Over the past year, coaching small business owners, collaborating with creative leaders, joining the AIGA CT board, and reconnecting with my broader network, I’ve been noticing something that feels both familiar and unsettling. It appears in different shapes, different industries, and different conversations, but the core pattern is the same:

We are losing our capacity for shared Reason.

Not the intellectual kind, that’s stronger than ever.
I’m talking about the collective reasoning that helps teams see the same problem, align around a shared goal, and make confident decisions together.

The modern workplace has drifted far away from that.

Systems are outdated.
Expectations are unclear.
The pace of change is punishing.
And for many leaders, especially younger ones, there was never a mentor who taught them how to navigate this type of world.

Older generations had time to adjust between changes.
They had guidance.
They had margin.

Today’s leaders are inheriting chaos at full speed.

The data echoes this:

• 62% of workers feel unclear on what’s expected of them (Gallup, 2024).
• CMOs are “losing their why” as digital channels collapse around them (Martech, 2024).
• Small businesses are stuck in reactive mode, not because they’re incapable, but because clarity and Reason are missing from the system.

When I stepped away from the brewery I founded and fully committed to coaching, I had to examine that drift in my own life too.
The overwhelm, the misalignment, the burnout, it all comes from the same place:

We stop questioning what’s happening in front of us, and we lose sight of what matters.

Coaching gave me the space to study this more deeply.
And it led me to a realization:

Leaders don’t just need coaching from the outside.
Many teams need someone who can step into the work, steady the room, ask better questions, and help rebuild clarity in real time.

That’s why I’m opening space for Fractional UX leadership.

It’s not a pivot from coaching, it’s the applied layer of the same philosophy.
It’s where systems, design, behavior, and alignment meet.
It’s where Reason gets restored before burnout takes over.

The future of UX isn’t just design.
And the future of leadership isn’t just coaching.

It’s a blend of both, and the work ahead is about helping teams rebuild their capacity to think clearly, collaborate meaningfully, and navigate complexity without losing themselves along the way.

If you want to explore this with your own team, or you’re simply curious about where this larger research is heading, reach out anytime.

There’s more coming soon.