I know my work is better when I do it with others. That can be true for all of us if we think of ourselves as parts of an ecosystem. Our outputs can be as rich and varied as a forest when we share resources the way woodland species do.

If I’m working toward change, whether that’s for individuals or organizations, that change can and should happen without me there to see it. I still struggle with what the roles of ambition and public recognition are in this mix.

The word I’m centering for 2024 is RIPPLING.

Ripples make change gently and from small beginnings. They can’t happen alone. Rippling is a collective enterprise, and it touches more than it starts with. More than its source can ever know.

It was a conference where I was alternately drained by, gaining from, and giving back to a community I love. And that’s what things we love do for us. We love them when they’re messy and maddening, and they’re always there when we need them.