N° 01 · BLOG
Letters · Reflections · Field Notes
Letters from the grove.
It Really Is Lonely at the Top — And There Is Something You Need to Know
On the weight of leading in uncertain times — and the ancestral truth that changes everything about how you carry it.
Featured · Essay
Quiet essays and field notes on rooted leadership — published the first and third Sundays of each month. Read
them slow.
ALL
Ancestry
Strategy
Practice
Faith
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Feb 20 · 2026
Add a Title
Feb 20 · 2026
N° 02 · WORKBOOK
The Rooted Leader Workbook
The Rooted Leader workbook.
The Rooted Leader Workbook
Coming Soon!
A self-guided companion to the coaching work — about a hundred pages of prompts for leaders ready to map their own four layers.
Currently in editing. Opens with a content warning Nicole insists on: "before you go down this path, while we are looking for enlightenment and grounding, you might find some stuff you didn't want to." Sign up to be notified when it's ready.
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Roots map — your family-story intake (12 prompts)
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Trunk inventory — the capacity you actually built
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Canopy questions — who you cover, and how well
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Fruit declaration — what you intend to pass forward
N° 4 STARTERS
Where to begin your own research.
Begin with FamilySearch — a free starting point.
External resource
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A practical first stop for U.S. researchers. Free, comprehensive, and especially strong on Southern records —
Virginia included.
External resource
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The Henry Louis Gates approach
What Finding Your Roots models for the rest of us — and why the method works for executive identity work.