Why I Chose to Build a Better World Through Words

For new followers and mutuals whom made it here over the past three months, welcome! I want to take an opportunity to share the catalyst and the why that pushed me to puruse thought leadership.

Buckle up, this is going to be a doozie.

In 2023, I begun my journey to puruse my Bachelor's degree after I was turned away from a Director level opportunity in the organization I was working for.

It was a reality check that I wasn't necessarily prepared for...I was just over a decade in organizational information technology and felt like I had enough experience to attempt the interview process.

Happy to note: I did have a strong showing; however, feedback from my mentor illuminated that a Bachelor's degree was table stakes. So at last, the ugly truth I had tried to push away came back to haunt me.

Cue one year later: I was invited to join the National Society of Leadership and Success in my university's chapter. It was an exciting moment to highlight and put focus on sharpening my leadership skills. And since then, I have never looked back.

As part of one of the many certifications I can receive from the organization, the Executive Leadership certification challenges future leaders to develop, curate, and ultimately deliver on a long-form project. I was no stranger to the idea of a long timeline and demonstrating success at the end; however this one was different.

It was all about me and how I could give back to my community.

Why I Chose Thought Leadership as My Project

When I first started the Better Me: Better World project, I didn’t set out to change the world. I just wanted to make sense of mine.

At the time, “digital transformation” had become a phrase so overused it had almost lost meaning. Every vendor, every keynote, every corporate deck promised the same revolution: faster, smarter, better. But what I was seeing in practice didn’t match the promise. Projects would stall. Teams burned out. And leaders hesitated because they didn’t trust the data or the process.

It wasn’t a technology problem. It was a people problem. A leadership problem. A clarity problem.

That realization became the seed for this project; to write, reflect, and serve through thought leadership. What started as an academic requirement quickly became something far more personal: a way to build discipline, empathy, and service into my own leadership DNA while helping others navigate the same challenges.

When I was asked to define my Better World Project, I thought about the kind of world I wanted to contribute to.

For me, the “better world” wasn’t abstract. It was every organization that had ever struggled through the chaos of transformation. It was leaders unsure which decisions to make, teams buried under new tools they didn’t ask for, and data that couldn’t be trusted. I’d lived that story more than once.

So I decided to use what I knew best. It was storytelling, reflection, and strategy, to make that world a little clearer for someone else.

I built a plan to write and publish a full series of articles on digital transformation, data strategy, and leadership accountability. It was a framework for personal growth that touched every category of development we were asked to explore:

• Physical Development – maintaining daily walks and balanced habits to sustain long writing sessions and deep thinking.
• Intellectual Pursuit – grounding every article in research from Gartner, McKinsey, MIT Sloan, and HBR.
• Emotional Care – learning how to share personal lessons publicly without losing balance or boundaries.
• Ethics – writing transparently, attributing properly, and refusing to “sell” transformation as a shortcut.
• Service to Others – giving freely. No paywall. No pitch. Just insights leaders could use on Monday morning.

That structure became the compass for everything that followed.

The Moment the Work Got Real

Putting your thoughts into the world isn’t easy, especially when those thoughts are about the failures, frustrations, and lessons that shaped you. But something shifted when I started to hear from others: leaders who were quietly struggling with the same challenges.

They weren’t looking for theory. They wanted truth.
They wanted someone to say out loud that transformation is messy.

That was when I realized this wasn’t a writing project anymore. It was a mirror.

Every article forced me to examine not just what I believed, but how I led. Every conversation on LinkedIn reminded me that thought leadership isn’t about being an expert; it’s about being useful.

Building the Foundation

I designed the first series, Getting Real About Digital Transformation, around five simple truths:

1. Transformation starts at the core: with data trust, operational readiness, and alignment.
2. Tools don’t fix broken foundations. The mindset must shift first.
3. Dirty data = expensive decisions.
4. Scaling without purpose multiplies chaos.
5. Real transformation happens when culture, mindset, and execution finally align.

Those articles became more than content. They were a blueprint for the future: for me and for anyone reading.

Writing them forced structure into my thinking. I had to translate the messy, lived reality of transformation into language that others could use. And in doing so, I started to notice something: the same habits that drive good writing drive good leadership.

Consistency. Clarity. Curiosity.

You show up, even when you don’t feel ready.
You iterate. You listen. You refine.

It’s the same muscle.

The Balance Between “Better Me” and “Better World”

It’s easy to think of leadership development as an internal pursuit. It's a “better me” exercise. But the magic happens when that growth spills outward.

So far, I’ve learned that every story we tell about our work either adds trust to the world or takes it away. Every decision to share what’s real, not just what’s polished, gives someone else permission to do the same.

In my project, I discovered that transparency scales faster than any tech strategy ever could. People don’t follow you because your ideas are perfect. They follow because your effort is consistent and your intent is honest.

By November, I had written more than fifteen long-form articles, built a growing community around authentic transformation, and developed tools that readers could download and apply. But what mattered most wasn’t the metrics. It was the shift from doubt to discipline. It was the realization that thought leadership, when done right, is leadership.

The Real Outcome and Looking Ahead

I started with a goal: publish three complete series and reach one hundred new professionals.
What I didn’t expect was how much it would change me.

This project taught me that leadership isn’t about the volume; it’s about consistency. It’s not the one great article that builds trust; it’s the steady cadence of showing up when you say you will.

It also taught me the power of reflection. Writing forces you to slow down enough to notice patterns. That’s where growth happens.

And maybe most of all, it reminded me that service doesn’t always look like charity. Sometimes it looks like clarity. Sometimes it’s as simple as sharing what you’ve learned so someone else can move faster, avoid a mistake, or feel less alone.

The journey isn’t over. In fact, it’s barely begun.
The next few posts will unpack how this project tested every part of leadership: discipline, reflection, and resilience.

Because building a better world isn’t just about ideas.
It’s about doing the work, every day, with intention.

And sometimes, that work starts with a blank page.

Let's get real.