This is my annual reflection episode. In it, I walk through how 2025 forced me to get much clearer about purpose, obligation, and the kind of work I feel called to do. That clarity brought meaning, but it also raised the bar and the weight I feel as a leader.

I talk through how this showed up professionally in manufacturing and leadership, what I’ve been wrestling with personally, and the resources that helped guide me through the year, including foundational thinking around work and leadership, and an unexpected influence from music.

This episode isn’t a conclusion. It’s a snapshot of where my head was in 2025 and how I’m entering 2026.

Topics covered

• Purpose and obligation
• What it means to live a good life and a good professional life
• Applying gifts in service of others
• Why niche, legacy manufacturing is where I believe I can have the greatest impact
• Leadership, burden, and responsibility
• Living with obligation without becoming a martyr
• Foundational thinking around work, roles, and levels of abstraction
• The limits of pure rationality
• Music as a way to access meaning, mastery, and emotional truth
• Artists and work that shaped my thinking in 2025
• Entering 2026 with clarity but without a fully defined path

Music Credit: Slow Burn by Kevin MacLeod