Reflections on Leadership Lessons from the Saddle
By Vicki Mayo, CEO & Founder, TouchPoint Solution
Welcome to Bridle & Boardroom, a monthly reflection where the lessons learned in the arena mirror the challenges of leadership. I’m an adult amateur dressage rider, and the CEO and Founder of TouchPoint Solution, a company that creates wearable devices clinically proven to reduce stress and anxiety in seconds. Through horses and leadership alike, I’ve learned that balance, trust, and connection are at the heart of true success – in the saddle, in the boardroom, and everywhere in between.
I’ve been thinking a lot about aging lately.
Aiden is aging. Not in some abstract, distant way but in a way I can feel with every ride. I recently learned she has severe arthritis in her back. She can still be ridden, but everything about how we do that has changed. The goals are different now. I’m no longer asking her to be the best she can be. Instead, I’m asking myself to be the best steward I can be for her. Our rides have become quieter, more intentional—less about performance and more about preservation. Movement as medicine. Partnership as care.
And it’s not just Aiden.
I’m noticing it in the people I love most, too. The kind of aging that doesn’t announce itself all at once, but reveals itself in small, undeniable ways. The sharpness I once admired is softening. The quick wit, the certainty, the mental agility; it flickers, where it once burned steadily.
I’ve had to adjust not just my expectations, but my posture toward them.
Where I once leaned on them for insight, I now find myself holding space instead. Where I once sought their answers, I now treasure their presence. It’s a quiet, disorienting shift. I have to move from receiving to giving, from being guided to becoming the one who steadies.
And in those fleeting moments when clarity returns, when I catch a glimpse of who they’ve always been, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Not just for the moment itself, but for everything they poured into me long before I understood how much it would matter.
Aging, I’m learning, is a delicate exchange.
It asks us to loosen our grip on who someone was, without losing sight of who they still are. It requires a kind of grace that doesn’t come naturally. It requires the grace to honor dignity, even as capacity fades; to offer patience where we once expected performance; to love without conditions tied to who someone used to be.
It’s a fine line, this aging thing. But maybe it’s also a sacred one.
About the Author
Vicki Mayo is the CEO and Founder of TouchPoint Solution, a serial entrepreneur, author, and adult amateur dressage rider based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her professional journey has spanned founding and leading multiple companies, while her personal journey has brought her back to the saddle after a two-decade hiatus. Today, she blends lessons learned in the arena with leadership insights from the boardroom, sharing her belief that trust, resilience, and connection are at the heart of true success – in business, in riding, and in life.
