Noble Intent

May 26, 2026

Here’s a quick medical update for everyone.

Maria and I made the trip up to New York City yesterday for my appointment at MSK this morning. Instead of fighting our way through Baltimore and Christiana traffic, we took Route 50 to 301 on the way up. It added a little distance, but it was absolutely worth it. The drive was calmer, quieter, and honestly a lot more peaceful. There’s something about that stretch of road that allows you to breathe a little easier and simply take in the scenery instead of gripping the steering wheel in frustration.

The appointment itself brought encouraging news. My blood work continues to look good, and several of the numbers they have been closely watching are still moving in the right direction. That’s a blessing I don’t take lightly. Because things continue trending positively, it looks like we may be able to reduce the frequency of my weekly visits to the local oncology center. That feels like another small but meaningful milestone in this journey.

We also scheduled my six-month PET scan for early July. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some anxiety attached to that. These scans always carry a certain emotional weight. You try not to let your mind wander too far ahead, but there’s always that quiet uncertainty sitting in the background.

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At the same time, this journey has taught me something important. No matter what the results eventually show, we keep moving forward. We keep fighting. We keep trusting in God, in medicine, and in the people walking beside us. Cancer may shape parts of this chapter, but it does not get to write the ending.

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There are ideas that quietly reshape your life without you realizing it at the time. They settle into your thinking slowly, then one day you look back and realize they changed the way you lead, communicate, and see other people.

For me, one of those ideas was “assume noble intent.”

Recently, my friend Tim Krause brought this phrase back to my mind after reading about it on my blog. Hearing him talk about wanting to share that mindset with his students made me smile, because it reminded me just how much that idea shaped me when I first embraced it around 2019.

At the time, I do not think I fully appreciated how much I needed it. Here is a link to the article: Do You Assume Noble Intent?

Leadership can harden people if they are not careful. When you spend years managing teams, solving problems, handling conflict, and dealing with pressure, it becomes very easy to grow cynical. You start anticipating excuses instead of explanations. You expect conflict before collaboration. You begin reading frustration, laziness, disrespect, or hidden motives into situations before giving people the benefit of the doubt.

I think many leaders fall into that trap without even noticing it.

But somewhere around 2019, this idea of assuming noble intent found its way into my thinking, and honestly, it changed the way I interacted with people.

The concept itself is simple: Most people are not waking up in the morning trying to make your life harder.

That sounds obvious, but it is amazing how often we forget it.

Someone sends a short email and we assume they are angry. Someone misses a deadline and we assume they do not care. Someone forgets to include us and we assume disrespect. Someone disagrees with us and we assume bad motives.

The mind fills gaps quickly, and unfortunately it often fills them with negative assumptions.

Assuming noble intent interrupts that cycle. It taught me to pause before reacting. To ask questions before making conclusions. To seek understanding before assigning blame, and over time, that changed the culture of the teams I led.

Instead of approaching situations with, my typical hot headiness:“Why did you do this?” I forced myself to say: “Help me understand what happened.”

This difference matters. One approach puts someone immediately on the defensive. The other invites honesty. It also relaxes me and gives me more clarity.

People opened up more when they felt they were being heard instead of judged. Conversations became less confrontational and more collaborative. Problems were solved faster because energy was not wasted protecting egos.

More importantly, it made me more empathetic.

You begin realizing that every person around you is carrying things you cannot see. Stress at home. Fear. Financial pressure. Illness. Anxiety. Grief. Exhaustion. Personal battles they may never speak aloud.

Sometimes what looks like indifference is actually burnout. Sometimes frustration is fear. Sometimes silence is someone simply trying to hold themselves together.

Over the last eighteen months especially, that lesson has become even more personal for me.

When you walk through serious illness, you realize quickly how invisible struggles can be. There were days I looked fine externally while internally I was exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed, or scared. That experience deepened my belief that we rarely know the full story another person is carrying.

That does not mean accountability disappears. Assuming noble intent is not about being naive or ignoring harmful behavior. Some people absolutely make selfish choices. Some people manipulate situations. Some people act with poor intentions.

But most people are simply human and humans are messy; sometimes. What I have learned is that grace often accomplishes far more than suspicion ever will.

The world feels increasingly conditioned to assume the worst in one another. Social media thrives on outrage and conflict. People are quick to judge motives without ever asking questions first.

But leadership, real leadership, requires empathy. Not weakness. Not avoidance. Empathy.

Assume noble intent. Lead with curiosity. Give people room to explain. Listen longer. React slower.

You may discover, as I am, that people often rise to the level of grace they are given.