If you've worked in any company with more than 50 people, chances are you've been part of a "change strategy" at some point in your career. If you've been tasked with leading the change, I feel your pain.

And so does our guest, Charlotte Blum, PhD. Charlotte is a Berlin-based psychologist, with a double specialization in clinical and business psychology. Charlotte got her PhD while working full time in different projects, which allowed her to research and test very practical concepts on the field. Her findings, which she'll tell us more about, were surprising and unexpected.

She is currently the Director of Change & Organisational Design at the Edding Group. In that role, she supports the company in managing change and equipping leaders to guide teams successfully through the challenges related to change, big and small.

This episode is all about demystifying change at the company level. And based on Charlotte's research and work on the field, companies have been setting up their leaders to fail when asking them to lead a big change. If this has been your experience, know you're not alone! It turns out that about 75% of change initiatives don't work out. Yikes!

But there is hope.

Tune in to hear Charlotte and I talk about:

• Why values-based alignment is absolutely KEY for leaders undertaking change and transition with their teams.
• How companies actually fail their managers tasked with leading change, what's missing and what can be done to avoid this scenario. Hint: It has something to do with a little thing called trust.
• And we get into Charlotte's unorthodox approach to change, which leads to more buy-in from team members during the change process.
• She will also share with us the BIG consideration that's missing from every change process timeline that she's seen.

This episode is so refreshing because it turned many of the so-called "best practices" of organizational change on their head, and shows us why, in 2024, transformation done the old way no longer works.

Where you can find Charlotte online:

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-charlotte-blum/

Instagram: @blumencharlotte

And to learn more about Charlotte's full career trajectory: Charlotte Blum is a psychologist, double specialized in clinical and business psychology. She got her Diploma at the university of Osnabrück and her PhD at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. Her research interests are the experience and behaviour of leaders during organizational change. Charlotte got her PhD while working fulltime in different stations. While she discovered her research questions while working for an executive coach, she the moved on to working at Deutsche Bahn undergoing a major merger, at Femtec as Head of Careerbuilding. Charlotte the went ahead to build the AllBright Academy for the AllBright Foundation. The AllBright Academy aims to enable leaders to understand and lead diversity as a change process. During this time she was also a visiting lecturer at the ESCP for Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. Charlotte co-founded the Beyond. Berlin, a sports community focusing on diversity and inclusion, which strives to connect people from all over the world with different backgrounds and histories, different skill levels and goals but united in their passion for people and the community itself. As Director Change & Organisational Design at the edding Group Charlotte support the edding Group to manage change and to equip their leaders to lead their employees successfully through our strategic, everyday and change challenges. Her aim is to always work on a holistic, inclusive and future driven base in order to successfully support the profit-for strategy. As a speaker she supports organisations in their quests towards change. Charlotte talks about the Change Leadership Model she created in her PhD research and also about how to bring more diversity in organisations and their top management. She strongly believe that this brings positive change for everybody. Creating more diverse and inclusive organisations and empowering women to advance their careers is something is a topic really close to her heart. As a business coach and change consultant, Charlotte leverages her background in clinical and business psychology and her PhD research on leadership and change ("Chances and Challenges for Leaders in Change") to design and deliver impactful formats and tools for leaders and organisations in all her endeavours.

If you've ever made a big change in life, you know that change comes with a whole set of unexpected discoveries and learnings. Even if you're no stranger to making bold moves, every experience is unique and makes you grow in different ways each time.

Tune in to hear Sylvana share her four big learnings, one year after moving to France with her family. Even she was surprised by how this experience has unfolded for her!

This episode is a reminder that transitions in life can be a powerful catalyst to getting to know ourselves better and appreciating what we may have taken for granted otherwise.

***This is the last episode before the Life by Intention podcast takes a summer break. The show will be back in September with new guests and fresh energy.

Stay amazing, darlings!

Find Sylvana on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sylvanarochet/

And the Life by Intention podcast! https://www.instagram.com/lifebyintentionpodcast/

If you've ever been the leader in any space, you may have felt that you had to hide certain parts of yourself in order to be taken seriously. This is probably because you were conditioned to believe that leaders have to sound and act a certain way.

Join Sylvana as she sits with dear friend Robert Mulhall, who's CEO of Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Robert is one of the very FEW business leaders out there who are very open about their spirituality. As you'll hear on the show, his sense of connection to spirit IS a HUGE part of what fuels him and his leadership style.

