The Positive Energy Workplace

As leaders, we’re often taught to focus on strategy, performance, execution, and outcomes. And while those things matter, they are not where sustainable leadership actually begins.

At ACI, after more than two decades of working with leaders across industries — from Fortune-level organizations to founders, physicians, educators, and creatives — we’ve come back (again and again) to one core truth:

Alignment is the foundation of sustainable, life-giving leadership.

Not effort.
Not pushing harder.
Not fixing everyone else.

Alignment.

AI Transparency: This article was supported by AI to assist with organization and clarity. The content is based on Anese’s original work and was reviewed and approved by Anese.

As the year comes to a close, there’s a familiar pull to rush ahead — to reset goals, plan next steps, and push forward into what’s next.

But before you do, there’s value in an intentional pause.

Not to judge the year or rush to meaning — but to honor it.

When leaders don’t take time to reflect, we often carry unfinished energy with us into the new year. Lessons go unnamed. Wins go unacknowledged. Depletion goes unnoticed. And without realizing it, we begin again already tired.

A pause — even a short one — creates space to reconnect with yourself, your leadership, and the way you want to show up moving forward.

Below are a few reflection prompts you can sit with over the next few days or weeks. You don’t need to answer them perfectly. Just honestly.

AI Transparency: This article was supported by AI to assist with organization and clarity. The content is based on Anese’s original work and was reviewed and approved by Anese.

Most conversations about AI focus on what the technology can do.

But the part we can’t afford to ignore is the leader behind the tools — their confidence, clarity, presence, and ability to create real human connection in an increasingly digital landscape.

Because right now, many organizations are feeling it:

Trust is thinning. Teams are taxed. People are moving fast — and still feeling behind.

And one of the biggest risks we’re seeing isn’t AI itself… it’s what happens when leaders use AI without presence.