Closing Out 2025: Alignment
A year of becoming: clearer priorities, steadier leadership, deeper meaning
As the year closes, I’m reflecting on alignment—between values, work, and how I’m showing up.
This year wasn’t about doing more. It was about becoming more intentional in how I learn, how I lead, and how I live. My MBA journey has stretched me in the best way—shifting my mindset from “solve what’s in front of me” to “design systems that make better outcomes repeatable.”
Professionally, my learning kept circling the same intersection: digital health, AI, strategy, quality, and value-based care—not as separate lanes, but as one integrated effort to make healthcare more reliable, more humane, and more sustainable.
Skills I Built (and Keep Practicing)
Strategic thinking that holds tradeoffs
Choosing what not to do, and aligning work to a clear aim.
Operational discipline
Standard work, measurement, governance—because good intentions don’t scale, systems do.
Data fluency
Asking better questions, translating signals into decisions, and respecting what the data can’t tell us.
AI literacy with pragmatism
Less fascination with tools, more focus on workflow, safety, bias, adoption, and trust.
Value-based mindset
Outcomes + experience + stewardship—protecting both patients and the system.
Executive presence
Communicating with clarity, listening without rushing, and staying steady when things are not.
The Personal Growth That Mattered Most
I’m learning that growth isn’t always loud. Sometimes it looks like fewer reactive decisions. Better boundaries. More patience with the messy middle. A quieter confidence that comes from showing up consistently.
The Stoics reminded me to focus on what I can control: effort, preparation, character, response. The Taoist thread that kept resonating: don’t force—refine. Less pushing. More aligning. Less noise. More signal.
And maybe the most meaningful lesson: progress is real when it changes how you live, not just how you perform.
Reading List That Shaped My Year
Strong Ground — Brené Brown
Build the Life You Want — Arthur C. Brooks & Oprah Winfrey
Unforgettable Presence — Lorraine K. Lee
Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
The Daily Stoic — Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman
The Obstacle Is the Way — Ryan Holiday
Drive — Daniel H. Pink
The Magic of Thinking Big — David J. Schwartz
Poor Charlie’s Almanack — Charles T. Munger (ed. Peter D. Kaufman)
A New Way to Think — Roger L. Martin
Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl
A Simple Intention for 2026
Heading into the new year, I’m carrying one simple intention: build with clarity, lead with presence, and keep the work human—even as it becomes more intelligent.