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The Human Advantage - Elo Branding

Something unexpected is happening as our worlds rapidly reshape around AI.  At the beginning, I was super excited. I get to “do more in less time”. Today, however, AI is driving me in the opposite direction. The more automated, polished and artificially “intelligent” our world becomes, the more intensely I find myself craving things that […]

The leader who would rather give the credit away

I’ve been thinking a lot about the phrase, let the work speak for itself. This phrase is often spoken with a certain pride, as though the person saying those words has resisted something corrosive that might cheapen the work if they were to explain it out loud. They believe that good work shouldn’t require a […]

Executive peeling potatoes at a food bank

The last big job is different, mostly because you finally understand what it costs. “I’ve got one last big gig in me,” they’ll say, usually followed by something along the lines of, “and I want to make this one count.” Not necessarily in the old sense of making it count, either. They’ve done the big […]

Person in a yellow raincoat facing a storm over the ocean, rain falling heavily.

This week, Simon Sinek said something that gave me hope. “AI can do many things, but it can’t struggle for us. In a world of accelerating tech, it’s not certainty that makes great leaders. It’s the willingness to wrestle with uncertainty, sit in the discomfort, and still show up.” Lately, leaders have been asking the […]

White horse standing alone in a dry field under a dramatic stormy sky.

This is not a typical “3 tips to build your personal brand” article wrapped in fake promises. Ok, there are three things. But they’re not tips! Think of them as a call to cut the BS and come home to yourself. Most executive brands are too polished and too safe. They’re optimized for approval and […]

Person standing alone on a foggy shoreline, facing rough waves and an overcast sea.

A wandering essay on the quiet, murky, liminal space after a Very Big Chapter ends By Kate Allinson June 2025 I’ve always been curious about what happens in the blank bit. That bit after the big job ends but before the next thing makes sense. I’ve been watching it unfold in a few of my […]

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” — Emerson, Self-Reliance. I’ve been reflecting on reinvention, thinking deeply about the whispers of change that come when the summit has been reached. It’s a different kind of overwhelm, the kind that doesn’t come with sudden deadlines or boardroom battles […]

The messy, weird, identity-questioning limbo between exec roles, and why search firms that can hold space for this are the ones who earn lifelong trust. We don’t talk enough about the space between jobs. Not the glossy resignation announcement or the new-title LinkedIn update, but the middle bit. The weird, quiet, unsettling bit. High-achieving, deeply […]

This is a note for CEOs, founders, investors, anyone who’s just approved a headcount for a critical exec hire and handed it to a recruiter with a list of bullet points and a quiet sense of panic. I get it. The board wants reassurance. You want movement. Your team wants air. And the spreadsheet says […]

He built billion-dollar companies – and still finds LinkedIn awkward. This week, I had a call with a CEO who spent 26 years building things – teams, products, billion-dollar exits. He’d led global P&Ls, grown a $30 million business into a $1.5 billion one, and sold it for four times that. Now he was brushing […]

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