Still here.

I've been quiet here for a while.

Percolating. The external world. My own internal one.

Kids getting older. Me getting older. The work shifting in ways that needed my full attention, not a post about them. And the world moving so fast I wanted to be conscious before I added to the noise.

And then there's this: I am scared to write. Not the posting part. The honest part. Writing without the performance. Without the polish as a shield.

I communicate visually. That's the story I've told myself forever. Words and I don't get along. I'm working on that. Challenging it.

It also felt dishonest to keep showing up as a version of myself that had already changed. At times it felt like a snake shedding its skin — and then the skin getting caught. Uncomfortable. Close. Not quite through yet.

CVB Weekly — the Customer Value Builders chapter — is done. That was a version of me performing in the work. This is the next one. Still being written.

The past five years gave me more than I expected. I've been a CEO — actually in it. Responsible for it. The lessons were real. Sometimes hard. Almost always worth it. And a team that sparked so much growth. A team that learns together really does grow together.

Now I'm looking forward. Excited and scared — which, if you stop and notice, feel remarkably similar in the body. I'm noticing that more. Sitting with what comes up rather than moving past it.

Creative Value Builders is where I'll write from now. Creativity, growth, business and the human stuff underneath both. What I'm learning. Including the parts I'm still figuring out.

A little more thinking in draft. A little less polish. More truth.

If this is for you, stay.

Jane