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Hello and welcome — especially if this is your first email from me.
As of today, there are now over 6,000 of you reading The Modern Leader, which is still a little surreal to type. Some of you have been here for years. Some of you joined recently. And a few hundred of you are opening an email from me for the very first time.
I’m really glad you’re here.
This newsletter started as a place for me to think out loud about engineering leadership, management, and the parts of this work that don’t fit neatly into frameworks or playbooks. Over time, it’s grown into something I genuinely look forward to writing every week.
Before we wrap up the year, I wanted to say thank you and share a few pieces from 2025 that meant the most to me (and resonated the most with readers):
The 2×2 matrix I use when everything feels important: A quick and handy tool I use on my busiest weeks (which, honestly, is most weeks)
The engineer–manager pendulum is breaking: Our roles are becoming more hybrid, and expectations have shifted from the traditional IC/EM split
You might be carrying an invisible gun: A reminder that as leaders, our words hold power and we need to wield them carefully
Should engineering managers be writing code at work?: My take on the debate that never ends and how it’s not as binary as many make it out to be
If you're newer here, these are a good snapshot of the questions I care about and how I approach this work.
Before I wrap up: Modern Leader is supported in part by sponsors. This one’s a methodology I genuinely think is useful for leaders who spend time writing. If you go back in Modern Leader history, you’ll see I adopted a Smart Brevity approach before becoming long-winded again.
Clear communicators aren't lucky. They have a system.
Here's an uncomfortable truth: your readers give you about 26 seconds.
Smart Brevity is the methodology born in the Axios newsroom — rooted in deep respect for people's time and attention. It works just as well for internal comms, executive updates, and change management as it does for news.
We've bundled six free resources — checklists, workbooks, and more — so you can start applying it immediately.
The goal isn't shorter. It's clearer. And clearer gets results.
One quick note before I sign off for the year:
The 2026 Reset Challenge kicks off on January 5. It’s a 15-day reset designed to help you reflect, recalibrate, and head into the new year with a little more intention and a lot less noise. If you’ve already signed up, I’ll see you there. If not, you can still join before we start. You’ll be joining over 300 others who are participating in the challenge!
That’s it from me for 2025.
I hope you’re able to rest, disconnect where you can, and step into the new year feeling a bit more grounded than rushed. I’ll be back in January.
— Kelly
P.S. If this is your first email from me: welcome. I’m glad you found your way here.