The Becoming Podcast

The best teams don’t fail because they lack talent. They fail when leaders stop listening, communication breaks down, and people lose something to believe in.

In this episode of The Becoming Podcast, Otiri Enathy sits down with David Lengyel, founder of VentureUp and a leadership, communication, and team performance expert with more than 40 years of experience across Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations, military units, schools, and small businesses.

Having worked with more than 500,000 participants and thousands of teams, David shares why putting talented people together doesn’t automatically create a high-performing team—and why leadership often requires something harder than expertise: letting go of control.

You’ll discover:

• Why leadership begins with managing yourself before managing others

• The three things every team needs: something to work on, something to believe in, and something to look forward to

• How small cracks in fairness, clarity, and trust can gradually lead to disengagement

• Why communication is really about creating informed action, not simply sharing information

• How unclear communication causes people to fill in the gaps with assumptions

• Why some of the best ideas can come from the people leaders are most likely to overlook

• What new managers need to understand about consistency, accountability, and playing the long game

David also explains why people can leave a team emotionally long before they leave physically—and why perks, free lunches, and comfortable workplaces cannot replace pride, ownership, meaningful challenges, and belief in the mission.

As AI becomes increasingly capable of analyzing information and generating solutions, David argues that human judgment, emotional intelligence, collaboration, and the ability to see situations from different perspectives will become even more important. He shares a fascinating example of AI struggling with a team-building puzzle that a person could solve in minutes.

This episode is for leaders, managers, founders, and professionals who want to build stronger teams, communicate with greater clarity, create genuine ownership, and understand what it really takes to lead people effectively in an increasingly automated world.

Connect with David and explore VentureUp’s leadership and professional development resources at ventureup.com.

Your business can grow, your team can expand, and your revenue can rise, yet you can still end up with less freedom than ever.

If every decision, question, and problem still comes back to you, you may be stuck in the messy middle.

Award-winning business coach and author Tim Campsall explains why the strategies that built your business can eventually become the very systems holding it back.

Drawing on more than 20 years of experience leading businesses and coaching executives, Tim reveals the often-overlooked stage between early growth and true scale—when a company has outgrown its owner's capacity, knowledge, and operating system.

In this conversation, you'll discover:

• The three stages of business growth: early growth, the messy middle, and scale

• The warning signs that your business is becoming dangerously dependent on you

• Why adding more people can create more questions instead of solving the problem

• Tim's essential principle: process before people

• How to get the knowledge in your head into documented processes, SOPs, and training

• Why allowing employees to make mistakes may be necessary to build a capable leadership team

• How to calculate the real cost of spending your time on low-value tasks

• The mindset shifts required to move from day-to-day operator to strategic business owner

• How imposter syndrome, money beliefs, and self-doubt can quietly limit your growth

Tim also shares a surprising lesson he continues to learn in his own business: coaching others through their blind spots can be easier than recognizing those same patterns in yourself.

The path out of the messy middle isn't simply working harder. It's learning to work differently—building accountability, documenting what works, developing your people, and becoming the next version of yourself as an owner.

If your business looks successful from the outside but feels exhausting behind the scenes, this conversation offers a clear diagnosis and practical first steps.

Listen to the end for Tim's three actions every overwhelmed business owner can begin today, including his free Messy Middle Assessment.

Learn more at themessymiddleguy.com.

What if the story you repeat about yourself is quietly directing your entire life?

If you feel trapped in the same patterns, Jerry Levin offers a powerful place to begin: examine the belief beneath the behavior, then consider whether the inner story you’ve been carrying is still serving the life you want to create.

Retired pharmacology professor, former licensed massage therapist, and author Jerry Levin joins host Otiri Enathy on The Becoming Podcast for a fascinating conversation about science, spirituality, identity, and personal transformation.

Jerry shares the unexpected journey that took him from pharmacology and academia into massage therapy, writing, and deeper spiritual inquiry—and how each chapter of his life prepared him for the work he is doing today.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why Jerry believes we are spiritual beings having a human experience

• His perspective on the surprising parallels he sees between spiritual teachings and ideas from quantum physics

• Why naming a condition is not necessarily the same as understanding what lies beneath it

• How the stories we tell ourselves can become internal scripts that influence our choices and repeated behaviors

• The first question to ask when you can't seem to change an unwanted pattern

• How affirmations can help challenge limiting beliefs and reinforce beliefs that support your goals

• What happens when we begin questioning the identity and narratives we've accepted about ourselves

Jerry also shares the inspiration behind his book, Affirm Yourself: 15 Principles to Retrain the Voice in Your Head, and discusses his forthcoming work, Storylosis, which explores how personal narratives can become the scripts we live by.

