about us

My husband has a titanium cage in his spine. 14 pins. 14 rods. This is the story of how it got there — and why I built The CCI Method™.

In 2020, Kurt’s employer asked retail workers to pivot to online sales overnight. Covid had shut everything down so time was of the essence. This frantic pace burned out his manager and he retired by November 2020. Others followed. Kurt stayed — because that’s who he is.

In February 2021, a new manager took over. He was not kind. He was not supportive or encouraging. He recorded their 1:1 calls without asking for permission. He documented grievances after every conversation. He was “disappointed” in Kurt’s results, but could never clarify what those results should be. Seven years of stellar reviews began to disappear. New ones appeared that Kurt did not recognize as his own work or character. He wondered if he had suddenly “gone stupid”.

By July 2021, Kurt was in excruciating pain. He started at his GP, then a Chiro, then an orthopedist — she referred him to an oncologist. They thought it might be cancer so it escalated to the best neurosurgeon in Austin. Thankfully, not cancer. It was; however, a spinal infection that had eaten through two of his vertebrae. By the time they caught it, his spine was collapsing. He had lost 3 inches in height and could not walk further than bed to bathroom without help. I took him to his final surgery in a wheelchair.

By November 2021, he had endured three spinal surgeries (around 18 hours total). Got a titanium cage. 14 pins and rods. Three weeks in hospital. One week in rehab. Six months of no bending, lifting, twisting, or driving. A walker. A cane. A PICC line of antibiotics every single day.

He went back to work. The shitty manager was still there.

For three years — February 2021 to February 2024 — Kurt showed up under a manager who had decided HE was the problem. It ended with a PIP-or-severance choice. He took the severance.

I watched all of it. I worked from home. I heard the calls. I listened to him vent. I heard the frustration in his voice. As a professional problem solver, he was stumped for a solution.

I watched a confident, capable, generous man quietly begin to doubt himself. I knew exactly why. I had seen it before — in schools, in districts, in small business HR. The same pattern, different setting: a leader without the skills to lead, given authority they were not ready for, doing damage nobody was measuring.

Toxic culture does not always announce itself. It shows up in patterns. I built The CCI Method™ because leaders who actually give a f*ck deserve a system that catches those patterns before they cost someone their health, their confidence, or their spine.

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TEDX

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