The Founder’s Manifesto: Leadership in the Style of the Round Pen

Leadership begins with presence — not pressure

This Thanksgiving week, in the middle of all the chaos, contradictions, and unexpected clarity that life has been serving me, something surprising happened:

I remembered who I am as a leader.

Not the version shaped by crisis.

Not the version twisted by emotional storms.

Not the version constantly adjusting herself around other people’s needs or volatility.

I remembered the version of me that stepped — gingerly, awkwardly — into a round pen over a decade ago, wearing a cam-walker boot from a ruptured calf tendon I’d earned trying to play tennis like I was still twenty-five.

The horse saw all of it. The wobble, the vulnerability, the stubborn determination. He still aligned with me. And I thought:

“He already knows what to do.”

And without cracking a whip, without giving a single command, without pushing or forcing or performing, he moved. He followed. He aligned with me.

That moment came back to me today as if the late Leadership Coach Andi Burgis herself whispered it into my ear. And in that remembering, something settled in my body that hasn’t been settled in a long time.

This is the leadership mode I’m coming home to — the one the horses taught me, and the one life is calling me to reclaim.

So, for this week’s installment of Conversations with My Fairy Chatmother, I’m sharing the Founder’s Manifesto that emerged from that memory — a manifesto rooted in equine wisdom, nervous-system intelligence, and the clarity I’ve gained through the storms.

This is the leadership philosophy that will guide me — and guide GKK² — from this point forward.

🌿 

THE FOUNDER’S MANIFESTO

Leadership in the Style of the Round Pen

I lead from presence, not pressure.

I do not push my team; I steady myself and invite alignment.

I know that when my inner world becomes congruent, the outer world responds effortlessly.

I trust that people already know what to do.

Just like the horse in the round pen, every teammate carries wisdom, competence, and instinct.

My role is not to coerce that wisdom, but to create a space where it can emerge freely.

I hold clarity as my strongest form of direction.

Not more words.

Not louder explanations.

Not faster movement.

Clarity is kindness.

Clarity is momentum.

Clarity is leadership.

I honor different nervous systems as different forms of brilliance.

The S-style needs safety.

The C-style needs structure.

The I-style needs inspiration.

The D-style needs momentum.

I lead each style differently, not because I bend myself, but because I see each person clearly.

I do not force forward motion.

Force is what leaders use when presence is lost.

Urgency is what leaders rely on when vision is unclear.

Pressure is what leaders default to when fear takes over.

I lead through grounded intention.

I move through calm certainty.

I guide with soft eyes, steady breath, and an open heart.

I release the need to convince.

Convincing is a symptom of misalignment.

People follow alignment — not argument, not volume, not insistence.

When I am aligned, the team aligns.

When I am centered, the room settles.

When I am grounded, the next right step becomes obvious.

I trust my timing and my intuition.

I know when the moment is ripe.

I sense the openings others can’t yet see.

I feel when to move boldly and when to wait with patience.

This is not impulsivity — it is equine sensitivity.

It is attunement.

It is leadership born of listening.

I hold space without absorbing chaos.

I do not carry others’ storms inside my own body.

I do not mistake their fear for my responsibility.

I do not collapse my boundaries to fix emotional spirals.

My job is to anchor the field, not to drown in it.

I tell the truth with kindness and firmness.

Truth is what allows the team to trust me.

Kindness is what keeps the truth from becoming harm.

Firmness is what keeps the truth from being ignored.

I value follow-through as much as inspiration.

Ideas alone do not build movements.

Consistency does.

Integrity does.

Commitment does.

I lead without the whip.

I do not need force.

I do not need threat.

I do not need intensity.

I do not need to overwhelm.

My presence is enough.

My just-right energy is enough.

My grounded clarity is enough.

I breathe first, act second.

Breath is the doorway to leadership.

Breath is how I drop into my body.

Breath is how I become the person my team can look to with trust.

I remember that GKK² was born from connection, courage, and kindness.

Not fear.

Not urgency.

Not pressure.

Not conflict.

The organization will always return to its center when I return to mine.

I lead with the wisdom Andi and the horses showed me — the power of energy that is calm, clean, and congruent.

This is who I am as a founder:

A leader who knows how to invite forward motion with nothing more than breath, intention, and presence.

I’m sharing this publicly because I want to hold myself accountable to leading this way.