Youβre reading The Messy Middle: weekly deep dives on leadership, startups, identity, politics, and how we stay sane and think about it all.
π¬ Ask More Questions
Last night my husband was cooking dinner and said, hey, talk to me about something you never talk to me about. Like what, I said. He didn't know, just something new. I told him I couldn't just start monologuing, he had to ask me questions.
"Okay: if you could wake up tomorrow and be any three careers, what would you be?"
Without thinking too much, I said I'd love to be a writer, and that I wish I had studied journalism or learned how to be a better creative writer in college. Second, I'd love to be a professional tennis player; I played growing up and always loved the rush, the adrenaline, and the precision that tennis requires.
But the third one gave me pause. I kind of just trailed off into my own thoughts because I realized I'm already doing a version of my third dream career: advising, coaching, and speaking about the things I love.
I just wish I could be doing it at a bigger scale.
π A Small Confession, And The Data
This email goes out to 262 people. I've been writing it with a few small breaks since January 2024 (roughly 111 emails!) and my average open rate is 64.8%. For context, email open rates that hover in the 25-40% rate across industries are very strong, so I'm proud of this number.
Don't take my word for it: here's what some of y'all have been saying! (And it means the *absolute world to me*):
Here's the hitch: the list has been stuck around this number for awhile, and growing it is something I'm actively trying to do. I've been lucky that a lot of my work over the last 2 years has been inbound, but now it's time to GROW! More people in this community means more conversations, more of the work I love, and frankly, more chances to find the people I'm supposed to be working with.
If you've been reading and know someone who'd get something out of this β a founder, a senior leader, someone in a level-up-their-career moment β share the signup link for my newsletter with them!
πΌ What Do You Need To Know To Hire Me?
The people on this list are a mix: friends, former colleagues, clients, and people who found me somewhere on the internet. Some of you have known me since my Sukoon startup days and were curious where I landed; some of you found me last month.
So In the spirit of asking questions like I told my husband to, maybe even the most obvious ones, I'd love to know: what do you want to know so that you can hire me as a trainer for your company, or an executive coach for the next phase of your career or your startup?
Here's what some of work has looked like recently:
Workshops β I've run storytelling and communication programs for organizations like Buchalter, SASE, and Shine Talent Group.
At Buchalter, one of LA's largest law firms, we worked on how their attorneys build client relationships through personal storytelling. Lawyers are expected to be super-communicators but most are trained in contracts, not connection. At SASE, an organization centered around scientists and engineers, I worked with hundreds of Fortune500 professionals on how to tell powerful stories around data points.
Coaching β K.M. came to me as a senior executive running high-stakes experiments that her organization was learning from in real time, with limited resources and no roadmap. She was over-functioning and waiting for certainty before she could act because she didn't know how to communicate the value of her work to her board. In three months with me, she learned to prioritize ruthlessly, defend her scope, and reframe experiments as opportunities for her organization to learn.
"The tools Arshiya shared with me have become vital in helping me fine-tune weekly tasks, and my conversations with her have helped me with mind shifts that have made me more productive with work and in building professional relationships." - K.M., Nonprofit Executive, 1:1 Coaching Client
These are just a few examples of my work lately, the work I'd love to do more and more of! Hit reply and tell me what's missing, or what you'd need to know to take the next step in partnering.
π₯¨ Snacks
β New Release: Episode 3 of Chai Chats is out! How I Launched A Product With Zero Experience.
π World News: The land grab by You-Know-Who continues.
π NBA Finals: The Knicks lost game 3, but this was an internet win.
π€ Worth Reading: Pope Leo XIV on AI: we have "the duty to remain human."
See you in next week's mess,
Arshiya
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