Reader,

There's a joke I heard on an episode of the West Wing years ago:

There's a revolutionary standing on the sidewalk when a hectic, angry mob rushes past. The revolutionary says, "Those are my people. I wonder where they are going? I must find them, so I can lead them."

So you've made it to issue #1 Shift Happens. Congratulate yourself for your perseverance .... (Did someone forward this to you and you're keen for more? Subscribe ​here​.)

I can't count how many times I've seen this play out—not just with aspiring thought leaders, but with accomplished professionals hitting those critical inflection points where everything that worked before suddenly seems to create more friction than momentum.

We reach these crossroads and instinctively look outward rather than inward. We chase trends, read the latest leadership bestsellers, ask everyone but ourselves: "What's the next move? What's marketable? What will get traction?"

It's the professional equivalent of the revolutionary chasing the parade—frantically trying to position ourselves at the front of a movement when what we really need is to stop moving entirely and feel the full weight of the crossroads.

Here's the mechanical truth I've learned from two decades of false starts, hard pivots, and genuine momentum: The most powerful shifts happen when we stop trying to optimize the outcomes and focus instead on the process.

Businesses (and honed athletes) thrive on great processes—that's undeniable. But when we become obsessed with optimizing for specific outcomes—market position, audience capture, visibility, that spot on the podium—we get all bollocksed up. We end up chasing uncontrollable metrics instead of meaning, optics instead of impact.

They start running the race before they’ve identified the actual race they’re running.

I see this pattern with accomplished leaders all the time. You've built something substantial through talent, effort, and grit. You've proven you can do hard things. But now you're grinding in familiar patterns because the tools that got you here aren't the ones you need for what's next.

Some of the best guidance I've gotten in recent years was remarkably simple: "Fall in love with the problems."

Not the solutions. Not the market. Not the metrics. The actual problems—the friction points you keep bumping against even as you try to push forward.

When you're willing to stand still long enough to examine why you're stuck, you stop worrying whether you're disrupting industries or creating authentic leadership or whatever buzzword bingo we're playing this week. You're too invested in understanding what's actually holding you back.

The equation that moves people through meaningful transitions isn't exactly complex:

• Patience (inflection points resolve at their own pace)
• Toil (accessing unused gears requires different effort, not just more)
• Love (you have to actually give a damn about where you're heading)

These aren't just ingredients for transition—they're the mechanical components of genuine passion itself. Anything claiming to shortcut this process is selling fantasy, not results.

Many accomplished professionals I work with are hesitating at the edge of their next chapter—not because they lack capability, but because they're trying to guarantee the outcome before making the move. They're looking for perfect timing, perfect positioning, perfect certainty.

But here's the truth: that approach creates exactly the grinding inertia they're trying to escape.

One power question for you…

So where does this leave you at your own crossroads?

Ask yourself: What shift have you been postponing? What transition have you been overthinking? Where are you trying to lead a parade instead of charting your own path?

That's where your unused gears are waiting.

One power resource for you…

A few years back my friend Michael Marckx, creative leader and founder of the famous Belgian Waffle Ride cycling event, gave THIS TEDx TALK. In it, he advises to have an idea of your end point … and work backwards. It’s well worth a watch.

I’ll add, though, start walking from a place of love… loving who you’re doing it for, why you’re doing it, and who you’re doing it with. Keep walking with smart steps and you'll step your way into passion.

Shift happens,

Bryan

PS - Murray reminds me that he didn't spend years optimizing his strategy for commanding human attention. He simply mastered the art of staring judgmentally until the humans comply. Effectiveness through simplicity.