Stories Of Success Podcast

Every now and then you meet someone and you're blown away by their energy... introducing serial entrepreneur Bridget Long.From Paris to India, with a gripping story of personal and business challenges and success, Bridget takes us through her story and ambitions for future growth.Going forward, Stories of Success will continue to look at personal development, but also explore the back stories of respected visionaries, entrepreneurs and leading lights in the business, music, arts and entertainment industries.Want to join us and tell your story? Find me on LinkedIn... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a slight hiatus, Stories of Success is back, with a new host, Craig A. Taylor.In this special (handover) episode we set the scene for Stories of Success going forward, with founder, Volker Ballueder, and new host, Craig. We discuss what we want to achieve, what success looks like for us personally, and we set sail for new land.Going forward, Stories of Success will continue to look at personal development, but also explore the back stories of respected visionaries, entrepreneurs and leading lights in the business, music, arts and entertainment industries.Want to join us and tell your story? Find me on LinkedIn... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the end of season 5 episode. You might think it's earlier than anticipated, but there is a reason. There is always a reason. I say thank you. Please stay in touch and add me on Linkedin or subscribe to my newsletter.   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Today's episode is with Tom Glason. Tom is the co-founder and CEO of Scalewise which helps ambitious B2B tech scale-ups accelerate growth by providing unique and flexible access to a community of world-class Scale Experts. He's also the founding member and Chair of the London chapter of Pavilion - a private community for high-growth revenue leaders.     I am a big fan of Scalewise, the Sales Impact Academy and I recently joined Pavillion. Tom definitely created a lot of value for people like myself, but also for companies in the start- and scale-up world.   Topics we discussed, and unfortunately, we ran out of time:   How he stumbled into sales The hard lessons you learn from telemarketing and picking up the phone Hard work paying off His background and degree in sports psychology How he met his wife when she offered him a job His experience launching a juice bar Tech and enterprise sales How he founded Pavillion (formerly Revenue Collective) to build a community around tech sales The latest report on interim and fractional leadership How this lead to him founding Scalewise and building a platform to get companies and interim and fractional revenue leaders together The average tenure of a CRO being 18 months The change of work patterns for C-Levels pre Covid but then the accelerated change due to Covid Redundancies and recession Flexibility and work life balance Sales Impact Academy - creating content and qualifications for sales leaders Tom on Linkedin if you want to get in touch Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Martyn Baker and I got introduced back in the days when he left Twitter and I started my consulting career. We have since worked together on projects under his brand Gardn. He looks back at a corporate career, working with big clients like adidas, Twitter, Telefonica and Microsoft. That wealth of experience lead him to found Gardn as a company helping businesses to position themselves, get their storytelling right and make sure every company he works with operates at its most efficiency. I invited him to speak about how he can help freelancers and interim and fractional professionals to tell a better story, and how he launched himself into this world. Looking at the space from both ends. But who would be better to go into more details than Martyn himself.   Topics we discussed: Companies Martyn worked for and how they lead him to do what he loves How is storytelling skills apply to entrepreneurs, interim and fractional leaders or any portfolio professional Why he started his own business www.gardn.co Wanting to be more hands-on Interim and fractional commercial roles How he scales Gardn Working with both scale-ups and big established companies that want to go to market with a new product Sales narrative Pitch decks Breath and depth of positioning 50% of business is coming through recommendations Establishing a single narrative to talk to all people You can't be all for all people, you have to narrow your focus Negotiations Value propositions Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martynbaker/   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

On this episode I welcome Ollie Henderson. It's another expert talk episode, where Ollie and I talk about the future or the state of work.   Ollie creates insights and systems for first-time founders and CEOs who want to attract clients and the best talent by sharing their ideas with the world. As a former start-up founder and CEO, he understands what it takes to grow a business while operating under pressure and time constraints. He is doing all that whilst having a family with 3 kids!   In May 2020, he launched "Future Work/Life" as a newsletter to document the fast-evolving relationship between our work and personal lives. This lead to a podcast and Ollie is currently writing a book called Work/Life Freewheel.   Things we discussed:   Ran a digital advertising agency for over 10 years Exited in 2020 to start a new business when the pandemic hit Started his newsletter to figure out what to do next Created a system for work-life He got a book deal and started working on his book which will be published January 2023: Work/Life Flywheel Interviewed 100s and surveyed 1000s for his book, listen to the interviews on his podcast You can subscribe to his newsletter on his website He works as a fractional CEO 2 days a week Hybrid working How to get more out of people: does collaboration IRL work? If we improve collaboration by 20% meeting in person, does that balance the opportunity to get top talent from around the world dialling in, improving collaboration by more than 20% virtually? Access to specialist skills How IRL meeting helps with resolving conflict Networking as a graduate Selling oneself as a freelancer/interim/fractional person The future of work being personalised work which gives the individual more choice Marketplaces for freelancers What happens when the economy slows down Unbundling the workforce Creating virtual teams of experts Aggregation and re-bundling in verticals Idea generation - put them out there! Is Work Life Balance possible Connect with Ollie on Linkedin Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

I learned about Simon and his business when listening to another podcast, and loved his business idea: coaching and consulting businesses on the back of successful blueprints. So I bought his book 'Strategy Sprints' and I reached out to him. We hit it off, and I thought it would be great for him to share his journey  and his programme for solo entrepreneurs. In my series about fractional and interim leadership, Simon can help us to explore what individuals have to do in order to stand out and get more business.   Things we talked about:   Doubling revenue in 90 days thanks to business blueprints His sprint coaching programme www.strategysprints.com Enjoying business instead of the business running you Pattern of solo entrepreneurs feeling guilty Making the how happen Increased LTV (life time value) Taking holidays and switching off We know what's right but don't know how to put it into practise Focus on sales, and how to sell Work out your go to market Onboarding Do the magic Forget about lead generation, play instead! Talk to people! Create value How to have skin in the game Business models: Exchanging money for time Packaging things up as a retainer Charge upfront and outcome based Cash flow vs. profitability His book, Strategy Sprints His YouTube channel You find lots of free open source blueprints on his website   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

This podcast is with copywriter and content strategist David Pawsey. He helps freelancers, interim and fractional leaders, and companies to position themselves. He actually helped me with my positioning and my website content. David is a former  journalist, so he is naturally inquisitive and creative. He also works for himself, so can look at the space from an expert and contract perspective.   Topics we discussed: Being a wordsmith Getting your story across How to position yourself and tell your unique story Juggling work and life, particularly as a freelancer and stay at home dad Content is king Direct response and sales copywriting Playing to people's psychology Email marketing workshops SEO content writing Relationship building Finding work through Linkedin and networking Pricing dilemma and selling services Putting a price on passion It shouldn't be about money Do what you enjoy and what is sustainable Be the thought leader Be yourself Get yourself know, get yourself liked, get yourself trusted Personal content www.deepsocial.co.uk Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pawsey-45496b2b/ Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

I am honoured to welcome Jonathan Younger on my podcast. Jon and I met when I reached out to him on Linkedin about some of the articles he has written about the new way of working on Forbes. He is an HR thought leader, author, teacher and early stage investor. He writes about the freelance revolution and the future of work. Jon's books include HR From the Outside In, HR Transformation, and Agile Talent.   We discussed: Him learning from an early age about productivity and freelancing, bettering processes in a factory How he defines freelancing and a portfolio career The variety of freelance job boards Differences in demand for consultants, marketing and tech workers His involvement in the space since 2012 How the pandemic changed the freelance work even further 40% of US workers having a side gig How companies should appreciate those workers developing new capabilities and skillsets 'Freelancer Light' - the ones that still have a full time job The Great Awakening vs. The Great Resignation Survey on Freelancing and some key incomes The need for a portfolio for freelancers Challenges for freelancers to sell themselves Advantages for companies to employ top talent as freelancers Open Assembly The Center for the Transformation of Work Jon's profile on Forbes Jon's Linkedin Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

This is a very exciting episode with Ben Legg. Ben was the former COO of Google Europe and turned to being a successful portfolio professional. I actually met Ben a few years ago in Cannes, talking digital marketing. In his portfolio career, Ben focuses on supporting founders and investors in the startup and scale-up ecosystem. He is also CEO and co-founder of The Portfolio Collective, a global community of thousands of portfolio professionals, which is why I asked him to join me as an expert on the topic of interim and fractional leadership. So in this podcast we will learn not just from Ben's personal experiences, but also from the diverse learnings captured from members of The Portfolio Collective.   On the show we discussed the following: The differences and sameness of Portfolio Professionals, fractional and interims, as well as freelancers How a lot of the change in work style start with a side hustle How the pandemic triggered more people to look at their lifestyle, and side hustles Lockdown influencing the way we are working, and that hybrid is now the norm Focused experts The Portfolio Collective platform he founded 2030 will see 50% of the workforce having more than one job NEDs Hedging bets with equity and jobs Not putting all your eggs in one basket from a job/career and income perspective Ben's journey from army to corporate to portfolio A book about the portfolio career written by my former guest Katie Ledger Leapers.co - a community for freelancers TPC community and how it can help you to become better at your portfolio career, including insights, networking and jobs The future of work: hybrid working, economy of offices The dreaded commute His piece of advice: Know how to tell your story and identify your ninja skills Ben on Linkedin   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Today's episode is with Adrian Cockle. Adrian and I met through Leapers which is a community and support group for freelancers. With our own slack channel we have a great community spirit and I encourage anyone going on their own to join! Adrian is a freelance digital strategy consultant and fractional head of digital - an interim and fractional CDO. Freelance on and off since 2016, previously spent 9 years as head of digital for WWF-UK and WWF International. He has  been doing digital in various forms since working in the UK's second Internet cafe back in 1995! Currently working with a tech startup, two philanthropic foundations and providing mentoring and due diligence services to an investment firm representing sportspeople.  Outside of work, he is a father to two kids, cyclist, swimmer and mildly obsessive coffee nerd.   Things we discussed:

I welcome Damien D‘Souza on this episode who is a business and technology transformation leader. His CV states COO, CIO and CCO experience, yet he markets himself as an interim and fractional ‚CTO‘. With his vast years of experience across multiple industries, he has worked in his portfolio career since 2019.   Things we discussed: Whilst he started his portfolio career in 2019, he started working for himself in 2012 He left the corporate world after 30 years after taking redundancy and money for a runway to try 'self-employment' Work is all about what you want to do, not why you do it Damien started with IBM, then worked for Ericsson, Hutchison and Nokia The corporate world is about politics and if someone says jump, you ask 'how high' Most jobs come through his network Whilst he is a technology leader he is also a COO but has done work in sales and marketing and supply chain in senior roles It's not what you do but how you market yourself Working with start- and scale-ups How to help businesses to evolve and deal with things It's like being a 'father', a business mentor as much as doing the job It's about value add and outcomes He prices based on projects and outcomes, with regular milestone reviews Key principles he learned early in his careers: Listen not hear Never turn up late or unprepared for a meeting Don't waste anyone's time, get the terms of reference right People need to understand what you deliver (bring people along on the journey) Interim and fractional CxOs are equal in the C-Suite rather than being a contractor You constantly pitch for opportunities Going to work for something one loves with people you like Satisfaction through using one's skills Reward is the flexibility, and pay is just as good Priority is always oneself, not the work - a life work choice he made (Life-work balance NOT Work-life balance) Younger companies benefiting from experience and an external viewpoint Skill transfer and knowledge capital being important for the future New business models emerging Get out there and engage! Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiendsouza/