Drawing from decades in pharmacology, hands-on experience as a massage therapist, and a deep interest in the relationship between science and spirituality, Jerry brings a unique perspective to one of the most important questions we can ask:

Are we really changing our lives—or simply repeating the story we've been telling ourselves?

This conversation is for anyone questioning their direction, struggling with recurring patterns, or wondering whether meaningful change begins not with forcing new behavior, but with challenging the story beneath it.

Listen for a reflective and practical invitation to see yourself, your purpose, and your possibilities differently.

Find Jerry's work at jerrylevinauthor.com and look for Affirm Yourself on Amazon.

What happens when the faith you were taught no longer makes sense in the middle of your pain?

In this powerful and deeply honest conversation, Jeff Dalton shares his journey through depression, rejection, mental health struggles, divorce, financial loss, disappointment with the Church, and a season when he questioned whether God even existed.

Jeff opens up about how years of feeling rejected and “not good enough” by churches and Christian leaders eventually affected the way he saw himself and his relationship with Jesus. But after spending years feeling distant from God, he found his way back by returning to the Gospels and rediscovering something he had nearly forgotten: Jesus wants all of us—not just the polished, religious version of ourselves.

We talk about what it means to have a real and unfiltered relationship with Jesus, why Christians should be able to bring their doubts, anger, fears, grief, and pain to God, and the damaging stigma surrounding mental illness in some Christian communities.

Jeff also shares how poetry became a way for him to express the deepest parts of his heart and eventually led to his book, Expressions of the Heart: Poems and Devotionals.

If you've ever felt rejected, spiritually distant, broken, ashamed, or like you had to pretend that everything was fine, this conversation is a reminder that you don't have to hide from Jesus.

Real faith isn't pretending to be perfect. It's being completely honest with Jesus in the middle of your mess and pain.

📖 Get Jeff's book, Expressions of the Heart: Poems and Devotionals: https://a.co/d/08VZox7l

Confidence does not mean eliminating nervousness. It means learning to interpret nervous energy as excitement, prepare with purpose, and use it to connect with the people listening.

In this episode of The Becoming Podcast, Otiri Enathy sits down with Peter George, public speaking coach, professional speaker, and six-time award-winning author of The Captivating Public Speaker. Peter has trained more than 120,000 professionals across 50+ countries, but his journey began with a speech challenge that caused him to avoid speaking at school and in public.

Peter shares how what once felt like a weakness became the foundation of a decades-long career helping people communicate with greater calm, confidence, and credibility.

In this conversation, you'll discover:

• Why informing an audience isn't enough—and how to make people think, feel, or act differently

• The biggest mistake knowledgeable speakers make when they focus on themselves instead of their audience

• How to reframe pre-speech nerves as an adrenaline rush

• How diaphragmatic breathing can help you stay grounded before speaking

• Why confidence comes from competence and how consistent practice builds both

• Why memorizing a presentation word for word can actually make you more likely to forget

• How researching your audience helps you create talks that feel personal and relevant

• Why clear communication can increase your impact, influence, and professional value

Peter also reflects on more than 40 years of speaking and coaching, the empathy his journey has developed, and why you don't have to wait until you feel completely ready to use your voice.

If you're a professional, leader, entrepreneur, student, or simply someone who knows you have something meaningful to say, this episode will help you communicate with greater clarity and confidence.

Connect with Peter George and learn more about The Captivating Public Speaker at PeterGeorgePublicSpeaking.com.

What if your “yes” isn’t really a choice, but a reflex?

Award-winning author and PARQS Framework creator Elaina Kelly Smith joins Otiri Enathy on The Becoming Podcast for a powerful conversation about breaking free from autopilot, rebuilding self-trust, and learning to make choices that actually reflect who you are.

