The Wisdom Behind the Words

In this episode of The Wisdom Behind the Words, DeeDee Kiesow and Kursten Faller explore how trust shapes our relationships, our work, and the opportunities we’re willing to pursue.

From business betrayals to a $700,000 house deal that began with a handshake, they share personal stories about the rewards and risks of trusting others. They discuss why conflict so often becomes personal, how to “play the ball, not the person,” and how attempts to protect ourselves can create barriers to meaningful collaboration.

A conversation about starting with trust, paying attention to behaviour, and deciding who deserves a closer place in your life.

What if the setback you’re dreading holds an opportunity you haven’t seen yet?

In this episode of Wisdom Behind the Words, Dee Dee Kiesow and Kursten Faller explore gratitude and why it can be most powerful when life gets difficult. Dee Dee shares the idea of “radical gratitude,” while Kursten explains how reframing challenges can build resilience, confidence, and a stronger sense of what’s possible.

From navigating AI and changing careers to saying no without guilt, they share personal stories about finding opportunity in unexpected places. They also reflect on how some of their toughest moments opened doors to their biggest growth.

Listen for practical ways to shift your perspective, recognize the choices you still have, and find something to be grateful for even before everything works out.

Are you helping people succeed? Or teaching them to wait for you to do everything?

In Episode 1-9 of The Wisdom Behind the Words, Dee Dee Kiesow and Kursten Faller explore ownership: why people avoid it, how leaders unintentionally take it away, and why accountability alone doesn’t create it.

Through real client challenges and a spontaneous fundraising idea that raised $9,000 in three minutes, they discuss how fear stalls action, how rescuing others can limit their growth, and how asking better questions helps people choose to step forward.

A practical conversation for leaders, entrepreneurs, and anyone who feels like they’re carrying the whole team.

What happens when the story in your head feels like a fact?

In this episode of Wisdom Behind the Words, DeeDee and Kursten explore how assumptions shape our relationships, decisions, and opportunities. A sigh becomes “he’s angry with me.” A promising opportunity becomes “I’m not good enough.” Sometimes those stories create conflict or hold us back before we’ve checked whether they’re true.

Through stories from work and family life, they discuss a practical way to pause: ask what evidence supports your assumption, what evidence challenges it, and whether a direct conversation could clear things up. You may discover a very different explanation or an opportunity you hadn’t considered.

Comparison can make us feel like we're falling behind or it can give us exactly the perspective we need.

In this episode of The Wisdom Behind the Words, Dee Dee Kiesow and Kursten Faller explore both sides of comparison. From the carefully manufactured lives we see on social media to careers, investing, mistakes, and everyday frustrations, we often compare our messy reality to someone else's polished highlight reel.

But comparison doesn't have to work against us.

Kursten shares how he uses comparison as a coaching tool to help people zoom out, put difficult moments into context, and recognize how often things have worked out before. Dee Dee explores the other side: what happens when comparison pulls us away from appreciating where we are and who we already are.

Their conversation ultimately lands on gratitude, perspective, and authenticity and why trying to become someone else may be one of the most stressful things we can do.

Sometimes the answer isn't to stop comparing. It's to change what you're comparing yourself to.

Perfectionism can look like a commitment to excellence, but beneath it often lies something far less productive: fear.

In this episode of Wisdom Behind the Words, Dee Dee and Kursten explore how perfectionism creates suffering, fuels procrastination—and even “precrastination”—and keeps people from taking the very actions that would help them grow. They share personal stories about childhood expectations, forgotten auction bids, last-minute philosophy papers, failed tomato crops and the consequences of repeatedly rescuing others from discomfort.

The conversation ultimately turns to a more useful way forward: take the first step, accept that you will not be great at everything immediately and give yourself, and others, the space to learn through experience.

Because the greatest discomfort often comes in the moment before you move. Once you begin, it gets easier.

Fear doesn’t always look like fear. Sometimes it looks like procrastination, avoidance, overthinking or staying quiet when something needs to be said.

In this episode of Wisdom Behind the Words, DeeDee and Kursten explore how fear shapes our choices, consumes our energy and keeps us from becoming who we’re capable of being. DeeDee shares how she calmly confronted a bully after months of carrying the stress, while Kursten explains how to recalibrate fear by considering alternative outcomes and shifting your attention from threat to opportunity.

They also discuss the Rule of Three: the first time you face something uncomfortable is usually the hardest, the second is easier and, by the third, you’re building real capability.

The goal isn’t to eliminate fear before acting. It’s to act despite it and gradually move from fear, to opportunity, and ultimately to gratitude for the growth the challenge creates.

What separates simply repeating something from truly mastering it?

In this episode of Wisdom Behind the Words, Kursten Faller and DeeDee Kiesow explore how intentional practice develops real capability. They discuss why repetition alone isn’t enough—and how feedback, reflection, adjustment, and the willingness to remain uncomfortable help us move from basic competence toward mastery.

Whether you’re developing a new skill, leading others, or working to perform at a higher level, this conversation will change how you think about practice and progress.

If your strategy sits untouched on a shelf, it has already failed.

Kursten and Dee Dee challenge the traditional idea that strategy is a detailed, long-term plan. They explore why effective strategy must be flexible, how fear and “best practices” keep organizations stuck, and why thinking differently matters more than having the most money or resources.

From the Wright brothers to a fundraising event that grew from $30,000 to more than $200,000, this episode shows what becomes possible when you stop planning for certainty and start moving with purpose

Empathy is often mistaken for pity, kindness or simply being a good listener. But real empathy means understanding someone well enough to act in their best interests, even when that requires saying something they may not want to hear.

Kursten and Dee Dee explore the emotional, experiential and intellectual dimensions of empathy, the difference between empathy and manipulation, and why genuinely caring for others also requires boundaries, courage and a willingness to accept value in return.