A few weeks ago I was chatting with an analyst who had just been promoted. She is sharp. Genuinely one of the best I have seen at her level. And her frustration is hard to explain without sounding ungrateful. “I haven’t learned anything new in eight months,” she said. “Not because I don’t want to. Because every time I carve out space, something lands on my desk that only I can handle.” That last part is what caught my attention. “Only I can handle.” That sounds like a compliment. And it is....

This is part two of a two-part story. If you missed part one, you can read it here. Something had shifted in Houston. I didn’t resign the next day. I didn’t tell anyone. I just carried it with me through the rest of the Ironman and the flight home, turning it over quietly. Over the summer, while I was on sabbatical after Annika was born, Eva and I kept coming back to the same question. If not now, when? I joined Dan Martell’s coaching program. I started getting serious about what building my...

For years, I helped build something I was genuinely proud of. The Data School trained some of the best Tableau consultants in the world. We had cohorts in London, New York, and Hamburg. Hundreds of analysts came through the program and went on to do incredible work. And I loved it. Until I didn’t. When we decided to scale, the right move was to let the other coaches take on more of the training. It was great for their careers and great for the business. But it meant I was doing less of the...