The Vertical Climb

"So tell me, Andre, do you think he heard you?" One question in a car started a 20-year journey for an airline CEO.Sandra Viljoen and Margot Vannelet sit down with Andre Viljoen, CEO of Air Mauritius, former CEO of Fiji Airways and South African Airways, and Sandra's husband. He is refreshingly honest about his blind spots: the Type 8 need for control, the "tormentorship" he once wore with pride, and what happened when he first showed his team some vulnerability.In this episode:→ How one blind spot made meetings silent and the corridors loud→ "Are you a man or a mouse?": where the need for control came from→ How a leader's blind spots shape the whole culture→ The engineer nobody listened to, and what changed the same day→ "The problem is you": Andre's first coaching session→ Value-based leadership and the courage to speak up

📖 Mentioned: SOAR, the Fiji Airways special edition by Shashank Nigam →

Fiji Airways features in leading publication titled SOAR | Fiji Airways

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome to The Vertical Climb

00:45 Introducing Andre Viljoen

02:53 Sandra and Andre: 25 years together

04:16 From the army to chartered accountant to airline CE

O05:49 What makes a national airline different

07:37 Today's topic: blind spots

09:12 "Leadership is tormentorship"

10:28 "Do you think he heard you?": a wake-up call in the car

13:13 How Sandra and Andre first met

18:49 Discovering the Type 8 need for control

20:28 "Are you a man or a mouse?"

24:30 Showing vulnerability, and overcorrecting

28:47 The four domains of systemic development

32:16 How a leader's blind spots shape the whole organisation

37:43 Listening to the front line: the VIP meet & greet

41:00 Women's Day: the engineer nobody heard

43:04 "I don't have time": why CEOs skip the inner work

45:40 One big thing: practising like an Olympian

50:04 The leader as a coach

51:38 "The problem is you": Andre's first coaching session

55:17 For leaders who keep avoiding their blind spots

58:18 Self-mastery is the starting point

1:01:35 Your thinking drives your behaviour

1:04:39 Fiji Airways: standing alongside the giants

1:05:56 Andre's aspiration for Air Mauritius

1:07:12 Value-based leadership and the courage to speak up

⭐ What's the blind spot your team sees, but you don't? Follow, rate and share with a leader who needs it.

Season 1: Conscious and Systemic Leadership

◀️ Previous: 1.3, Enneagram & Shadow Work with Waiman Ip Min Wan

▶️ Next: 1.5, Tough vs Nice Leadership with Anthony Leung Shing

▶️ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dr46GFgFf98

🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vertical-climb-1-4-leading-beyond-our-blind-spots/id6826218493?i=1000798471735

ABOUT NEW BEGINNINGS & SYSTEMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Vertical Climb is produced by New Beginnings, a Mauritius-based practice specialising in systemic leadership development and executive coaching for leaders and teams. Its Systemic Development Framework helps CEOs, executive teams and HR leaders transform leadership and culture, starting at the top and cascading through the organisation, across four pillars: Self-Mastery, Relational Mastery, Leadership Mastery and Systemic Integration. Because it's not systemic if you don't develop yourself first.

🌱 New Beginnings: https://newb.mu

🧭 Systemic Development: https://systemicdevelopment.com

🌐 The Vertical Climb: https://theverticalclimb.com

You can't see the frame of your own glasses while you'rewearing them. That's what a blind spot is, and it's exactly where the Enneagramhelps.

📄 Free resources from this episode:

Personal Inquiry Programme: https://newb.mu/personal-inquiry

In episode 3 of The Vertical Climb, Sandra Viljoen and MargotVannelet open the fourth portal, Shadows, with Waiman Ip Min Wan, NewBeginnings' Enneagram specialist and personal inquiry coach.

Before Waiman joins, Sandra and Margot turn the lens onthemselves: how their own Enneagram types have been showing up while makingthis very podcast. Then Waiman explains the Enneagram in plain language,without boxes or jargon, and shows how it becomes a practical tool for shadowwork.