Elaina shares the deeply personal moment when her therapist asked, “What does Elaina want?”—and she realized she didn’t know how to answer. That question became the beginning of a journey from constantly fixing, doing, and meeting expectations for others to becoming a more intentional decision-maker.

In this conversation, Elaina explains how automatic “yeses” can create what she calls remote control living, where we move through life responding to expectations instead of making conscious choices.

You’ll discover:

- How to recognize when you’re living on autopilot

- The simple “actually” pause that creates space to identify what you really want

- Why high achievement can coexist with disconnection and low self-trust

- How the PARQS Framework can help you make more intentional decisions

- Practical tools for managing anxiety and pressure

- How to turn obligations into empowered choices instead of sources of resentment

- Why fulfillment doesn’t require abandoning your responsibilities—it requires bringing your choice into them

Elaina and Otiri also explore identity, purpose, people-pleasing, self-acceptance, and what it means to become more fully yourself.

If you’ve spent years meeting expectations while losing touch with your own voice, this episode offers a powerful place to begin:

What do I actually want?

Learn more and download Elaina’s free First Steps Kit at parqs.com.

At 13, Ayis Caperonis was given a 30% chance of surviving experimental brain surgery. He survived—but was told he might never walk unaided, return to school, work, or live a normal life.

What followed was another battle: a 20-year struggle with clinical depression.

In this powerful conversation, Ayis shares what happened after the “miracle” of survival and how he learned to keep moving forward when motivation disappeared and the future felt hopeless. He opens up about the rehabilitation experience that changed his perspective and the everyday practices that became anchors during his darkest seasons—including physiotherapy, family, nutrition, sleep, laughter, music, faith, and human connection.

You’ll discover:

• What clinical depression can feel like from the inside, beyond common misconceptions

• How to take the next step when hope and motivation are gone

• Why changing your goals can be an act of resilience rather than defeat

• How family, friendship, and compassionate support can help without creating pressure

• The role faith played in Ayis’s recovery and how surrender helped him keep going

• Why progress can take years—and why a relapse does not erase everything you’ve achieved

Ayis also shares how he completed school with honors, competed in varsity swimming despite lasting physical challenges, met his wife, and built the family life he once feared might be impossible.

His story is not a promise of instant recovery. It is an honest reminder that your future can still change, even when your present feels closed off.

Ayis Caperonis is a brain tumor survivor, author, husband, and father of three. In his book Staring Down Depression, he shares lessons from his firsthand experience with depression, offering practical encouragement without presenting himself as a therapist.

If you are struggling to keep going, supporting someone with depression, or learning how to rebuild after adversity, this episode offers a message worth holding onto:

Change your goals if you must. Accept help. Look toward the future. And never give up.

What if the moment your life falls apart is the moment God finally gets your attention?

After his second divorce, Eli Brackenbury discovered an unexpected peace in the middle of chaos—and experienced a spiritual awakening at 50 that changed the way he understood faith, identity, purpose, and surrender.

In this honest conversation with host Otiri Enathy, Eli shares how a chance encounter with Scripture on TikTok, followed by an ordinary moment over a cup of coffee, became the beginning of a radically renewed faith.

His story speaks to anyone experiencing grief, spiritual dryness, midlife uncertainty, or the exhaustion of trying to control everything alone.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why spiritual transformation can begin when you stop performing and start becoming present

• The difference between religious performance and a genuine relationship with God

• How spiritual dryness can become an invitation to pause, listen, and reconsider what you believe

• Why asking God for help is not weakness, especially for men conditioned to solve everything themselves

• How surrender can release the identities, burdens, and expectations you were never meant to carry

• Practical advice for taking your first step toward God when you feel unworthy, uncertain, or spiritually disconnected

Eli and Otiri also explore the beliefs that shape our identities, the pressure to have everything figured out, and what happens when we finally allow ourselves to let go of control.

Eli shares how divorce, grief, brokenness, and renewed faith ultimately led him to a deeper understanding of who he is and what it means to walk with God.

Eli Brackenbury is a writer, father, and EHS professional and the author of Finding God at 50, a book about spiritual transformation in the second half of life.

His story offers a powerful reminder: you are never too old, too broken, or too far away to begin again.

If you've ever asked, “Is there more than this?” or felt spiritually disconnected but unsure how to find your way back, this episode is for you.

