Hi Friends,
Back in October, I sent you my first Opus Note, a quieter, more personal way for me to stay in touch alongside my regular newsletters. Several of you told me how much you enjoyed the format, and so here I am again. This time, I’m reflecting on the past few months, and the thread that’s been quietly pulling everything together. And I’m sharing a sneak preview of what’s coming—and where I’ll be living—throughout the rest of this year.
The first three months of 2026 flew by.
In January, I was sick with a mystery virus for three weeks.
In February, my first book, Live Your Opus, was published—thank you for being a part of its launch.
And, between February and March, I was traveling—London, Miami, Jaipur, and Mumbai—and starting to interview on podcasts.
Along the way, I also found out that my second book, Raising Humans For A World That’s Already Arrived, coauthored with Lina Ashar, will be published by HarperCollins this November. (We are SO excited!)
2026 is clearly for me, a year of birth.
Or, perhaps it’s rebirth.
Exactly six years ago, I stepped away from corporate life to grieve my mother’s death and recover from intense burnout. I did so abruptly, because my body and spirit simply gave out. And then, I never went back.
But when I left Pearson, I was leading some fascinating work on the future of learning. That work started back in 2017-18 with the release of a major report on the future of skills. And it continued as we gathered insights, wrote about the future of higher education, convened FTSE 100 leaders to solve the skills gap, and more.
Having spent ten years at Harvard, I was deeply hooked by that work.
And, as the universe would have it, that work was hooked by me, too. Although I didn’t fully realize it until the past few months.
Someone asked me recently what the ‘unifier’ has been in my career to date. And, although I’ve had an adventurous, squiggly career, the red thread that has followed me from teaching in a classroom to leading in the boardroom has been to help people learn and develop themselves so they can live and perform well.
Perhaps the biggest gift of the past six years is that I now have a much deeper clarity about who I am and what I’m here (yes, on this earth) to do.
I don’t take this for granted because clarity doesn’t always arrive this cleanly, or all at once. But I’ve come to see that most of us are being pulled, in one way or another, toward something that’s trying to take shape.
Part of what makes that so challenging is the moment we’re living in. There hasn’t been a moment in our history quite like the one we’re in today. Where we’re all scrambling to keep up with a world that’s already changed.
And while a lot of attention is being paid to geopolitical issues, AI, and skills, far less is being paid to the plight of humans living and working and trying to thrive in this crazy world.
What’s clear to me is that we’re in the midst of a human development crisis, something you may be feeling in your own way, too—whether it’s a sense that the pace and pressure are relentless, that the rules have changed, or that what once worked no longer quite does.
We are preparing people at every stage of life to succeed in systems that no longer match the world we’re living in, one that’s changing faster than the systems we’ve built to support it.
This mismatch is showing up everywhere, often in ways we feel before we can fully name: in how children are educated, in how young adults enter the workforce, in how leaders are expected to perform, and in how people navigate midlife, longevity, and retirement, often without a clear map.
It is driving:
depletion and burnout,
loss of meaning and direction,
rising anxiety across generations,
a growing sense of disconnection,
and a widening gap between achievement and well-being.
A question I keep coming back to is: How do we intentionally shape lives, systems, and societies that allow people to flourish?
In Live Your Opus, I focus on what this means at the individual level—what it takes to develop the capacity to think clearly, make decisions, and sustain performance in a world that no longer slows down.
In Raising Humans For A World That’s Already Arrived, Lina and I explore how this gap shows up in the home and at school, and how to intentionally develop the capabilities young people will need to live and lead in this world.
Together, they explore the same issue from two directions: how we support people to live and perform well now across the arc of life, and how we develop those capabilities from the beginning.
I’ve come full circle. And, now I’m building a body of work around it all. It’s still taking shape, but here are a few of the ways it’s starting to come to life:
Through my writing and speaking, I’m continuing to develop and share these ideas more broadly.
I’m also beginning to convene more conversations across the arc of life—with educators, students, leaders, and working professionals at various stages of their careers, and those navigating later stages of life—to better understand the realities people are facing and how they’re making sense of them in practice.
I’m looking to partner more deeply with one or two organizations this year that are thinking seriously about how to develop their people—not just in terms of knowledge and skills, but also in the underlying capabilities required to perform, adapt, and lead in these conditions.
And I’m starting a podcast, The Lifelong Leap, where I’ll speak with experts from across the arc of life—connecting perspectives from education, work, and beyond, translating insights into practice, and sharing stories of people and organizations responding to the challenges I’ve described here. (You’re the first to hear about this…more soon.)
As this work continues to evolve, I’m also realizing how much it depends on conversation and connection. Which is why I’ll soon be spending most of my time in the U.K. to be closer to many of you, as well as family, friends, and colleagues.
More than anything, I’m finding that this work deepens through conversation, especially with people who are living these questions in different ways.
So, if you’re thinking or working on any of the issues I’ve raised in your own context—whether in schools, universities, or organizations, I’d genuinely love to hear from you.
If there are opportunities to bring this work into your communities, to convene conversations, or to collaborate in some way, I’m always open.
And if there are questions you’re sitting with, things you’d like to see explored, or people I should connect with and feature—here or on the podcast—I’d love to know that too.
Until next time, be well!
