Creating Space in Leadership

Tribute to Patricia Sueltz, a leader who excelled in creating space for people

Patricia Cary Sueltz passed away a little over a week ago. She was one of the quiet leaders in Silicon Valley, with a long career at Sun Microsystems as a pre-amble to a few startups and her best venture of all, her wonderful family.

I had the privilege of not only working for Pat but keeping in touch with her after our Sun rodeo had ended. She always, always laughed at our foibles and was unapologetically herself. I made sure to tell her how much I learned from her about courage and speaking up. If you read no further, take this away: Thank the leaders you appreciate, current or former, now. Tell them what you liked, and what you didn’t, and what you learned. As I’ve departed my last two jobs, those messages meant quite a bit to me in reflecting on the chords of my career arcs, and have shaped my future thinking.