Getting back to the pottery studio after a twenty-year break was a personal reminder of how reclaiming space for yourself is critical to both personal growth and leadership.

Like many of the leaders I work with, I had set aside parts of myself to focus on career, family, and professional goals. My relationship with clay goes back to my time at Barnard College, where I worked as a student coordinator at the Clay Collective. Returning to the studio decades later felt like returning to something essential — not just a craft, but a practice of presence that I had been missing.

What clay teaches me:

Growth takes time, and self-compassion I've spent hours in the studio only to watch pieces collapse, crack, or turn out differently than I planned — but I keep doing the work. Leadership growth is similar: rarely linear, never perfect, and always a process that requires patience, persistence, and constant adaptation.

Letting go of perfection opens space for possibility When I walk into the studio, I feel centered. What I create may not be technically perfect, but it's meaningful because I showed up and allowed something new to emerge. The same happens with my clients. When they make space for themselves — whether reconnecting with their creativity, taking on a challenge outside their comfort zone, or experimenting with different ways of working — they rediscover clarity, energy, and new perspectives that fuel their leadership.

Like potters, leaders who make a difference understand that mastery comes not from avoiding imperfections but from learning to work with them. They know when to apply pressure, when to ease up, and how to transform limitations into distinctive features of their work.