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Leslie Cunningham

@focuswithleslieacunningham

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Yellow Caterpillar

Yellow. Caution. Lines.

In the line. In between the lines. Color in between the lines. Stay in the lines.

You won't get punished. You are safe in between the lines.

In between.

Put a the before in-between, and you have the In-Between.

You see, yellow caterpillar, the In-Between is safe.
It's the pause between almost anything.
Well, everything that is living has an In-Between.
Even you, dear yellow caterpillar, have The In-Between.

A time to pause. A time to transform from one moment to the next. A time to inhale—exhale. A time to move from here—to there.

The In-Between.

The space between the lines.

The place where the essence of who you are is no longer measured by how perfectly you stay inside them. by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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19 days ago

I love when the smoke flies. Happy Cat and Dog Day Dan Mann! by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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4 months ago

Motherhood.

When I look back at our early pictures, I can see the battle in my eyes. The shadow behind the smile of becoming a mom.

I remembered the moment Makenzie was born and how alone I felt. I was still the same person inside my skin, just suddenly handed a new title, a new hat to wear: Mother.

This is an entry from a time when I struggled to hold on to my sense of self.

She was held up in the air just over the mountain of my rock-hard stomach, long enough for my brain to register her shape and hear the doctor laugh, “She pooped in my hand.”

Then I was left staring at the ceiling, counting tiles over and over while waves of unfamiliar sensations rushed through my body.

Maybe the waves were a kind of rebooting. I am still here, a whisper silently awoke from the depths.

I am still here, the whisper grew louder. “Hello, anyone?” the mountain trembled.

Another realization surfaced: I am a mom, but I am still me. “Why am I alone?” it asked. 
“Hello, anyone?” the mountain rumbled.

Then another scream filled the room. It was her, the child who had come from the mountain, now the only thing keeping me company.

“Hello, I am still here. I have a name. It’s Leslie. I’m Leslie. I am 30 years old. I am an HR professional. Anyone?”

The mountain began to erupt and my voice cried out, “Something is happening. I need help!”

The medical team’s eyes snapped back into focus to finish the cycle of birth, stitch me up, and roll me to my room.

“Hello, anyone? I am still here. Alone. My name is Leslie. I am scared to be a mother,” the mountain sniffed.

Motherhood has been many things over the years: beautiful, exhausting, sacred, lonely, identity-shifting.

And now, in this quieter season, I’m discovering motherhood all over again. Not through packed lunches or bedtime routines, but through remembering myself beyond the role I carried for so long.

Maybe one of the bravest things a mother can do is remember that while she is caring for everyone else, she is still someone too.

Learning what that looks like now is the adventure. Happy Late Mama's Day! by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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5 months ago

I recently completed a series of health tests to establish a baseline before reinvesting in my health journey. What surprised me most wasn’t the results themselves, it was realizing how disconnected perception can be from reality when it comes to stress.

For years, I believed I had a solid handle on stress. Yet elevated cortisol levels and breathing dysfunction told a different story.

The experience reinforced something powerful: What gets measured gets managed.

Stress is rarely just about workload. It’s often tied to communication, trust, support, control, relationships, and unresolved frustration. The scary part? Humans adapt to unhealthy stress levels and eventually call them “normal.”
That’s why tools like the TTI Stress Quotient matter. They create awareness before burnout forces the conversation.

The body keeps score long before the mind admits there is a problem.

#StressManagement #LeadershipDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #WorkplaceWellness #BurnoutPrevention by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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5 months ago

Some businesses survive because of strategy. Others survive because of something much deeper: purpose.

After Hurricane Helene, Asheville’s beloved High Five Coffee rebuilt. Then tragedy struck again last week, arson destroyed their River Arts location.
What surfaced through the devastation was not anger. It was clarity. Community. Connection. Meaning.

This experience sparked a deeper reflection for me: Who are you after back-to-back insults from life and business?
Markets crash. Employees leave. Businesses burn. Plans fail. The question is not if adversity will come, it’s whether your “why” is strong enough to carry you through it.

In our newest newsletter, I explore resilience, purpose, and 5 practical ways to uncover the deeper reason behind the work you do.
Because when your identity is rooted only in profit, devastation can take everything. But when your work is connected to meaning and people, rebuilding becomes possible.

