Thoughts from Conscious Leadership Coach Sue Heilbronner

Latest blogs from Sue
Oct 14

Who Writes My Blogs, Really?

A couple recently debated whether Sue uses AI to write her blogs. She doesn't, and she's not sure that's a point of pride. But AI did help with something she loved enough to write a whole post about...read more →
Oct 01

Descheduling Friendship

Sue is retiring the four-weeks-out coffee date. She's experimenting with living in open flow instead — trusting a spontaneous yes over a calendar block that starts to feel like a burden before it even happens...read more →
Aug 27

Apologizing for Your Part Even If the Other Party Didn’t Notice or Care

After a brutal divorce, Sue is dating again — and the two "fights" she's had with the new guy were about Moore's Law and AI, not betrayal or dirty dishes. What he did after one of them reset her bar for what real accountability looks like...read more →
Aug 20

I Might Not Recognize You

Sue has a confession: she doesn't remember your name, your face, or that conversation you had years ago. A federal judge she clerked for decades ago taught her the phrase that gets her through it anyway...read more →
Aug 11

Acknowledging That I Have Enough…and Letting Go

My marketing collaborator agreed to work with me for three months. It turned into a year. Then I had to let her go — and caught myself almost inventing a reason not to...read more →
Aug 06

What Are You Wearing…And Other Coaching Questions

Five minutes before the interview-prep call ended, I asked my client one more question: "What are you wearing?" That's not small talk — that's the whole job...read more →
Jul 31

Being Terrible at Something. Doing it Anyway.

Sue picked up rock climbing and guitar this year. She's fine at one and genuinely bad at the other — and it turns out being bad at something on purpose might be the best decision she's made all year...read more →
Jun 08

When the Backup Plan Skips the Line

Four days before my scheduled kidney transplant at Mayo, I got the call: canceled. I spent two hours sobbing — then lifted heavy weights, cried some more, and somehow closed business worth 20% of my annual forecast. I am okay. I am great. I still feel lucky...read more →
May 18

I am Retiring from Auditioning

This is a story I feel truly shy to tell. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and, in facing this and sharing it with you, also liberated. For as long as I can remember, I have been auditioning. Trying out for all the roles. My dad told me when I was young... read more →
May 05

Great Questions + Listening = Magic

I put something on LinkedIn last month, and I wasn't sure it would go anywhere. “I want to host a small dinner gathering. Come to my house in Boulder. Bring one good question, a willingness to answer everyone else's question, and an intent to listen carefully. You can be a... read more →
Apr 28

Title and Level Over Cash

I was talking to a friend and mentee today about her evaluation of a new potential role. She wanted my thoughts on whether the role looked like a good opportunity. Easy. She currently is a VP in an organization. The role for which she’s interviewing is a bit of a... read more →
Mar 15

What Jesse Eisenberg and My Colleague Have in Common

If you’ve been a reader for a bit, you know I have a genetic kidney condition called Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). You also know that I wrote about the condition and about the imbalance between people who need kidneys and people who donate them. You also might recall that living... read more →