What’s Possible w. Ilene Schaffer

How do you find your own style? For an artist, it might show up in a brushstroke, a color palette, or the way someone recognizes your work from across the street. For a leader, it shows up in how you communicate, make decisions, build trust, and stay aligned with your values.

In this What’s Possible in the Moment mini episode, Ilene Schaffer sits down with her brother, artist Bradford Brenner, to explore what the creative process can teach us about finding our authentic leadership style.

You’ll hear about:

• Why your unique style may emerge when you stop trying so hard to define it
• How comparison can pull you away from your own voice
• What leaders can learn from artists, musicians, and creative experimentation
• Why “failure” is often just information that helps your style evolve
• How role models can inspire you without becoming people you imitate
• Why authenticity means staying true to your values while still allowing yourself to grow

If you are a leader, coach, creative, or anyone trying to understand what makes your voice uniquely yours, this conversation is a reminder that style is not about perfection, it's about becoming more fully yourself.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

AI may be changing how work gets done, but many of the leadership challenges it exposes are not new. In this episode of What’s Possible, Ilene Schaffer sits down with RLD Group CEO Lisa Duerre to unpack applied research based on interviews with 25 executives across functions including product, engineering, HR, IT, legal, marketing, and sales.

The research revealed three root drivers of organizational fragmentation: silos, a lack of explorer mindset, and underdesigned conversations and collaboration. Lisa explains why AI is amplifying each of them. Which is increasing the need for shared clarity, stronger cross-functional coordination, and leaders who are willing to stay curious as the landscape continues to change.

Ilene and Lisa also explore the pressure leaders feel to move faster, why “there’s no time to slow down” can become a costly mindset, and how nervous system regulation, intentional conversations, and even one generative question can help leaders move out of protect mode and back toward innovation.

Along the way, Lisa introduces RLD Group’s I|WE|US leadership lens and offers a practical way for leaders to examine how they, their teams, and their larger organizations are working with AI.

This conversation is for leaders who want to move faster without sacrificing thoughtful decision-making, collaboration, well-being, or the human systems required for sustainable performance.

Learn more:

Lisa Duerre https://www.lisaduerre.com/
RLD Group https://rldgroupllc.com
AI Leadership Alignment https://rldgroupllc.com/ai-leadership-alignment
CONVERSATIONS WORTH HAVING® https://rldgroupllc.com/ai-conversations-guide

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

In this In the Moment episode of What's Possible, Ilene Schaffer talks with author and presentation expert Nancy Ancowitz about how to show up with more confidence, presence, and authenticity on Zoom and other video platforms.

Drawing from her book Zoom to Success: Present Like a Pro, Nancy shares practical tips for making virtual communication feel more natural. Nancy encourages listeners to reframe fear as excitement and remember that presenting is not about being judged, it is about offering something of value.

Whether you are leading a meeting, giving a presentation, interviewing for a job, or simply trying to feel more comfortable on camera, this short conversation offers practical ways to trust yourself, make every word count, and bring more of yourself into the room.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

In this episode of What’s Possible, Ilene Schaffer sits down with executive coach, facilitator, speaker, author, and founder of Lead Well Work Well, Shannon Polly, for a warm and practical conversation about human connection.

Shannon, one of the first graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology program, brings her background in coaching, facilitation, performance, and positive psychology to explore what connection really looks like. From small moments with strangers to deeper relationships with colleagues, friends, and family.

Ilene and Shannon discuss why connection is essential for well-being, leadership, resilience, and belonging. They explore micro-moments of connection, loneliness, vulnerability, asking for help, active constructive responding, open-ended questions, and the ways perfectionism can quietly block deeper relationships.

This conversation is especially relevant for leaders, coaches, teams, and anyone who wants to feel more connected in a world where many of us are moving quickly, working behind screens, and trying to do too much alone.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

In this episode of What’s Possible, Ilene Schaffer sits down with HR executive Jen Feri for an honest and deeply reflective conversation about work, grief, alignment, and what it means to honor yourself.

Jen shares the story of being in a role that looked like a dream job on paper, while privately realizing that the culture and environment were no longer a fit. When her father entered hospice, the stillness of those final days became a catalyst for clarity. Jen began asking what it would really mean to honor him by honoring herself.

