The Me-Suite

Your host, Donna Peters, learns much from this conversation with Court Wakefield, and you will too, no doubt.  Court is a non-binary parent, activist and co-host of the podcast, For Folx Sake.  Court helps us lean into our curiosity to cultivate more inclusive communities, personally and professionally.   We discuss real-life ways to build more diverse networks, to challenge our beliefs, to be more equitable, to get feedback on how we're doing.  And Court's fun!

Court's mission is to cultivate space where people can experience empathy and empowerment.

Court's core values are Personal Accountability and Justice.

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LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

Your host, Donna Peters, sits down with CEO and Co-Founder, Julien Emery.   Julien continually asks, "How do I improve?"  He shares the powerful role coaches have played in helping him grow personally and professionally. 

As a CEO and former professional ice hockey player, Julien looks to coaches to help him recognize fears and narratives that hold  him back.  We are all flawed humans.  He believes in the power of coaches to help us understand the 'software' running in our heads that we should change to grow.

As an entrepreneur steeped in VC experience, Julien teaches us to fall in love with the problem we're trying to solve and the people who have that problem.

Julien's core values are curiosity, growth and empathy.

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

You may know the top-selling book, All I Really Need  to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.   Here your host, Donna Peters, shares that Leadership is a mindset and a heartset...and all we really need to know about Leadership can be learned from Shakespeare's plays. 

In this 6-minute morsel of an episode, we share the ever-so-timely Leadership styles across Shaksespeare's most famous characters.  We take leadership lessons from his enduring, human stories and hold a mirror to our own tendencies.  We ask what type of leader are we being right now.   Be less like ____ and more like ____.

"My crown is in my heart, not on my head."  Henry VI Part III

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

Your host, Donna Peters, interviews healthcare venture capital expert, Prem Tumkosit.   Prem shares how he grew his career and his leadership style when others around didn't look like him.   This insightful, real talk includes:

• the moment Prem learned he made Fortune's 40 Under 40 list for 2020
• what it means to lead in the margins
• aligning decisions to your core values
• learning to surprise yourself
• thinking of life as drag

Prem's core values are: leave things better than you found them, start with love, let your passions come through, authenticity/integrity.

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

Your host, Donna Peters, interviews Isil Cayirli Ketenci from her home in Turkey.  Isil is a former professional tennis player.  Now a thought leader in the Future of Work and marketing executive, Isil reflects here on the criticality of adaptability and resilience.

In this episode, we touch on Mercer's 2020 Global Talent Trends.  We explore important topics such as bouncing back from losing, understanding mental health and keeping balance.  We discuss the growing needs around employee experience, cultural awareness, research/data, innovative thinking and equity.

Isil's core values are: respect/fairness, hardwork/learning/sharing, putting your hand up for opportunities, motivate and be motivated, copy the best practices (a value learned from Rafael Nadal).

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

Your host, Donna Peters, interviews Dr. Kyra Bobinet, an expert in the behavior neuroscience of habit formation.  She is the CEO of Fresh Tri and author of Well Designed Life: 10 Lessons in Brain Science and Design Thinking for a Mindful, Healthy & Purposeful Life.

We must change the way behavior change is done.  In this insightful episode, we learn:

• Iterators never fail.  Have an interation mindset versus a performance mindset
• Shame kills our goals.  The brain’s habenula and automaticity are so important to making it safe to try new things 
• Design-thinking should be applied to our own life.  Design your life or let it design you. 

Dr. Bobinet’s core values are: do no harm, compassion, curiosity.

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

Your host, Donna Peters, interviews mom, corporate executive and entrepreneur Lakshmi Natarajan.  Lakshmi  was asked by a mentor one day to draw a pie and carve out all the various slices of how she focuses her energy.  There was no pie slice for "me."  Lakshmi was fading as she balanced aggressive career goals, a dual-career marriage and motherhood. She had to make a change and shares with us here how she reset priorities and launched two businesses aligned to her core values: Excelador for business consulting and Travel Plus Them for families who wish to raise their children to be global citizens.

Donna and Lakshmi have a shared history.  They talk about some fun, head-shaking, eye-rolling experiences driving through the tough times together, what they learned, and how they came out the other side better for it.  Tip: don't have document version #101 and don't get fired by the client.

Lakshmi's core values are:
1) the people I love
2) growth in all aspects of life
3) experiencing the world

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

Your host, Donna Peters, sits down with author and physician, Dr. Doug Levine.  The topic is Hope--the why, what and how of Hope.  Dr. Doug teaches us that the future is malleable, and we can proactively influence change with the optimism of Hope.  Self-motivation and finding the spark are just the beginning of the wise reflections shared in this powerful 20 minutes.

Dr. Doug is a physician scientist and gastroenterologist.  Most recently, he has become a published fiction writer.  His latest work can be found in the anthology, Hope, published by the Association of Rhode Island Authors under the pseudonym, Abraham Simon.

Dr. Doug's core values are: The Golden Rule, Be in Service, Do Things as Well as You Can

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

I'm your host, Donna Peters.  I was the student teachers wanted in class.  I sat still.  I did my homework on time.  I participated without dominating.  I got straight A’s...A as in Always.  As a young learner, I colored inside the lines.  As a high schooler, I kept off the grass.  In college, I played to my strengths.

If ever offered time travel, I will start my do-over around 9th grade with one mantra: “Donna, make straight C’s. I know you can do this.”   I will pick topics because they are interesting, not because I can test well.  I will seek classes that intimidate me.  I will register for courses that people would find surprising.  

I will measure myself on a “growth card,” rather than on a report card.  Getting straight C’s will be the sweet spot on the growth card.  Straight C’s will symbolize how much I embraced learning something difficult.  How well I balanced taking a risk on something really new while applying the effort required to learn it.

And while I’m back there in time, I’ll also advise my younger self to keep the perm in the past, forego yellow and lighten up on the eyeliner.

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun

If you're entrepreneurial minded, invest in yourself and learn from this interview.  Your host, Donna Peters, interviews 10-time start-up founder, Bill Flynn.  Bill is the author of Further, Faster: The Vital Few Steps That Take the Guesswork Out Of Growth.  

BIll challenges us to think differently about entrepreneurship and growth:

• Anyone can start a company,  Not everyone should.
• Don't fall in love with your idea.  Fall in love with the problem you're trying to solve.
• Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of a cancer cell.
• Performance is a team sport.
• Cash is the primary metric.

Bill's business experience and conversations with 100+ CEOs have proven there's a gap between what science knows and what businesses do.  There are many things we get all wrong.  His valuable book, Further, Faster, is available free as a pdf.

Bill's core values are: health, mastery, sharing, fun and essentialism. 

www.the-me-suite.com
FB: @mesuite
LinkedIn: Donna Peters
Twitter: @DonnaPetersCMeO
*The Me-Suite podcast theme song by @Moshun