The first cut
Trace where the conflict actually began, not where it became loud.
Coming soon
The Badlands
Find Your Ground.
Alberta badlands · Lead teams through conflict.
Book Three of Prairie Paths. Conflict cuts through a team the way water cuts through clay — slowly, then all at once, and always along an older line.
The Badlands is not yet open. Add your name and we will let you know when this path is ready to walk.
Join the WaitlistWhat this path is about
The Badlands is a private, self-guided digital leadership journey set in Alberta's hoodoos and coulees, where every layer of earth is a record of what came before.
It is about leading a team through conflict without pretending the conflict is not there.
Team conflict is rarely only about the visible disagreement. The Badlands helps leaders notice where the first cut appeared, what sits beneath the conflict, and where trust or communication has quietly eroded.
It works through competing needs and perspectives, what remains essential when the surface is stripped away, and how a leader stays grounded while helping a team move through difficulty.
It does not promise to eliminate conflict or to make everyone agree. It is educational leadership development, not mediation or therapy.
Who this path is for
- Team leads and managers holding a team through friction
- Leaders inheriting a conflict they did not create
- Anyone facilitating groups with competing needs
- Leaders who want to stay grounded in hard rooms
Leadership themes explored
What sits beneath
Read the layers under the visible disagreement.
Erosion
Notice trust and communication wearing away before they collapse.
Competing needs
Hold more than one legitimate perspective at the same time.
What remains essential
Identify what the team cannot afford to lose.
Staying grounded
Keep your own footing while the ground is moving.
How the digital experience works
Fifteen markers, walked at your pace
The Badlands is a book you walk rather than read. The journey is organized across 15 trail markers, and each marker asks something of you before you move to the next. The markers themselves stay unopened until you reach them — the path is meant to unfold as you walk it.
A private, self-guided journey
You walk it on your own. Nothing you write is shared, graded or reviewed.
Fifteen trail markers
The path is organized across 15 markers, each one a distinct piece of the journey.
At your own pace
There is no schedule and no clock. You walk it as slowly or as steadily as you like.
Teaching, situations, reflection
Each marker combines teaching, realistic leadership situations and honest reflection.
On any device
Designed for phone, tablet or computer, wherever you actually think best.
Saved for your return
Your progress and your writing are saved, so you can leave the trail and come back.
Prairie Paths is educational leadership development. It is not therapy, counselling or mental-health treatment.
What you carry forward
- A way of reading conflict beneath the surface
- Language for competing needs on a team
- Practical grounding when the room is hard
- Reflections you can return to during the next conflict
Part of Prairie Paths
One series, four landscapes
Prairie Paths moves outward: from leading yourself, to leading beside one other person, to leading a team through conflict, to bridging the gaps between people. Each book is its own landscape, and each one stands on its own.
Find Your Ground.
The Badlands is still being built. Join the waitlist and you'll hear the moment this path opens.
Questions
- When will The Badlands be available?
- It is in development as Book Three. We have not announced a release date — join the waitlist to hear first.
- Will it teach conflict resolution techniques?
- It is leadership development, not a mediation certification. The focus is on how a leader reads and moves through team conflict.
- Does it replace HR or professional support?
- No. It is educational leadership development and does not replace HR, legal or professional advice.
