Featured Essay
Leadership Is Also a Lineage
A reflection on recognition, community, and the people who shape a leadership journey
July 18, 2026 · 6 min read
A Personal Publication · by Mause-Darline Francois
The Leadership
Notebook.
Reflections on leadership, drawn from lived experience.
A personal collection of reflections inspired by work, public service, family, travel, difficult decisions, curiosity, and the ongoing pursuit of meaningful change.
Astoria, New York
This is where many of these reflections begin.
2026
Welcome
Every person carries
a notebook.
Mine is filled with conversations, difficult decisions, books, travel, public service, family, leadership, and the quiet moments that changed the way I think.
This is where I share them.
Not as lessons to teach.
Simply as lessons life has taught me.
I hope these reflections encourage you to pause, notice, and see familiar things from a different perspective.
Mause-Darline Francois
Latest Essays
Featured Essay
When Good Ideas Need Time
A reflection on why good ideas are not always accepted the first time they are heard.
July 15, 2026 · 5 min read
Upcoming Essays
The notebook.
№ 01
What Leading Through Uncertainty Taught Me About Leadership
A first reflection on decisions made in the dark, and what remained once the light returned.
A reflection in progress
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№ 02
Why Listening Is One of the Most Underrated Leadership Skills
On the discipline of hearing what has not yet been said aloud.
A reflection in progress
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№ 03
Five Lessons I Learned Negotiating Across Governments, Civil Society, and International Organizations
Notes from tables where every voice carried a different history.
A reflection in progress
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№ 04
How Disability Changed the Way I Lead
A quieter reflection on attention, adaptation, and the humility that shapes real leadership.
A reflection in progress
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№ 05
The Difference Between Having Expertise and Having Influence
Why knowing is not always enough — and what carries an idea from a room into a life.
A reflection in progress
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Field Notes
Field notes.
Shorter reflections gathered between the essays. Moments too small for a full essay, too true to leave behind.
№ 01
Waiting for Spring
A reflection in progress
№ 02
Museum Lessons
A reflection in progress
№ 03
A Cup of Coffee Before the Meeting
A reflection in progress
№ 04
The Quiet Museum
A reflection in progress
№ 05
What a Train Window Can Teach You
A reflection in progress
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