The Unlock Moment: Recent Episodes
Dr Gary Crotaz PhD
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz and I’m a coach and author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’, a book about how to figure out what you want and how to get it. The Unlock Moment is that flash of remarkable clarity when you suddenly know the right path ahead. When I’m in conversation with my coaching clients, these are the breakthroughs that are so profound that they remember vividly where they were, who they were with, what they were thinking when their Unlock Moment happened.
In this podcast, I’ll be meeting and learning about people who have accomplished great things or brought about significant change in their life. And you’ll be meeting them with me! We’ll be finding out what inspired them, how they got through the hard times and what they learned along the way that they can share with you.
Thank you for joining me on this podcast to hear all about another Unlock Moment!
Close to half of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants. Eighty per cent of billion-dollar startups have an immigrant founder or executive. And businesses founded by immigrants statistically outlast the ones founded by everybody else.
Nobody had properly asked why ... until Dr Neri Karra Sillaman did.
Neri stood at a border at the age of eleven with her nine-year-old brother and her parents, who carried two suitcases and nothing else. She is now a professor at Oxford, the founder of a global luxury brand, and the winner of the Thinkers50 Radar award for the world's most promising emerging management thinker.
In this episode, Neri takes me inside the research behind her book Pioneers ... eight principles she found in the founders of Chobani, Moderna and Calendly, none of whom put profit first. We talk about why the usual paths are often closed to outsiders and what they build instead, why raising money too early can kill a company before it starts, and what happened when the war in Ukraine hit her own business ... and Prada picked up the phone.
Twenty years ago, in a seminar room in London, Neri was told that altruism is not real in business. This is what she found out.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
What do you do when the life you've spent everything building is suddenly taken away from you overnight? Stephanie Millward MBE was 16, a British record-breaking swimmer heading for the Sydney Olympics, when she went blind, lost the ability to walk and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Doctors gave her 10 years to live.
She's now 44.
In this episode, Stephanie takes me through one of the most extraordinary stories of reinvention I've ever heard ... how she learned to hold a funeral for her old self, get back in the pool, and go on to compete at four Paralympic Games, winning gold medals that nobody ... including her ... ever thought she'd live long enough to win.
We talk about silencing the voice that tells you you're not enough, why every single bad thing that has ever happened to you might just be the best thing that ever happened to you, and how to write the ending of your story before you've even begun to live it.
If you've ever faced a moment where everything felt lost ... this one is for you.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Some of the most powerful shifts in leadership come from seeing something that's been there all along, but never fully acted on.
On this episode of The Unlock Moment, I am joined by Christine Barnes, executive coach, UC Berkeley lecturer, and author of Inclusionable: Transform How You Lead and Elevate Your Team's Performance ... and her story is a brilliant example of exactly that.
Christine has spent her career inside some of the world's most complex organisations, from IBM to Oracle, Roche to Genentech, helping leaders navigate change and build capability. But it was her doctoral research - begun at an age when most of her peers were thinking about retirement - that crystallised what she had been observing for decades: that despite billions spent on diversity hiring, too many people still look up in their organisations and see nobody like them.
In this conversation, we explore why most leaders can't actually distinguish between diversity and inclusion, how Christine's own biases showed up in the middle of a research interview, and why outsourcing inclusion to DEI experts, however essential they are, lets leaders off the hook.
This is a conversation about self-awareness, accountability, and the simple but transformative idea that inclusion isn't a nice-to-have. It's your most underused leadership strategy.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Chris Whitaker has spent his life navigating systems that weren’t built with him in mind … and then choosing to change them.
Born six weeks prematurely with cerebral palsy, Chris grew up learning how to operate in a world that often underestimated him. That early experience only served to sharpen his ambition. From university rowing squads to national-level sport, and later into leadership roles across the charity and disability sectors, he developed a perspective grounded in both lived experience and performance.
Today, as founder of Purple Advantage, Chris works with organisations to rethink how they approach disability, employment, and inclusion. His focus is on closing the disability employment gap, unlocking overlooked talent, and helping leaders move beyond uncertainty into confident, human conversations.
We explore the moments that shaped Chris’s identity, his competitive drive, and his approach to leadership … including the role his wife, a Paralympian, played in helping him fully embrace his own story.
This is a perspective formed through experience, challenge, and reflection, and it invites a different way of seeing the people around us.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
What does it take to perform when there is no second take … and no margin for error?
In this episode, I speak with Luisa Baldini - former BBC correspondent and co-founder of Composure Media - about what it takes to communicate under pressure.
For over two decades, Luisa reported live from major global events, often with millions watching, producers speaking in her ear, and events unfolding in real time around her.
She shares what those moments taught her about composure, confidence and clarity … and why pressure doesn’t disappear as you progress in your career - it simply changes shape.
We explore how leaders can think more clearly, communicate more simply, and stay steady when the stakes are high.
Because composure isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you learn … when it matters most.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Some negotiations are lost long before a single word is agreed. They’re lost in the rush to fill silence … in the instinct to ease tension … in the urge to make the other person comfortable.
My guest in this episode understands this better than most. Mildred Yuan is a leading talent agent, negotiator and executive coach - and she also happens to be my partner in life. Years ago she was my dance partner too, back when competitive ballroom dancing played a big role in our lives.
Her approach to negotiation traces back to a moment when she was just sixteen, staring down her formidable Tiger Mom across the kitchen table … and discovering a lesson she still uses today. Influence often belongs to the person willing to stay in discomfort a little longer.
In this conversation we explore negotiation, self-advocacy, and the moment you realise that no one is coming to rescue you. At some point, you have to decide to stand your ground … and put on your own superhero cape.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
What happens when a relationship doesn’t explode … it just disappears?
In this episode of The Unlock Moment, I’m joined by high-profile US psychologist Dr Josh Coleman to unpack why estrangement happens - and what actually helps when you want to rebuild a relationship that’s been lost to distance, conflict, or silence.
We explore the major pathways to estrangement (including cultural change, divorce, political differences, and therapy narratives), why the “old rules” of hierarchy and obligation no longer land the way they once did, and what repair really requires when guilt, logic, and authority fail.
Josh shares a practical, compassionate framework for reconciliation: easing off the armour, learning a new language for hard conversations, and understanding a counterintuitive truth - the person who wants the relationship most often has to lead the repair.