Together, Ilene and Jen explore why so many high-achieving professionals stay too long in roles that leave them exhausted, misaligned, or disconnected from their values. They talk about non-negotiables, belonging, overwork, recovery, and how creating space to pause can help us hear what our mind, body, and spirit may already be trying to tell us.

This episode is especially relevant for leaders, HR professionals, and anyone wondering whether the work they are doing still fits the life they want to live.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

In this In the Moment episode, Ilene Schaffer continues the short series on navigating change by introducing her own STAR Model: a practical framework for staying grounded through uncertainty, transition, and change.

From protecting sleep, movement, hydration, and nourishment, to noticing and fact-checking our thoughts, to accepting what we cannot control and leaning on supportive relationships, this model offers a simple but powerful way to move through change with more resilience and intention.

This short episode is a reminder that navigating change is not only about strategy. It is also about how we care for ourselves, manage our mindset, stay flexible, and stay connected to the people who help us keep going.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

In this episode of What’s Possible, Ilene Schaffer sits down with Jonathan Stutz, co-author with Eddie Pate of Daily Practices of Inclusive Leaders, for a timely and practical conversation about what inclusive leadership really looks like inside organizations.

Jonathan shares how his early experiences with discrimination, his commitment to repairing the world, and his corporate diversity work at companies like Microsoft and Amazon shaped his path into inclusion and leadership. Ilene and Jonathan explore why diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot be treated as a one-time program or check-the-box training. Instead, inclusion has to be woven into the culture and practiced through everyday leadership behaviors.

They discuss practical ways leaders can create belonging across the employee experience, from recruiting and hiring, to one-on-one meetings, employee resource groups, executive listening sessions, allyship, and using data to uncover inequities. Jonathan also shares one simple but powerful practice anyone can use right away: hitting the pause button when something happens that interrupts trust, dignity, or inclusion in the room.

This episode is especially relevant for leaders, coaches, HR professionals, and anyone who wants to build teams where people feel valued, supported, connected, and able to do their best work.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

In this In the Moment episode, Ilene Schaffer closes out the short series on navigating change by introducing William Bridges’ Transition Model. This simple and powerful framework helps us understand the human side of change.

Ilene explains that transition does not begin with a new beginning. It begins with an ending. Whether the change is unwanted, like a layoff, or deeply desired, like a marriage or new opportunity, endings can still bring grief, uncertainty, and disorientation.

This short episode is a reminder that meaningful change requires patience. When we give ourselves time to pause, get centered, and listen before stepping into the next beginning, we can move forward with more clarity, intention, and trust.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

How do leaders navigate change at work? This "In the Moment" episode of What's Possible kicks off a short series on just that. Up first, Ilene Schaffer introduces Prochaska’s Stages of Change Model, and explaining why it can be such a helpful tool for leaders guiding teams through uncertainty.

Originally developed to understand behavior change, Ilene applies the model to today’s workplace, where leaders are often rolling out new strategies, systems, and decisions in the middle of unfamiliar territory and rapid change.

Leaders may already be in action mode because they have had time to think, plan, and prepare behind the scenes. But their teams may still be at the very beginning of the change cycle, just starting to understand what is happening and what it means for them.

This short episode gives leaders a practical framework for meeting people where they are, slowing down with empathy, and helping teams move through change with more awareness, clarity, and trust.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.

What if failure is not the thing that holds your career back, but one of the things that helps you grow into a stronger leader? In this episode of What’s Possible, Ilene Schaffer talks with Stephen Scharf, a Chief Information Security Officer with more than 25 years of experience in cybersecurity, about failure, managerial courage, communication, and career growth.

Stephen shares candid stories from his own leadership journey, including early career mistakes, high-pressure decisions, and the moments that helped prepare him for the C-suite. He also explains why leaders need the courage to make decisions under pressure, adapt their communication style to different audiences, manage stress, and build relationships with people who can advocate for them when opportunity arises.

This conversation is full of practical insight for leaders, early-career professionals, recent graduates, and anyone trying to build a meaningful career without pretending the path is always perfect.

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Learn more about Silicon Valley Change Website | LinkedIn | YouTube
Connect with Ilene Schaffer Website | Instagram | LinkedIn 

This show is produced and edited by the team at Palm Tree Pod Co.