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A Note from the Author on The CNKD Way

The CNKD Way: the Way of Courage, Necessity, Knowledge and Discernment traveled by countless great figures from the dawn of time, and still open to you and me now.

On this Way, we too can individually and collectively find our greatness. We can live better and do more unthwarted by fear, achieving our goals for ourselves, our loved ones, our organizations, our communities and the world.

The CNKD Way has been my bridge across fear.

When I have been on the edge of doing something great, where so many of us find ourselves, I have been gripped by fear, which causes so many of us to step back. Once, as I battled imposter syndrome while relaunching a venture, my partner, Nkosi, recited the following to me:

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

It was the “Litany Against Fear” of the Bene Gesserit (also known as "The Sisterhood") from Frank Herbert’s iconic science fiction novel and subsequent series, Dune.

According to Dune's “Terminology of the Imperium,” Bene Gesserit is “the ancient school of mental and physical training established primarily for female students after the Butlerian Jihad destroyed the so-called 'thinking machines' and robots.”

At the time, not being into sci-fi, I was clueless about the literary context and did not make the connection between Bene Gesserit and Mount Holyoke College, my alma mater (the first of the Seven Sisters, the trailblazing female equivalent to the formerly all-male Ivy League). Now, that link and the link between our Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Herbert's "thinking machines and robots" are glaring.

For a decade, the Litany itself is what stayed with me. Aggravatingly, so did questions like: How do we face our fear? How does it pass over us and through us?

I needed concrete answers, clear steps, a fail-proof mechanism for facing down and triumphing over fear. And in the intervening years, I found them. . .on The CNKD Way: the Way of Courage, Necessity, Knowledge and Discernment traveled by countless great figures from the dawn of time, and still open to you and me now.

On this Way, we too can individually and collectively find our greatness. We can live better and do more unthwarted by fear, achieving our goals for ourselves, our loved ones, our organizations, our communities and the world. It is imperative, especially in the age of AI and high-stakes decision-making.

Online and on stages worldwide, I share stories from people around the globe as well as my own experience on the Way, to help you and yours live better and do more of what you truly desire, to help us all live better and do more of what we truly desire.

Subscribe below to get the latest CNKD Way updates delivered to your inbox each week. Each CNKD Way Letter is written by me, never AI, as much as I appreciate its strengths.

To discuss speaking, consulting, training and licensing opportunities, drop me a line here. My professional profile is here.

Connect with me on social media soon. I am so glad you are here!

With Love,

CHERYL K.


About The CNKD Way

Live better and do more of what you desire
with Courage, Necessity, Knowledge and Discernment.
Pronounced “synced” as in “synchronized”.

This CNKD Way Letter was written by this barefaced human.👇
Any photographs included were taken by the same human, unedited/unfiltered, unless otherwise stated. (Because nature needs no filter, which is the point.)

Cheryl Klufio is a writer, speaker, serial entrepreneur and lifelong learner. She is the creator of The CNKD Way (pronounced "synced") and a partner at Blue Horizons Partners (a Blue Ocean Strategy marketing and software consultancy) where she leverages CNKD Way principles, her MBA (with concentrations in marketing, strategy and entrepreneurship), as well as her extensive background in communications, to solve her clients' most pressing problems and catapult them to new levels of success.

Cheryl's courageous moves include. . .

  • Studying literature and more at SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College (Ghana) and at Mount Holyoke College (USA), where she designed a major in Anglophone and Francophone Postcolonial Literature and earned her BA, cum laude
  • Handling social marketing initiatives for Microsoft Corporation Global Headquarters, which took her from Redmond (Washington), to Hollywood, to Washington, DC
  • Managing public and media relations at Harvard University, where she wrote a lot using em dashes (yes, the kind of writing that AI's LLMs are trained on), before founding RightlySaid, her own communications and PR consultancy
  • Earning her MBA at INSEAD Business School (France and Singapore) as a literal poet (versus “quant”), with the battle scars and beautiful memories to show for it
  • Presenting alongside and engaging with world leaders at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (Germany) and beyond

. . .and many more entrepreneurial and personal experiences (successes and failures (lessons!)), all of which have required and further cultivated Courage, Necessity, Knowledge and Discernment to help her live better and do even more of what she desires.

As a loving and devoted self, mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend and colleague, Cheryl remains happily on her CNKD "Synced" Way and loves helping others thrive on theirs, so they can enjoy a better personal and professional life.

Connect with Cheryl here or on LinkedIn.