A new phenomenological study published in the Open Journal of Leadership asks a better question about women in the workplace: not just why the gender gap exists, but how women themselves have come to internalize responsibility for closing it.

When institutions, careers, and systems feel unpredictable, our nervous systems search for certainty that may no longer exist. This reflection explores why connection, care, and love—not productivity—may be the most reliable compass during uncertain times.

As traditional measures of value like productivity and income become less stable, expanding our definition of what matters—community, service, and relationships—may be essential for navigating the years ahead.

When the world feels chaotic, choosing rest can look like disengagement—but it’s actually how sustainable leaders endure. This reflection explores why recovery isn’t selfish, how nervous system regulation supports long-term impact, and why replenishment is essential for changemakers.

Chronic work stress isn’t just exhausting—it’s physically harmful. Research shows most professionals experience significant stress each year, and many develop health issues as a result. Here’s why micro-recoveries may be the most effective way to offset modern work’s impact on your nervous system.

This episode explores how authentic community is not an audience, not followers, and not transactional relationships. Instead, it is a two-way exchange grounded in service, mutual learning, and shared humanity.

Hustle culture teaches us to push through stress without pause. Work recovery offers a different path. A reflection on midweek resets, nervous system regulation, and one simple tool—pause before reacting—that can help you reclaim clarity, calm, and capacity.

This episode dives into the emotional realities of identity deconstruction, nervous system recovery, breaking behavioral loops, and the micro-decisions that build confidence and self-trust over time.

Courage isn’t the absence of fear — it’s alignment in the presence of it. This reflection explores what it means to choose integrity over approval, regulate your nervous system for bravery, and build confidence brick by brick when visibility feels risky.

In this episode, Bree shares personal stories—from speaking out about work harm and community care, to navigating self-doubt and obstacles on the TEDxDuluth stage—to show how courage is built through action, not perfection.

Leadership isn’t your mission statement — it’s your behavior when it’s inconvenient. This reflection explores what it means to stop shrinking, speak with integrity, and live your values publicly, even when it costs you followers, clients, or comfort.

After years of compartmentalizing herself to “protect” her growing business, Bree reflects on what it cost her—and her community—to edit her voice, soften her truth, and outsource her authenticity in the name of success.

She opens up about leaving the employment law firm she co-founded, building Executive Unschool from a place of rupture and realignment, and choosing healing over hustle.

When the systems we were taught to trust fail in real time, leadership changes. This reflection explores how grief, regulation, and community care become essential—not optional—and why staying human matters more than optimizing performance in moments of collective rupture.

When traditional goals feel out of reach, anchoring into an energy or emotion can offer steadiness instead. This reflection explores why choosing strength—not as force, but as inner stability—can help you navigate uncertainty, grief, and change with more clarity and resilience.

Notice the feelings you want more of not as goals to chase, but as signals of the emotions to cultivate in the coming year. They are pointing you back to yourself. The moments where you felt most drained and most alive both have something to say.

Thriving does not arrive all at once. It accumulates in small, often invisible decisions where you choose honesty over pressure and presence over performance.

Clarity isn’t something you “figure out” once and keep forever.

It’s a state of being and states are shaped by what you do daily, often quietly, often unremarkably.

Most people try to think their way into clarity.

As we move toward 2026, many leaders are sensing that the old leadership playbook is breaking down. In this episode of How Good Can It Get?, Bree Johnson and Andrea Tessier explore why strategy and performance are no longer enough—and why the future of leadership requires inner steadiness, emotional intelligence, and self-trust.

In this reflective episode of How Good Can It Get?, Bree Johnson shares five lessons that emerged from a year of growth, simplification, and trusting her intuition. A thoughtful look at how clarity often comes after seasons of uncertainty and change.

Why does resentment surface during the holidays—and what is it actually trying to tell us? In this episode of How Good Can It Get?, Bree Johnson explores how unmet needs, energy depletion, and the illusion of control affect wellbeing and leadership.

What if the most meaningful growth doesn’t show up in metrics? A year-end reflection on misalignment, over-functioning, work harm, and why fewer goals crushed—but more self-trust gained—might mean you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.