Peter and I first met when he dealt with various digital marketing start-ups at Deutsche Post many years ago. Most recently, we discussed joint business development but also had a chat about my podcast, as Peter had quite some experience in interim and fractional C-level roles. I am in particular interested to share his experience with start-ups, large corporate and consulting roles. At time of recording Peter assumes an interim Management role within the Vodafone group which he has now left.   Things we discussed: Roles of senior executives His role in the top 5 consultancies Managing start-ups Consultant role vs. Interim manager role Steilvorlage Coaching vs. Consulting vs. Management Opportunities within companies leading to innovation How consultancy can open doors Variety going from project to project The changing landscape of workplaces and industries Transition situations Company cultures Bad mood and culture in companies Structure and transparency Interim set-ups Externals being a risk His advice: start as a consultant LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weichsel/

Today I welcome Lena Andican who is one of the partners at Kurve - Kurve being the performance marketing agency my guest Oren Greenberg founded. Additionally, similar to Oren, she works as an interim and fractional CMO, advising companies on all things marketing.   Things we discussed:   Working with scale-ups B2B marketing and sales Positioning, marketing strategy and execution Transition from in-house to interim The need and want for flexibility and variety Confidence needed to be interim and leaping into a business venture Learning curve Advantages for companies to hire interim due to experience and time it takes to get things done Cost advantages for companies Influence of Covid to our work life balance, and how this impacts the new way of working Lead generation Packaging of products and prices according to outcome vs. day rates Piece of advice: go for it, and be confident with uncertainty LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-andican-987632b/ Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Michel Quazza and I met a few months ago discussing investment and collaboration on projects. He is a seasoned international CEO and has worked as much in Silicon Valley as he has worked across Europe. Michel is scaling his interim work through advisory service, packaging up C-Levels under the ‘Corporate Development as a Service'.   Things we talked about: Difference in portfolio, consulting and ‘Corporate Development as a Service' companies Scaling interim and fractional work Engineering, CPO and CEO Michel's experience in Silicon Valley, the influence from the US on Europe Different cultures and their impact on businesses Covid accelerating the need and demand for his work Scale ups and skilling up The ease and challenges of scaling tech start ups Companies benefiting from his 20+ years experience, and the speed of taking things to market Developing a ‘consultancy' rather than going it alone His company Qatalys: https://qatalys.com/ How he started as a consultant Moving from corporate to VC to start-up Different focus coming in as an outsider Scale, focus, drive and commitment Advice for someone starting out: Be ready to learn something new LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mquazza/ Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

This episode is with Stephen Morris. Steve is a fractional CTO with a passion for software development and cyber security.  He directs IT strategies, advises on product and technology and helps other CTOs to go to market too.   Things we discussed: Companies not needing or being able to afford a full time CTO Helping aspiring CTOs Interim and fractional being a career progression from a full time engagement How he got bored when doing only one job, and the challenges were the same year on year The need for companies to have a CTO Bailey & Associates - a company that helps CIOs and CTOs to thrive: https://bailey.associates/ The difference between a CTO, CIO and CDO A longer discussion around C-level naming, and how they connect How portfolio careers get more popular in Europe A choice of commitment Shared responsibility How to price oneself: fixed pricing, ongoing commitment, time based, equity only How to find work: networking, platforms and recommendations Trust between contractor and business The Portfolio Collective: https://portfolio-collective.com/ The trusted advisor book How Covid and working from home made it easier to take on work The gig economy for C-Level Shared learning and cross fertilisation Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-morris-cto/ Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

I welcome Paul Edwards today who is an interim Chief Revenue Officer. With many years experience in the IT and Telecoms sector, he empowers organisations and teams to win complex high value sales within competitive markets. He is also a mentor to businesses for exit.   Paul and I discussed the following: Moving from a corporate career to a portfolio/interim/fractional career Experience in the IT/Cloud/Telecoms sectors Co-founding a business How to build a healthy pipeline and sales business Building a start-up to a functional company Importance of networking How consultants provide sales and marketing strategies whilst taking on responsibilities for actions at the same time Working across multiple businesses Positioning companies and products to potential buyers Expectations on oneself when going freelance Not to work for nothing Define SOW and outcome before going into a business Price according to the value you add Be clear where you add value to a company Executing the strategy you set out NED and Mentor roles Try to work with people you like and who like you - something you cannot choose in the corporate world Don't waste your energy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/p4uledwards/ His book: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/p4uledwards_leaders-success-business-activity-6869656149742911489-YneH Paul's email: paul.edwards@robgoddard.co.uk   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Oren is the founder of Kurve, a London based, growth marketing consultancy working with corporates and scale-ups for the past 20 years. As an interim and fractional leader, Oren's digital strategy and commercial expertise are instrumental in the growth of SaaS & Fintech brands. Brands he worked with include Lenovo, Canon, Investec Bank, Wonga, Peakon & Nutmeg.   Things we discussed: Part time and interim scalability and positioning Pricing and how you best price your work (very interesting insights!) Kurve and how this fits in with fractional and interim work The Kurve model Opportunities for outsource positions Networking and why it is important How interim and fractional work is popular in the US and slowly sweeps across the pond Autonomy and freedom Intelligence and confidence Methodologies Mitigating risks Offering an outside view How knowledge workers' skills are experiences His desire to have a meaningful impact How interim and fractional work is a career progression from the corporate world Being an entrepreneur What freedom means to him Value based work LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orengreenberg Newsletter: https://www.kurve.co.uk   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

I welcome Ben Rickard to my podcast. Ben is an experienced interim and fractional CDO, a NED and advisor with an expert domain knowledge in marketing, digital, data and tech. Ben and I have been discussing the interim and fractional space for a while, and I am glad he found the time to record his ideas around this exciting and growing space.   Things we discussed: CDO: data or digital officer Ben being a NED to parliament (not the government) Teams with different super powers His urge to get involved and do things Launching on his own during the pandemic Value proposition Taking the risk of going out on your own Confidence Networking with people and selling yourself Delivering a proof of concept before getting paid How to overcome the hurdle of selling oneself (as a non sales guy) How to utilise LinkedIn for winning business The learning of going through the process of setting up on your own Variety and lifestyle choice of being an interim and fractional CxO Being able to choose: from interim to full time to consultant - a career is fluid Portfolio Career and labelling of services The Portfolio Collective: https://portfolio-collective.com The value add of an interim / fractional leader to start- and scale-ups Expert networks Smart people who hire (people like) us

My new season, season 5, is all about Stories of Success in interim and fractional CxO roles. I am excited to bring you top CxOs in the field discussing their style, pricing, approach and how they started off in their current role. A learning curve for me, but also a learning for anyone aspiring to become a freelance consultant, start a portfolio career or build a business as an interim or fractional leader.   Episode one and season starter is with Victoria Rusnac!   She is an interim Chief Marketing Officer. Her speciality is in startup growth marketing strategies, including branding, performance and product marketing. When we first met she used terms like 'CMO in demand' or 'Marketing as a Service' or even 'crisis CMO'. She has a lot of experience in marketing and turnarounds.   Things we discussed: Victoria being a podcast coach Her marketing approach and terrible marketing challenges Edtech, Health and Fitness Moving from full time to part time roles and why Uncertainty around Covid Specialities in marketing Why to hire an interim leader Crisis management vs. execution Slow moving ‘full time roles' How you can be brutally honest in your job Diversity in the workforce Adding value as a contractor Her approach to interim and fractional roles, and why she loves being an ‘outsider' in an organisation Freedom as a fractional leader, NED or advisor Lifestyle and personal choices Uncertainty of full time roles How to get more work as a freelancer Don't do it for the money…. LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/vrusnac/   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant working as an interim CRO. Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Hi all, After 3.5 years of podcast recording, I am taking a break until at least the end of 2021. Feel free to reach out to me or connect with me on Linkedin. I am happy to help anyone, support you in your journey as a coach or consultant, and I am open for new ideas for 2022 - for the podcast or otherwise. Thanks for all your support, Volker

On this final episode of season 4, all my theories come together by speaking to Dr. Matt , Mateusz Grzesiak. Dr. Matt is a lecturer, therapist, and consultant. He holds several masters degrees, including in psychology and law, as well as degrees in management.   On the one hand he advises businesses and on the other hand he trains and runs therapeutic sessions. For him it is about helping others to achieve the intended personal and professional results and solving emotional and behavioural problems. His vision is to create a conscious human being.   His mission is for education to be understood as a continuous and comprehensive personal and professional development, allowing for evolution in every aspect of life. His life motto is: "Create a life in which you are the best version of yourself, have what you want, help others and change the world."   Topics we discussed: How success comes down to skills Therapeutic elements need to be introduced to organisations for them to strive Effectiveness of people Planning of life Combining managerial skills and psychological skills as well as therapy to better yourself Holistic approach to life, to improve personally or businesses Personal branding Divorces and break ups due to lack of communication Influence of childhood Anthony Robbins, and different schools of psychology Learning from the best people Differences of learning and studying Everyone is a psychologist Releasing nations from trauma - e.g. the pandemic - and how psychology can help Giving back to people School curriculums and what we should teach our children Mixed mental arts EQ - 1. Motivation, 2. Empathy, 3. Self Regulation, 4. Emotional Consciousness Adding communication to EQ leads to the basics of self therapy Sales skills are vital for employees, yet you cannot learn it at university Which skills could you learn in order to be more competitive in life How societal and parental influence stops us from creating ourselves RTT (Rapid Transformational Therapy) How bad things like the pandemic also create opportunities How the construction and manifestation of your life as an adult makes it more difficult to change His 24 books he has written so far (3 a year!) How Dr. Matt plans his life / day and how it makes him super effective His mindfulness approach and involvement in Jiu Jitsu Routines and Habits His motivation to make the world a better place   You can find out more about Dr. Matt here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mateusz_Grzesiak https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mateusz_Grzesiak www.drmattofficial.com www.facebook.com/drmattofficial www.youtube.com/drmattofficial www.instagram.com/drmattofficial/ Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

