Last week handed me a mix of reality checks: some subtle, some stinging and one or two that made me laugh out loud. They weren’t just about what was happening around me, but about what was happening inside me: listening to understand instead of defending, taking the front seat in my own life, building in the people who matter and remembering that liberty and justice are essential ingredients of lasting peace. Reality checks, after all, are really heart checks… with a hint of humour to keep us grounded.

Our family car has a big, ugly dent along the driver’s door. But here’s the thing — it still works perfectly.
It got me thinking about how often we pour energy into fixing what’s visible, not what’s actually broken — in life and in leadership.
This post explores why we need to focus less on optics and more on what really drives progress.