Business and Leadership

Reflections on Business, Leadership & Life

Richelle Calicott sitting on a couch

Business leadership is wild, crazy, and scary on a good day. On the hard days, it can feel like the ground is shifting beneath you, and every step forward carries something heavier than you expected.

And when you add in the very reasons many of us do business in the first place, like our families, relationships, and passions, balancing the weight of work and life can leave little room for reflection and connection.

This page is a place where I share what I am reading, experiencing, learning, and working through in real time, along with occasional insights from our team and the work we are doing together. Some of it will come from what is going well, and some of it will come from what is hard. My hope is that this can be a place to share ideas, resources, perspectives, and encouragement as we lead in the places we have been given to serve. We do not have to do this alone. So join me, leave a comment, and let’s help each other grow.

In it with you,
Richelle

What’s on My Radar

  • BOOK

    book cover for My Next Breath

    My Next Breath

    Jeremy Renner

    I am excited to read Jeremy Renner’s memoir. I have only read the prologue, written by his daughter Ava, and it already had me in tears. My hope is that the book is both an inspiration and a testament to the grit of a man who faced unimaginable adversity.

  • TV

    Picture of tv series Patriot

    Patriot

    Steven Conrad

    This TV series is not about leadership, but in the spirit of balance and downtime, I wanted to share something great that I watched recently. "Patriot" is an Amazon Prime series that ran for two seasons and was later canceled in 2019. I happened upon it in 2026, and honestly, I found it odd that I had never heard of it before. It seems to have gained more traction after being canceled than it did when it originally aired. It is a fantastic action dramedy that is bizarre, quirky, dark, and lovely all at once. I fell in love with the characters in a way I would not have expected, and the humor lands right when the story starts to feel almost too heavy to manage. There were a few sections I thought could have been explained better, and the ending definitely had the feel of a show that was not sure whether it would get another season. But it still gave me enough closure that I did not feel cheated. It was a nice reprieve from work, and a great reminder that sometimes the best shows are the ones you randomly stumble into years later.

  • PODCAST

    A title for the Simon Sinek podcast

    A Bit of Optimism

    Simon Sinek and Will Guidara

    Coming off the high of reading "Unreasonable Hospitality", I wanted to go back and listen to this 2022 conversation between Simon Sinek and Will Guidara. It is basically a condensed version of the book. Granted, you cannot summarize a book of that size and depth in a 30-minute discussion, but Will Guidara does a great job of sharing the essence of the message. I also loved hearing Simon Sinek talk about their friendship and the impact Will’s work has had on him. It was a great follow-up to the book and a reminder that hospitality is not just about restaurants. It is about intentionality, care, and the way we make people feel.

Recent Reflections

Business owner sitting poolside on vacation while working on a laptop and holding his head in frustration as his family relaxes and plays nearby.
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5 Things Business Owners Should Ignore While on Vacation

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How I Learned to Love Reading, and Why It Made Me a Better Leader

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What Has Shaped My Thinking