This episode was recorded back in January with Paul Rowlett. A British entrepreneur who thought he would lose his multi-million pound business, when we all went into the first lockdown in 2020.   Paul is the CEO and founder of corporate gifts company Everything Branded which was relying heavily on the hospitality sector - obviously this was hit hard under Covid.   Things we discussed: How he started in his bedroom Loosing 97% of orders in lockdown 1.0 Pivoting the business to PPE Opening a business in the USA What to do with too much real estate after downsizing Innovating in a crisis How important luck is in business Experiencing hiring the wrong people The importance of hiring the right people What to outsource Convenience, value and know what you are worth Growing pains Getting the salary right when running a start-up Everything Global is the umbrella brand - www.everythingglobal.com Everything Branded is the main brand, www.everythingbranded.com Expansion into Spain, and Europe He is building a TurnKey solution for smaller businesses Breaking into the fulfilment market Paul being a secret teacher Giving back to the community Serendipity in business Meeting Peter Jones What drives him on Success and what it means for him Contentment Seizing opportunities Mindset Challenges for working from home Please connect with Paul on LinkedIn Check out his YouTube Channel     Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

I got introduced to Andy Lee through Cheryl from Xerox who has been on my podcast previously. When we spoke for the first time, we hit it off on the topic of mindfulness and stress reduction. Andy is a mindfulness consultant and teacher with a background in talent management and organisational psychology. He is committed to helping companies and their employees thrive by embedding mindfulness in their culture and people processes.    Topics we discussed: Mindfulness and Stress reduction Heidger Marx at SAP - a podcast episode Regular meditation practise His burnout experience which was due to him being ‘unmindfulness' about his life Autopilot of living one's life External, societal influence How some people just fly through life without ever worrying about personal insights People don't stop and question themselves Attachment Addiction Culture of getting ‘hits' = dopamine  Managing distractions Improving productivity through mindfulness Mindfulness as the ability to strengthen your mental muscle Being more intentional with your attitude Distractions and the wandering mind How Covid helped with the popularity of mindfulness Tony Schwartz, The Energy Project Lunchtime naps Time shouldn't be an excuse not to meditate The three step breathing space Cousins to mindfulness, like visualisation Stress management Mindfulness as a plaster to be more successful 5 am routine Journaling Hobbies: to do something without ‘achieving somethings' Buddhism Learning how your mind works should be a ‘no brainer' The positive impact of mindfulness on leadership Potential Project  Mindful Ethos -  Andy Lee on LinkedIn  Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Case Lane is a global writer, entrepreneur, podcaster, blogger, and the founder of Ready Entrepreneur, a business that prepares aspiring entrepreneurs to start an online business. She has been a former diplomat, consultant and corporate executive.   Case has been educated in communications, political science, business, law and economics, and has lived, studied or worked in eleven different countries, and has visited over 100 others.  The Ready Entrepreneur approach to lifestyle freedom is based on her education, experience, observations and interactions with entrepreneurs all over the world.     We had a great laugh recording this episode and here are the topics we discussed:   How Las Vegas cannot work from home Born in Chislehurst, Kent, she grew up in Canada She followed the traditional ‘career path’ After her MBA, she did a law degree Learned a lot about marketing on social media Self publishing ebooks on Amazon Her 5 post graduate degrees! How to build a social media strategy The clubhouse craze Freedom of speech in America Podcasting Book publishing Case’s 19 books (!) from fiction, non fiction to different business titles Business is creating and selling a product Ghost writing books How to make time - or not Case’s podcast Podcast in general Purposing content How 2020 and Covid changed the world Opportunity, and working remotely Making it happen, no matter what’s going on around you Outsourcing Facebook: @readyentrepreneurHQ https://www.facebook.com/readyentrepreneurHQ/ Instagram: @readyentrepreneur https://www.instagram.com/readyentrepreneur/ Twitter: @caselaneworld https://twitter.com/CaseLaneWorld   Websites: For Aspiring Entrepreneurs: https://www.readyentrepreneur.com/ For Guest Podcasting:  https://www.podcastgueststar.com/ Email contactcase@readyentrepreneur.com Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Chala Dincoy, founder of Repositioning Expert and author of Gentle Marketing and How To Win Friends The Way Apple Wins Customers had been an award-winning marketer with a number of Fortune 500 companies including Pepsi, Frito-Lay, and Playtex, before moving on to found Repositioning Expert.    Currently, she helps professional service providers to get past their competitors and reach corporate decision-makers more quickly and reliably, generating consistent leads that drive growth and propel them onto a larger stage.  She also appears regularly as a guest expert on Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC.  She will share some practical tips on reaching corporate decision-makers, differentiating yourself from the pack, and survival marketing in the pandemic era.   What we discussed on the podcast whilst having a lot of laughs: Her present: lovely brownies She never moved to London because of the rain Suicide rates How she got tired of being pitched to Starting a business in your early 40ies The influence of her upbringing for her not to start her own business earlier Safety and Security are the enemy of growth She quadrupled her income after going self employed She built a new funnel from scratch when Covid hit Digitalisation Death of the high street Selling skills vs. time, charging for the results 3 out of 4 entrepreneurs don’t know how to present themselves There is a confusion what one is known for The elevator pitch is not about what you do, but where you can make a difference, being a super niche (the most expensive problem they have) Your rich is in your niche What do you want more of? Do less to gain more Success for her is about overcoming her beginnings She overcame a mindset block on money How Covid changed her business Happiness is to live her potential Efficiency through Covid Online events and its challenges Her books Her podcast: Polish My Pitch www.repositioner.com/podcast - Free4U How to win friends - see her book above Check out her 4 books in total on Amazon How to get anyone to like you within 7 seconds or less Blink by Malcom Gladwell Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell Reach out to Chala on her website, podcast, blog, or LinkedIn B2B society: www.repositioner.com/society Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

Michael Brennan co-founded tootoot in 2013 with a core mission of supporting the psychological safety and wellbeing of individuals by making it easier for individuals to talk about anything that was making them feel unhappy or unsafe.   His idea for the app came after spending years being bullied but struggling to find a safe and trusted way to speak up.   He wanted to create a simple app that would reduce the barriers children and young people face when trying to speak about their concerns.   Following tootoot’s success in the education sector, this year Michael launched Stribe a new employee voice software for workplaces.   Topics we discussed: We recorded this during the snow blizzards in February His history of being bullied Michael turning his life around by changing schools and becoming head boy Psychological Safety Tootoot app for schools Changes in bullying due to social media Building resilience with the school bell No barriers through cyber bullying Problems of bullying during Covid19 from home Success is impact, starting with improving one child’s life Mindfulness and mental health School and workplace priorities for mental health Stribehq.com - the app for psychological safety in the workplace How Stribe changes the workplace communication and people’s happiness at work We linked to the Happiness Index, and Chris Hyland’s episode It’s important to introduce technologies which replace and support face to face conversations How mindfulness improves productivity in the workplace Health benefits and the impact on productivity, but also on hiring and ‘employees’ benefits’ The cost of not supporting employees needs to be understood by everyone Employer-employee shift People as assets of organisations Importance of trust Contact Michael on LinkedIn Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

This week's podcast is with Francis Cholle. A global leader in creating social innovation for a sustainable future. For him it is all about unleashing untapped potential, key to achieving a competitive advantage by using intuitive intelligence.   Best-selling author Francis Cholle uses deep human learning and cognitive science to help leaders and organisations solve complex problems and thrive in disruption. So all he does is science based! As an international speaker, he has presented at Davos World Economic Forum, on the TED stage, Wharton and Columbia University, to name a few.   His new book is called: SQUIRCLE A New Way to Think for a New World. It offers a simple yet unconventional science-based model to make sure decisions in an unsure world. And there is a lot of uncertainty in today's world.   What we discussed: His background, career and how to bring creativity into the workplace Intuitive Intelligence Innovation Instinct and nature inside us What it means to be a leader The Human Company www.humancompany.com His book Intuitive Intelligence  Make sure decisions in an unsure development Squircle Academy www.squircleacademy.com, and we discussed 'the' Squircle itself Shifting from logical mindset, a flexibility mindset, to a simplicity mindset Embracing complexity Lot of what we need to do is to unlearn things, to be more receptive in our environment Uncertainty in this world How linear decision making doesn’t work in an uncertain world We put ourselves in the cage of the logical mind Burnout and mental health The intuitive compass  Discussing my Squircle test The unconscious mind, and how attention to breathing results in better results The moment of stillness in relation to the ‘gap’ between stimulus and response Mindfulness and Leadership Training Nature and our mind Opportunity to redesign the way we work The link to the SQUIRCLE Assessment test is here: https://www.squircleacademy.com/squircle-test His website is here: https://www.francischolle.com/   Francis can be found on the following social channels: Twitter: @francischolle Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francischolle/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/francis.cholle.9 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francischolle/ SQACFB: https://www.facebook.com/squircleacademy Linkedin: squircleacademy Twitter: @squircleacademy Instagram: @squircle_academy If you want to get in touch, here are some text numbers for North America: US: Text SQUIRCLE to 484848 CANADA: Text EZSQUIRCLE to 393939 Follow the following hashtags for more info: #SQUIRCLE #intuitiveintelligence #leadership #newwaytothink #endburnout #reimaginingproducivity #embracingcomplexity #embraceuncertainty   Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter. His latest release: Leadership Training for 2021 and beyond.

In this week’s episode I  welcome Cheryl Smith to my podcast. Cheryl leads talent management for Xerox, a public company with over 25,000 employees globally. She is a seasoned talent professional with over 25 years of success in talent assessment, succession planning, leadership development, employee engagement, organisational surveys and change programs for world-class, global organisations including Gartner, Legrand, Diageo, MetLife and AIG.   Cheryl has a Ph.D. in Industrial / Organizational Psychology from New York University and a B.A. in Psychology from Yale. She lives in Fairfield County, CT with her three daughters.   She had to move around the house, avoiding the cleaners, so please accept our apologies for additional background noise at the beginning of the recording - Christmas cleaning, as we recorded this episode just before the holidays.   Topics we touched on: Leadership development How leadership development did or didn’t change since she started in HR 25 years ago Mentoring programmes, using Mentorcliq - www.mentorcliq.com Virtual Presence course pre Covid delivered via Ariel - www.Arielgroup.com Challenges for Xerox giving the Covid situation How Covid has accelerated changes for businesses and high streets Business reinventing themselves Attrition/Retention rates Internal branding Female Leadership Diversity and their programme called Ascent Internal training and balancing investment in development Gender pay gap How to hold the right data about diversity in an HR system, legally and unbiased How to capture sexual orientation voluntarily without discriminating Cheryl’s most difficult decisions Mindfulness at the workplace and how it improves resilience Student debts and social good, and how we like to do great things for others --- Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter. His latest release: Leadership Training for 2021 and beyond.