#Leadership #Resilience #PurposeDriven #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness taken in The Mann Group by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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5 months ago

Growing up in the Midwest, my parents would drop us off at the airport just to watch people. We would create endless stories about travelers… who was leaving, who was coming home, who was saying goodbye forever, or hello for the first time. I thought I became really good at reading body language and translating what people were thinking and feeling.

Then I entered the workforce and realized something hard: many of my assumptions were wrong.

What I believed was “reading people” was often creating misunderstandings, judgments, and disconnection instead of true human connection.

The moment we move from observing behavior to assigning meaning, we risk creating conflict that never needed to exist. Learning to pause, stay curious, and ask better questions changed my relationships, leadership, and communication more than anything else.

If this resonates with you, click the link above and read the full article on how to break this habit.

#Leadership #EmotionalIntelligence #HumanConnection #Communication #SelfAwareness by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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5 months ago

Our latest newsletter just dropped—if you missed it, here’s a glimpse:

Emotional Intelligence isn’t soft—it’s the difference between leaders who talk strategy and those who actually deliver results.

If your team lacks focus, accountability, or execution, it’s not a systems problem, it’s a behavior problem.

Recently, The Mann Group took a team into a controlled “rage room” environment, breaking glass to safely release anger and frustration so they could reset and perform. But what happens when that same frustration shows up in a meeting? How are you developing your leaders to regulate in real time?

The best leaders don’t just perform when it’s easy… they perform under pressure.

That’s EQ. That’s ROI.

#EmotionalIntelligence #LeadershipROI #themanngroup taken in The Mann Group by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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6 months ago

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6 months ago

Tax Day — Em’s Birthday
Facebook showed me a memory this morning from 2022 Em on a bike during our Michigan trip. The “then and now” feature… with a blank space for now.

A picture of Em's Ashes?

Now: Emily’s tree, planted a gift from her childhood friend.

And then Circle of Life from The Lion King started playing in my head.

This is the circle of life. Our reality.

Which is exactly why being fully present in all the moments matters so much.

Emily was born with only love in her heart and today is no different.

This is what I wrote for her birthday in 2022: Because life is like riding a bike it’s hard when you’re wearing a dress. But fashion isn’t functional, and hard is still hard.Thank you for always reminding me that I get to choose my hard.

Happy Birthday, Sister, 50 is serving you well. by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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6 months ago

Fifty years ago this month, my sister was born. Two years ago this month, she left this world.

My DNA still hasn’t caught up to that reality. It doesn’t understand how Emily isn’t here or how I’m supposed to do life without her.

Recently, her best friend asked Emily's tribe to share “Emily-isms.” I had to sit with that for a while. Emily had so many sayings. She spoke in metaphors, especially when it came to me and my life.

The one that stands out most: "Leslie, you like a hard climb…but you don’t enjoy going downhill.”

She wasn’t wrong. I’ve always chosen the very hard of hard things. I thought that was just what life was.

So this April, I’m trying something different.
I’m committing to finding the downhill moments and not hitting the brakes. 
To feeling the wind in my hair. To breathing through the scary parts. To laughing so hard I pee my pants.

I’m calling this month: Our Triumph.

Miss you sister! by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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7 months ago

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around 25 years of loving this one and what it means to have an adult child.

You show up with every ounce of trust you can muster.

You walk into the home they built for themselves and celebrate the way they do dishes without offering the “better” way. (Because you don’t actually know better.)

You don’t buy their Christmas tree they’ve got it. And they can even assemble it on their own.

You sit back and let them make you breakfast  because it somehow tastes better when you stay out of the way.

You go on a girls’ trip just to witness three women completing their first marathon, because your girl sponsored them, and to stand in awe of the community she built on a platform you barely understand
because TikTok taught her more than you ever could.

You realize that being fully present in the moments you do get is the only gift that matters.

This year, at a quarter century old, you are wiser, more authentic, more peaceful and I cherish being called your mama more than anything.

Happy Birthday Makenzie Ann
I love you most. by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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10 months ago

OOO taken in Kitty Hawk Beach - Outer Banks by @focuswithleslieacunningham

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a year ago