This is a conversation about humility without collapse, warmth with strength, and how trust is rebuilt one honest conversation at a time - in families, in teams, and in any relationship that matters.
More from Dr Josh Coleman:
Website: DrJoshuaColeman.com
Substack: joshuacolemanphd.substack.com
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
What happens when success comes at the cost of authenticity?
In this episode of The Unlock Moment, I’m joined by Dr Michelle K. Johnston - Distinguished Professor of Management, executive coach, and co-author with Marshall Goldsmith - to explore the moment that reshaped her leadership, her research, and her life.
At just 28, Michelle was a rising academic star. But sitting alone in her office, reading student feedback she found hurtful, she realised something profound: she was succeeding by pretending to be someone she wasn’t. In trying to fit a command-and-control mould, she had silenced the very strengths that made her exceptional … her warmth, enthusiasm, and humanity.
That moment sparked a seismic internal shift. One that led Michelle to a lifelong exploration of connection: with self, with others, and with the courage required to show up authentically in environments where you feel different or alone.
We talk about growing up constantly adapting, why connection always begins within, the loneliness that often accompanies deep personal change, and why productivity without connection ultimately leads to emptiness. Michelle also shares the core ideas behind her new book The Seismic Shift in You, including why leaders must move from task to people, from control to connection, and why your calendar reveals your true priorities.
This conversation is a powerful reminder that leadership transformation doesn’t start in the boardroom … it starts inside us. If you’ve ever felt like you were performing instead of belonging, this episode will meet you exactly where you are.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
What does it take to stay human in a system that rewards slogans over thinking?
In this conversation, Ryan Wain - Senior Director of Policy & Politics at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change - traces his path from Sainsbury’s checkouts in Liverpool to shaping ideas that influence governments in the UK and around the world.
We talk about the leadership lessons he learned from everyday people … why place and connection matter more than most policy debates admit … and the moment at King’s College London that challenged his confidence, sharpened his sense of social mobility, and pushed him towards a “third way” that isn’t about tribes … it’s about a we.
Ryan takes us behind the scenes of what it really takes to become a parliamentary candidate … the emotional brutality of hustings … and why losing by five votes wasn’t the end of his story.
Along the way, we explore a theme that keeps returning: permission. Permission to think. Permission to debate. Permission to confront the hard truth of national decline - and still believe renewal is possible.
If you care about leadership, democracy, and what it means to build a future worth belonging to … this one will stay with you.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
What happens when you get everything you thought you wanted, and it still doesn’t feel like enough?
For Paul Ollinger, that question surfaced after leaving Facebook with financial freedom in his early forties. On paper, it was success. In reality, it sparked a deeper reckoning about identity, purpose, and what actually makes a life feel whole.
In this conversation, Paul reflects on the disorienting space that can follow achievement, the moment he realised money had stopped being the motivator he thought it was, and the uncomfortable freedom of having no obvious next step. He explores the tension between ambition and contentment, why work plays such a powerful role in belonging, and how redefining happiness became essential rather than optional.
This episode is an honest look at what really defines success … and a reminder that fulfilment doesn’t begin when you reach the number, but when you ask better questions about what comes next.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Some leadership lessons arrive through strategy. Others arrive at 38,000 feet, reading a single sentence that reframes everything.
For Garry Ridge, former CEO and Chairman Emeritus of WD-40, that moment sparked a radical shift in how he thought about leadership, culture, and responsibility. In his second appearance on The Unlock Moment, Garry returns to reflect on what he’s learned since stepping away from the CEO role … and what still matters most about leading well.
In this conversation, Garry shares deeper insight into servant leadership, psychological safety, and why fear is the enemy of learning. He unpacks the real meaning behind his provocatively titled book Any Dumb Ass Can Do It, and explains why leadership doesn’t require brilliance - just care, consistency, and courage.
This episode is a reminder that great leadership isn’t about control or charisma. It’s about how you show up and the environment you create for others to thrive.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Recorded live at Climb25 - The UK’s Festival of Business Growth & Innovation, this episode of The Unlock Moment features Dr Bob Gomersall: physicist, teacher, accidental entrepreneur and pioneer of global educational technology.
Bob traces his journey from teaching physics in the late 1970s to building a business delivering assessment platforms now used around the world, supporting awarding bodies, professional organisations and educational institutions to deliver over 45 million exams across 140 countries.
Along the way, we explore the Unlock Moments that shaped his path … the decisions that didn’t come from having a perfect plan, but from gaining clarity about how to choose when the stakes were high and the future uncertain.
Drawing on the ideas behind his new book, Worthwhile Wealth, Bob challenges conventional measures of success and invites us to rethink what achievement really means. Rather than chasing scale or status, he reflects on usefulness, impact, and the satisfaction that comes from doing work that genuinely matters - to you and to others.
A thoughtful conversation about innovation, clarity, and building a business and a life that feels worthwhile.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Some unlock moments arrive quietly. Others come when life is in full conflict.
For executive coach and conflict mediator Adam Vane, clarity appeared only after he walked away from the family business and into years of intense Zen training. Alone on a mountaintop retreat, he realised a truth that changed everything: “Nobody’s going to help me figure this out… it’s just little me.”
That moment became the foundation for a career spent teaching leaders how to stay calm in chaos. In this episode, Adam offers a masterclass in de-escalation - how to hear the “charged words,” diffuse hostility and guide conversations from confrontation to breakthrough.
From UN crisis zones to high-stakes boardrooms, he shows that effective conflict resolution isn’t about power … it’s about presence, attention and the courage to truly listen.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Some moments don’t arrive gently. They shake you awake and force you to see the world differently.
For Professor Arad Reisberg, that clarity began in childhood, sitting on “whites only” benches in apartheid-era South Africa and feeling, long before he had language for it, that something was deeply wrong. Growing up openly gay, Jewish and a migrant, he learned early what it meant to move through the world as both insider and outsider.
Years later, a quiet moment at home changed everything. His husband, a cardiologist, listened to his chest, paused, and said the words that led to a life-altering diagnosis and open-heart surgery. Recovery brought its own lessons - about invisible struggles, misplaced expectations and the humanity we all rely on but rarely talk about.