For 20 years, Tim Spiker, founder of The Aperio and author of The Only Leaders Worth Following has been helping individuals and organisations lead better, and find better leaders. He delivers keynote speeches and creates customised learning experiences to change the way people look at leadership, and he guides long-term developmental journeys as well.   There is a lot more to his profile, and I encourage you to check out his website.   What we discussed was: Leadership and how the Aperio programme works How to achieve success How Tim got into the space, doing loads of research He brings content and ideas into leadership to utilise those every day How ‘who you are’ impacts your leadership style His leadership research and key leadership principles Loads of examples from his clients 77% of your effectiveness as a leader is who you are Intuitively this isn’t new, but we examine 8 areas of leadership skills 2 areas = 77% and those are about ‘who you are’, and the other 6 are about ‘what you’ do as a leader Inwardly sound and others focused are the two key areas Whilst this sounds like common sense, it isn’t in reality Simple doesn’t equal easy Psychological Safety Family and how to balance the two Family values What kids teach us about leadership Culture in organisations is about the WHAT of leadership (norms, mood, values) Analogy of a tree for leadership Understanding the WHY Mindfulness and being in the zone Effort, sports and how to motivate kids Rituals and habits for leaders lead to resilience and capacity Trust and the arc of leadership based on his ‘who not what principle’ www.theonlyleaders.com Discount Code ‘Volker’ for US$ 500 for 2021 ---- Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter. His latest release: Leadership Training for 2021 and beyond.

In this first episode of 2021, it took me a while to understand what Csaba Toth was talking about. However, once I understood his ‘Uncommon Sense’ approach, I was sold! It makes so much sense! Csaba has a similar journey to myself, and we live very close to each other too; so we have met again, deepened my understanding and see what we can do to educate the world on uncommon sense. Since recording the episode, I already did the test, read part of the book and got some valuable insights. Thanks, Csaba! And when I talked about my results in my newsletter, there were a few curious questions.   His book offers a unique take on the often misunderstood concept of growth mindset as it addresses the root cause of why so many opportunities, time and energy are lost. They are either friction with people who think and behave differently or friction with our own saboteur inside of us. Positive thinking and affirmations are not going to fix it, but the science of uncommon sense can. Note, this is not just a random idea. His concept has already been used by Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and entrepreneurs globally whose success depends on how much they understand themselves and others. Enjoy. What we talked about Uncommon Sense and Coaching Growth Mindset Global Disc Personality profile Different challenges by generations Culture groups Cross Culture dialogue Cognitive diversity Culture is not who we are but what we are used to Personality determines how you want to behave Culture determines how you should / have to behave What is natural vs. what is normal around you Stereotypes and intercultural models Questions to ask your HR about cultural integrity Intercultural = Interpersonal Missing of cultural intelligence on DISC profiles Overlapping part of personal development theories NLP, EQ How to approach people from a different cultural backgrounds Accurate thinking vs. Positive thinking Friction with people and understanding why it exists Friction with ourselves We trust people that are like us You can change your behaviour anytime but not your personality, resulting in you wasting your energy, not reflecting your values and not meeting your needs Similarities inside but differences on the outside Hierarchy of pain Challenges during Covid What we can influence in life and during Covid Individual vs. Group Mindset isn’t about culture or origin Diversity, inclusion and self-inclusion Information doesn’t lead to transformation, it’s about experiencing it Intellectual hamster syndrome How we avoid things we aren’t welcome (which sounds common sense but could be ‘uncommon sense’) How productivity in companies is increased through uncommon mindset Growth mindset is about running faster, and uncommon mindset is about getting rid of your baggage His book, test and analysis with the interactive platform can be bought as a package you find here for only £7.59  Meet Csaba on LinkedIn -  Website: including Uncommon Mindset Course ---- Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter. His latest release: Leadership Training for 2021 and beyond.

This week's guest is Simon Squibb: a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, mentor, podcast host, founder and Chief Purpose Officer at the Purposeful Project. He retired at 40 but is now back. We recorded this episode a while back, with some friendly dogs barking in the background. He has started 17 businesses, invested in 66 and has mentored hundreds of founders. Having sold his award-winning insight-driven branding and digital agency, Fluid, to PwC, Simon now focuses on inspiring, motivating and guiding both budding and experienced entrepreneurs by sharing his personal experiences, insights, ideas and tips. He is also a podcast host, published a book, and we spoke about entrepreneurism, and why you should overcome fear to be successful. Discussed topics: Him leaving school and founding his first company What gardening told him about pricing His idea for ‘booking.com’ My idea for ‘Facebook’ How the same entrepreneurial ideas show up and why some people take action on it and others don’t The Matrix and how we might be sitting in the future already, living in a jar today Simon’s move to HongKong and the opportunities he uncovered Him founding a logistics company He founded a creative agency, Fluid, with a designer, now his wife, and sold it to PWC, ‘making more money than anyone ever needs’ His son and how that changed his life How he wants to help entrepreneurs to get off the ground during Covid, to help without a need to make money back Change of focus from business to family The more successful you get, the busier you get Money only buys you time, and you have to leverage that time; otherwise you waste success Our identification with work How hard parenthood is compared to work and running a business Hobbies and life-life balance Covid19 and how it is changing the world Opportunities and challenges during Covid19 How to deal with fear, and how to leverage it How school doesn’t teach you about creativity but is a ‘memorisation system’ People only regret what they didn’t do - there is no better time than now: www.thepurposefulproject.com Podcast: www.goodluckpod.com Book: Luck is a skill - www.Simonsays.today Different stages of careers, as we are living to an older age The biggest mistake agencies make! Don’t sell time, buy time Scalability of businesses Only when you work for yourself, you are in control; working for others means you are not in control of your success We finish off the show with the answer to what success means: freedom and legacy www.simonsquibb.com His YouTube channel is www.youtube.com/simonsquibb ---- Volker is a sales, strategy and leadership consultant. With a passion for coaching and mindfulness, helping individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website or subscribe to his newsletter.

I am very honoured to have Pascal Finette back for a second round. Pascal and I got introduced when I first launched my podcast in early 2018, and we recorded an episode then, which has been downloaded almost 300 times. He since has launched more things, became more famous, and I feel honoured he took some time to answer more of my questions. We ended up with an amazing chat over Zoom, and we jump straight into the episode, not worrying about the intro. A great conversation which I truly enjoyed, and lots of takeaways for my listeners. My most vivid memory of the first podcast was that he said, ‘you have to focus on the brights sparks in life’, not the failures, and that he measures success by the lives he influences. His latest intro reads as him being the Co-Founder at be radical, EY’s wavespace Advisory Board Chair, Singularity U’s Chair for Entrepreneurship & Open Innovation, VC at BOLD Capital Partners. Previously he held leadership positions at Google.org, Mozilla, and eBay, built technology startups, launched a Venture Capital firm. He is the posse leader at TheHeretic.org, and is a general upstart when it comes to creating meaningful change. What we spoke about: Dunning Krueger Effect How you get bored when you become an expert Innovation and breakthroughs are happening at the intersection of disciplines, which makes it harder Reading The Overstory, the fiction book I am reading No Filters, the inside story of Instagram The right stuff (space race) His move from Silicon Valley to Boulder, Colorado Being at the right place at the right time Be radical, and how it transforms companies Humanity The Social Dilemma (Movie) Facebook and Social Media Attention Span when watching movies A Hidden Life (Movie) 1917 (Movie) How long it will take us in lock down, and roll out a vaccine Remote working Giving employees a planning horizon “On-site Offices” with teams by default working from home How video meetings make our work day more intense How do we structure our day, and how we enjoy taking ‘normal phone calls’ Lunch time naps Home schooling, and working from home with kids How I invented Facebook and Twitter back in the days And how I never asked the right questions :-) Pregnancy tests, IBM and Doom Youtube Silicon Valley Online networking How much closer the world got and what it could do for innovation Networking in times of Covid How can we help people out of university to build their network remotely Mindfulness Energy flow How it takes longer to present virtually rather than in person because it is less dimensional Habits and routines, and how they changed since our last conversation Power naps How we define ourselves over our jobs vs. our hobbies Marathons Ponies --- Volker is a career and leadership coach, and also works as a sales and strategy consultant. With a passion for mindfulness and personal development, he helps individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website.

I interviewed Andy last year, just before Christmas 2019. He openly spoke to me about his illness, and his life limiting cancer. When I worked for Andy, I always enjoyed him as a manager, colleague and mentor. A family person, down to earth, giving sound advice. A father figure. Sadly, he passed away in October this year, and I wanted to show my respect by sharing his episode again, and raising awareness for cancer, and for life. Particularly now, in these uncertain times, it is an episode that makes you reflect on the important things in life. I would also ask to donate to the Garden House Hospice, mentioning Andy Nobbs. It would mean a lot to him! Thank you. LINK to donate to Garden House Hospice   Here are last year's shownotes: Interviewing Andy Nobbs was an honour. Andy and I worked together in the past, and I always enjoyed his management style. Down to earth, a very active person, a family man and full of life. I am not only saying this. He used to go sailing and running, and his whole family was involved. On the other hand we went for long media lunches, had fun in Cannes and dmexco. He was razor sharp from a business perspective, the prize always in mind. We had so much in common, and we still do, and shared so many experiences. Please note, due to some technical challenges, we had some audio problems in this recording. It gets better as we go along. Please accept my apologies for that, but I don’t think it takes anything away from the actual story. Today, Andy has a life-limiting , and recognises that he will die sooner than he should. This is his story, and I am glad he shared it with me, so I can share it with you. It is a powerful story about life, and death. About perspective, personal choice and success. One day in 2016 I came back to the office after a client meeting and Andy was gone. He collapsed in the office earlier, and everyone thought he'd had a heart attack. He was taken to hospital and the doctors found out that he had a brain tumour. Totally unexpected. It was, as he said, as if 'someone hit me over the head with a baseball bat'. In this podcast he talks to us about his experience, and how this has changed his life and his outlook on life. The definition of success has changed massively for him. Unfortunately, many people don’t want to talk about cancer, so I am more than grateful for Andy to do so, and share the awareness of what it means to discover one has cancer, and how quickly it can change your life. Andy is both a mentor and a friend of mine. At 53, still young, his life changed. The cancer came back, he had a relapse and got a virus of the brain. He survived all that. In late October his latest brain scan showed the tumour had not returned. Another few months till the next check up. What does that mean for someone? The question is not if he will die, and I suppose we all do, but when. It might be next year, or in 6 months or in a few years time. He was told that the cancer will return, It changes a man, any person, when you think your time might be up tomorrow. Andy was a work-driven person, going to the US a lot on early flights, back and forth, and I have known him as very hard working. Goal driven, successful. For him that has changed of course; from a career person to surviving, setting himself shorter term goals. Holidays he enjoyed in the past, like going to Vietnam or sailing, living an active life, are just not possible anymore. Things he does are different now. He doesn’t have to achieve things anymore, so he says. His balance is very poor, so he struggles to walk, let alone go skiing. It’s about making the most of your life, seeing your kids more often, and spending quality time with them. The way success is defined in Western culture is bizarre, he thinks. The radical change in his life makes him philosophical, reflective. He became a better person because of it, as the cancer put things into perspective. From every bad comes good. Even with his condition heshows a strong will to survive and achieve things, never giving up! Andy is truly remarkable. He respects what he has and wants to enjoy the time he has left on earth. It is about every moment, bringing quality to every bit of his life. Andy believes his condition is down to life’s lottery. He praises his wife and started to bring his house in order. He has prepared his funeral, transferred his assets, ready to go any minute. Yet Andy still has plans, and enjoys seeing his kids grow up. He worries about them, and what the future holds for mankind. Climate change, politics. Andy praises the NHS, the doctor for their support and kindness I can logically understand what Andy said but emotionally I am very detached from what he is talking about. This is his story, but it hits my empathy. I guess I cannot relate to it, I have never been in the situation before; however, we can only imagine what he and his family are going through. My thoughts are with you, Andy, and of course your wife and kids.

