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A Conversation about Relationship

Relationship is the ground from which everything grows. Before we consider our leadership outward, we begin with our relationship to our own life — to our patterns, our narratives, our needs.

From there, we can bring forward an authentic self that others experience not as performance, but as presence.

And in leadership, how we enter relationship matters more than how we manage outcomes. Spaces where mutual trust and permission are cultivated become spaces where genuine collaboration can take root.

In this Conversation, we’ll explore Relationship as a leadership quality — first within, then between.


How do we understand our relationship to our own life?

Have you ever looked at yourself, in the eye, in a mirror? Like really look yourself in the eye — not the casual glance to straighten a scarf or even the practiced (dare I say automatic) look while shaving or applying a face? Try it.

Take two minutes to sit in front of a mirror and look yourself in the eye. Recognize what you see there.

Inner and Authentic Self:

Are you connected to the space around you? Have you ever considered how your feet feel on the floor or the way the cotton of your shirt swishes against your skin?

What about emotionally and spiritually? When was the last time you thought about your self, the you that’s more than skin and bone?

Some of us never think about the part of us that’s inside, that’s our Center.

We’re missing a vital component to deeper understanding of how we “tick”. We are missing an understanding of our own patterns, needs, and tendencies.

When we don’t recognize and get to know the self that sits behind those eyes staring back at us in the mirror, how can we come into meaningful relationship with anyone else?

Sure, maybe you’re thinking, “Well, I’m not at work to build relationship but to build a team, to get the work done!”

Here’s the truth: we cannot work meaningfully without having a connection to the people around us, to the people working with us each day.

And here’s another truth: it’s possible to carry the authentic relationship we have with ourselves outward — into our work and relationships — without losing its clarity or integrity.

Leader and External Self:

There’s an adage that we often spend more time with work colleagues than we do with the people who are in closer proximity due to familial, faith, or community connection.

Leadership is not a title or a role reserved for those in charge. It is a way of being in relationship with those around us — whether we’re a CEO, a mentor, a volunteer, a parent, or a colleague on a team.

Imagine being around people for hours on end, who you have no connection with …

Seems rather bleak, doesn’t it?

And many of us do that: we go to our offices or log into our workspace and never give much thought to the people around us.

Reading those words is sobering and it stems from somewhere.

We are people, in relationship with ourselves first. If we don’t cultivate knowledge of our Center, knowledge of our interior self, we won’t be able to build relationship with others. Without this ability to know self and to see that others are on a journey, too, we fall short of genuine connection.

When leaders foster genuine connections with those around them, they can reach levels of innovation and creativity far beyond what can be attained with superficial engagement.

Becoming a leader who is aware of their internal and external self means moving from “transactional” relationships to spaces of mutual nourishment and permission. And with intention, we can do that.

It begins by tending our relationship with self — and by recognizing that every genuine relationship we build outward begins there.


If this conversation resonated with you, I invite you to hold that feeling. In the coming conversations, I’d like to invite you to begin exploring your own Center …

We’ll engage with the idea of Reflection soon, but first, let’s dig a bit more into this idea of leadership.

Your Journey Sentinal, Andree

Introduction: Conversations about the Four R’s

There are so many ways to talk about leadership: in terms of competencies, goals, or metrics. We might describe it as “leadership”, “management”, or both. Or neither …

But leadership, at its root, is something more human. It has layers.

In this space, I hold to four R’s as quiet companions in the practice of cReative Leadership: Relationship, Reflection, Renewal, and Resonance.

They are not steps. They are not a model. They are ways of being — inner and outer — that invite us to lead with greater presence, integrity, and depth.

In the coming Conversations, I’ll offer a reflection on each. You may find they echo your own path already. Or they may call you toward a new way of tending your leadership.

Your Journey Sentinel, Andree

A Conversation about Thought-Stewarding

As I mentioned in our first conversation, cReative Leadership is a change in direction, an unseen bend in the road that revealed itself when I took time to sit with Recon Leadership.