In today's episode, you'll hear Robert share about:

• How he designs his day, his life, his schedule to stay grounded and clear in his heart and mind.

• What he's learned from allowing himself to recognize when he feels fear or other difficult emotions.

• How he integrates intuition AND data in how he leads and makes decisions.

• His go-to place for accessing courage, inspiration, insights to solve problems and how he gets the support he needs in challenging times.

Robert's story is a reminder of the power that comes with knowing who you are, and who you're not; and having the courage to say that to the world. This is a powerful inspiration for those who know, deep in their bones, that leading with consciousness and whole-heartedness is the way.

To learn more about Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health:

kripalu.org

To follow Robert on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/wicklowcelt/

And here's more about Robert's career and personal background:

Robert Mulhall brings two decades of experience in diverse industries, including public health, leadership development, and education, finance, organizational consulting, and executive coaching. He is passionate about service and deeply curious about how people can facilitate sustainable transformation to enable more peace, justice, and freedom in our world. Robert's career has enabled him to cross the private and public sectors multiple times as a manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers; cofounder and CEO of an award-winning social enterprise; a director of programs for Concern Worldwide Innovation's Unit in India, Africa, and New York (in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and UNICEF); and as a coach and consultant with The Crossland Group for businesses and organizations in fields such as human rights, social justice, education, tech startup, well-being, and others.

Originally from Ireland, Robert holds a bachelor's degree in commerce, accounting, and business management from the University College of Dublin. He is a certified public accountant in Ireland, and certified in mediation, executive coaching, the Enneagram, Reiki, and Celtic Irish Shamanism. Additionally, he has trained under Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach as a part of their Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and is a 200-hr Kripalu certified yoga teacher.

Robert is an explorer. He enjoys having adventures in new countries and learning about different cultures, being in nature, volunteering, spending time with his son, and watching Ireland win in rugby (hopefully!).

This episode is a powerful, in-depth session on how we learn to be Human. It's one of those topics that are central to our existence, and yet most of us didn't really learn any of this in our formative years, no matter how advanced our education or professional experience may be.

This episode's guest is Rod Feuer, who's taken on understanding himself and how he is built in order to become a better father, husband, human, entrepreneur.

Rod's career has covered a lot of ground. He started as an investor who, despite early success, did not feel like his work was fully aligned with his core purpose of helping others. From there, he progressed from consultant to startup executive to founder. After a successful exit, Rod started to learn the craft and power of storytelling, both as a means of better understanding himself and of bringing startups' strategies to life.

And lucky you, you get to hear Rod speak to all this on the show. He's going to share:

• How he came to understand his PURPOSE and VALUES as central to building his next chapter, after selling his company.
• The tools and frameworks he discovered along the way to help him better understand his personality and tendencies, so he could leverage that for his happiness and for contributing his gifts to the world.
• How the stories we tell ourselves and the world ultimately shape our reality and that of those around us.
• The two stories you NEED to have when you're a founder.
• What he's learning about human psychology and child development, how he's using it to be a better model for his children, and also the project he's working on to make this knowledge widely accessible.

There is so much insight in this episode that I promise you'll walk away with a deep reflection to chew on, or a powerful unlock where you may have been stuck.

To follow Rod's work and writing:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodfeuer/

https://twitter.com/rodfeuer

To learn about the Big 5 Personality Traits model Rod mentioned (acronym OCEAN):

https://www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html

Robbie Crabtree, Communication specialist who helps Founders define their story(ies):

https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbiecrab/

Book "Nudge" by Thaler and Sunstein:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/690485/nudge-by-richard-h-thaler-and-cass-r-sunstein/

Book "The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman:

https://www.nngroup.com/books/design-everyday-things-revised/

Book "Storyworthy" by Matthew Dicks:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37786022-storyworthy

Book "Resonate" by Nancy Duarte:

https://www.duarte.com/resources/books/resonate/

Dr. Alex DiGiacomo, Child Psychologist:

https://www.cornerstonepsychology.ca/dr-alex-digiacomo

What the heck is the OODA loop?

https://www.oodaloop.com/the-ooda-loop-explained-the-real-story-about-the-ultimate-model-for-decision-making-in-competitive-environments/

If you are someone who struggles with being decisive, in business or in any aspect of your life, this episode is for you.

