We rode the elevator from the fourth floor down to the parking garage. Three of us — riding mostly in silence. Each holding a box with the few contents of our desks from years of building Disney Online together. The elevator stopped and the doors opened.... We stepped out, gave one another a quietly awkward "well, see you around... maybe" glance, started our cars, and pulled out of the parking lot ... for good. That's how my career as an entrepreneur began in June 2007, Reader. An exhale...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
There's a pink sticky note on my desk that's been there since January, Reader. "More public speaking…. Keynote.?." I've walked past it every day for five months. Some days it feels like an aspiration. Some days it feels like a dare. Most days it asks the question I haven't quite been able to answer out loud: Can I even do this? Dare I even imagine the possibility?... Do I hold the permission to pursue this? Not permission in the "You go, girlfriend, you deserve this" sense. In the harder...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Back in 2007, I walked out of the Walt Disney Company with a box of stuff, an headful of confidence, and approximately zero understanding of what I was actually walking into. I had a plan, Reader. Sort of. The plan was: I'm Bryan Yates, I've produced things, I know people, I'll figure it out. What could be hard about this? Turns out — the part I hadn't figured out (which was most of it) was everything that came next. What nobody tells you when you leave is this: the skills that made you...
3 months ago • 5 min read
If you've been reading these monthly dispatches for the past year, Reader, you might detect an attitude shift. For years, when people have talked about how busy they are, discussed their self-generated overwhelm, shared their discomfort with stillness, or even effused on their love of running, my reflexive response has been: "Running's for fugitives." This was something that only spoke in my inside voice… until one day a client asked "WHAT THE HECK is that?" My internal dialogue had, in that...
4 months ago • 4 min read
A few years ago, I started a men's group called "The Inner Circle" with a couple of posts on LinkedIn. Not because it was a good marketing idea. Not because some business coach told me communities were the future. Because I went on a bike ride with an old friend I hadn't seen in years, and somewhere on that ride we got to talking about middle-aged male loneliness — and I thought, yeah. Someone should do something about that, Reader. Turns out the problem is bigger than I realized. The U.S....
5 months ago • 4 min read
Reader, Almost every professional I worked with this year had one thing in common—a strange, private drag. Not burnout. Not confusion. But a low-grade stall, like their instincts weren't quite firing. And still, they kept delivering. Because that's how insanely capable people roll. Sharpening The Blade For insanely capable professionals, instincts are like a chef's knife. Over time, they naturally dull—not from neglect, but from constant use. The leaders I worked with this year? Wealth...
7 months ago • 3 min read
It's great to see you, Reader, happy holidays. Here's a mini manifesto I keep for myself about writing:It's always more powerful to make readers seen than it is to make them feel inspired. Inspiration is fleeting. A somewhat empty calorie. Being seen, however, is stabilizing, centering, and empowering. So, if you're anything like me, and you'd like to use this end-of-year time to create space, exhale, and recover from the compounding cognitive load we carry--I see you. Back when I coached...
7 months ago • 3 min read
I've started training for a race I won't run for three or four years. Everyone who knows me knows this: I hate running. If I wrote a memoir, the title would be "Running's for Fugitives." I've built an entire athletic identity around cycling specifically, because it's not running. And yet here I am, choosing to intentionally train for a 50k trail run. My friend Brett produces The Kilimanjaro Trail Run. I've never met him, but I love what he does, who he does it for, and why he does it. I need...
8 months ago • 8 min read
Time to narc on myself. Earlier this month, Reader, I violated every principle I claim to stand for. And a friend called me out—hard. I was caught in one of those doom-scrolling rage cycles. You know the ones—the algorithm doing its thing, feeding you precisely calibrated outrage, each swipe releasing another tiny drip of dopamine that momentarily eases the deeper frustration about what’s happening in the world. In that state, I reposted something political on Instagram. It was biting,...
9 months ago • 5 min read