The Time Is Now
I had the pleasure of hosting our first “10x10” reunion — gathering people from ACA’s ten-year journey, from across geographies and generations.
In addition to the spontaneous connection and laughter that comes not just from seeing old faces, but from watching old faces see each other — alongside new faces discovering themselves reflected in a shared community — there was something else in the room.
There was urgency in the air.
But not the kind of urgency we’ve been conditioned to notice — not breaking news or ticking clocks. It was deeper. The kind of urgency that says: This moment matters.
A few days earlier, on a coaching call, someone paused mid-sentence. Eyes wet, voice trembling, and said,
“I think I’ve been waiting for this moment… to stop pretending I don’t care as much as I do.”
That’s the urgency I’m talking about. The kind that wakes us up to what we can no longer put off.
Not because we’re panicked, though sometimes we are. Not because we’re fearful, though fear has its place. But because we’re ready.
So what is this moment for?
To act?
To create?
To fight?
Maybe. But I want to offer another possibility. That this moment is calling us not just to do, but to be in deeper integrity with what we know is possible. To be in community with others who are also trying to answer this call.
Urgency, when held well, is a powerful force. But urgency without taking the time for reflection becomes hurry. As urgency slips into hurry hurry hurry, into a kind of scrambling and technical problem solving, it loses its wisdom. We end up trying to fix the world with the very mindset that broke it.
That’s where leadership comes in. Not leadership as a title. Not leadership as performance. But leadership as a shift. A reorientation. A transformation in our relationship to the “work”— and even more so, to each other.
So what is this moment for?
We slow down. We listen. We notice where we’re ready— not pushed — to respond.
And we reconnect with those around us who are holding this moment with courage, compassion and clarity. Many of whom joined the 10x10 call.
The ACA community holds something rare. It’s hard to name, but once you’ve felt it, you know. It’s a kind of trust. A mutual remembering. A shared language that wasn’t taught — it was revealed.
That is a resource. Not a tool. Not a technique…but a living resource that gets stronger the more we draw from it.
Real leadership isn’t force. It’s not domination or control. It’s a kind of listening. A kind of devotion. A willingness to be drawn into service to something larger than ourselves — something that is trying to emerge through us, if we let it.
Before the gathering, I offered this reflection prompt:
“A little truth is one where the opposite is false. A great truth is one where the opposite is also true.” What’s a great truth you’ve encountered?
It’s a provocation, not a puzzle. Not a problem to solve — but an opening. A wedge in the door of dichotomy.
Because what we’re up against isn’t just this issue or that issue — it’s the mindset that says we must choose sides. When what the world is aching for is wholeness. Healing. Integration.
Here are some of great truths:
You are enough… and you can always grow.
The great truth is that we are inherently worthy and always becoming. Our value doesn’t depend on our growth, but our growth can be an expression of that worth.Real leadership requires confidence… and real leadership requires humility.
The more we lead, the more we realize that confidence and humility are not opposites, but companions.Love means staying… and love sometimes means letting go.
Letting go, honoring but shedding the old — in our selves, our teams, our organizations — can be acts of compassionate leadership.We are responsible for the world… and we can’t control the world.
This one speaks deeply to the tension many of us hold: the call to act, without falling into illusion of power over as progress.The personal is political… and not everything is political.
We must honor the systemic and the intimate — without collapsing one into the other.Change takes time… and everything can change in an instant.
We’ve all lived this truth in our hardest and most beautiful moments.
Let these small and great truths land in you. Give them the space they require. Let contradiction soften your stance. Let it soften even your hatred. Let reconciliation take root — even when clarity does not.
This too is leadership work.
At ACA, we strive to be a place where contradiction doesn’t mean collapse — but becomes the very ground of transformation.
Come and see what a community of real leadership can feel like. Join our next 10x10 call on May 22 at 12:00 noon New York time by contacting me at https://adaptivechangeadvisors.com/contact/.