Join me as I sit with Christina Burns, the dynamic force behind Naturna, where East meets West for holistic health. With over two decades of experience, she's a licensed doctor of Chinese Medicine and bestselling author of "The Ultimate Fertility Guidebook".

Christina is the founder of Naturna Institute in New York City, where she supports her patients using a blend of acupuncture, herbs, nutrition, life coaching and a good dose of intuition. She's also a mother of three and a world traveler who is curious about everything.

One of the most inspiring about Christina is how, once she has a vision for something she wants to make happen in her life, she GOES for it and makes it become a reality.

Tune in for:

• How Christina's intuition and curiosity have taken her to unlikely places on the planet and ultimately led her to finding her professional path.
• Her 3-step process for turning her goals into reality: how she goes from inspiration to making that thing happen in her life.
• How she turns failure into the foundation for her next success. (It's brilliant.)

Tune in and take away some powerful advice for how to boldly make decisions.

To learn all about wellness and fertility with Christina, you can find her at:

The Naturna Institute in NYC: https://naturnalife.com/

Naturna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naturna_life/

Get your Junk Juice here: https://junkjuicemagic.com/

This episode is a master class on the path to finding intentionality in your life. Join us as Dr. Mark Shrime shares his story of how this unfolded in his life: getting off what he calls 'the moving sidewalk' of setting up his life as a successful private practice surgeon in the US, and giving that up in order to join Mercy Ships and live a life of purpose to bring medical care to some of the most under-served people on the planet.

Mark Shrime, MD, PhD, is the International Chief Medical Officer at Mercy Ships and a Harvard Medical School Lecturer in Global Health and Social Medicine. Mark is the author of "Solving for Why": an inspiring memoir about finding the answer to life's biggest question--Why?--and about following that answer through remarkable, unlikely places on the road to fulfillment, purpose, and joy.

Mark's story is fascinating because he started out his career not from a place of intention, but from a place of doing what society and his family expected him to do, and it wasn't until years into a well-established path that he realized he wanted something else from his life.

In the discussion we get into:

• How to make hard decisions and the frameworks / ways of thinking that have helped Mark find what is aligned for him.

• The story of his transition into living a life of his own choosing, a life by intention - which was not easy nor fast!

• The discomfort and the negative space that is inevitable when we make transitions or hard decisions, and the importance of allowing for us to feel into all that as part of the healthy process of moving on from something.

• We also talk about the non-finality of decisions and the freedom that we get once we accept that no decision is forever. Mark shares his secret for how he's gotten to a place to make decisions where he knows that no matter what, it will be ok and he can always make a new choice at any point.

• 3 crucial things to keep in mind when taking a leap into something new.

There is so much in this episode for all of us to get inspired by, and to give us the courage to find our own path to a Life by Intention. I hope this lights a fire in you.

To learn more about Mark, you can visit his website: www.markshrime.com

And here's where you can keep up with Mark online:

Twitter: @markshrime

Instagram: @mark.shrime

Learn about Mercy Ships, and perhaps even donate, here: https://mercyships.org

If you've ever started a business, you probably put this new venture at the center of your existence…but you probably also have experienced the negative side effects of being consumed by work.

BUT what if the narrative of "hustle and grind" as the way to grow your business was flawed? What if someone told you: there are other ways to "do life" as a successful entrepreneur.

Frank Scott Krueger has insights and practices that will show you how this can be done. He is a rarity in the business world because he has figured out how to grow not one, but TWO companies that are healthy and thriving, while keeping himself healthy and thriving in all aspects of his life.

Frank Scott Krueger, co-founder of Humble Sea Brewing Co. and founding creative director of Good Knife Studio, has set out to develop a life of balance that prioritizes deep relationships over professional achievements. (I'd say that has been his secret to business success).

Humble Sea Brewing Co. has been named 'California's Next Beer Darling' by SF Gate, listed as a Top 10 Brewery in the U.S. by Hop Culture Magazine, and won Best Beer in California in 2021.

Frank's other venture, Good Knife Studio, a branding and digital product design agency, collaborates with early stage startups as well as industry beasts like Spotify, Salesforce, and YouTube.

An avid adventurer, Frank's crowning achievement last year was spending over 200 days on a mountain bike and 50 days on a snowboard.

