May 18, 2026
Kimberly’s Wanderings & Wonderings (May 2026)
Why Joy Is a Leadership Opportunity
Picture this: You are at a conference, and you are in that “in-between space.” You know, in the lobby, standing in line, or at the dinner table. And suddenly, there is a moment that turns into something more. Someone says something. Just a sentence, maybe two.
You then find yourself stopping mid-thought. Because what they just said is exactly what you needed to hear. And they had no idea.
I have been collecting these moments lately.
None of them were planned. All of them mattered.
The Power of the “In-between”
As you can imagine, I have been in particularly important conversations during my career. Those conversations matter.
But the ones that have actually shifted something in me? The ones I still quote, still return to and think about years later. Almost none of them happened in those rooms.
They happened in hallways. At dinner. At the end of a meeting when everyone is packing up.
I think I know why.
Those spaces have no agenda. No one is performing. No one is trying to land a point or protect a position. The guard comes down. They relax. Their real self appears.
Why Does This Matter
When we are in-between, we are not trying so hard to get somewhere. We are not in role. Not “the leader” or “the expert” or “the one with the plan.” We are just a person, in a lobby, waiting for coffee.
And in that ordinariness, we become available. Available to hear something differently. Available to say something we did not know we thought. Available to be surprised by our own reaction.
I wonder if we underestimate the impact, growth, and curiosity that happens in these unguarded moments. This is when we grow. Intellectually. Emotionally. Personally. Professionally.
Why I Keep Wondering
We never know what or when something will have an impact on us. So, what if not being ready, actually makes us more ready? What if those moments are when we are unknowingly the most open to possibility?
As leaders, what if we all learned to be present in the in-between?
I am inspired by the leaders who engage in the hallway. The ones who understand that the real conversation is often the one no one scheduled.
Joy Is Contagious
A few weeks ago, Ash (my soon-to-be college graduate) was working on a project for their music class and they needed to interview someone about music in their childhood. Ash chose me.
The question they asked was simple: what song do you remember from being little?
Hmm…that was a long time ago. It did not come to me at first. So, I popped it into ChatGPT: childhood songs from 1970–1975.
Instantly, I smiled. We hopped on Zoom and played a clip from YouTube of Sing, from Sesame Street. I knew every word. I sang (poorly, but that didn’t matter) and my heart was full of joy.
“Sing of good things, not bad. Sing of happy, not sad.”
I had not thought about that song in decades. But the moment Ash asked, I was a child again. And I realized: joy doesn’t disappear. It just waits. It waits for someone to ask the right question.
I don’t believe that joy is a destination you reach. But rather a behavior or reflex that needs to be practiced. And I wholeheartedly believe joy is contagious.
But Here Is What I Have Been Thinking About
We do not treat joy like a practice. We treat it like a reward.
We tell ourselves we will enjoy things once things slow down or change. Joy becomes something we earn rather than something we nurture. And slowly, without meaning to, we get out of the habit of it.
Ash did not know they were giving me a gift that day. They were just doing homework. But that one question, “what song do you remember from being little?” unlocked something I did not know was still there. A whole room inside me I had not visited in decades. And it took less than five minutes to find my way back in.
That is the thing about joy; it does not require much. It requires permission.
Why Joy Is a Leadership Issue
I want to say something that might surprise you.
Joy is one of the most underrated leadership tools.
When you are joyful, genuinely, not performatively, people feel it. The energy in a room shifts. Conversations become more “real.” People share more openly. Creative ideas show up. Progress is being made.
I have watched leaders walk into rooms and change the atmosphere just by how they carry themselves. Not because they were louder or smarter or more prepared. Because they brought something light with them. Something unguarded. Something that gave everyone else permission to exhale.
That is joy working, and it is contagious, in the best possible sense.
And here is the part that gets me: you cannot fake it. People know the difference between a leader who is performing enthusiasm and one who is actually lit up by something. The performed version creates compliance. The real version creates energy. And energy is what moves things.
Joy Has a Memory
What Ash’s question reminded me is that joy has a history. It lives in specific songs, specific smells, specific moments, specific moments from a version of yourself that existed long before you had a title or a strategy or a five-year plan.
That version of you still knows things. Still carries things. And every once in a while, when someone asks the right question or the right song comes on, that version shows back up — and reminds you what it feels like to be fully, uncomplicatedly, in it.
We need that version more than we admit. Not as an escape from the complexity of adult life and leadership. But as a resource. A reminder that underneath all the responsibility and the striving, there is still someone in there who knows how to be joyful.
Let that person shine more often.
The Practice
So here is what I am trying to do and what I invite you to try with me.
Not a grand gesture. Not a retreat or a reboot or a reinvention. Just five minutes.
Set a timer. Go to YouTube, Spotify, or yes — even ChatGPT. Search: songs I loved as a child. Find one. Press play.
Don’t multitask. Don’t scroll. Just listen. Sing if you know the words. Move if your body wants to. Let yourself be childlike again.
When the timer goes off, notice what happened. Did your shoulders drop? Did you smile without meaning to? Did a memory surface you hadn’t thought about in years?
That’s joy. It was always there. It just needed someone to press play.
And then…carry it with you. Into the next meeting. The next hard conversation. The next moment when the room needs something it cannot quite name.
Joy doesn’t disappear. It just waits. It waits for someone to ask the right question.
Joy is contagious. Pass it on!
In case you missed it, here are some other recent blog posts you might enjoy.
Until next month, keep wondering, have meaningful conversations, and spread some joy,
I am a 30-year luxury travel executive who helps high-touch businesses prepare for what is next — the next generation of client and the next generation of leadership. Curious about your next transformation? KWW Inc. can help.
Contact me at kimberly@kwwinc.com