Emerging from that experience, Arad found a clarity he hadn’t had before. A sharper sense of what matters, what doesn’t, and why lived experience is often the most powerful form of leadership. And he understood that real change, whether in education, healthcare or society, starts with empathy, courage and the willingness to truly listen.
This conversation is a reminder that purpose isn’t discovered in titles or achievements … but in the moments that break the script and show us who we really are.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
Some lessons in leadership come from success. Others come from failure ... and the courage to own it.
For Tim Lupinacci, Chairman and CEO of Baker Donelson, one of America’s leading law firms, his Unlock Moment came early in his career - a late night in the office, a costly mistake, and a boss who unexpectedly saw potential instead of failure. That moment changed everything, sparking a lifelong mission to help others discover that leadership isn’t something you wait for … it’s something you choose.
We talk about taking ownership, showing up when it’s hard, and how the way you lead - your “leadership aroma,” as Tim calls it - shapes the people around you. He shares practical insights on building trust, creating psychological safety, and finding resilience when the world feels uncertain.
This conversation is a reminder that leadership doesn’t begin with a promotion ... it begins with how you show up today.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
In a time when companies talk about culture but struggle to live it, one truth stands out: culture doesn’t happen by accident … it happens by design.
Father and daughter James and Krista White have spent their careers on opposite ends of the leadership spectrum - James in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, Krista in the world of purpose-driven strategy and social impact. Together, they’ve written Culture by Design, a blueprint for building organisations that are high-performing, human and intentional.
We talk about leading across generations, the role of empathy as a true leadership skill, and how to close the gap between what companies say they value and what people actually experience every day. Their story is a powerful reminder that great culture isn’t inherited … it’s created, moment by moment, choice by choice, by leaders who dare to design it.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
In a world that celebrates networking, collecting contacts and trading favours, we often overlook a more meaningful truth: real connection isn’t built through transactions … it’s built through generosity, trust and shared purpose.
David Homan understands this deeply. A classical composer, CEO and author of Orchestrating Connection, he is known as a “connector of connectors”, bringing remarkable people together in ways that create genuine impact.
We talk about the experience of feeling like an outsider, the courage it takes to show up with generosity when you’re not sure anything will come back, and how to build relationships that are rooted in resonance, not reciprocity. David’s story is a powerful reminder that belonging isn’t found by trying to fit in … it’s created by choosing to show up as yourself, and inviting others to do the same.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
We all carry an inner fear of failure ... of getting it wrong, falling short, or not becoming who we thought we should be. But what if the moments you label as “failure” are actually the turning points that reveal who you truly are?
In this Box of Keys episode, I explore the quiet power of failure - not as the opposite of success, but as the path that shapes it. I share the story of Retail Trust CEO Chris Brook-Carter, who experienced a career-shaking setback that ultimately transformed his leadership. And I reflect on my own moment of feeling like I’d failed when I stepped away from medicine … only to discover, years later, that leaving was the most important Unlock Moment of my life.
Failure doesn’t diminish you. It redirects you. It teaches you who you are, where you thrive, and what matters most.
If you’ve been holding on to a moment you wish had gone differently, this key is for you ... because the part of your story you’re most reluctant to revisit might just be the chapter that changed everything.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
For years, Navid Nazemian was the one guiding leaders through big changes ... C-suite appointments, career pivots, and organisational upheaval. As an executive in global HR and the author of Mastering Executive Transitions, he built a reputation for helping others navigate uncertainty with clarity.
But then, life brought a transition of his own.
In this powerful episode, Navid opens up about the personal and professional reckoning that led him to walk away from a high-flying corporate career and step into the unknown. He shares what it really takes to leave behind an identity you’ve spent decades building ... and how you start again with intention, purpose and courage.
We explore the hidden emotional cost of transition, the gender gap in leadership support, and the surprising truths that emerge when the expert becomes the one in need of guidance.
This isn’t just a conversation about change. It’s a masterclass in what it means to transform.
The Unlock Moment is hosted by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD — master interviewer, executive coach and author. Downloaded in over 140 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com Also discover his other podcasts, The Box of Keys and Unlock Your Leadership. Follow, subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts — and connect with Dr Gary on LinkedIn for more leadership insights. Part of The Unlock Moment podcast family.
We tell ourselves there’s always time ... time to start the dream project, make the change, take the leap. But when life throws us a wake-up call, we realise how fragile that assumption is.
In this Box of Keys episode, I reflect on the moving story of Hayley Thomas, who, after her husband’s cancer diagnosis at 40, chose to stop waiting for the “right” moment and launch their fashion business, Eleven Loves, right in the middle of his treatment.
Their courage is a reminder that the best time to begin isn’t someday ... it’s now. Because when we truly understand that time isn’t infinite, we stop procrastinating and start prioritising what matters most.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
What happens when the energy that’s always defined you simply vanishes?
For decades, Sue Holly-Rodway was a powerhouse … a dynamic senior leader in the tech world, an executive coach, and a woman known for her drive, passion and light. Then long COVID struck, and that light dimmed overnight. The fatigue was relentless. The smallest tasks became impossible. Life as she knew it collapsed into stillness.
In this deeply moving conversation, Sue opens up about the physical and emotional unravelling that followed, and the long process of rediscovery that came next. We talk about the loss of identity that comes when your strength - your energy - is gone, and what it takes to rebuild not from momentum, but from meaning.
Sue’s story is one of resilience and grace. It’s about finding clarity when everything goes dark … and learning that even when the light goes out, it can come back in a softer, wiser form.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Stepping into leadership can feel overwhelming ... especially when you’re looking around at how everyone else does it. But here’s the truth: no-one else leads like you, because no-one else is you.
In this Box of Keys episode, I discuss why the best leaders don’t copy someone else’s style - they lean into their own strengths and lead in a way that feels authentic. Drawing on Gallup research and years of coaching experience, I share why self-awareness is the key to confident, effective leadership, and how to let go of comparison so you can inspire others in a way that only you can.
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “doing leadership right”, this conversation will remind you that your unique approach is exactly what your team needs.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
How do you stay human in a world that’s being redefined by technology? How do you keep your work creative, meaningful and alive ... when sameness and automation are all around us?
In this episode, we explore how curiosity, creativity and agency can transform the way you show up - at work and in life. Greg Orme and I talk about the moments that light you up, why it’s so easy to get stuck on the “rails” of your career, and how to rediscover your human edge in the age of AI.