Tune in for:

1. How Frank integrates fun, play and outdoors sports in his schedule, in a way that makes him more creative and energized for work
2. The process he went through to break out of workaholism in the last decade
3. His formula for anchoring new habits in his life: a mix of getting coaching and mentoring, as well as leaning on friends and community.

To learn more about Frank's ventures, check out:

https://humblesea.com/

https://www.instagram.com/humblesea/

https://www.goodknifestudio.com/

https://www.instagram.com/goodknifestudio/

The book Sylvana mentioned in the episode is "Loonshots" by Safi Bahcall, found here: https://www.bahcall.com/book/

Have you ever dreamt of something 'more' for your life? Maybe one day you wake up and think : I'm not sure I chose this! But everytime that thought pops up - you feel that your current surroundings aren't really helpful or supportive in this?

It's so hard to break away from what you've known, especially if you don't see anyone around you doing it. There's no model to follow, no playbook, so it feels like you have to make it happen all on your own.

If this is you, our guest today, Kira Mizell, has stories and solutions relating to exactly this.

Kira Mizell, Ph.D. is a research oceanographer at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. And Kira's so much more: a wife, a new mom, a present and caring friend who's curious about everything, and can make conversation with just about anyone.

As you'll learn in the episode today, she also knows that sometimes, you can find the inspiration for your dreams all around you, if you just know WHERE to look.

In today's episode, you'll hear her speak to:

1. Her three step process to making big life decisions - without a support system

2. The difference between intentionally pivoting vs 'giving up' on something, and

3. How life looks different in transitions - like when starting a family. All of this…

… with a big dose of empathy that you can and should have for yourself as you go through these events.

What do you do when you know, in your bones, that you are ready for the next chapter, but your current reality is, actually, pretty comfortable? There isn't some terrible pain point forcing you to look for a way out, but you are feeling SO uninspired by your life that you want to find the motivation to make a change.

In today's show we talk all about what to do if you're in this situation.

Join Sylvana Rochet as she takes you on a mini-coaching session and reveals:

• Two of the most common reasons why people get stuck in cushy-land, and how you may be letting a "catastrophizing" mind rob you of the many possibilities for your future.
• A four-step framework to get clear on what's next for you, and how to find the clarity and courage to head in that direction.
• The "Zone of Genius" and how you can find and access yours for creating more abundance and joy in your life.
• How our "Core Desired Feelings" act as a compass for making decisions, big and small, in everyday life.

You will learn some of the most powerful tools that Sylvana teaches her private clients, and put yourself in a position of true choice when it comes to creating the next chapter in that beautiful life of yours. Tune in to see how these ideas shake you out of your comfort zone!

To learn more about Danielle Laporte's Core Desired Feelings, here she gives a great primer in a conversation with the equally amazing Marie Forleo: https://www.marieforleo.com/blog/danielle-laporte-goals-desire

The book The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks (where you'll learn more about the Zone of Genius and how to find yours) is full of wisdom to help you shed what's holding you back from abundance in all the areas of your life: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361

You know that person in your circle who's always involved in 10 different cool projects, they've got an amazing career going, they're a super connector who introduces you to the person you totally needed to meet, they've always got something interesting to talk about, and at the same time they have time for their family and to have fun? We all know someone like that, and I know many of us wonder: how do they DO that? Our guest today is one of those people: David Dennis is a software industry leader, TEDx speaker, and entrepreneur. He co-founded Ventana Surfboards & Supplies, an eco-conscious surf company. A lover of outdoor activities and travel, David uses photography to support education, homelessness, and ocean conservation causes. He lives near the beach in Santa Cruz, California and surfs whenever he can. In this episode, we dive into:

• How David has found a way to connect his passions, sense of purpose and values to how he makes choices in life and work
• What makes him gifted at connecting with new people, and building and nourishing relationships over time.
• How he's learned to live and thrive with mental health challenges as he's built an intentional life, and in the process learning that these two realities are compatible.
• How we can avoid the trap of thinking that if you seek material stability in life, then you can't pursue creativity (or vice versa). He shares about how he's been able to fulfill both of these desires.

David is an inspiration to many in his community and beyond. And he does it all with a dose of humor and humility, which makes it easy for all of us to apply David's insights in our own lives.

You can learn more about David's endeavors here:

Ventana Surfboards & Supplies: https://www.instagram.com/ventanasurfboards/

David's TEDxSantaCruz talk: "Don't quit your day job": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlaZqdEiCbE