M E Clarke Consulting, LLC

07/28/2026

Dear Kate,

I have a technically excellent team member who resists every development opportunity I offer. I've suggested stretch assignments, leadership roles on projects, chances to represent the team in meetings. They decline or do the bare minimum. I know they have more to give. How do I develop someone who doesn't seem to want to grow?

Can't Get Them to the Table

Dear Table,
They're already at the table. You've just been saving them a seat at a different one.
When someone resists a new assignment, a stretch role, a formal development opportunity, the resistance is usually not about the opportunity; it's about the packaging. "Here is something new and additional" lands very differently than "I need your mind in this room." One asks someone to prove something and the other tells them they already have.

The move is to stop offering and start inviting. Not: would you like to lead this? But: I'm in a meeting Thursday about this problem, and I think your perspective would help. Come sit in it with me. No new title, no formal role, no performance of ambition required. Just: I need what you already have.

People don't resist growth. They resist being asked to more than they're paid to do. They resist having to demonstrate readiness for something they haven't been trusted with yet. The trust has to come first.

Think about what this person is already good at. Think about what you're working on that sits at the intersection of their existing strength and something bigger. Then bring them into it not as an abstract opportunity for them to "grow," but as a meaningful way for them to contribute. Let them arrive at the growth rather than climb toward it.

Big, full belly breaths. Clear your mind. Ask yourself what tables you're sitting at this week that would benefit from the gifts of your team. Give them the privilege of the invitation instead of the pressure of the "stretch."

Love, Kate

07/28/2026

Dear Kate,
My partner and I had a bad fight. Things were said, choices were made on both sides. But since then I've been replaying it on a loop, finding all the ways I could have handled it differently. If I'd done this, or said that, none of it would have happened. I can see exactly what I did wrong. My partner hasn't really acknowledged their part. I'm doing all the accounting, and I can feel myself taking ownership of the whole thing just to make it feel resolved. Is that normal?
Keeping Score

Dear Scorekeeper,
You're doing all the accounting because you're the only one in the room right now.

Your willingness to look at your own part is a real strength. It means you care about getting things right more than you care about being right. But there's a version of that strength that tips into something else, and I want to name it: when you take on more than your share of a rupture, you're not actually resolving it. You're making the discomfort stop temporarily by finding something to be responsible for.

A conflict has two people in it. Both of them participated. Some of what happened is yours. Some of it isn't. And the part that isn't yours does not become yours just because you're the one willing to pick it up.

Here's the question worth sitting with: are you accounting for your actual part, or are you accounting for everything that hurts? Those are different. Owning what's genuinely yours is integrity. Owning the whole thing to feel better is something else, and it will leave you emptier than you started.

Deep breath. Make the list of what is actually yours. Stop there.

Love, Kate

07/28/2026

What does it really mean to create a brave space?

In our latest newsletter, we’re sharing a new reflection on why “safe space” may not be enough for the conversations leaders, teams, families, and communities are being asked to hold.

A brave space does not promise perfect comfort or the absence of conflict. It asks us to show up with honesty, curiosity, accountability, vulnerability, and the willingness to stay engaged when things get difficult.

Disagreement does not always mean something has gone wrong. Sometimes it means the space is finally honest enough for something real to happen.

Inside the newsletter, you’ll find the full blog, along with upcoming opportunities to practice leading with greater courage, clarity, and care.

Read the newsletter here:
https://conta.cc/4wtBkTJ

How would you define brave space?

Email from M E Clarke Consulting, LLC Explore brave leadership, meaningful growth, and three new ways to practice leading like it matters this fall. Why Safe Space isn't Enough. By Meghan Clarke Last

06/30/2026

Better spaces make better work possible.

In this month’s newsletter, we’re sharing a few updates and reflections for leaders, facilitators, and teams doing meaningful work:

✨ Kate McCracken on why perfectionism prevents peace, not failure
✨ A chance to meet Emily and learn more about her role in growing The Encounter
✨ A first look at The Encounter’s refreshed digital home
✨ A preview of the Facilitator Collective we’re beginning to build

If you care about creating braver conversations, more grounded leadership, and spaces that help people do their best work, this one’s for you.