In this episode:

→ Why the Enneagram is a mirror, not a box

→ The childhood unmet need that drives every personality type

→ How to move from living a pattern to actually seeing it

→ What shadow work really is, and why waking up is only stepone

→ Head, heart and body: the three centres, plus wings, arrowsand instincts

→ Persona vs essence: what your personality keeps hidden

→ The leader who couldn't stop proving himself, and whatchanged when he saw it

→ The shadow of a team, and of a whole organisation

→ The nine types, their core beliefs and their"passions"

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it willdirect your life and you will call it fate." (Carl Jung, shared by Waiman)

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome to The Vertical Climb

00:46 Opening the fourth portal: Shadows

04:27 When you analyse everything

05:55 Our own blind spots while making this podcast

10:26 Margot: a Type 3 and the fear of not being enough

18:50 Meet Waiman Ip Min Wan

22:17 What is the Enneagram? Seeing the frame of your glasses

25:54 The childhood unmet need behind every type

29:20 From living the pattern to seeing it

32:25 What shadow work really is

34:56 Head, heart and body: the three centres

37:38 Wings, arrows and instincts: why it is not a box

43:32 Persona vs essence

44:56 Curious but cautious: the Enneagram at work

46:51 Inside the New Beginnings Personal Inquiry

50:13 Childhood trauma does not have to be big

53:39 The leader who had to keep proving himself

57:53 Healing, coaching and "waking down"

1:02:34 The shadow of a team and an organisation

1:03:39 The nine types and their core beliefs

1:06:46 The passions of each type

1:15:21 Team Discovery: the Enneagram on the floor

1:23:50 Healthy and unhealthy versions of each type

1:26:02 If this makes you uncomfortable

1:26:57 Closing words: facing the shadow

⭐ Which pattern keeps showing up in your life? Follow theshow, rate it and share it with a leader who needs it.

ABOUT THE VERTICAL CLIMB

A podcast about the inner journey of leadership: honestconversations with CEOs, business leaders, HR professionals and coaches aboutthe moments and beliefs that shaped the people behind the titles.

Season One: Conscious and Systemic Leadership

◀️ Previous episode: 1.2, The 7 Portals of Personal Growth

▶️ Next episode: 1.4, Leading Beyond Our Blind Spots withAndre Viljoen

▶️ Watch on YouTube: The Vertical Climb 1.3 | Enneagram & Shadow Work | Waiman Ip Min Wan

🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vertical-climb-1-3-enneagram-shadow-work-waiman/id6826218493?i=1000798465083

ABOUT NEW BEGINNINGS & SYSTEMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Vertical Climb is produced by New Beginnings, aMauritius-based practice specialising in systemic leadership development andexecutive coaching for leaders and teams. Its Systemic Development Frameworkhelps CEOs, executive teams and HR leaders transform leadership and culture,starting at the top and cascading through the organisation, across fourpillars: Self-Mastery, Relational Mastery, Leadership Mastery and SystemicIntegration. Because it's not systemic if you don't develop yourself first.

🌱 New Beginnings: https://newb.mu

🧭 Systemic Development:https://systemicdevelopment.com🌐 The Vertical Climb:https://theverticalclimb.com

We don't need more knowledge. AI already has that. What leaders need now is more awareness, and there are 7 doors to it.

🎁 Free download: the 7 Portals of Growth map → https://theverticalclimb.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Herosjourney.pdf

"I'm perfectly fine. Everything's fine in my life. Why should I evolve?"

It's the question coaches hear most from successful leaders. In this episode of The Vertical Climb, Sandra Viljoen and Margot Vannelet answer it with the framework they use with CEOs and executive teams: the 7 Portals of Personal Growth. Each portal is a different kind of awareness. Step through one, and the same meeting, the same conflict, the same person look completely different.

In this episode:

→ Why "everything's fine" is the moment most leaders stop growing

→ How to hold two opposite perspectives at once, and why every executive has to

→ The shadows that quietly run your behaviour, and how the Enneagram exposes them

→ How masculine and feminine energies shape your leadership and your culture

→ What happens when a life change knocks you back to an earlier stage of development

→ Why you can get lost in one portal, and how to choose where to start

→ The 10 kinds of awareness school never taught you

→ A 5-step practice for the next time you're triggered: see it, name it, own it, hold it, regulate it

"As you grow, the suffering is deeper… but we also feel happiness more intensely."

Listen to the end for the free map, then ask yourself: which portals have I already opened, and which are still waiting for me?

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome to The Vertical Climb

00:52 Back for episode two: the courage to share your story

03:56 Why should leaders evolve?

05:13 Sandra: growing on purpose, and what changed at 30

07:37 Margot: when my mother started questioning everything

10:38 Evolution as a law of nature

14:04 How your mindset changes your experience of the world

17:27 What are the 7 portals?

20:08 Portal 2: Perspectives & NLP

24:23 Holding opposite perspectives at the same time

25:59 Portal 3: Seeing the systems we live in

30:02 Portal 4: Shadows & the Enneagram

33:48 Portal 5: Masculine & feminine energies

39:38 Portal 6: Stages of development & the Hero's Journey

44:05 Sliding back a stage: Sandra's move from Fiji

48:01 Portal 7: States of consciousness

53:09 Margot's Vipassana story

57:18 Getting lost in one portal

1:01:31 Where should you start?