This week’s podcast is a panel discussion with four former guests. We took a long time to manage all our diaries and I was glad when we finally got together to discuss Covid19, personal development, and how it seems the positive things that came from lock down. An episode going deep. We are connecting more now, more intensely, and have less in-room tensions and emotions, going from one video call to another. Are we making the right connection? And what are we taking away from it, and how do we avoid the negative impact his pandemic and lockdown has on our our children for years to come. Points from the discussion around the situation around Covid19 and the lockdown: The rat race stopped for a while We put things in perspective Reflecting on our career & situation Supporting each other Being shaken up to find a direction more lead by our soul rather than outside pressure Review the information you received from the news, and evaluate them We do not know what’s ahead of us, we are like entrepreneurs, dealing with uncertainty all the time People are stressed of being stressed The emotional cost of Covid isn’t known yet We have more time with our families, resulting in more fulfillment Not knowing what comes next lead to personal development We have the power to use the situation in our own way Things work differently, we need to diversify our services but also our emotions Collaboration taking over from competition People are more heart centred than before Our children will change and their mindset has been influenced through Covid19 Lockdown was an opportunity, and people worked even harder Managing emotions to get through the crisis Keeping the balance of what information we let in to build and keep resilience The lockdown allowed us to live inside ourselves, focusing on creating our world and connecting to our world We have to put our wellbeing first We go back to a question of choice, and can make decisions to create, and navigate our life in a way we want to do it Connecting to ourselves, and reflecting What can we do to make ourselves more energetic Lockdown allowed for more personal care, including personal habits and stress management Companies are opening up to mental health and wellness issues Teaching our kids that it is ok to choose and not to constantly chase the materialistic values, e.g. self worth comes from inside Education should also focus on handling emotions and being more empathetic Parents have a big role on what our children learn too Resilience comes from recognising who we are, and accepting who we are Will the change last, or do we go back to what used to be normal, both in terms of our approach to life but also our attitude to personal development? Will we learn from the situation? How can we tap into the system to change the system to support the individual change? Leadership needs to step up for the well being of their employees It’s not only about whether we care, but how we get other people to care too How do we connect people through values? How do we allow empathy for ourselves? Guest for this episode: Catherine B. Roy is an internationally recognised Business and Personal Growth Coach and Bestselling Author. She is a MENSA member with an IQ>156 which qualifies her to be in the less than 1% of the human population. Catherine has won loads of awards and is also an experienced business entrepreneur & IT expert. Catherine is certified in the fields of positive psychology, assertive behaviour, emotional behaviour and emotional intelligence (EQ). Catherine has only one mission: To help you do what you love and make your dream business flourish. https://catherinebroy.com/   Davida Ginter is the Co-founder and CEO of Enkindle Global, and the author of the book "Burning Out Won't Get You There". She specializes in Participatory Leadership processes, and operates on a global scale to support leaders and organizations in preventing burnout, cultivating wellbeing, and developing emotional resilience. Author of Burning Out Won't Get You There Founder, Be the Change  Co-founder and CEO, Enkindle Global LinkedIn   Stephanie Schaffner looks back at a career working for international companies in sales and business development. However, she became a certified trainer for stress management and a coach for burnout prevention due to her own experience and the need for change in the corporate world. http://www.diestressmanagerin.de   Barbara Vercruysse is a mentor, business coach, thought leader and public speaker. After facing several challenges in life and surviving a stage 4 skin cancer at the age of 32, she decided to live her second life at the fullest. https://www.facebook.com/startthelifeofyourdreams/ http://www.startthelifeofyourdreams.com/ https://barbaras-school-of-wisdom.com/ --- Volker is a career and leadership coach, and also works as a sales and strategy consultant. With a passion for mindfulness and personal development, he helps individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website.

In this episode of season 4 I welcome Marcel Daane. I am super excited to welcome Marcel as he has been prominent on my social media feeds for a long time. I admire the work he does as an executive and leadership coach, and his concept about body mind connection in a business world.   Marcel and I actually recorded a live video cast and this podcast is a transcript of it - the audio form essentially. A fascinating conversation about mind body leadership, how we learn and how executives can get unstuck.   Being a leadership coach myself, working with teams to improve mental health, mindfulness and well being, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to speak with Marcel and learn from the best.   As a form of an intro, Marcel suffered with a mental illness that almost cost his life as a young adult. However, through Martial Arts, Mindfulness and Selflessness, he overcame his struggles and learned how to thrive despite his challenges.   30 years on, and Marcel is an award winning executive coach with a Masters Degree in Neuroscience and Leadership, author of the highly acclaimed book 'Headstrong Performance’, and he is considered one of the world’s pioneers in Mind-Body Leadership.   Now if he doesn’t work, he spends time with his wife and daughter.   Below are bullet points of the topics we cover in the podcast and links to Marcel’s work. How mindfulness makes you more resilient Marcel’s journey of becoming an award winning executive coach Why and how Marcel looks different at the world Marcel’s upbringing and how it influenced his path in life His drive to make people better and add value to society  Bruce Lee’s influence and martial arts The change of the work environment, hustling all day vs. resting and recuperating and being able to perform better His research during his Masters in Neuroscience about energy capacity in the brain Marcel’s book addresses those issues: Headstrong Performance: Improve Your Mental Performance With Nutrition, Exercise, and Neuroscience  Work Life Balance, Life Life Balance, and how Covid19 is teaching us how we should be structuring our balance Life in silos Struggles of executives around their identity and how we overvalue work vs. who we are as a human being As a graduate we worry about who we become; later in our career we worry about who we are Teaching your children (how) to ask questions Dealing with layoffs and redundancies Questioning and finding your value and purpose Influence of historic events on our upbringing, decision making and how we define work, and how this is changing with the younger generation and Covid19 The age of boosterism  How to become more resilient How children improve resilience through sports Children’s stress level going up, beyond working adults’ levels How we learn now vs. when we were a child Mindfulness isn’t the answer to everything but a tool that will help us alongside other tools Different stages of learning, and how this impacts leadership and decision making Our map of the world Communicating with body language and energy Loss of gut feeling and intuition Importance of listening, and how mindfulness and body-mind connection can help Mindfulness giving you a power of choice when applying to every part of life George Mumford’s book the Mindful Athlete, and Victor Frankl’s Stimulus and Response theory Separating Ying from Young, Action from Inaction Getting unstuck as a leader - default operating mode  Creating a place of curiosity to improve knowledge and innovation Links: Website: www.marceldaane.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marceldaane Book: Headstrong Performance: Improve Your Mental Performance With Nutrition, Exercise, and Neuroscience  Book: George Mumford, The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance  ---- Volker is a career and leadership coach, and also works as a sales and strategy consultant. With a passion for mindfulness and personal development, he helps individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website.

Season Starter - I can’t believe we are in season 4 and I publish my 63rd podcast today. When I started the podcast it was all about ‘let’s see how it goes, I might do 10’, now it’s more like ‘let’s get to 100 and see how we can scale it’. So thank you for supporting me, and thank you to all my guests for giving up their time to be featured, answering my questions.   This season is all about personal development, and about how you can improve as a person. I have some amazing guests lined up, some who you have met before, and a lot of newer ones with a variety of topics. I am aiming at around 1 hour long episodes, maybe longer if there is enough relevant content.     It’s an honour to welcome Michael Zipursky for my season starter. Michael is a best selling author and I have read two of his books which I found super useful. I am delighted that we will be speaking about them, and how he built a 7 figure business as the CEO of Consulting Success. He is also a fellow podcast host, and I highly recommend tuning into his podcast. All links can be found below, yet his knowledge about the consulting business, and the way he answered my questions, was amazing. I truly loved having him on the show.   We will be diving into his upbringing and travels from Israel, Vietnam and Japan, where he discovered his passion for consulting.   He is very much a role model if you ask me. As I am embarking on my consulting journey and go deeper into it myself, I already learned a lot from his books and free content which we will all link and I recommend you to check it out.   In a new approach, I wanted to add some bullet points of topics we cover throughout the episode. Please enjoy.   High school sports and the analogy to business How to scale businesses and what it takes to it right Set your mind on something and don’t give up. Take massive actions! Michael’s life and career start in Japan 20 years of him running companies Life as a consultant, balancing it with family and hobbies Importance of specialist knowledge and in depth experience Consulting is about delivering outcome and value Being at the right time and right place Uniqueness of a business to differentiate and be successful How to achieve consulting success working with early stage consultants and programmes for more experienced businesses and consultants How to reach and structure your target audience, achieve meaningful growth and what that means Messaging and lifestyle support (it isn’t all about the money!) Freedom and flexibility as a consultant Work feeding your happiness and fulfilment Asking the right questions Motivation, motivators and focus - can money be a motivator? Narrowing down your business idea into a value proposition Money needs to chase passion, not the other way around 80/20 principle People want to be understood Importance of reading Define the bullseye and engineer how you achieve it backwards Listen to your body mind connection and listen to your feelings Mindset (it’s huge!) Mastery and how to push forward The Covid19 pandemic and taking actions: the time is now and you are in control!   Books he recommends: Success Mindset by Ryan Gottfredson The Elite Consulting Mind by Michael Mastery by George Leonard ACT NOW - Michael’s Book free to download  Consulting Success by Michael And the book I recently read and cannot forget, and suggest everyone to read is the Mindful Athlete by George Mumford Social ConsultingSuccess.com Consulting Success Podcast LinkedIn: just connect and tell him you heard him on my show   ———   Volker is a sales and strategy consultant, and also works as a career and leadership coach. With a passion for mindfulness and personal development, he helps individuals and companies to achieve more. In his podcast he interviews high achievers, entrepreneurs, consultants, visionaries, coaches, and mentors about their secrets and experience. Learn from the best! Find out more on his website.  