Listen for an intimate conversation about surrendering control, discovering the identity God created in you, and becoming a source of peace and hope for someone else.

Learn more about Eli and his work at EliBrackenbury.com.

What happens when the business you built for freedom becomes the very thing that takes your freedom away?

In this episode of The Becoming Podcast, Otiri Enathy sits down with Peter Boolkah, creator of The Hamster Wheel Trap® and bestselling author of YOUR BUSINESS SUCKS, for a candid conversation about the hidden cost of business success.

Peter has spent more than 20 years helping founders build businesses that work without them. Drawing on more than 60,000 hours of experience working with businesses across five continents, he explains why many entrepreneurs don't actually own a business—they own a demanding job inside one.

When every decision depends on you, every customer needs you, and every problem lands on your desk, growth can become a trap rather than a path to freedom.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What The Hamster Wheel Trap® is and how to recognize when you're caught in it

• Why successful founders often become the biggest bottleneck in their own businesses

• Why increasing revenue doesn't necessarily create greater freedom

• How founder dependency can limit growth and reduce enterprise value

• Why systems and leadership teams are essential for building a founder-independent business

• How to start stepping away from being involved in every decision

• The difference between simply building revenue and building a valuable, sustainable company

• Why the business you build should ultimately create freedom—not consume your life

Peter also shares lessons from working with founders across multiple industries and explains why one of the biggest mindset shifts an entrepreneur can make is learning to stop being indispensable.

This conversation challenges a common definition of business success. More revenue, a bigger team, and a growing company mean very little if the founder has less freedom, more stress, and no ability to step away.

If you've ever wondered why your business seems to need you for everything, this episode will help you see the problem differently—and identify the first steps toward changing it.

The question Peter wants every founder to ask is simple:

Does my business work for me, or do I work for my business?

About Peter BoolkahPeter Boolkah is the creator of The Hamster Wheel Trap®, bestselling author of YOUR BUSINESS SUCKS – Build a Business That Works Without Destroying Your Life, and a founder freedom expert.

With more than 20 years of experience and over 60,000 coaching hours, Peter helps entrepreneurs build businesses that don't depend on them for every decision, customer, or problem.

His work focuses on founder independence, business systems, leadership, enterprise value, and creating companies that can operate successfully without the founder at the center of everything.

If you're a founder, entrepreneur, business owner, or leader who wants to build a business that creates freedom rather than consumes it, this conversation is for you.

If you feel successful on the outside but stuck on the inside, this conversation is your wake-up call.

Kayla Mowery shares how losing her job forced her to confront a powerful question: “Is this it?” That moment became the beginning of her journey out of autopilot, away from external expectations, and toward a life rooted in purpose and alignment.

As the founder of Ever Rising Coaching, Kayla opens up about the chaos of trying to survive by doing everything at once—from content creation and psychic mediumship work to writing franchise manuals—and how constantly scrambling kept her in the passenger seat of her own life.

What followed was a powerful reset: redefining what purpose really means, understanding why fulfillment has more to do with alignment than originality, and recognizing how scarcity thinking can quietly keep us trapped in lives we've already outgrown.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• How to recognize when you're living on autopilot before burnout makes the decision for you

• Why purpose isn't about being the first, most unique, or most original

• The difference between your essence and your expression

• How labels like “introvert” and phrases like “I have to” can shrink your choices

• Why courage comes before confidence—and why small steps can matter more than giant leaps

• The practical first move to make when you know something feels off but don't know what to do next

Kayla and host Otiri Enathy also unpack the beliefs that keep people stuck in survival mode, the internal narratives that distort what feels possible, and the process of reconnecting with the things that once made you feel alive.

From dance and creativity to deep self-inquiry and shadow work, this episode offers direct, practical insight for anyone ready to make a meaningful change.

If you've ever looked at your life and quietly wondered, “Is this really the life I want?”, this conversation is for you.

This episode is especially valuable for women who are ready to stop living by everyone else's script and start making intentional decisions—one courageous step at a time.

About Kayla MoweryKayla Mowery is a certified professional coach and founder of Ever Rising Coaching, where she helps women rediscover their purpose, passions, and values and move beyond autopilot. Her work focuses on identifying the beliefs that hold people back and taking aligned action toward a more intentional life.