Stop Proving, Start Noticing | October 2026 Edition
The story below is one I told on a small stage a couple of weeks ago. I am scheduled to give an expanded version of this talk in Charlotte on November 17 and in New York on November 18. If you are interested in attending or want to connect 1:1, drop me a note.
Stop proving, start noticing
Last month was about why leaders stop hearing the truth. This one sits just underneath it: what we’re trying to prove quietly decides what we stop noticing.
Years ago I was in the back of a car in California, twenty minutes late for the most important meeting of my career. A client I’d spent two years getting to know was taking his company public, and his CFO had one big question: what numbers should we show the market? We had spent weeks on the answer. My analysis, being presented by my team, without me.
So what did I do?
Watch the five-minute story: Stop Proving, Start Noticing.
Watch it first. What follows is what sits underneath it.
That’s the shift from expert to leader. Expertise and hard work get you to the table. Leadership is understanding what is happening around it. And it gets harder the further you go, because the more you’ve been rewarded for being right, the harder you’ll defend it. As AI makes the analysis cheaper for everyone, a correct answer becomes the minimum. Noticing is what’s left.
Before the next time you walk in with the right answer, throw the spotlight on the people across from you and ask:
What are they trying to achieve?
What are they rewarded for?
What worries them?
What do they need solved?
And ask yourself:
What am I trying to prove?
What am I choosing to ignore?
If these ideas and real-world lessons shaped through my experience and client work are relevant to where you are, feel free to start a conversation by clicking here. I’m glad to continue the conversation.
