A reflection on fierce listening, why active listening falls short, and what real listening requires in leadership, communication, and trust.
Fierce listening and the limits of “active listening”
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Where Strategy Meets Humanity
The Burnout Story We’re Still Not Telling
Burnout didn’t hit everyone equally. Women, neurodivergent people, caregivers, and midlife women navigating menopause and elder care have been carrying more for years, and many are still paying for it now.
Women’s health isn’t only underfunded; it’s being offloaded
Women’s health is often framed as a gap in funding, research, or awareness. But underneath all of that is something harder to name: too much of the work has been quietly handed back to women.
AI, brain fry, and the human cost of thinking with machines
AI didn’t remove thinking work. It changed it. As we spend more time prompting, reviewing, and supervising machines, the real question isn’t just productivity. It’s how we design systems that respect human attention, consent, and dignity.
The Hallway Test
Most communication problems don’t show up in the meeting. They show up in the five minutes after. The meeting ends. Heads nod. The slides looked good. Everything seems clear, at least on the...
What we practice together
This piece was written by Erin Beattie as a reflection of the Wise Council for the Southern Vancouver Island Birth and Family Stewards Centre, working to restore birth as ceremony and to create community-rooted, relational care for families and birth-workers.
Who is allowed to speak?
Post 3/3 in “Where power really begins” series
If power begins with meaning, and meaning is shaped by gender, then the final question becomes unavoidable.
Whose meaning counts?
Post 2/3 in “Where power really begins” series
How gender quietly shapes interpretive power inside organizations.
Where power really begins?
Post 1/3 in “Where power really begins” series
Why strategy is about meaning, not decisions.
We talk about internal comms. Why not internal marketing?
By Erin Beattie, Founder and CCO, Engage + Empower Consulting I’ve been thinking about how we talk about internal communications and external communications as if they’re two different things. In...
Fierce listening and the limits of “active listening”
I came across the phrase “fierce listening” while reading Field Notes on Listening by Kit Dobson, a book a colleague recommended. It stopped me in my tracks. Not because it was familiar. It wasn’t....
The Burnout Story We’re Still Not Telling
Women, neurodivergent people, and the hidden work that’s still wearing them down Burnout became one of the defining workplace words of the pandemic era, but the way we’ve talked about it has often...
Women’s health isn’t only underfunded; it’s being offloaded
Too much of the work has been quietly handed back to women. Women’s health is finally getting more public attention, but that doesn’t mean it’s being properly supported. There are more reports, more...
AI, brain fry, and the human cost of thinking with machines
Welcome to ‘The Human Side of AI‘, a blog series exploring what AI really means for creativity, ethics, sustainability, and the future of human work. This series cuts through the hype to ask deeper...
The Hallway Test
Most communication problems don’t show up in the meeting. They show up in the five minutes after. The meeting ends. Heads nod. The slides looked good. Everything seems clear, at least on the...
What we practice together
This piece was written by Erin Beattie as a reflection of the Wise Council for the Southern Vancouver Island Birth and Family Stewards Centre, working to restore birth as ceremony and to create...
Who is allowed to speak?
If power begins with meaning, and meaning is shaped by gender, then the final question becomes unavoidable. Part 3 of 3 Who is allowed to speak? Not who is invited.Not who is present. Who is...
Whose meaning counts?
How gender quietly shapes interpretive power inside organizations. Part 2 of 3 If power at work is really about who gets to shape meaning, then the next question becomes unavoidable. Whose meaning...
Where power really begins?
Why strategy is about meaning, not decisions. Part 1 of 3 There’s a phrase we use constantly in organizational life that I’ve started to find deeply strange. “We need a seat at the table.” Internal...
We talk about internal comms. Why not internal marketing?
By Erin Beattie, Founder and CCO, Engage + Empower Consulting I’ve been thinking about how we talk about internal communications and external communications as if they’re two different things. In...