For the last but not least episode of season 3 of my podcast, I welcome Lisa Ryan who is the Chief Appreciation Strategist at Grategy. As a Certified Speaking Professional, a Certified Virtual Speaker and the best-selling author of ten books including “The Upside of Down Times: Discovering the Power of Gratitude”, she shares a lot of information on how to become a professional speaker and what gratitude means in day to day life.   Lisa also co-stars in two inspirational films with other personal development experts including Jack Canfield of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” and John Gray of “Men are From Mars/Women are from Venus”.   While she’s not doing a lot on stage speaking recently due to Covid19, she is doing a lot of masterclasses, virtual training courses, and webinars. She’s also enjoying spending the “bonus time” she has with her husband of 24 years and her two very spoiled cats – Simba and Tinkerbell. Latter makes an appearance in the podcast too.   In our discussion we cover the experience of lockdown in the USA, and how her life has changed since March. Lisa’s passion for speaking developed when she was working in sales. Her speaking engagements have changed with Covid19, and resulted in her doing those from home. However, the audience connection is missing, and it is more difficult to engage with people.   She is also helping companies to engage better with their employees in order to reduce churn through educating them about gratitude. Gratitude for her is all about the human connection, and showing care to employees and fellow human beings.   Covid19 makes it ever so important for companies to see employees as people rather than a ‘cog in the system’ of a business; this is also about accepting that people might work at different times of day.   Lisa covers part of these topics in one of her books and talks us through the other bestsellers she wrote, including a gratitude journal and strategies for retaining talent. We discuss the way a good gratitude journal can be written and how it helps people to focus and reflect on their achievements. She gives her top tips on how to journal too.   We finish the podcast with her sharing her experience of starring in a film, and she talks about her dad having a stroke, and how this experience influenced her life. He certainly had an influence on her developing an interest in gratitude.   If there was one thing she would recommend anyone to do, she would encourage everyone to take a 30 days gratitude challenge. You will get going after that, even if you don’t notice the difference yourself, people around you will!   A great podcast and story from Lisa. If you want to find out more about her, and how to book her as a professional speaker, please visit www.LisaRyanSpeaks.com   Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert, consulting companies on soft skills around sales and business development. In his podcast he interviews successful people and wrote a best selling book about the advice.  

This week I welcome Chris Hyland to my podcast.    Chris is a tech entrepreneur that believes technology can be used for good and can dramatically impact the world in a positive way. He is lucky enough that his personal vision matches up with his company's vision at The Happiness Index.   The reason I asked Chris to be on the podcast is to discuss happiness. What does happiness mean? Now in times of Covid19 and beyond? Does happiness equal success? Their vision is #FreedomToBeHuman - organisations that succeed will enable their people to feel like a human ... not a number!   His purpose: To work with organisations to achieve a Thriving Culture. This is achieved when a strong balance is found between employee engagement and happiness.   Chris always enjoyed to look at the psychology behind the ads, following a marketing degree. So he started his own search agency in 2008. For him it was always important to build a company with a great culture, which led him to come up with the idea of the Happiness Index. They always build their first agency on honesty and transparency.    At that business he first tried out the concept of the Happiness Index to understand what employees really want. And the first response they got was to improve personal development and training. For him, the success is down to listening to his employees and customers.   They are taking a neuroscience approach. It’s about how humans act and feel. It is about having a purpose driven organisation and being treated as a human being. Whilst this sounds like common sense, it is still not commonplace in many organisations. And the results are improved productivity and better organisations.    Now, during Covid19, the insights the Happiness Index is delivering for companies, are more key than ever to understand employees. And whilst responses might be more negative due to the circumstances, the main keyword coming up was ‘uncertainty’; everyone is worried about the future. Having that data, and sharing that insight with employees, is key to developing a trusting relationship with staff. It’s about the quality of life and the right balance which is what employees are after. We also discuss different office set ups and how a law firm just cancelled their office for 3000 staff.   The Happiness Index is still doing their annual or quarterly away days, now virtually, to make sure they keep their culture going during these difficult times. And again, he finishes about some stats why happier companies lead to more successful companies. All employees get is a voice, it is that simple.   A great podcast, shedding light on the success factor happiness, and how employee happiness matters in organisation.   You can contact Chris via Linkedin    —  Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert, consulting companies on soft skills around sales and business development. In his podcast he interviews successful people and wrote a best selling book about the advice.

This week’s podcast is with Lizzy Hodcroft. She is an inspiration to talk to, on how to overcome mental health issues and becoming successful, selling a business and now launching a new business called Myndr.   Lizzy has been a winner of North East Entrepreneur for two years in a row. Her honestly about her struggles with mental health and how entrepreneurship aided in her recovery is a breath of fresh air within a competitive and at times, draining business environment.    In this podcast episode Lizzy speaks about the struggle to find investment with a mental health history, and her story of coping with mental health and rehab by building a successful business. The investment world, according to her, are now waking up to not having the perfect story for their investments. There is definitely a generation gap similar to what we discovered in episodes previously.   At time of recording we are still in lockdown due to Covid19 and just finishing off Mental Health Awareness week. Lizzy tells us her own story of being born in Scotland, growing up in the USA and how she ended up in a psychiatric hospital; she openly spoke about her addictions and rehab, an experience which of course had a huge influence on her development. I highly recommend watching her TED Talk too.    Through building two businesses, one of which she has sold, Lizzy is able to provide strong insight into the importance of laying a stable personal foundation in order to build a successful business.    Most recently her business, Myndr which won FSB Start Up of the Year, has received over £300k in government back funding. Lizzy and her co-founder Emma are building an app that breaks through the fluffy approach of most wellness and mindfulness apps she has seen.    She gives the example of structure that goes deeper than just routine and habits; also it holds all information for health care professionals. The main differentiators are the wisdom from peer experience, but also the AI (Artificial Intelligence) used to provide a tailor made plan. They hope to launch early 2021, which got delayed due to the Covid19 crisis.   We of course also speak about the lockdown and its impact on mental health. It also was a relief of not thinking you aren’t doing enough, and Lizzy’s confidence and creativity grew, as she has been more focused on her own output without being scrutinised from the outside world. A very interesting point, as the lockdown gives you headspace, and for all of us it’s a learning experience to be close with our family or partner 24/7.   If you would like to find out more, you can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as Weirdlyrelatable and of course via Myndr.co.uk   --  Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert, consulting companies on soft skills around sales and business development. In his podcast he interviews successful people and wrote a best selling book about the advice.   His latest project is a personal development course and listeners from the podcast can sign up and receive a free book with code “Book2020”: http://bebetter.ballueder.com

This week’s podcast is with a fellow German coach Stephanie Schaffner. After a corporate career in sales and business development, she changed direction to become a trainer for stress management and a coach for burnout prevention.   The reason for that was because that she was suffering from stress herself, was close to a burnout, and a few of her colleagues had burnouts at work. Recorded during the lockdown, we talk about stress, and what burnout actually means. How is it defined? I actually realised that I myself would have been on my way to a burnout a few years ago, based on the definition Stephanie shares.   With the current state of affairs  - people being furloughed, loosing their job, combining home schooling with work - stress is high; for our children this might have an impact moving forward. Whilst resilience will grow for adults, for children it might turn out to have a negative impact, not being able to socialise for instance. We also discuss the impact compared to the war generation, particularly in Germany. I love having a German on the show to discuss this, as there are so many things people don’t understand unless you are from a certain generation in Germany. Thanks Stephanie, I loved chatting about that!   A stage 12 burnout, the highest stage, leads to hospitalisation and includes both a physical and a mental illness. We also discuss the differentiation of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ stress, and I learned a lot about how positive stress has no negative effect on your blood vessels for instance.   To be honest, on the back of this conversation, I enrolled myself into a stress prevention coaching course, to apply some of the techniques Stephanie talked about to my coaching clients too. This is a topic close to my heart and related to the mindfulness courses I deliver.   Germany has over 13 million people who suffer from burnout, which is a big chunk of the adult population. This translates into millions of Euros of costs for companies in terms of absenteeism and long term sick leave.   As a stress trainer Stephanie works hand in hand with companies to reduce stress in the workplace which then also leads to burnout prevention. Communication and honesty, according to her, is the most important step to take for stress prevention. Mindfulness also plays a key role.   We discuss office layout, pre- and post Covid to foster deep work and being able to concentrate on work. Has focus improved since us all working from home? Of course home schooling is challenging but without that, it might actually help us doing better work?   You can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin finding all links on her website: www.diestressmanagerin.com   --- Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert, consulting companies on soft skills around sales and business development. In his podcast he interviews successful people and wrote a best selling book about the advice.   His latest project is a personal development course and listeners from the podcast can sign up and receive a free book with code “Book2020”: http://bebetter.ballueder.com

On this episode I welcome Marek Zmysłowski. Marek is a Polish-born entrepreneur and executive, focused on online businesses in Frontier and Emerging Markets.    At time of recording we are both in lockdown due to Covid-19. He is in Barcelona and I am in the UK. We discuss the impact Covid-19 might have on Africa as well.   Marek is the author of a bestselling book called “Chasing Black Unicorns. How building the Amazon of Africa put me on Interpol Most Wanted list.” A story we will be diving into.   He co-founded Jumia Travel – Africa’s Biggest Hotel Booking Portal listed on NYSE as part of Jumia Group and HotelOnline.co – a Travel Technology Company. In 2014, he was chosen as one of the ten most important people in Tech by IT News Africa Magazine. He is a Lead Mentor at Google’s Launchpad and World Bank’s XL Africa Program.   His story is fascinating, and Marek explains how he made a lot of money and how he also lost a lot of money during the financial crisis. As a true millennial we are discussing some of the ‘prejudices’ society has with the younger generation. We drift towards a discussion on how we communicate, and what the best way is to do business moving forward. He even has clients he never met, yet spends money with them.    We also talk about the perception some have about doing business in Africa. Whilst Marek confirmed some, we also talk about his positive experience in Africa, and how little the majority of people know about this amazing continent. Personally, I learned a lot about Africa just by listening to him.   During the podcast, Marek and I discuss technology and his latest involvement in an AI (Artificial Intelligence) company, and we discover our joint passion for renewable energy; it turns out he invested in a company bringing solar tiles to Europe, drifting into a discussion about technology.   Whilst success for him is not all about money, his drive for success is coming from his childhood. He was bullied in school, and wants to show the world what he is able to be successful; through the help of coaches, he funnels his energy into business, where he enjoys the challenges of big problems.   He explains how to launch an e-commerce business in a cash society, and how online market places work in Africa. Advertising on the other hand was predominately locally, and offline.     His best advice is to not take too much advice :-) ‘Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions’, is one his favourite quotes. Similar to myself, he is interested in understanding and hacking is body and ultimate health. We only manage to touch on this briefly unfortunately, but his advice is sound; he now only eats once a day and swears on it.    For more information on his experience and companies, please see the following links: His Ted Talk and Social accounts can be accessed via www.ChasingBlackUnicorns.com Sunroof: www.sunroof.se  RTB House: www.rtbhouse.com ---   Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert. In his podcast Stories of Success he interviews successful people and wrote a book on the back of it.   His latest project is a personal development course and listeners from the podcast can sign up and receive a free book with code "Book2020": http://bebetter.ballueder.com

