King of Pentacles—values & behavior are so aligned, they're instinctive; competence & capability; mastery is found when working in your own realm; "competence is something that requires the wisdom to know the difference between the things within our grasp and those beyond it. Beyond what we cannot change, and what we can"—Tarot for Change, Jessica Dore

For 2026, my Year of Attunement, I'm pulling a tarot card to guide each of my newsletters. It's an attempt to a) keep learning more about tarot and further incorporate its prompting possibilities into my work and b) to give shape to my writing so I don't start with the dreaded BLANK SCREEN OF HORRORS.

Because—here's my AI policy transparency—I write all of these by myself, from my own brain, without AI assistance. Despite the em-dashes in that last sentence, I truly am creating this content the old-fashioned way. The only ways AI comes into play for my business is when I'm looking for catchy titles or translating content from one user-focused vocabulary field into another.

But the writing down of the ideas, that's AI-less me.

The tarot card I pulled today was the King of Pentacles, which typically indicates a mastery over your earthly, material sphere. Ironically, it's coming in a moment where I'm recalibrating some things in my business, and I certainly wouldn't say that I'm feeling mastery and competence in all aspects of my work.

But the card is prompting me to focus on where I do feel competent, and that's why I've started by reiterating my AI policy. Because I have confidence that what I'm sharing here is meaningful to others. You've told me as much, and I thank you for the feedback. And in the name of the transparency I also prioritize, I'll be open about how I'm using AI tools.

Here are some other recent examples of where I do have the material wisdom and competence of the King of Pentacles.

A Framework for Actually Fun Change Management Training

At the end of January, I ran the final (at least for now) Gallery Education Leadership Institute with my SEED Trio colleagues, Rebecca Shulman and David Bowles. As an external processor, I find it easiest to work ideas out when I can do it with others. We created the SEED Trio as a place to do that. To push back against the expectation that consultants must always be working alone.

Instead, we've carefully crafted management training sessions that are object-based, experiential, and collective. Our 2026 participants said it best:

"Training for museum managers is hard to find. When I was promoted to my manager job 2 years ago, yours was the only training specific to this field, which is a unique field to be in."—Annie Bobbitt, Director of Multigenerational Learning, Baltimore Museum of Art

"This workshop taught me about myself as a manager through interactive and engaging opportunities to learn from peers in the field. There were multiple opportunities to share and learn from many perspectives in the field in an inclusive and welcoming environment. I left with learning more than just about my role in my job, but also about who I am as a leader in my life."—Meg Bowersox, The Museum of the American Revolution

"Humans learn through experiences, connection, discussion, and being pushed outside their comfort zones. This opportunity allowed participants to do each of these in a scaffolding and comfortable way, gently pushing ourselves... This is valuable work."—Anastasia Cote-Rumsey, Education Coordinator at the American Visionary Art Museum 🎨

It felt as magical as it always does to plan a well-conceived training session, and then lead it to fruition, responding in real-time to our participants' needs and requests.

When I'm planning for the kind of change management work I do, whether I'm doing it alone or with collaborators, I like to build the process around what I call the GPS Questions framework.

The three GPS Questions (Goal, Portals, Sparkle) are:

GOAL: What is the goal I'm striving for with this experience?
Think qualitative and quantitative. What concrete things should happen by the end? How do I want people to feel when we're done?

PORTALS: What portals might participants need to pass through to reach that goal?
Consider what core ideas or moments of realization people may not be clear on at the outset that they'll need to reach the goal.

SPARKLE: How can I make the experience fun?
Look for little ways to make people smile, laugh, play or get a hit of surprise. Keep this in mind both while planning and onsite.

Here's what that looked like for the Gallery Education Leadership Institute.

• What is the goal I'm striving for with this experience?

  • Managers will leave with new practical techniques and ideas to apply with their teams.

  • Managers will leave feeling refreshed and inspired to return to their work.

• What portals might participants need to pass through to reach that goal?

  • Management is its own skillset, and it deserves focus.

  • Museum managers' love for museum content can be mirrored in/connected to their management work.

• How can I make the experience fun?

  • The bar where we had a (planned) happy hour was hosting trivia. Say yes to playing!

  • Let's create "joy flags" to wave whenever we experience joy walking through a museum gallery.

I encourage you to take these questions and apply them to your own work. Here's a downloadable, printable version to help you plan your next meeting.

Thanks for the inspo, King of Pentacles!