Greg is the award-winning author of The Human Edge, named Business Book of the Year, and a global executive educator. He helps leaders and organisations unlock innovation and create space for people to do the best work of their lives.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
What if disagreement is exactly what your team needs?
In this Box of Keys episode, I explore why pushing too hard for total agreement can actually hold your team back. When everyone feels pressured to nod along with the strategy, what you often get is hidden tension, quiet resentment, and a lack of true engagement.
But disagreement isn’t a problem to eliminate ... it’s an opportunity to explore. When we create space for dissent and ask questions like “tell me more about why you disagree,” we uncover blind spots, surface fresh ideas, and build strategies that people truly believe in.
This episode is a reflection on how leaders can turn moments of tension into moments of clarity. By leaning into disagreement with curiosity, we transform conflict into creativity, invite real collaboration, and ultimately move the team forward together with greater energy and commitment.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In August 2025, I travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine, during a week that marked both the country’s Independence Day and one of the largest aerial attacks on the capital since the war began.
I wanted to understand, firsthand, what life is really like in a city at war. To walk its streets. To listen to its people. To witness what the headlines can’t capture.
What I found was a city of striking contrasts. Playgrounds beside burned-out tanks. Gold-domed cathedrals standing silent under the threat of missile strikes. A grand hotel ballroom turned emergency bunker. Every conversation just one step away from someone who has lost someone. And always, an inescapable tension beneath the resilience.
This is not analysis from afar. It is a personal reflection on resilience, survival, and the quiet courage of people living through extraordinary circumstances. From Kyiv, Ukraine … this is a special edition of my Box of Keys.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
You can’t fix what no one feels safe to say out loud.
In this episode, I sit down with astronaut Dr Charles Camarda to explore the cultural roots of catastrophic failure ... and how even the most advanced organisations can lose their way. We talk about the moments that led to the Columbia tragedy, the silence that surrounded it, and what Charlie learned when he was removed from his role after speaking out.
This is a conversation about what real leadership looks like in high-pressure environments. Not just launching missions - but creating space for truth, dissent, and critical thinking at every level of a team.
Charlie Camarda is a former NASA astronaut, research engineer, and Director of Engineering. He’s spent nearly five decades working at the intersection of innovation and risk ... and he’s on a mission to help leaders learn from the failures we don’t talk about enough.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
How do you tell the difference between someone who’s a solid performer and someone who’s driven by something deeper ... by purpose, mission, and impact? In this Box of Keys episode, I reflect on a conversation with a senior leader who believed everyone in his organisation was motivated by money and promotion. But when you look more closely, the exceptional ones often signal something else entirely.
This is a conversation about learning to read those signals. Because when someone asks for more money, they’re telling you something. And when someone asks how they can help create more impact, they’re telling you something too. The question is ... are you listening?
If you want to understand how to identify and support your purpose-driven people, this one’s for you.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
This is a conversation about what happens when the data you’ve trusted your whole career turns out to be pointing you in the wrong direction. It’s about the moment when logic starts to unravel, and real clarity begins ... not in more numbers, but in understanding what the customer truly sees. Michael Ross brings a deep humility to his insight: that the story behind the numbers can be more powerful than the numbers themselves.
Michael is one of the most respected thinkers in retail and customer data today. A Cambridge mathematician and entrepreneur, he co-founded one of the UK’s earliest online retailers, now advises global brands, and teaches at London Business School. But in this episode, it’s not what he knows - it’s what he rethought - that will stay with you.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Leadership isn’t about being liked, though most great leaders are likeable. The difference is that their likeability comes from credibility and respect, not from chasing approval. In this Box of Keys episode, I explore why trying to lead by being liked almost always backfires, and why boundaries are essential for both children and teams.
Leaders need to separate tough decisions from personal feelings, resisting the pull to be manipulated by emotions or the desire to be popular. Because when you build authority first, genuine likeability tends to follow.
So where are the moments you’re most tempted to prioritise being liked over doing the right thing ... and how do you handle them?
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
One of the world’s leading executive coaches and an accredited business psychologist, Alex Lazarus has worked with CEOs and leaders around the world to navigate change and build high-performance cultures. And as the founder of Lazarus & Maverick, she and her team help leaders navigate complexity and deal with that unique sense of isolation that you get when you’re sitting in the big chair at the head of the boardroom table. Her own background in leadership roles in global businesses like Virgin, Fox and Disney means she has that vital lived experience to connect with the leader that she’s working with.
I’m curious to understand more about the journey Alex has been on to build this perspective on leadership and life, and of course to explore the Unlock Moments that defined the choices she’s made. This is going to be a masterclass in leadership – let’s dive in!
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
You tell your team your door is always open, but still … nobody walks through. I’ve been thinking about why that is. Why people don’t always feel comfortable stepping forward, even when you genuinely want to hear from them.
It reminded me of a conversation I had with the brilliant leadership coach Dr Francoise Orlov. She talked about what it means to really create psychological safety. Not just saying the right words, but stepping out to meet your people where they are. Listening, asking thoughtful questions, showing you care.
It made me reflect on how we show up as leaders - not just inviting people in, but creating the kind of environment where they want to speak up.
Sometimes the most powerful step is not waiting … it’s reaching out first.
Have a good week!
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
So many people I’m speaking to at the moment are describing themselves as stuck in their careers – often they’ve built a very successful career in one area of specialism and now face into a very big question – “now I have different choices, is this what I really want to do?”
You might know today’s guest Tanya Arnold from her TV career – a BBC sports journalist covering two Olympics, the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby League World Cup. She was one of the first female sports reporters in broadcasting, starting at a time when women covering sport was virtually unheard of. In 2019 she hosted the first interview with the late rugby star Rob Burrow about his Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis – she calls it the hardest but also the most important interview she’s ever done. Today she’s a patron of the West Yorkshire MND Association.
Two years ago Tanya started a new path in her career and just recently she posted on Instagram “I’m going it alone – here’s to the variety and freewheeling!”
Exploring your Unlock Moments can be a powerful way to figure out the path ahead. I can’t wait to hear more about how Tanya is navigating this latest career transition and I’m curious about the parallels you might draw as you listen.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In this powerful episode, legendary BBC journalist Rory Cellan-Jones tells the story of the day he discovered a box of letters from his mother that changed everything he knew about his upbringing. Recorded live in London, this powerful and moving testimony from a master storyteller will stay with you for a long time.
