This week, I made a snowy road trip from North Carolina to Tennessee to keynote for Permobil’s global leadership team — leaders flown in from around the world.
❄️🚗 Snowy miles
☕️ Serious caffeine
♿️ Mission accomplished
And wow… this was not your typical corporate meeting. I have truly never met a more down-to-earth, passionate, and purpose-driven group of global executives in one room. You could feel the care, curiosity, and commitment to users in every conversation.
🌎 Real humans, not “executive avatars”
🧠 Deep listening, not surface nodding
💬 Genuine curiosity, not scripted questions
Yes — I shared my personal story of how Permobil power wheelchairs are quite literally my legs and have shaped my life. But this talk wasn’t about me. It was about what’s next.
♿️ The future of mobility.
🔬 The future of innovation.
🌍 The future of what’s possible for millions of wheelchair users worldwide.
Because real innovation requires disruption — and disruption is uncomfortable.
So we talked about becoming scientists of our own lives and organizations: testing, adapting, learning, and trying again.
🧠 BRAIN CANDY MOMENT:
Curiosity + experimentation = stronger neural pathways for creativity, resilience, and leadership. When leaders normalize learning from failure, they reduce fear in their teams and unlock better ideas. Here’s how I framed it (as I always do):
🚦 “NO” is not a wall — it’s a starting line.
➡️ It simply means: NEXT OPPORTUNITY.
🧪 And “FAIL”?
➡️ That’s just FIRST ATTEMPT IN LEARNING.
That mindset — your values, beliefs, and thinking patterns — is the real fuel that drives change in any industry.
🔥 Culture leads change
🧠 Mindset drives innovation
💡 Beliefs shape breakthroughs
I am deeply grateful to my friend and Permobil’s Global CEO, Chuck Witowski, for calling me and inviting me to Nashville. It was truly an honor to be there.
🙏 Grateful for the trust
🤝 Grateful for the partnership
💙 Grateful for the mission
I left inspired by this team, their mission, and the work ahead of us together. And a final truth I shared in the room:
♿️ Disability does not discriminate by age, race, gender, or identity. At some point in life, every single one of us will experience disability — personally or through someone we love.
🌍 It is not “someone else’s issue.”
💙 It is a universal human connector.
Here’s to leaders who listen, innovate with empathy, and design a world where everyone can keep moving forward. 💙✨
P.S. And last but not least: thank you to the Permobil factory crew who let me wheel straight into the back shop with my beat-up “flying” chair. They fixed her up, shined her like a trophy, and proved once again that this company takes care of people — and their wheels. 😉♿️✨
