What a year of entrepreneurship taught me about people, reinvention, and the business of navigating change.
A little over a year ago, I traded corporate life for entrepreneurship. After more than 25 years of helping organizations navigate transformation, I figured I knew a thing or two about change. And then I started my own business. Turns out, knowing how to lead change doesn't necessarily make experiencing it any less interesting.
There have been moments of excitement, uncertainty, opportunity, frustration, and more than a few occasions when I've wondered what the heck I was doing. But there's also been something incredibly rewarding about building a business around work I believe in, on my own terms. And somewhere along the way, I managed to write two books. Apparently, I don't believe in easing into things.
The Year I Stopped Talking About Reinvention and Actually Did It
For most of my career, I worked inside organizations, helping leaders and employees navigate everything from technology implementations and restructuring to cultural shifts and large-scale transformation. I've seen what happens when organizations get change right, and I've also seen what happens when they underestimate the human side of it.
When I launched Julie Whitten Consulting, I wanted to help organizations close the gap between what gets built and what people actually adopt. Because delivery creates potential. Adoption creates value. That belief has become the foundation of my advisory work.
Over the past year, I've partnered with organizations navigating complex transformations, worked alongside leaders facing difficult decisions, and helped teams make sense of changes affecting how they work every day. Those experiences have reinforced something I've believed for a long time: the hardest part of change is rarely the technology, the process, or the plan. It's what happens when those things collide with actual human beings.
People bring their experiences, fears, habits, expectations, and occasionally their very strong opinions to work every day. No implementation plan can make those things disappear, which is why the human side of change can't be an afterthought.
One Book About Organizations. Another About Life.
In May, I published my first book, The People Stack: Why Change Fails (and What Actually Fixes It). It grew from years of watching organizations invest enormous amounts of time, money, and energy into transformation, only to struggle with the one thing that determines success: whether people actually change how they work.
What I didn't anticipate was how many conversations the book would start with executives, project managers, change practitioners, technology leaders, and people who recognized the frustration of watching a well-intentioned initiative struggle to gain traction.
But while I was writing about organizational change, something else was happening. I kept writing my Big Girl Panties Diaries. The series began as candid reflections about life, relationships, leadership, reinvention, and all the unexpected nonsense that comes with being human. Some entries were funny, some deeply personal, and others came from those moments when life delivers a lesson we probably should have learned the first three times.
Eventually, I realized those reflections were becoming something bigger. My second book, The Panty Stack: 365 Things We Know, Forget & Learn Again, is coming soon. It's a collection of 365 stories and lessons organized around six themes: Calmfidence, change and uncertainty, relationships and boundaries, emotional resilience, career and reinvention, and leadership and the human side.
It's not another self-improvement program. It's a reminder that we probably know more than we think we do, even if life occasionally requires us to learn the same lesson again. And again. And apparently, again.
The more I worked on the book, the more I realized how connected these two projects really are. The People Stack is about helping organizations navigate change. The Panty Stack is about helping ourselves navigate life. Different audiences, different stories, but the same underlying truth: change is inevitable, being human makes it complicated, and a little Calmfidence, that combination of pause, presence, and perspective, can make all the difference.
The Work Has Evolved, Too
One of the unexpected gifts of entrepreneurship has been the freedom to expand how I help people. Transformation and change advisory remain at the heart of Julie Whitten Consulting. I continue to work with organizations navigating technology implementations, AI adoption, restructuring, and other significant changes, helping leaders translate strategy into meaningful action. But I've also found new ways to bring that work to life.
Speaking and leadership development have become an increasingly important part of what I do. I've had the opportunity to work with professional associations, industry groups, and leadership teams on navigating uncertainty, building change-ready organizations, addressing resistance, and the human side of transformation. With The Panty Stack, I'm expanding those conversations into women's leadership, resilience, confidence, career reinvention, and navigating life's unexpected turns. I love creating spaces where people can laugh, recognize themselves in a story, challenge their thinking, and leave with something useful.
Partnerships with solution providers are another area I'm excited to grow. Technology companies, implementation partners, and consulting firms have an opportunity to help customers think beyond whether a solution works to whether people actually use it. Customer conferences, executive roundtables, and user groups are ideal places to start those conversations. Pairing these experiences with copies of The People Stack gives attendees a practical takeaway and extends the value of the event.
Personal and executive coaching has also become a meaningful part of my work. Sometimes people aren't navigating an organizational transformation. They're navigating their own, whether it's a new leadership role, a career decision, a difficult relationship, or a moment when the path forward isn't clear. These conversations reinforce something that connects every part of my work: whether we're talking about an organization or an individual, meaningful change begins with people.
Giving Back Is Part of the Plan
One thing I want to carry forward as the business grows is making learning and development accessible. Professional associations, nonprofits, and community organizations play an important role in helping people grow, connect, and learn from one another. They don't always have the budgets of large corporations, but that doesn't make their work any less important.
That's why I offer special speaking and workshop rates for associations and nonprofit organizations. It's one way I can give back to the professional communities that have given me so much throughout my career.
Looking Ahead to 2027
If this first year has taught me anything, it's that entrepreneurship is its own form of transformation. You can have a strategy, a plan, and a pretty clear idea of where you're headed, and then life happens. Opportunities emerge that you didn't anticipate. Some things take longer than expected, while others don't work at all. You adjust, you learn, you occasionally question your judgment, and then you keep going.
As I look ahead to 2027, I'm excited to continue partnering with organizations on transformation and change, expand my speaking and workshop engagements, build relationships with solution providers, and support individuals through coaching. I'm also looking forward to sharing The Panty Stack and continuing the conversations both books have started.
For organizations looking for meaningful gifts for leaders, teams, clients, or conference attendees, I'm offering corporate and bulk orders of The People Stack, including opportunities to pair the book with leadership development programs and special events.
Explore Corporate & Bulk Book Orders
And if you're planning a transformation, organizing a leadership event, exploring a customer partnership, or looking for a speaker who brings equal parts practical experience, candor, and humor, I'd love to connect.
Visit Julie Whitten Consulting
One Last Thought
A year ago, I took a leap into something new. I had no idea exactly where it would lead, and I still don't. But I've learned that we don't always need to know every step before taking the next one. Sometimes we just need to trust what we've learned, stay open to what's possible, and have enough Calmfidence to figure things out along the way.
And when all else fails? Pull up those big girl panties and keep going.
Here's to the next chapter.
BGPD Rule: You don't have to know how the whole story unfolds to have the courage to write the next chapter.