Read the newsletter here: https://conta.cc/4wD5Qu7

Email from M E Clarke Consulting, LLC Kate reflects on perfectionism in leadership, and The Encounter gets a refreshed home for meaningful team work. “Each of you is perfect the way you are … and you

06/19/2026

Dear Kate,
I came into leadership wanting to be different from bosses who were cold, dismissive, and harsh. I care about my team and I want them to know that, but I'm starting to realize that caring isn't enough. Things are slipping. People are underdelivering, and every time I need to hold someone accountable, I try, but nothing actually changes. I don't want to become the kind of leader I've always resented, but being nice isn't working either. What am I missing?
Nice Isn't Enough

Dear Nice,
Kindness without accountability isn't kindness. It's avoidance with a smiley face.
The people you lead can feel the difference. When you soften a standard until it disappears, you're not protecting anyone. You're leaving them without the information they need to succeed, and eventually without the ability to trust you to lead them to success.

The leaders you've resented were probably not being honest either. They were harsh, which is a different thing entirely. Harsh is information delivered without care for the person receiving it. Harsh is rooted in the judgments, biases, and perspectives of the person delivering it. Honest is information delivered with care for the person and for the truth. Honest is grounded in facts and in observable behaviors. You don't have to choose between warmth and clarity. You have to hold both in the same moment, which is harder, but is the job.

Here's what it sounds like in practice: I care about you and I need to be honest with you. I've noticed this, and it's not working. What do you think is getting in the way? That's it. Care for the person, clarity about the problem, curiosity about what's underneath it. No cruelty required.

The team will trust you more when they know the standards are real. Accountability done with care isn't the opposite of kindness. It's one of the deepest expressions of it.

Feel your feet on the floor. Say the honest thing.

Love, Kate

06/18/2026

There is no such thing as a perfectly safe space.

We are human. We bring our stories, fears, hopes, biases, brilliance, and the occasional “oops” into every room we enter.

So maybe the better question is not, “How do we make this completely safe?”

Maybe it is, “How do we make this brave enough for honesty, discomfort, accountability, repair, and real connection?”

On June 26, Meghan Clarke and Kate McCracken will co-host a virtual session for the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution’s 37th Annual Conference:

What the World Needs Is More Courage: How Do We Create Brave Space Instead of Safe Space?

This conversation is especially meaningful for mediators, arbitrators, and conflict resolution professionals because their work already lives in the messy middle.

We cannot promise comfort.
But we can create the conditions for people to stay present, tell the truth, listen deeply, and return to the table.

Again and again and again.

June 25–26, 2026
Virtual conference

06/11/2026

One of the reasons we’re so excited for Calm in the Face of the Storm is because Kate McCracken is leading it.

Kate has a rare gift for helping leaders see what’s really happening beneath the surface without making it weird, abstract, or impossible to apply.

Her work is especially powerful for leaders navigating uncertainty, team tension, change fatigue, budget pressure, or organizational turbulence. In other words: the real conditions many leaders are working inside right now.

On June 18, Kate will guide a full-day retreat designed to help leaders build steadiness, clarity, and emotional capacity when the environment around them is anything but calm.

This retreat also marks Kate’s official launch into our Lead Like It Matters series, and we’re celebrating with a special invitation:

The first 5 registrants may bring a guest at no additional cost.

Bring a colleague, founder friend, team member, or trusted partner who would benefit from a day of grounded reflection, practical leadership recalibration, and meaningful conversation.

Calm in the Face of the Storm
June 18
The Encounter, Blue Ash
Full-day leadership retreat

Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1989624390110?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/05/2026

We’re offering a special launch invitation for Calm in the Face of the Storm.

This is the first retreat of its kind and Kate McCracken's launch into our Lead Like It Matters series. To mark the beginning, the first 5 people who register may bring a guest at no additional cost.

Bring a colleague, trusted partner, founder friend, team member, or fellow leader who would benefit from a day of clarity, steadiness, and recalibration.

This work is powerful on your own, and it becomes even more useful when someone beside you can help carry the insight forward.

Calm in the Face of the Storm
June 18
The Encounter, Blue Ash, OH
Full-day leadership retreat
Registration link in comments