1:04:01 The 10 awarenesses schools don't teach

1:09:04 The leader you can become

1:14:24 The 5-step dance: see it, name it, own it, hold it, regulate it

1:18:49 Your free 7 Portals map & what's next

⭐ If this episode opened a door for you, follow the show, leave a rating and share it with a leader who needs it.

ABOUT THE VERTICAL CLIMB

A podcast about the inner journey of leadership: honest conversations with CEOs, business leaders, HR professionals and coaches about the moments and beliefs that shaped the people behind the titles.

Season One: Conscious and Systemic Leadership

◀️ Previous episode: 1.1, What is The Vertical Climb?

▶️ Next: we dive into each of the 7 portals, with guests and real use cases.

▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/luasuiO4ga4

🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vertical-climb-1-2-the-7-portals-of/id6826218493?i=1000798207563

ABOUT NEW BEGINNINGS & SYSTEMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Vertical Climb is produced by New Beginnings, a Mauritius-based practice specialising in systemic leadership development and executive coaching for leaders and teams. Its Systemic Development Framework helps CEOs, executive teams and HR leaders transform leadership and culture, starting at the top and cascading through the organisation, across four pillars: Self-Mastery, Relational Mastery, Leadership Mastery and Systemic Integration. Because it's not systemic if you don't develop yourself first.

🌱 New Beginnings: https://newb.mu

🧭 Systemic Development: https://systemicdevelopment.com🌐 The Vertical Climb: https://theverticalclimb.com

Leadership is not simply about what we do. It is about who we become.

In the first episode of The Vertical Climb, Sandra Viljoen, Managing Director of New Beginnings Coaching, shares the story behind the podcast: the hardest decision of her life, losing the title she thought was her identity, and the long climb back to herself that became New Beginnings.

She opens up about the "good girl" who lived to please, the drop from "role model to toilet roll", and the shadow of needing to be needed. She explains the four methodologies behind her Systemic Development Framework, and why years of training organisations led her to one conclusion: every business problem is a leadership problem.

Also in this episode: the three directors who avoided one honest conversation, the CEO who couldn't find 10 minutes in the shower for himself, and why, in the age of AI, our consciousness may be the one thing machines can't replace.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome to The Vertical Climb

01:17 Meet Sandra & the Systemic Development Framework

03:27 Where did Sandra's evolution start?

05:55 The hardest decision I ever made

12:01 Starting over: who am I without the title?

15:16 The doctor who changed everything & how New Beginnings began

21:30 From role model to toilet roll

23:28 The need to be needed: meeting my shadow

26:07 The four methodologies, starting with Neuro-Semantics

29:12 The Enneagram & the jacket we wear

34:16 Persona vs essence

37:38 Why growth takes you to dark places

39:41 "We can never do, we can only become"

40:32 Systemic team coaching & vertical development

42:40 Why training doesn't stick: every business problem is a leadership problem

44:41 Why leaders blame the system

47:22 Three directors & the conversation they avoided

53:13 Image management at work and at home

55:28 The CEO and the 10-minute shower

57:57 Why evolving matters in the age of AI

1:00:21 Fleas in a jar: breaking out of cultural limits

1:03:44 The seven portals of awareness

1:05:27 What's next for The Vertical Climb

ABOUT THE VERTICAL CLIMB

A podcast about the inner journey of leadership: honest conversations with CEOs, business leaders, HR professionals and coaches about the moments and beliefs that shaped the people behind the titles.

Season One: Conscious and Systemic Leadership

Next episode: 1.2, The 7 Portals of Personal Growth

▶️ Watch on YouTube: ⁠https://youtu.be/QVk4B34jkdM

🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vertical-climb-1-1-who-are-you-without-the/id6826218493?i=1000797772135

ABOUT NEW BEGINNINGS & SYSTEMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Vertical Climb is produced by New Beginnings, a Mauritius-based practice specialising in systemic leadership development and executive coaching for leaders and teams. Its Systemic Development Framework helps CEOs, executive teams and HR leaders transform leadership and culture, starting at the top and cascading through the organisation, across four pillars: Self-Mastery, Relational Mastery, Leadership Mastery and Systemic Integration. Because it's not systemic if you don't develop yourself first.

🌐︎ The Vertical Climb: www.theverticalclimb.com

🌐︎ New Beginnings Coaching: www.newb.mu

🌐︎ Systemic Development: www.systemicdevelopment.com