This was a great recording with an industry friend around various topics. Not only did we discuss media, but we more-though spoke about what it means to have a burn-out and to live with anxiety, not only during the Covid19 crisis.   Meet Sean Betts who is the Managing Director of Annalect in the UK and has worked in the media industry for 16 years. He has lived with depression and anxiety all his life and in 2017 experienced burn out. Since then he has been openly talking about his experiences.   For those not from the industry, Annalect is part of Omnicom Media Group and they are responsible for all technology, data and analytics across the group. Prior to joining Annalect, Sean spent 4 years at Havas Media working as a client director on multiple blue chip clients and prior to that worked as a media planner at MediaCom for 8 years.   After I met Sean, I thought it would be great for him to share his story of being successful yet dealing with burn out at the same time. How does one cope? How do things work? Or don’t work. Recording this episode just before the Easter weekend naturally lead to us speaking about the Covid19 crisis.   We think that we, as the media industry, are well equipped in terms of working from home. However, some clients took a massive hit on their business, whilst others strive in the time of crisis, or brands that take advantage of cheaper media prices.   Every recession and crisis offers an opportunity, which is great. Balancing this with the fear and risk, is a challenge most people and businesses find. Also, not having a clear end date, makes it difficult to plan. And what if the virus comes back and we have to have another lockdown in another 12 months. The uncertainty is a major challenge.   Sean suggests we have to find a new normal too. He thinks the biggest thing is for the world to slow down and evaluate what is and isn’t important.    Where do you find your focus? What are your values? And how can you align your values to your purpose and your life. That’s where my online coaching course will focus on which goes live in May 2020.    Being able to appreciate life outside work, and being able to slow down their life to enjoy it more is key. For me, the opportunity to have dinner with the family every night is amazing. Just spending time with the family is key for a lot of people.   I really appreciated how open Sean is about his experience. We both feel that speaking about burn-out, anxiety and therapy, helps others to open up too. It makes it more ‘normal’, and he also thinks from a recruiting perspective, he would prefer people who have had mental problems, as they are more likely know what they want in life. A very interesting discussion, and eye opening.   I was particularly impressed by his boss’ reaction, and support he received. Originally, I though this could go the wrong way, with companies and managers not understanding. A great testament to his employer, but we must be aware that this wouldn’t be ‘normal’ at every workplace.   In his experience, only over the last few years we are learning as a society what the language is to express our feelings and mental problems; for him it’s a generational thing, talking about mental health. Given we are similar age, I couldn’t agree more. Through his experience he started being more mindful and also started meditating.   We discuss how as a society we should encourage people to have therapy, learn meditation and invest more in themselves to improve their mental health; and this should be something employers should value when hiring too.    His morning routine is very similar to mine with an early start for meditation and exercise. Based on his experience, Sean also suggests how to deal with anti-depressant drugs, and how you need to make sure that you get the right treatment from a medication point of view.   In terms of change, Sean now changed his attitude towards work. Mainly in terms of being more strict with his time like not working too early or late, and trying to avoid weekend work unless absolutely necessary. Also balancing work and life, spending more time with the family.    We philosophise about the new normal after the crisis and what we think will happen. Maybe we speak in a longer episode sometime, it has been so much fun to speak to Sean.  If you want to reach out to Sean, just go to Linkedin.   --- Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert. In his podcast Stories of Success he interviews successful people and wrote a book on the back of it. Check out the new episode of Stories Of Success podcast!

I enjoyed meeting Gian Power ACA on my podcast who set up his first business aged 13 and later worked at Deutsche Bank and PwC and witnessed first-hand some of the wellbeing & inclusion issues that need to be tackled in the corporate world.   In 2015, an unexpected family tragedy changed Gian’s life forever, when his dad was murdered on a trip to India. When returning back to work, Gian saw the power of being able to share his emotions and being his full self at work.   We are discussing the working culture in the finance sector, yet his experience wasn’t too bad. However, his experiences and inner resilience sparked his passion for prioritising wellbeing and inclusion in the workplace. That’s what lead Gian to found TLC Lions and The Unwind Experience; he is passionate about igniting emotion in the workplace, encouraging others to share and be themselves at work.   Speaking about his mentor at work, and how this helped both his attitude and his productivity. We are discussing how the right leadership and how leaders who listen get more out of their staff; bringing the human back into work.   Another topic we discuss is his 5 am morning routine and we compare what we do; in his case he meditates, journals and goes to the gym. So very similar to what I do.   Gian defines success as being happy and content along his journey. He wants to wake up every day being content with the life he is living; to establish whether he is on track, he is asking himself 4 questions every month to measure his happiness:   How happy am I with my life (1-10) How happy am I with TLC Lions as an organisation (1-10) What am I going to change to become a little bit happier Is this still the life I wanted when I left PwC    For Gian it is important that he is on a journey where he is happy every day, as from his experience life can change so quickly. So he tries to not plan too long term.   We discuss meditation and it helps with resilience which he defines as keeping going when things get tough. He, similar to myself, can get knocked down, but he always gets up again with some techniques he reveals that help him to get through the tough times. Meditation is one of them, but so is exercise, overall health and feeling gratitude and positive self-talk.   The Unwind Experience is a company Gian founded after a meditation experience that someone gave to him when many people around him were struggling with burn-out. So the Unwind Experience is a meditation experience over 9,000 people went through last year, adapted to the highly stressful workplace.   You can find Gian on LinkedIn or Instagram and TLC as well as the Unwind Experience  - at the end we briefly speak about his fantastic achievement to win an award for entrepreneurial spirit. Well done!   His best piece of advice is to find your passion and purpose and go and chase it!   If you are interested, Gian is recruiting for a partnership role and a lead for the Unwind Experience. Reach out to him if you are interested.   Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert. In his podcast Stories of Success he interviews successful people and wrote a book on the back of it.

This is a solo episode. First time I record on my iPad, and I hope the quality is ok.  Just a few thoughts I have in these unprecedented and uncertain times. Let me know what you think! Stay positive! I also answer some questions around my passion and routines, and if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me! Stay home, stay safe and be in touch!

In this week’s podcast I welcome Al Gerrie who is the Founder and CEO of ZigZag Global, a software solution to help e-commerce retailers manage returns domestically and globally. We recorded this at the peak internet time during the first week of national office closures due to the Corona virus, and unfortunately the connection dropped a few time.    We speak about Corona/Covid-19 and how it impacts his business and the supply chain. ZigZag Global is connecting a global network of over 200 warehouses, 100 courier services and multiple international marketplaces. ZigZag whitelabels the solution to 9 international carriers and postal provider.    Success for him is about right business at the right time; a thorough business model to stick to and being laser focused on the end goal. For him it is all about building the best business with the best people; winning awards as part of a marketing strategy, and building the best technology in the world. It sounds simple but it has been a lot of hard work for him.   Al has over 20 years retail, logistics and ecommerce experience as a consultant to major brands and is former Head of Multichannel at OFFICE, Mountain Warehouse and WeArePentagon. He was a very early pioneer in the mobile shopping space, launching one of the first PayPal mobile shopping experiences as early as 2007 (pre smartphone). He is an expert in international delivery and returns, technical integrations, as well as building ecommerce fulfilment and warehousing solutions with 3rd Party logistics providers.   I found it interesting to learn that more and more people, close to 40%, buy to try things out at home and then return the item. VR (virtual reality), to his account, doesn’t have a huge impact yet, as people still want to touch, feel and try the product in flesh; consumers want choice. Hence the process for returns must be nailed down for both consumers and retailers. Workflow, experience as well as cost. A very complex process, which has to take a lot of factors into consideration.   Al explains how local shipping and local drop off becomes more important for buyers; it also reduces costs for the retailer.  In today’s world, the consumer doesn’t want to pay for delivery. However, the costs of the returns needs to be covered somewhere, and a hidden cost which affects the retailers’ bottom line.   I love when Al tells the story how he got into the business, thinking I’d love to have a pound for every return. Listen in, the ideas are there for entrepreneurs to take.   ZigZag has four types of clients, e.g. large retailer, warehouse groups, Carriers (Whitelabel), and Marketplaces. Their process takes only 60 seconds, and it makes it super easy for customers to return. I love his holistic approach, e.g. not only does he focus on the process for the consumer and customer, but also the reduction of waste from the label printing to the avoidance of air miles. Also, they are using a lot of data, to for instance identify users that are returning more often, or don’t pay the bill. Those would then be excluded from future ad campaigns for instance or flagged in the system as being problematic. I wonder if there is anything they haven’t thought of yet?   At time of recording the Corona virus hasn’t taken a toll yet. However, he anticipates a disruption around ports and goods moving across countries. Long term, he expects that buying habits will be changing for good. People will buy even more online, as we have seen in China a few years ago. Once that habit has been established, it is difficult for people to go back.   There are of course challenges with a reduced workforce being in place, but he is confident we are getting through the crisis; yet the consumer behaviour will change.   We also talk about his company taking measures for everyone to work from home; ZigZag had planned this for many years and they are quite prepared. Of course other business aren’t or are not able to work from home. Another challenge in this crisis, and it will have an impact on the way we are working moving forward.   The impacts he suggests to consider isn’t only work, but the social impact like family. He also gives us his advice on what to do when you work from home, balancing both work and life/family.   Unprecedented times indeed. Thank you Al, for being my guest. If you want to reach out to him, please go to Linkedin or www.zigzag.global ---- Volker coaches transformations (career, life & business), and helps individuals and companies through change. He is also a mindfulness trainer and productivity expert. In his podcast Stories of Success he interviews successful people and wrote a book on the back of it.

My podcast this week is with a former colleague and friend Luis Esteban (LinkedIn). Not often do I ask colleagues to be on the podcast, but after meeting Luis Esteban last year, we just hit it off and have so many things in common. Luis is now CEO of Initiative Spain, and I moved on too. His Twitter handle is @lesteban   In wake of the Corona Virus, we actually recorded this episode only last week. It hangs over us, yet we are focusing on leadership in unprecedented times as well as his mantra, ‘be a warrior’.   His bio reads like a dream profile of a successful entrepreneur and business person: Digital CEO with Entrepreneur Spirit, Loves Mobile, E-Commerce & Social Media. Now in the Performance and Direct Response world (Programatic, Search, SEO and Social PPC). He was awarded as Executive of the Year 2018 in the Bing Europe and APAC Awards amongst 700 agency contenders and he was twice (!) included in the 100 Most Influential Under40 in Spain by GQ.   Luis latest challenge moves him into TV as well, which in Spain is still a huge media channel, and will be moving digital at some point. However, whilst we start off on digital marketing, I guess that’s where we met, for him it is all about having fun at work and being happy; balancing his life.   His leadership is about enabling the right people around him, to make them successful, whether that is within his organisation or outside. This leads the conversation to different generations in the workplace, and what millennials want from the workplace versus the older generation. This ties in with the new regulations of working from home or working remotely due to the ongoing global crisis.   Luis has been very successful in his career, and no doubt this will continue. However, he is very humble about it. So he boils it down to respect, being humble, and working with talented people. He is very positive and has a very forward looking, positive outlook on life which helped him to be successful. However, he warns to not confuse this with being naive but being pro-active or positive.   My main take away from the conversation is that you should be in it for the long run. Of course you have to do your job, but be patient and persevere and you will reach the level you were meant to reach. It’s all about hard work and a long term view, having a long term career plan. Being able to coach millennials and staff in general seems to become more and more important.   Luis quotes Microsoft’s CEO Nadella stating that the biggest influence on business is: empathy. It goes in line with my previous podcast on Compassionate Leadership. The use of EQ (emotional intelligence), compassion, and empathy in the workplace is key. Showing this in times of these, where we are separated by screens, and cannot socialise directly, it is something we should encourage in the ‘remote workplace’ situation. Luis has already had a virtual beer and lunch, why not? We are all in the same boat, and isolation can lead to mental health challenges. Let’s combat this now.   At the end of the podcast we touch on WLB (work life balance) and how it is important to have the right people around him at home, similar to work. He praises his wife for her support and having his balanced family life with his three children. His advice is to leave all business at the doorstep and come into the house and focus on your family only. I guess another challenge in terms of working remotely. We touch on hobbies and making the most of the time you gain by not commuting, and keeping up the social spirit. #BeaWarrior   This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer.   Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019.  If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).  