Today he is as famous for his rescue dog 'Sophie from Romania' as he is for his 40 year BBC career. He is also an advocate for better awareness of Parkinson's Disease, having himself been diagnosed in 2019. He now co-hosts the Movers and Shakers podcast with Gillian Lacey-Solymar, Mark Mardell, Paul Mayhew-Archer, Sir Nicholas Mostyn and Jeremy Paxman.
His memoir about his childhood, "Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC," was published in 2023 and he also wrote about his journey with Sophie in "Sophie from Romania: A Year of Love and Hope with a Rescue Dog," published in 2024.
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Rory Cellan-Jones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rory_Cellan-Jones
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rorycellan
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RoryCellan-Jones
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
When I first met Rajeev I was struck his clarity, his humility. A perspective on leadership that is seductive and compelling. To find something bigger than yourself. To find meaning. To find purpose. As he says, leadership is about creating a better future. A hugely successful leader himself, now he's helping others to discover their own Steward Leadership.
Rajeev Peshawaria is the CEO of the Stewardship Asia Centre, a prolific speaker and the author of Wall Street Journal bestseller Open Source Leadership and Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders. Now he’s focusing his attention on how leadership can unlock the challenges of building a sustainable future, in his latest book Sustainable Sustainability.
Rajeev has had a storied leadership career himself, operating as Chief Learning Officer of both Coca Cola and Morgan Stanley, as well as holding senior positions at American Express, HSBC and Goldman Sachs.
I’m fascinated to understand more about Rajeev’s perspective on leadership and of course to hear about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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Rajeev Peshawaria: https://rajeevpeshawaria.com/
Rajeev Peshawaria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajeevpeshawaria/
Sustainable Sustainability: https://www.amazon.com/Sustainable-Sustainability-Why-ESG-Enough/dp/981514457X
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
A memorable encounter aged just 13 with the CEO of British Steel was Chris Cooper's Unlock Moment. The moment when he knew there was more for him in life than to follow his father into the steelworks. Often those formative moments that shape our sense of purpose happen early in our lives. Many years later Chris is a leadership strategist, a speaker, a broadcaster and an author, helping others to elevate themselves in a culture where people love the work they do.
Host of The Business Elevation Show on Voice America, Chris's show was the most accessed business programme in the world and he has recorded over 500 hours of interviews. He's the author of "The Power To Get Things Done (Whether You Feel Like It Or Not)" published by Penguin Random House. He's also the founder of The Elevation Collective, an international community bringing together extraordinary individuals for the greater good.
Listen in for the inspiration to find freedom in your own journey, to break away from the path others have set out for you and to choose your own future.
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Chris Cooper: https://chriscooper.co.uk/
Chris Cooper on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdcooper/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
We think of leadership development and coaching as something for the workplace, right? But what if you could use those same approaches in young people to help them develop their capabilities as a leader right from the time when they're in school?
Well that's what former Pentagon and UN advisor Julie Carrier has been doing for years. She's been featured on NBC, Discovery Channel and MTV, and she's been named Woman of the Decade for girl empowerment by the Women Economic Forum.
And here on The Unlock Moment we dig into the stories from her own life that inspired her to break out from being a shy girl to a girl who walked tall, who speaks in front of audiences of up to 70,000 people and who now serves as an inspiration to millions of young girls across the world.
If you have children who you think could really go somewhere in life, or if you work with young people in school or university, then this is a must-listen episode - as the incredible Julie Carrier lights up The Unlock Moment.
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Julie Carrier: https://girlslead.com/
Leadership Development Institute for Young Women: https://www.leadershipdevelopmentinstituteforyoungwomen.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Storytelling at its best, the gentle Irish lilt of senior tech leader Feargal Moorhead is compelling as he tells his story from growing up in Ireland to leading roles at Intel and Amazon. He draws connections between the unique culture of County Clare and how it influenced his most recent career pivot from autonomous vehicles to his new venture supporting other leaders to be at their best.
Questions you might ask yourself as you listen:
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What is it about the environment of the place I grew up in that influences my choices today?
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Who was the first person other than a family member who inspired me?
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How do I know when it's time to make a change in my life?
Feargal Moorhead is a seasoned senior leader from world-leading tech firms like Intel and Zoox, the autonomous vehicle division of Amazon. After over thirty years of professional experience space, today Feargal has decided to make a career pivot.
I’m finding it’s becoming much more common for senior executives to reevaluate their priorities and make radical career changes. We’re going to hear about Feargal’s journey, why he’s making the change and of course we’ll hear about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that have shaped his path.
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Feargal Moorhead: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feargal-moorhead-70895643/
Buckley Moorhead: https://buckleymoorhead.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
A remarkable conversation with a remarkable coach, who pulled himself up from his darkest moment to find new stability and to help others discover their Ordinary Resilience.
Luis Velasquez grew up in poverty in Guatemala, became a Professor of Genetics, overcame a brain tumour and is today one of the world’s leading coaches working with executives from Google, Salesforce, Twitter and IBM. His mantra is “you can’t control the rain but you can control whether you get wet.”
Luis is a facilitator at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and, prior to entering the coaching world, Luis served as a professor of Fungal Genetics and Plant Biology at Michigan State University. Alongside his academic background, Luis has a passion for endurance running and human resilience.
As a successful executive coach, Luis has worked with individuals and teams in both global technology companies and successful startups. His book, “Ordinary Resilience: Reframing How Effective Leaders Adapt and Thrive,” combines his personal experience with professional insights working with individuals and teams. Luis’s story was featured in the book “The Long Game” by bestselling author Dorie Clark (also see Episode 139).
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Luis Velasquez: https://www.velascoaching.com/luis-velasquez/
Ordinary Resilience: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordinary-Resilience-Rethinking-Effective-Leaders/dp/1544545630
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 120 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
I haven’t got time. I’ve been in too many meetings. I just don’t know where to start. We’ve all been there – overwhelmed with volume and complexity, unable to find a simple path through.
