Vol. 1 Edition 8: June 30, 2025 The Tesseract and the Towel: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Strategic Clarity

Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms is like a sonnet: you’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.” — Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

Dear Brilliant Community,

This week, I remembered how I first came to love paradox, magic, and structure. I was in the fourth grade when I read A Wrinkle in Time, and everything about Meg — awkward, emotional, brilliant but unseen — mirrored a quiet truth I was already holding. I saw things early. I felt things deeply. And when I tried to say what I saw, people often weren’t ready for it. So I stayed quiet. I played small. Just like Meg.

The Tesseract (Heart)

What drew me to A Wrinkle in Time wasn’t just the fantasy. It was the way it gave me permission to believe there were other ways of knowing — that there were dimensions behind what we see. The Tesseract — that wrinkle in space and time — is also a metaphor for how we move through life. One minute we’re taking the long route across someone’s idea of a straight line. The next, we’re folding space — folding our own thinking — and finding a faster way through.

You see, if a very small insect were to move from the section of skirt in Mrs. Who’s right hand to that in her left, it would be quite a long walk for him if he had to walk straight across. Swiftly, Mrs. Who brought her hands, still holding the skirt, together. ‘Now, you see,’ she said, ‘he would be there, without that long trip. That is how we travel.

The Fifth Discipline (Mind)

Fast forward. My parents were in grad school when they were introduced to The Fifth Discipline. I picked it up because I was curious. I stayed with it because it gave form to what I already sensed.

Years later, I found The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook — and it felt like home. Systems thinking. Personal mastery. Mental models. Shared vision. Team learning. It put language to what I do: see connections others overlook, hold a vision long enough to make it real, and help teams notice what matters.

But most of all, it confirmed something I’ve always believed:

If we are not learning, we are not leading. Peter Senge wrote this when the world felt fragmented. Today? We’re drowning in fragments. Systems thinking isn’t a luxury—it’s survival. We must see connections or collapse.

The Towel (Absurdity & Joy)

Then came The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I saw the movie first (shoutout to Mos Def) and then had to get the book. And I laughed. But I also recognized something in it. Something true. Douglas Adams wrote, ‘Don’t Panic’ in giant letters because humans forget: Absurdity demands levity, not despair. When systems crumble? Your towel is radical resistance. This week, when overwhelm hits: Pause. Name your towel (Is it curiosity? Courage? Play?). Then wield it.

From the Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Eoin Colfer, Thomas Tidholm

💭 A Personal Compass

In the Fieldbook version of The Fifth Discipline, there’s a practice called “The Ladder of Inference.” It’s a tool that invites you to reflect on your assumptions — to ask: “What am I really noticing here?” It’s one of the most powerful practices I know.

This week, I’m resharing a tool inspired by that practice — The Compass worksheet. It’s a simple set of prompts designed to bring you closer to your own clarity.

🔍 Reflective Questions for the Week

What truths am I holding back because I assume others aren’t ready to hear them?

What would shift if I allowed myself to tesser — to fold time, space, and possibility instead of marching the long way around?

❤️ One Last Thing

This might be my favorite newsletter yet. Because it doesn’t pretend.

It threads together three different versions of me:

The girl in 4th grade who felt everything.

The young professional who borrowed her parents’ grad school books just to learn more.

The woman writing this now — still folding what’s possible.

I hope it reaches you right where you are. Not with answers. But with insight. With noticing. With permission.

To see. To ask. To tesser.

📬 Hit reply, or share your story with me. I’m listening.

BCI The Compass document If this compass resonates, let’s fold possibility together

Book a Clarity Call 

💬 Let’s Connect If you’re sitting on a vision—or trying to find your way —I’d love to talk. Let’s build something brilliant . . . together.

With you in the field,