A little over a year ago, I stepped away from my role as CEO of Experience Institute. It was one of those rare transitions that carried both peace and a bit of ache — peace in knowing the team was ready, and ache in realizing a chapter I’d poured over a decade into was closing…or at least shifting.

In the months that followed, I traded boardrooms for backpacks and emails for long stretches of silence, walking over 250 miles across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. I wanted to slow down long enough to ask a few honest questions: Who am I when I’m not leading something? What do I want to keep building? What do I need to keep learning?

That walk became a threshold. Since then, I’ve stepped into a new role as Chief Talent Officer at a friend’s firm, NextGen Growth Partners, where I spend my days coaching executives through transitions of their own. From founders selling their companies to first-time CEOs learning how to lead, I get to see — up close — what it takes to grow organizations and the people inside them.

The challenges I'm seeing with executives mirror what the Ei team is addressing: How do you gain or maintain momentum when everything's uncertain? How do you lead people through transformation when you're figuring it out yourself? Whether it's a founder letting go of their company or an L&D leader helping their organization leverage AI, it's about learning to lead through change, not around it.

So, when Sara & Erin asked if I’d be open to writing a few Wednesday Words again, it felt like the right time.

Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing short reflections “from the field” — stories and insights about what it looks like to build, lead, and learn as a leader in a world that’s moving faster than ever. I’ll write about the art of transitions — personal and professional — and about what I’m learning from leaders navigating AI, mergers, growth, downsizing, or simply the uncertainty of what’s next.

Meanwhile, Sara, Erin, and the Ei team will continue writing about designing and delivering learning that equips teams to adapt in real time and the Leaps that make it happen across companies and institutions.

Together, we hope this next season of Wednesday Words feels like a personal and honest invitation to connect with us, and yourself, without the surface-level AI jargon that seems to be flooding all of our inboxes. Think of this as our weekly chance to pause, to reflect, and to keep growing through the work…together.

What transition are you navigating right now? What questions are you sitting with? As always, I read every reply. So if you have a thought, resource, idea, or topic that’s top of mind, don’t hesitate to send a note. All of us are in your corner.

Good to be back,

Victor