Welcome to Evidently—the bi-weekly newsletter where I share my biggest hits (and get honest about my misses) as a first-time VP of Marketing. If this was forwarded to you and you like what you saw, you can subscribe here.

In part 1, I wrote about what you carry as a leader—the invisible weight no one warns you about.

This time, I want to talk about the other half of the job: what you let go.

There’s a point you reach as a leader where you stop trying to own everything. Not because you’re detached. Not because you don’t care. But because trying to do it all makes you worse at the parts that truly matter.

That’s not a new idea for me. I’ve been managing teams for over a decade. I’ve learned how to delegate. But this year brought it to a new level.

There were projects outside of my lane that weren’t going how I wanted. I had strong opinions. Clear ideas of what better could look like. But they weren’t mine to run. And more importantly, they weren’t mine to fix.

I had to choose where to engage, and where to let go. Letting go didn’t mean letting things slip. It meant trusting others to carry the work, even if it didn’t match how I would’ve done it. 

It meant investing my time where I could actually move the business forward, not just insert myself out of instinct.

Trying to own everything turns you into a bottleneck. Or the person who quietly resents that they’re doing it all. Or the micromanager who thinks they’re being helpful.

Real leadership means knowing where your input matters most. It means backing off when someone else is better suited for the job. It means knowing the difference between control and influence, and acting accordingly.

A lot of our best marketing plays this year started elsewhere. Evan brought some. Ray did too. And plenty came from sales, customer success, and product. That’s exactly how it should work.

My job isn’t to have every good idea. It’s to create a culture where the best ideas win. To make sure those ideas get executed well. And to give real credit when something hits, no matter where it came from.

This shift took work. I’ve built most of my career by stepping up, figuring things out, and delivering quickly. That tendency doesn’t just go away. But I’ve had to unlearn parts of it to grow with the job.

I’m not trying to prove I can do everything anymore. I’m trying to make sure the right people are focused on the right work.

Here’s how I think about it now:

• If someone can do it better, they should.

• If someone can grow by doing it, they should.

• If it’s not the best use of my time, I let go.

This isn’t a story about slowing down or checking out. It’s about being more intentional with where I spend my energy.

It’s how you build trust. It’s how you scale. It’s how you lead well without burning out.

And it goes beyond delegation. Letting go also means being okay with discomfort.

This year was full of it. I’ve been in unfamiliar territory more than once: navigating difficult conversations, making high-stakes decisions, and planning my wedding and UserEvidence’s first flagship event within 88 days of each other (0/10 — would not recommend again). 

In those moments, I’ve had to resist the urge to fix everything right away. To pause. To sit in the discomfort long enough to see the opportunity underneath it.

It’s easy to fixate on everything that could go wrong or the discomfort you’re feeling in the moment. But part of leading means shifting your focus:

Instead of asking, “What if this goes wrong?” ask, “What if this goes right?”

Discomfort is often a sign of growth. Chaos often clears the way for clarity. And hard conversations, handled with empathy, often create the strongest relationships.

Letting go doesn’t make you soft. It makes you stronger.

It frees you up to lead with focus. It signals trust in your team. And it makes room for others to step up and do great work.

That’s what scales. That’s what lasts.

Stuff I’m digging this week

• How Alex went from 0 to 100+ survey responses—Alex Eaton’s first customer census survey completely flopped. The latest one crushed. He breaks down what changed, what didn’t work the first time, and how to avoid the same mistakes in this 45-minute session.

• How Koala handled shutting down—I saw this all over LinkedIn, and for good reason. Most companies go quiet or corporate when it’s time to sunset a product. Koala did the opposite. You heard from their founders. You heard from their marketing leader. And the tone was honest, transparent, and quietly graceful.

• A DM that reminded me why I write this thing—This newsletter started as an experiment. 31 sends in, it’s become a creative outlet for the real stuff I’m learning and messing up as a marketing leader. I don’t always know who’s reading. But LinkedIn DMs like this one yesterday are the reason I’ll keep hitting publish:

Evidently, now streaming

Julien Sauvage (CMO, Cordial; ex-Gong & Clari) joined us at our SF dinner event in May. We caught up to talk about launching positioning that actually sticks, the power of customer proof, and why some of marketing's best work can't be measured.

We covered big questions every B2B marketer wrestles with, like:

• How do we launch new positioning that actually resonates?

• What’s the right kind of proof for our sales team—and buyer?

• Do we really need a KPI for this?

Catch the full 16-minute convo on YouTube.

Hold up—what does UserEvidence do again?

Product marketers, marketing leaders, and customer marketers need more than generic testimonials to prove value.

UserEvidence helps create real customer evidence that Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success teams can use to increase buyer confidence.

We make it easy to collect and share case studies, testimonials, competitive intelligence, product stats, and ROI data—proof that helps move deals forward.

Need a stat to prove ROI? A competitive insight to handle objections? A case study that closes the gap between interest and decision?

UserEvidence helps you capture and share the proof buyers need.