The Mike Horne Blog

A graduate student recently asked me how anyone practices vulnerability in a business culture that still prizes toughness. It was an honest question. Many of us have heard that openness builds trust, and then we have watched what happens to people who share too much in the wrong room. The tension is real, and it deserves more than a slogan. In "The Exposed Wallet," I explore that tension through a simple image: an open locker with a wallet sitting where anyone could see it. Nothing threatening is happening, and no one is reaching for it. Still, most of us would not leave ours there. That instinct is not fear. It is discernment that marks the difference between being open and being exposed. The article draws on something I first learned nearly forty years ago from Darya Funches, one of my teachers. She paired discernment with Heart and Presence as three gifts of the practitioner. Together, they offer a steadier way to think about vulnerability at work. It becomes a practice of choosing what to share, when, and with whom, rather than an all-or-nothing risk. If you lead, coach, or want to bring more of who you are to your work without losing your footing, this piece is for you.

A reflective essay about what happens when we keep navigating modern work with outdated assumptions. Using the image of a payphone as its central metaphor, the piece explores recognition, disconnection, and the quiet human cost of systems that no longer fit the world we live in.

A dream about a darkened house becomes a reflection on organizational blind spots. The article explores how teams can name problems, build plans, and still leave important gaps unresolved, often because everyone assumes someone else has handled them. Its central question is whether the safeguards we trust actually exist when we need them.