Have you ever noticed that the biggest shifts in your life didn’t begin with a plan—they began with a question? Not just any question, but a brave one. The kind of question that makes you pause, breathe deeply, and admit that your comfort zone is looking a little too cozy these days.
I often tell my audiences: if the questions you’re asking yourself are too small, then the moves you make will be too small. And small moves rarely change our trajectory. Small questions keep us safe, but they also keep us stagnant.
Recently, I had to take one of my own medicine-infused questions: Where do I want to live next?
It sounds simple—but that one question led me to a bold move: selling my home, letting go of half my possessions, and intentionally choosing a smaller place with a much nicer view and easier access to the things that fuel me. That shift didn’t happen because I was restless. It happened because I asked myself something big enough to disrupt my status quo.
And this isn’t the first time a bold question has changed the course of my life.
When I asked myself, “How can I take ownership of my career to the next level with entrepreneurship?” I wasn’t sure where it would take me. What I did know was that I wanted—and needed—to create a life that not only worked for my well-being and my family, but one that centered those priorities. That question opened a doorway to possibility, purpose, and a path where my values weren’t an afterthought—they were the foundation.
That’s the power of asking a brave question. It nudges us out of autopilot and into alignment.
Our careers, our leadership journeys—even our organizations—are built on these moments of honest self-interrogation. Bold moves in business and life don’t arise from comfortable thinking. They’re born from courageous curiosity.
If we’re not asking bold questions, we’re not moving forward.
If we’re not reinventing ourselves, we’re falling behind.
And if we’re not willing to disrupt old patterns, we risk becoming the last ones to realize the world has already changed.
We don’t reinvent ourselves because it’s trendy—we do it because it’s necessary. Research shows that adaptability is one of the strongest predictors of long-term career success, especially in environments defined by change and uncertainty (Pulakos et al., 2000).
But reinvention doesn’t begin with strategy—it begins with inquiry.
- What do I really want next?
- What am I holding onto that no longer serves me?
- Where is my next growth edge?
- What bold move would future-me thank me for?
And here’s the beautiful truth: the bolder the question, the clearer the path becomes.
Leading Change…The Ms. Engineer Way
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