Making life and business simple is one of the hardest things you can do, and also the most freeing. Today’s guest is a world-leading expert on how to make things simple. Lisa Bodell is a global leader and a world-leading speaker on simplification, collaboration and innovation, how to eliminate complexity and unlock the power of simplicity to unleash creativity and spark energy in people and organisations.
She founded FutureThink which for over 20 years has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world and pioneered research, tools and training. She’s author of two groundbreaking books – "Why Simple Wins – Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters," and "Kill The Company – End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution." She’s also a celebrated speaker and Real Leaders ranked her in the top 50 keynote speakers in the world.
Given how much I cram into my week, I definitely want to know more about how to keep things simpler, and of course I’m curious to understand about the Unlock Moments that inspired this powerful purpose in Lisa.
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Lisa Bodell: https://www.futurethink.com/
Why Simple Wins: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Simple-Wins-Complexity-Matters/dp/1629561290
Kill The Company: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kill-Company-Status-Innovation-Revolution/dp/1937134024/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
A remarkable story with a remarkable artist. The kind of illustrator who walks into danger to tell people's stories through the power of his art.
George Butler is an award-winning illustrator but has reinvented the role of the Artist Reporter drawing conflict zones, climate issues, humanitarian crisis and social issues for the news. His drawings are done in situ - in pen, ink and watercolour.
In August 2012 George walked from Turkey across the border into Syria, where as a guest of the rebel Free Syrian Army, he drew the Civil War-damaged, small and empty town of Azaz. A decade later he spent several days in the Metro in Kharkiv, Ukraine recording the lives of those that lived underground to avoid the Russian bombardment. These drawings can be seen in the National Archive at the V&A Museum.
Over the last 15 years George has been commissioned to offer a deliberately slow alternative to the headlines. He attaches his drawings to the personal testimonies of those that he meets and records their resolve and resilience alongside the vulnerability of their situations. This has included in a Leprosy Clinic in Nepal, a militia in Yemen, the Mass Graves in Bucha, a caesarean-section in Afghanistan, the artisanal oil fields of Myanmar and most recently for the Guardian documenting the aftermath of the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
"We seem to have lost the art of the observational reporter with a sketchbook to photography, Butler's memorable images show that a closely observed drawing is not just worth a thousand words but hundreds of photographs." A A Gill
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George Butler: https://www.georgebutler.org/
Remember Also Me - Testimonies From The War: https://www.amazon.com/Ukraine-Remember-Also-Testimonies-War/dp/1536240435
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
What is your path of roses? For world-leading coach Hortense le Gentil, a dream sparked her search for balance and fulfilment which took her on a journey of self-discovery and growth.
Why you should listen:
In a world where we place too much value on material things and spend too little time prioritising ourselves, our contentment and our freedom, the message Hortense shares about how to become 'unlocked' is one that will resonate with very many of my listeners.
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Hortense spent 30 years in business, working across industries including media consulting and advertising—and as an entrepreneur. She was a 2021 and 2023 nominee for the Thinkers 50 Coaching and Mentoring Awards and has been ranked #5 on the Global Gurus list by World Management Global Gurus. She is a certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered™ coach and a member of MG100 Coaches. Author of THE UNLOCKED LEADER: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World (2023), and ALIGNED: Connecting Your True Self with the Leader You’re Meant to Be (2019), Hortense is a contributor to Harvard Business Review and ThriveGlobal.com, and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., and Business Insider.
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Hortense le Gentil: https://www.hortenselegentil.com
The Unlocked Leader: https://www.amazon.com/Unlocked-Leader-Voice-Empathy-Shine/dp/1394152930
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
My wife and I are huge fans of the highly successful Traitors TV show. And if you’ve watched it then in Season 2 of the UK series you’ll remember the big-hearted Welshman Andrew Jenkins, playing a Traitor and whose banishment at the last round table set the series up for a memorable finale.
But the story of Andrew’s journey starts long before he was on TV. Two decades ago, at the age of 21, he was in a horrendous car accident and was thought to be dead at the side of the road. In a coma for 4 weeks he was fighting for his life and doctors told his family he would likely have severe brain damage. He proved his doctors wrong and learned to walk and talk and live again, but the journey over the next 20 some years of physical rehabilitation, mental recovery and rebuilding connection with those around him would come to define him as a person.
We met recently and today Andrew is on a mission to inspire others and to try and end the stigma around mental health. We’ll be talking about the journey he’s been on and the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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Andrew Jenkins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjenkinsspeaker/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
This raw, unflinching account of burnout and recovery from leading psychotherapist Anna Mathur is one of the most emotionally-charged conversations I've had to date here on The Unlock Moment.
Anna is widely celebrated for her accessible mental health advice she offers across her platforms – including her Instagram page, incredibly popular podcast ‘The Therapy Edit’ and five-star rated online courses on Reframing Anxiety, People Pleasing and Self-Worth. With an audience of over 210,000 on Instagram, Anna regularly features in titles including the Telegraph, Grazia, Marie Claire, The Sun, Closer, Stylist and Mother and Baby.
Anna’s books include “Mind Over Mother” and “Raising a Happier Mother” Her new book is called “The Uncomfortable Truth – Change Your Life by Taming 10 of your Mind’s Greatest Fears”.
But behind the profile of any successful public persona, there is a human story. I am curious to discover more about Anna’s journey, the challenges she faced and what she has learned that she can share with you. And we’ll be talking about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped her to figure out the path ahead.
One not to be missed!
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Anna Mathur: https://www.annamathur.com/
Anna Mathur on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annamathur/
The Uncomfortable Truth: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncomfortable-Truth-Change-Taming-Greatest/dp/0241707196
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Recorded LIVE at the Climb24 Investor Summit in Leeds, UK.
Dominic McGregor is today a successful investor with Fearless Adventures, investing and driving growth in entrepreneur-led e-commerce businesses. But he's most famous for co-founding Social Chain with Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett in 2013, and after six years selling that business and eventually taking the combined business public.
The Unlock Moment though is about the personal more than it is about the job. And Dominic has spoken publicly and we'll be talking today about some of the personal struggles that he experienced on his journey of entrepreneurship. And why he published his first book called "I'm Never Drinking Again - how to stop drinking so much and change your relationship with alcohol."
I'm curious to understand the pressures that Dominic experienced as a founder of a high-growth business, how his struggle with alcohol shaped his path, and of course the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that he experienced on that journey.
