a map you redraw as you walk.

    It can be uncomfortable to explain.
    It might confuse people who expect straight lines.

    But if it brings you clarity, energy, and impact—
    Then your career is doing exactly what it’s meant to.

    Because this isn’t confusion.
    It’s craft.
    It’s choice.
    It’s design.

    And it’s one of the most future-forward ways to lead and live.

  • Why Strategic Thinking Is a Craft, Not a Job Title

    Introduction: Strategy Isn’t Reserved for the C-Suite

    When people hear “strategy,” they often picture:

    • Long meetings with senior executives
    • Fancy decks full of frameworks
    • People with “strategic” in their job titles

    But in reality?
    Strategy isn’t a job. It’s a way of thinking. A discipline. A craft.
    And if you’ve ever led a project, built a product, or made something better by asking why, how, and what if—
    You’ve been practicing strategy, whether you were given credit or not.

    1️⃣ Strategy Is Observation + Intention

    Before you can make a bold move, you need to know what you’re looking at.

    That’s what makes strategic thinkers different:

    • They don’t just react—they scan
    • They don’t just plan—they question
    • They don’t just do—they choose

    In my own work—from business development to product leadership—I’ve found that strategic thinking starts way before a “strategy” is written.

    It starts when you:

    • Pause before saying yes
    • Ask, “What are we really solving here?”
    • Notice a pattern that others miss
    • Choose what not to build

    📌 Strategy is not about having all the answers. It’s about asking the right questions.

    2️⃣ Strategy Is a Muscle—Not a Personality Type

    Some people are labeled “strategic” from early on.
    Others are told they’re “operational,” “creative,” or “supportive.”
    And it sticks.

    But strategic thinking isn’t a talent you’re born with.
    It’s a muscle you build—across disciplines, industries, and experiences.

    Personally, I strengthened this muscle by:

    • Switching sectors and seeing how they solve similar problems in different ways
    • Leading global teams and learning to anticipate complexity
    • Navigating academia and entrepreneurship—where strategy lives in both ideas and execution

    📌 You don’t become strategic by reading more case studies.
    You become strategic by learning from what doesn’t go as planned.

    3️⃣ Strategy Is Storytelling with Direction

    Strategy is not just about facts—it’s also about narrative.

    Whether you’re convincing a board, leading a team, or pitching a product, you need to:

    • Create clarity
    • Show patterns
    • Define trade-offs
    • Connect today to the future

    I’ve found that being a writer helps me build strategy.
    So does being a researcher.
    So does being an expat.

    Each lens teaches me how to connect dots, translate complexity, and paint a picture of possibility.

    📌 Strategy is just storytelling with consequences.

    4️⃣ Strategy Happens at Every Level

    You don’t need to wait for a promotion to be strategic.
    You don’t need permission to think upstream.
    You can bring strategic thinking into:

    • How you prioritize your time
    • How you present insights to leadership
    • How you mentor others or manage clients
    • How you run a team meeting

    The best strategists I know aren’t in ivory towers.
    They’re in the field, building context, making bets, learning fast.

    📌 Your title doesn’t make you strategic.
    Your habits do.

    Final Thought: Strategy Isn’t Just About Where You’re Going—It’s About How You See

    The most valuable skill in today’s complex world isn’t execution at all costs.
    It’s the ability to:

    • Slow down
    • Zoom out
    • Ask better questions
    • Anticipate change
    • Prioritize with courage

    That’s strategy.
    And it’s a craft. One that gets stronger every time you choose depth over speed, clarity over chaos, and direction over noise.

  • Creating Your Own Definition of Professionalism

    Introduction: Whose Standards Are We Following—And Who Do They Serve?

    We’re taught early on what “professionalism” looks like:

    • Neutral tone
    • Polished language
    • Controlled emotion
    • Predictable behavior
    • One identity, one lane

    But for many of us—especially women, expats, creatives, multi-passionate professionals—these rules don’t just feel outdated.
    They feel limiting.

    Because professionalism, as traditionally defined, often prioritizes uniformity over authenticity, hierarchy over humanity, and compliance over creativity.

    So I stopped trying to fit into someone else’s idea of what a “professional” should be.
    And I built my own.

    1️⃣ Professionalism Isn’t Neutral. It’s Cultural.

    The rules of professionalism are not universal.
    They’re shaped by:

    • Class
    • Gender
    • Race
    • Geography
    • Industry norms
    • Historical bias

    What’s considered “professional” in one context may seem cold, distant, or performative in another.

    I’ve worked across Brazil, the U.S., Ireland, Denmark, and Hungary—
    And I’ve seen firsthand that professionalism is not a fixed language.
    It’s a code—and it often needs translation.

    📌 If you don’t match the code, people may see you as “unpolished.”
    But often, you’re just bringing a different kind of intelligence to the table.

    2️⃣ The Problem with Pretending We’re All the Same

    Too often, traditional professionalism asks us to:

    • Flatten our accents
    • Tone down our emotions
    • Edit out our cultural context
    • Dismiss personal priorities
    • Compartmentalize our identities

    But what do we lose when we do that?

    We lose:

    • Relatability
    • Creativity
    • Perspective
    • Truth

    📌 Uniformity might feel safe—but it’s not where bold thinking comes from.

    3️⃣ What I Choose to Redefine (And What I Keep)

    Here’s what professionalism means to me now:

    ✅ Clarity > Formality
    I choose communication that connects—not just impresses.

    ✅ Presence > Performance
    I don’t need to “act” professional. I show up with focus, empathy, and purpose.

    ✅ Boundaries > Availability
    Being always-on doesn’t make me more professional—it makes me less strategic.

    ✅ Credibility > Conformity
    My authority comes from lived experience, not just credentials. From results, not rituals.

    ✅ Respect > Rigidity
    I hold space for multiple voices at the table, not just the loudest or most traditional ones.

    4️⃣ Why This Matters for Leaders

    As someone who leads teams and manages business across cultures, I know this:
    The next generation of professionals won’t tolerate outdated models.

    They want:

    • Realness
    • Flexibility
    • Values-alignment
    • Psychological safety
    • A place where their full selves are seen—not just their resumes

    If you’re still clinging to 1990s office norms, you’re not leading—you’re limiting.

    5️⃣ How to Model Modern Professionalism

    If you want to build environments that are innovative, inclusive, and high-performing:

    • Unlearn default behaviors that were never meant for everyone
    • Create space for expression—language, culture, identity
    • Name your values clearly, and live them visibly
    • Trust people to be whole humans, not just roles in a system

    📌 Because professionalism isn’t about perfection.
    It’s about respect, reliability, and relevance.

    Final Thought: We Don’t Need to Perform Professionalism—We Can Redefine It

    I’m not less serious because I lead with empathy.
    I’m not less strategic because I’ve worked in creative fields.
    I’m not less professional because I wear color, ask big questions, or have a nonlinear CV.

    I’m just not trying to look the part.
    I’m building a new one.

    And if you’re reading this, you probably are too.