Recent Blog Posts
Fund Civilians Like Strategic Assets
The civilian workforce isn’t underdeveloped. It’s underinvested. The Department of War says it wants civilians who can operate at the strategic level — people who can think long-range, integrate across domains, and contribute meaningfully to national-level decision-making. Yet the funding model for civilian development tells a different story. Military Participation…
The Federal Workforce Says It Wants Strategy
But Often Rewards Compliance Instead Federal systems increasingly use the language of strategy while continuing to rely on workforce structures optimized for procedural execution, localized accountability, and risk containment. As a result, procedural safety is rewarded more consistently than adaptive strategic behavior — the ability to adjust to changing conditions…
What Makes Gratitude Credible
When Gratitude Sounds Right — But Feels Off “Welcome back. I hope you had time to recharge and reflect over the holidays. Thank you for your professionalism, dedication, agility, and support.” If you’ve spent time in large organizations, you’ve read some version of this message. It’s familiar. Polished. Well-intended. And…
Nothing Ever Really Breaks
Nothing Ever Really Breaks The Hidden Cost of Unseen Civilian Labor in the Federal Workforce In the federal civilian workforce, nothing ever really breaks. Programs continue. Authorities execute. Deadlines are met. Briefings move up the chain. From the outside, the system looks resilient — even elegant in its ability to…
Why federal employees need more than resilience—they need recovery.
Meditate on Your Body Instead of Your MindWhy federal employees need more than resilience—they need recovery. “Meditate on your body instead of your mind.” That phrase, shared by somatic experiencing pioneer Dr. Peter Levine, landed in my nervous system like a revelation. As someone who has spent years navigating the…
Shana Jespersen 