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Dominic McGregor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpjmcgregor/
'I'm Never Drinking Again': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Im-Never-Drinking-Again-Relationship/dp/1394232802
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
I’m sure most of us can think of an inspirational teacher who helped to guide us in our journey from childhood to adulthood. Mine was Mr Rutland, my enigmatic physics teacher who revelled in turning complex concepts into memorable moments. He also started me on my journey in public speaking, teaching me and my friends the skills required to be impactful speakers and driving us up to London in the rickety school minibus to hear thought leaders of the day debating at the English Speaking Union in Mayfair.
But we also heard glimpses of another life. Tutoring a young prince who would become a king. Travelling to the mountain kingdom of Bhutan where the country measures its progress not by Gross Domestic Product but by Gross National Happiness.
We hadn’t spoken for almost three decades, but when we reconnected recently it was as if no time had passed at all.
Michael Rutland has lived in Bhutan now for a quarter of a century, became the first Honorary Consul of Bhutan to the United Kingdom and then the first Honorary Consul of the United Kingdom to Bhutan. In 2005 he was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to British-Bhutan relations and is also a holder of Bhutan’s Order of Merit .
I can’t wait for you to hear his perspectives on the search for fulfilment, for happiness and for balance, and of course to explore the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he experienced along the way. This is an extraordinary conversation covering topics as diverse as the search for contentment, the skill of a master public speaker and how decades of change is also no change at all.
Note on sound quality: we did the best we could with a patchy internet connection between rural England and deepest Bhutan so bear with us on the occasional glitch - the conversation is completely worth it!
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Michael Rutland - Find Your Fantastic Beasts in the Kingdom of Bhutan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGY2A0wZxA
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Here in summer 2024, the world is more uncertain and unstable than it has been for many years. And I have always believed in the power of the arts to transcend politics, to transcend conflict, to show us a light and to give us hope for a better future.
Today it is my privilege to welcome to the podcast an incredibly talented young dancer who epitomises that vision of hope. I met her late last year and was immediately captivated by her quiet power and her belief in exploration and growth. I’ve been watching her dance on her social media posts and she has that rare quality of being right there in that moment and simultaneously with layers that you only glimpse before they disappear again.
Sama Daw is an Arab citizen of Israel, and a current student at the world-leading Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance here in London. Home is in Nazareth, known as the childhood birthplace of Jesus and now the Arab capital of Israel. It’s home to 80,000 people, of whom two thirds are Muslim and one third are Christian.
But today we’re not talking about conflict, politics or religion. We’re talking about people and their dreams. We’re talking about the power of dance and real life in a time of great uncertainty. And we’ll be talking about how an Unlock Moment helped Sama to figure out the path ahead.
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Sama Daw: https://www.instagram.com/samadaw_official
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In these most volatile of times, it feels as though the only certainty in business and life is that change is the new normal. So today I’m delighted to welcome a world-leading thinker and author on transformation and change to The Unlock Moment.
Faisal Hoque is an accomplished entrepreneur, a noted thought leader, technology innovator and advisor to CEOs and the US federal government. He is the founder of SHADOKA and NextChapter, and he serves as a strategic partner and an innovation leader for CACI whose technology and expertise plays a vital role in US national security. He has been named one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Technology and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, the Financial Times as well as on Fox and CBS. He was shortlisted in 2023 for the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award at an event dubbed the Oscars of Management Thinking.
Faisal is the author of 10 award-winning books on humanity, business and technology, including Lift and Everything Connects, and his most recent book, a #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller no less, is called REINVENT: Navigating Business Transformation in a Hyperdigital Era. In it Faisal makes the argument for reinvention to help position organisations and their leaders to reap the benefits of business and digital transformation.
That’s all well and good, but of course I’m also curious about the person behind the pen, so we’ll be digging into Faisal’s own story and the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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Faisal Hoque: https://faisalhoque.com
Reinvent: Navigating Business Transformation in a Hyperdigital Era: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reinvent-Navigating-Business-Transformation-Hyperdigital-ebook/dp/B0BWSD8HPK
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
I met today’s guest last year, a world-leading coach and the kind of deep thinker that I love to spend time in conversation with. I know you will enjoy hearing from her too.
Dr Francoise Orlov, who holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Strasbourg in France, is an accredited Master Coach, Mentor, and Coaching Supervisor. She is a published author and a member of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches. As an advocate of the professionalisation of coaching, she actively contributes to the advancement of best practices through her collaborations with major coaching bodies.
Prior to this, Dr Francoise has held leadership positions across various industries, including global corporations and international organisations. Her hallmark is a trustworthy focus on pushing boundaries and driving excellence – both for herself and those she supports – fostering sustainable personal and organisational growth. Her clients value her pragmatic style which allows for diverse interpretations of the world.
And when she’s not doing all that, in her spare time, she enjoys treasure hunting, riding her motorbike or snorkelling in the Asia seas.
I’m looking forward to hearing how Francoise thinks about the power of difference, and how we can unlock our unique talents to become authentic leaders, and of course those Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped her to figure out the path ahead.
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Francoise Orlov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-francoise-orlov/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Today we are meeting a top marketing executive, a leadership and branding coach and a top business school professor – the many-hatted Jenny Fernandez.
Jenny is an award-winning executive and team coach, Columbia and NYU faculty, and brand strategist. She works with senior leaders and their teams to maximise their impact by becoming more curious, collaborative, and resilient. Her work spans Fortune 500 companies, startups, and higher education. Jenny has been recognized by Thinkers50 Radar as one of the Top 30 Management Thinkers to Watch, and a Top 30 Global Guru.
Like me she is a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches Agency and is a contributing author at Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Fast Company and featured by The Washington Post and HuffPost.
She is a keynote speaker, moderator, and panelist in leadership, and the new world of work. Her book, Zig-Zag to Top – How to Master the Habits, Behaviors, and Mindset to Succeed, comes out in 2025.
Well that’s all well and good, but as my regular listeners will know, I’m deeply curious about the people behind the accolades, and I can’t wait to hear more about the Unlock Moments that shaped Jenny’s journey from growing up in the Dominican Republic to the life she leads today.
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Jenny Fernandez: https://jennyfernandez.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
The Post Office Horizon IT Scandal represents the biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history. Brought to life in the hit ITV series "Mr Bates vs. The Post Office", the story hit the headlines in early 2024 and at the time of publication is the subject of a major public inquiry.