When recording this amazing episode with Wasim Benharch I was buzzing - and it wasn't only because of the caffeine I had that day. Meeting Wasim opened my eyes to Learning and Development in organisations and the role it plays for retaining the right talent.    Wasim introduced an onboarding programme at Methods Business and Digital Technology that has seen attrition reduced from almost 30% to single digits in the space of 12 months! So that’s clearly a success, and a story I wanted to hear from him. He didn’t always work in L&D but gives us a good overview how he worked with retailers and partners over the years and started to understand the necessity for the role he has now.   He filled us into a model called the 70-20-10 which looks at three areas. It holds that individuals obtain 70 percent of their knowledge from job-related experiences, 20 percent from interactions with others, and 10 percent from formal educational events. Whilst we also discuss how many people use YouTube to find information, aside from Google’s search, and we used the example of repairing a washing machine, and finding a step by step instruction.   What I liked about Wasim’s attitude is that he believes in having a good place to work makes all the difference. He is humble that there is no secret sauce to what he does, however I have seen too many companies not adhering to the basics. However, when telling his story, he outlines the buy in from the C-Level and the front-line staff. He is bridging the gap between what KPIs leadership wanting to meet, whilst on the other hand maintaining the work environment and matching the needs of the people doing the day to day work.   He looked at pre-boarding, induction and probation. His task was to make each stage a huge success, e.g. engagement, for the individual. Every line manager involved in recruitment would be involved, and of course the leadership as described above. Further, he introduced a 2 day introduction programme which is relevant for everyone. Not, like many I have experienced, it was for junior or senior staff, or you are too busy in the job to actually attend it. And the product in his case are the people. We discuss the whole process in detail and I am sure you find many pointers there if you are in L&D or running a company. Given I have gone through a few redundancies and had different HR experiences from onboarding to ‘off boarding’, it was refreshing to hear Wasim’s approach. And it clearly works!!!   When we discuss freelance workers and how they integrate them, Methods’ approach is long-term rather than short-term thinking, which is a testament again (!) as many freelancers join them full time. A great approach to integrate everyone and using recruitment and positive WOM as a recruitment tool, as a company’s responsibility is all about offering an opportunity to grow and have a career within an organisation. His approach, similar to mine, is all about developing staff, mentoring staff until they cannot progress further; good managers rise with the tide. Retention as its best.   He defines success as finding happiness in what one does, and how he can be beneficial to others.    If anyone wants to reach out to him, they can go and find him on Linkedin.    Wasim inspired me so much, and we had so much fun recording it, I also wrote a blog post on the back of this podcast, as Wasim got me to think about my personal story of joining and leaving companies. You might enjoy reading that too.     This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer. Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019.  If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).

In this week’s episode I welcome Dr. Gleb Tsipursky. We recorded it on a Friday night without having had a chance to talk about his topic in great detail before. What attracted me to Gleb's profile is that he is on a mission to protect leaders from dangerous judgement errors - widely known as cognitive biases. So his expertise is around decision making and gut instinct, and actually not relying on your gut instinct.   An interesting episode where Gleb speaks about his life and how he came to the US from Moldovia as a child, a country which seems to be one of the unhappiest in the world. He shares his story how he started being interested in decision making based on his personal story, the dot.com boom and bust as well as his research.   He recently published his book Never Go With Your Gut, How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters (Avoid Terrible Advice, Cognitive Biases, and Poor Decisions)  in which he summarises his findings.   Gleb argues that our gut feelings haven’t adapted to the modern world, but still have the instincts from our ’savanna days’. Therefore, if we rely on our gut feelings, we make the wrong decisions as they aren’t good decisions in today’s world anymore. That’s where the cognitive bias comes in too.   In order to make better decisions he suggests to follow a basic 5 step process: What Information didn’t I yet fully consider? What dangerous judgement errors haven’t I yet addressed?  What would a trusted advisor suggest I do? How have I addressed all the ways how it could fail? What information would you hold to change your mind? This decision making process should overwrite your gut, particularly for major decisions. His book goes into more details, however listen carefully to his examples in the podcast which are fascinating. It shows how the confidence level changes due to cognitive bias. It goes in line with how the body mind connection is helping you to be more positive and confident for instance; we discuss how Emotional Intelligence (EQ) can or cannot help us to make better decisions too. It’s important to understand our instincts and how to connect them to our behaviour.   We conclude on discussing how the CEOs of this world hear from Gleb about not listening to their gut or their instincts, which they probably like, yet it goes against latest trends. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did, as it is a fascinating and insightful. I loved every minute of our discussion!   If you want to find out more please please contact Gleb on any of the following channels: Twitter  @gleb_tsipursky Instagram@dr_gleb_tsipursky Facebook  YouTube RSS LinkedIn Get a free copy of the Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace, by signing up for his free Wise Decision Maker Course.     This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer. Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019.  If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).

This episode of my podcast was another “cold interview". I enjoy those conversations, where you meet someone for the first time and record the conversation. This one is with Barbara Vercruysse. Apologies for some audio glimpses which are due to connectivity issues.   Barbara is a coach, spiritual mentor, thought leader and public speaker. After facing several challenges in life and surviving stage 4 skin cancer at the age of 32, she decided to live her second life at the fullest. In this episode she shares her story of success. She also wrote a book, founded an online school, gives talks and inspires people to deeply transform their lives.    We are looking at the first life she had prior to cancer and her second life after cancer. She sees her cancer, which she had at 32, as a blessing. A concept some might not understand, but for her it was a eureka moment which made her change her life completely. For her it is all about leaving a legacy, an imprint on someone else’s heart.   It was as if she was living someone else’s life until she started being herself, finding herself due to her experience with cancer. She overcame this and openly speaks about the debts she had; she had to close her company and was ready to give it all up. But she persevered and ended up fighting even harder to get to where she is now! She turned that fear into a confidence in life.   She learned how to say yes, worked hard and took the opportunities and made it a success. Her online school is called ‘Barbara’s School of Wisdom’. She was published in the Huffington Post and wrote the book: '7 Most Powerful Techniques to Release Stress’. We discuss the power we have inside us to make decisions and how we react in any situation. Whilst we touch on spiritual experience, and how we would define this for ourselves, there is also the Peaceprize which she was selected for. It is a Thought Leaders School founded by Bryant McGill.    A complex episode with loads of input and take aways in order to encourage you to live the life you want to live!   If you want to find out more about Barbara, please follow the links below:   Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-vercruysse-431027113/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startthelifeofyourdreams/ Website: http://www.startthelifeofyourdreams.com/ School of Wisdom: https://barbaras-school-of-wisdom.com/   — This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer. Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019.  If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).

Happy 50th Episode!   I sometimes do not believe that it has been a 2 year journey of ’Stories of Success’ and we arrived at episode 50. I have enjoyed the journey so far, and how my podcast has changed from interviewing ’successful adtech leaders’ to ‘leaders in personal development’. As my life is pivoting, so is the podcast, and maybe you see a refresh of positioning in 2020. The book I wrote on the back of the podcast has become a best seller and sold close to 10,000 copies by now. I am delighted to be able to bring you the tools and stories of leaders in order to make you a better person, and help you in your self improvement journey, learning about leadership and personal development. It helps me with my consulting and coaching clients, and it is a lot of fun too. Thanks for your ongoing support and loyalty.   This anniversary episode is with Manley Hopkinson who has a number of strings to his bow; as an internationally acclaimed and admired inspirational speaker, as a mentor, coach and catalyst for personal, team & organisational transformation, as an accomplished author and as an Executive Board member.   His strength lies in creating and developing the transformational leadership behaviours needed for people, organisations and sporting teams to perform at a high level, consistently. Aligning leaders, executive teams and the wider community to the strategic intent enables true delegation, leveraged effort, effective decision making and high performance at all levels.   Rather than forcing “compliance”, the focus is on gaining “commitment” by raising levels of self and team awareness, then aligning personal and organisational values & purpose leading to more effective business and personal relationships. It’s a very holistic approach that needs to be taken, which then also leads to more success for companies, e.g. a win/win for the world and the business.   He mentions John Adair’s model of leadership too, which I recommend finding out more about.   I am delighted to welcome him on my podcast where he tells his story of compassionate leadership, and we discuss not only what success means but also what leadership means, and how we can be better leaders. For him it is about conscious leadership, where leaders get a commitment to follow, and it goes in line with Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Awareness comes first, then taking positive actions.   Success for him is about being truly content with oneself; it is about being happy on the inside. The values he lives by are ‘deep sense of what he believes’, ‘courage to be yourself’, ‘confidence to believe in yourself’, ‘joy in the moment’, and ‘compassion’. This contentment leads to him or anyone being a better person, partner and human being.   As an Inspirational Speaker Manley understands the impact of stories; tapping into that power of story and metaphor to accelerate reflection, discovery and revelation, creates moments of deep understanding, breaking down barriers and leading to lasting transformational behavioural change.   He speaks about his experience as a skipper in the 2000 BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race, leading a team of volunteers, including novices, for 9 months in a 32,000 mile journey, the “wrong way”! Manley continued his adventures as part of the 3-man team that won the inaugural race to the Magnetic North Pole. The team faced polar bear attacks, and sub-zero temperatures, learning huge lessons about both surviving and competing in very difficult circumstances.  I read his book which he published in 2014, “Compassionate Leadership: How to Create and Maintain Engaged, Committed and High-Performing Teams” , and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The brand-new online Compassionate Leadership Academy (CLA)  is a continuation of all Manley’s work that will transform the way people access leadership development and further spread the impact of compassionate leadership worldwide.    A podcast you don’t want to miss; a high impact leader which an in depth understanding of both leadership, communication and how to achieve goals. I truly enjoyed the conversation with Manley. Every journey changes you, if you take the time to reflect on it afterwards.   --- This podcast is hosted by Volker Ballueder (Ballueder Partners), a trusted advisor, business consultant and mindfulness trainer. Volker wrote a book on productivity and life improvement #BeBetter. He launched his bestselling book Principles for Success, based on the interviews on this podcast, in 2019.  If you are interested in working with Volker Ballueder as an advisor, coach or consultant, please reach out to him via email (volker@ballueder.com).