Navigating Uncertainty Without Burning Out

I'm approaching the end of the first round of Wayfinder. It's hard to believe this program went from not-even-an-inkling to pilot round within 6 months!

I'm proud of the work I did with Jessica to create this offer, and I've loved getting little participant updates by text about how the sessions are resonating in between our meetings.

So far, we've explored (among other things)

• how to get curious instead of judgmental when things are hard

• placing your trust in other people to be with you through tough moments and joyful ones

• finding calm and steadiness, even when life feels everything but calm and steady

• wheels and waves as metaphorical reminders that everything keeps changing

• changing the story in our heads about who we are

We've meditated and played with Lego blocks and asked artwork for answers and more.

This is a program I created with individuals in mind. It's for mid-career to senior level folks who want their work to help the world without burning themselves out. It's a no-homework, sustainable amount of work (and play) for the busy lives those folks (including me!) lead.

And since this pilot round has felt promising, I'm exploring what it might look like to lead this not just for groups of individuals, but also internally for organizational teams.

I've started some of those discussions, and I also openly invite you to consider whether your organization might benefit from some internal professional development on how to equip yourselves for the ongoing uncertainty we're all living with.

I've created a description of the program and what it has to offer, which you can download and share with colleagues.

❓ Maybe your head of HR is exhausted by turnover and interested in organizational resilience.
❓ Maybe your department has a professional development budget to use for team-wide skill-building.
❓ Maybe you've been looking for a way to invest in change management that you don't have to invent all by yourself.

Let's talk about whether Wayfinder might be able to help.

Recharging in Miches (Yes, the Beach is Part of the Work)

I really do love the snow of New England. If you ask me, that's what makes the long, dark, cold winters worthwhile. Along with how much Lila loves the snowy woods.

But another thing that helps get through those winters is to go somewhere warm and lie on a beach for a bit of time in the middle of them.

It's not something I'm able to do every year, but when my parents proposed the idea of a week in the Dominican Republic in February, and instead of asking me to stay home to dogsit for Lila (aka Lady Whimperton Patoot) invited me along, well I was hardly going to decline.

Part of appreciating where I have King of Pentacles material mastery is appreciating that I have the life flexibility to be able to say yes to opportunities like this.

It felt like a great gift to leave the snowy polar vortex temperatures behind and instead get to swim and paddle in the Caribbean and relax around Miches, where resort development still hasn't overtaken the lush landscape.

So now, back home, with another 10-18 inches of snow falling in gusty blizzard winds, here's a little selection of some sunshine and tropical warmth.

Here's to taking what opportunities we have for rest and letting our shoulders down from our ears. The world is a tough place these days. One way we can keep on doing the good and meaningful work is to fuel ourselves with moments of relaxation where we can.

What Success Looks Like This Year

To round out my King of Pentacles rundown here, I'm sharing the map I made for 2026, my Year of Attunement.

When I joined Mapping Your Path for the first time back in 2021, I was just starting to put together the pieces of what would become my current portfolio career of projects guiding curious people and their organizations to dance with uncertainty and change.

I continue to make a map for my year to come, based around my word of the year. It always begins with my polychrome human heart stamp from the delightfully piratically natured Parisian shop, Le Tampographe Sardon. And each year, it gets taped to my standing desk and scanned to become my computer's digital wallpaper.

Here is this year's map, including a healthy amount of open space, some reminders to myself, some ways I'd like to straighten out the road, and my guiding question along the way:

What can I adjust for deeper resonance?

I'm celebrating how well I take stock of what I'm doing and check in with myself about how I want my business to shift and change while staying true to my values.

Because I've been mainlining Olympics content for the past two weeks, the first metaphor that came to mind is that I want to be one of the athletes who shows up without medal expectations and has a blast when they do the best they can do.

For my Year of Attunement, I want to feel about my business the way Julia Sauter felt about her figure skating free program that earned her 17th place. Not the biggest or showiest score, but she was so clearly delighted by what she did.

I'm not aiming to make the most money or be the highest profile. In fact, I'm working to define myself less by the work I do.

King of Pentacles success, to me, right now, looks like a business that lets me do the kind of work I'm uniquely qualified to do, for the people who appreciate it, while living a rich non-working life at the same time.

We'll see how that shapes up as 2026 continues on.

PS: If you might be interested in participating in Wayfinder in the future, when would you want to do it?

A. Spring 2026 (April-May)
B. Summer 2026 (June-July)
C. Fall 2026 (September-October)
D. Other (let me know)

You can reply to this email with just a letter if you like.