How do we stay strong and grounded, clear and balanced, audacious and creative when what we thought unquestionable, consensual, and common sense is profoundly shaken? How do we manage our minds and emotions to cope with the unknown, unpredictable, and sometimes unimaginable? How do we use our minds to their fullest and noblest capacity to build relationships that fulfill us with strength and confidence?
These are perennial questions at the heart of our work, and in an unraveling year like 2025, we sometimes need to sit longer with no answer.
Unraveling—falling apart or becoming discombobulated—is uncomfortable but potentially rich in renewed clarity and determination. The true enemies are feelings of powerlessness, defeatism, and the lassitude that comes from hearing stupefying news.
Changing position and scenery can help revitalize our dearest purposes, perhaps just covered by the dust of futility.
As our daughter does her research abroad for a few months, Jean-Pierre and I decided to take a break at the end of 2025 and travel in France and Morocco. Traveling is a journey of sensations, good and bad, with peaks and lows. A highlight of our trip was spending seven hours in an artisanal cooperative, learning the Berber way of weaving carpets. We experienced the calming and connecting power of doing something with our hands—together as a family and with others we didn’t know. We felt the nourishment of blending cultures and practicing ancestral traditions, as humble tourists. We learned, talked, drank tea, laughed, and wove our little, ridiculous, beautiful carpet sample.
At The Trust Factory, we are more than ever committed to creating spaces of learning, connection, and production—islands of sanity, to quote Margaret Wheatley—and to promoting sane leadership: a leadership that values human dignity, responsibility, accountability, discernment and generosity, in service of living and working wisely together.
With this vision in mind, we continue passionately exploring all dimensions of conscious relationships, weaving the work on the universal ego with the work on identities and dynamics of power—both necessary for effective collaboration.
As always, we serve our clients’ needs by customizing programs and offering 360 feedback, executive coaching, teamwork, and leadership training.
If you’d like to check in and take stock of where you are with your vision for 2026—for yourself, your team, or your organization—or if you’d like to explore building islands of sanity, please contact us: Carolel@thetrustfactory.co or Jpg@thetrustfactory.co
We are always sincerely grateful for your connection. Wishing you a solid 2026!
Carole & Jean-Pierre