We’ll have conversations about why “creative” is as it is here, but for now, let’s just take it slow, from the (fresh) beginning.

I’m a holistic thinker — or a holisting “be-er” if you like. As I worked on the visual aspects of the cReative Leadership space, I wanted some physical pieces to match. So, I crafted a business card. If we meet in person, I will be excited to give you one.

Creating the business card meant I had to consider how I would refer to myself in this space. I discovered that thinking about titles is exhausting!

We use them to signal what we do and what people can expect when they meet us. But most of the titles I could have chosen here — coach, consultant, leader — felt too hard-edged, too hierarchical for the kind of space I want to hold through cReative Leadership.

I chose Thought-Steward because it speaks to what I hope to do:

  • To sit with, not over.
  • To tend conversations and ideas, not direct them.
  • To be a keeper of space, not a deliverer of answers.

A steward honors the living thing they tend — whether a garden, a community, or an idea. That’s how I hope to show up in the dialogues that will unfold here.

You’ll see me close out these conversations sometimes as Your Journey Sentinel, too. That’s a companion word — the one who quietly watches from the edge of the wood or just in the shadow but keeps the lamp lit and invites travelers in when they arrive.

Soon I’ll be sharing more about the possible path(s) we could take together in your leadership journey. I look forward to your considerations, queries, and comments …

Your Journey Sentinel, Andree

A Conversation about cReative Leadership (and about that capital “R”)

You might be wondering why I style cReative this way.

The simple answer is that it carries layers of meaning.

As noted elsewhere, the capital R nods to the roots of this work, which began as Reconnoiter Leadership — a model centered on reflection, resilience, reverence, and readiness.

Over time, I found that what resonated most deeply in this work was the call to creative leadership in its broadest sense: leadership that

  • creates space,
  • creates possibility, and
  • creates conditions for others to thrive.

The capital R is also a gentle reminder: we are not creating simply for efficiency or outcome — but for relationship, reflection, renewal, and resonance.

If you see the R, think of it as an invitation to lead from the deeper layers of your self.

In the coming weeks, I’ll walk with you toward some thoughts around those four R‘s (relationship, reflection, renewal, resonance) and how we can maybe take that exploration a little deeper, a little more personal.

Are you “ready”?

Your Journey Sentinel, Andree

A Conversation about How The Police got it right (no, not them …)

This conversation is not about the “people in blue” or those who “patrol the streets in their black and whites”. I’m referring to the other Police.

Right, the band! You know, Sting and company (if you don’t know who they are, pop over here for a moment to hear/watch “Every Little Thing”).

These Police were on to something when they put out the song Spritis in the Material World. Sure, it leans into the political, but it’s deeper than that.

It’s deeper because we are spirits in a material world! I can’t attest to the quote attributed to Sting about the song noted here, but the point is that whatever the present situation, moving further down our path involves transcending our condition.

How do we do that? And also, what value does it have to leadership practice (or any other, for that matter)?

First we must get to know ourselves, to understand our core, our Center, our us-ness. How our us-ness is connected or similar to the traits found not just in people, but traits that are interwoven within every living creature.

How it relates to our outward lived experience, both personally and professionally, is another conversation. We’ll take that up as we continue down the path.

Your Journey Sentinel, Andree

From Recon to cReative

This site isn’t new. But it is different.

What once lived here as Reconnoiter Leadership has grown into something more layered, more inward-facing, more alive.

It’s now called cReative Leadership — and it holds space for those who lead with vision, soul, reflection, and resilience. For those who move sideways before forward. For those who think deeply, feel fully, and refuse to flatten themselves to fit the mold.

If that sounds like you, I hope you’ll stay.

I’ll be sharing thoughts, tools, metaphors, and animal companions for this kind of leadership. Not a model, but a way. Not a fix, but a reframe.

You can learn more about the roots of cReative Leadership here, or simply follow along. I’m glad you’re here.

Your Journey Sentinel, Andree