Faulty equipment and computer software made it look as though money was missing from post office branch accounts and the sub-postmasters’ contracts held them personally liable. More than 900 were prosecuted, many went to prison and many others were financially ruined.
In this very special episode, I am privileged to be joined by one of the subpostmasters affected, Jess Kaur, whose story was told in the ITV drama. We are also joined by TV actress Krupa Pattani who played Jess on screen as 'Sam Kaur'.
If you've watched the series, you'll not be able to forget the scene when Sam's husband walks in to find her bleeding with a knife in her hand. We'll talk about that, how Jess talked to her children about what she went through and how Krupa prepared for such an important scene.
It's been a harrowing road for Jess and she has been very brave to come on and tell her story. I am deeply grateful.
The TV series has prompted a renewed sense of urgency for action, but most victims of the scandal remain without an apology and without compensation for what they have experienced. I hope that interviews like this will help to raise awareness of the personal toll that the scandal took on those affected, and will support those in power to ensure that justice is done.
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Mr Bates vs. The Post Office: https://www.itv.com/watch/mr-bates-vs-the-post-office/10a0469/10a0469a0001
Mr Bates vs. The Post Office on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr_Bates_vs_The_Post_Office
Jess Kaur on Good Morning Britain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mBvCZOD4LM
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
The other day it was my huge honour to deliver the commencement address at the University College London (UCL) MBA Graduation.
Sitting in the front row and wearing my university robes for the first time in 20 years, I was humbled to hear from the graduating students how much they had sacrificed to complete their studies over four years alongside busy day jobs. And the common threads in each person's story were the human connections that they had made through the programme.
I talked about how my deepest underlying sense of purpose is about finding freedom to choose, and helping others to find their own freedom. Here is a little of what I said:
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"𝘔𝘺 𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯.
𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴.
𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦.
Society makes us feel that some paths are better than others. Doctor, lawyer, engineer, professor, CEO.
But here, in simplicity, is the truth.
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘴.
𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
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When I spoke to people afterwards, the message that resonated the most was how we need to find time to pause and reflect, and through reflection we can find our own control and freedom.
Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed and out of control, find a pause, even a short one, so you can be more intentional about choosing the path ahead that’s exactly right for you.
Have a good week!
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Enjoy this remarkable extended podcast episode with Emmy Award-winner Topaz Adizes, in which he chronicles the search for home, his exploration of questions and his pursuit of the transformative power of deeper human connection.
We’ve had many wonderful guests and today is no exception – a master in the art of powerful storytelling.
Topaz Adizes is a writer, a director and an experience design architect. His work has been selected for prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and SXSW, and featured in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair and the New York Times. As well as an Emmy for new approaches to documentary, he has won two World Press Photo awards for immersive storytelling and interactive documentary.
Topaz is the founder and executive director of experience design studio The Skin Deep, with almost a million followers on YouTube. Their first project, ‘THE AND’, was an instant hit, now experienced by over 150 million people, and winning an Emmy. Over almost a decade they have filmed thousands of honest and authentic conversations, documenting human connection in all its forms.
So in the pursuit of connection, really there is no-one else with the unique experience and insight of Topaz Adizes. I can’t wait to hear his take on how we build connection and how an exploration of his own Unlock Moments will help us to understand who he really is and how this work serves his own vision and purpose.
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Topaz Adizes: https://www.topazadizes.com/
The Skin Deep: https://theskindeep.com/
THE AND on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSkinDeep
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 110 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Many years ago, when I was studying medicine and going through some challenging times, I took solace in poetry. I had never been the kind of person to study literature when I was growing up, but I set myself the challenge of learning some poems and I would go out for evening walks and recite the poetry to myself.
I can’t recite them from memory any more, but I remember one that always made me reflect. It’s by the Welsh poet William Henry Davies and it’s called “Leisure”.
Years on, I think this poem still has resonance for me, and I hope for you too.
Have a good week!
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The Nation's Favourite Poems: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nations-Favourite-Poems-Griff-Jones/dp/0563387823
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
When your guest has over 300,000 LinkedIn followers, you know that they've got something incredibly valuable to share. This powerful interview with the inspirational Dorie Clark is a classic and I'm delighted to bring it to you here on The Unlock Moment!
These days I’m working with more and more leaders in different countries, cultures and contexts who share one thing in common. They’ve reached a stage in their careers where they have built a lot of stuff – the basic skills and experience required to do the job well, a track record of achievement and impact, the confidence and competence to show up at work and be generally successful. In some ways all that stuff gives you a freedom, to choose who you are and what impact you want to have as a leader. But these people are also very often completely overwhelmed and feel stuck. Running on the hamster wheel. No time for big thinking on questions like - what makes you happy and fulfilled? where are you truly at your best? who really are you as a leader? What is your leadership brand? How do you get your ideas heard?
Well today I’m absolutely privileged to be welcoming a world-leading speaker, business thinker, coach and best-selling author to the podcast. Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She has been named three times as one of the Top 50 business thinkers by Thinkers50, and was honored as the #1 Communication Coach in the world at the Marshall Goldsmith Coaching Awards. She teaches for Columbia Business School in New York and is the author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out. She has well over 300,000 followers on LinkedIn.
A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, Dorie has been described by the New York Times as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” She is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and consults and speaks for clients such as Google, Yale University, and the World Bank. She is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, a producer of a multiple Grammy-winning jazz album, and a Broadway investor. Truly multi-faceted!
I think we’re in a year where reinvention is a hot topic for both emerging and established leaders. I can’t wait to hear Dorie’s take and of course to explore the Unlock Moments that shaped her as the person she is today.
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Dorie Clark: https://dorieclark.com/
Dorie Clark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doriec/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Usually at this point I say - welcome to another episode of ‘The Unlock Moment’ podcast. But today is really exciting because I’m joined by hit podcaster Aoife O’Brien and we’re bringing together two great leadership and careers podcasts into one, as The Unlock Moment and Happier at Work come together for us to talk about really how to find work and career purpose, happiness and fulfilment.
You'll hear our take on career success, finding your own authentic leadership, using your talents and strengths and how knowing your Unlock Moment helps you to find a deeper sense of purpose at work.
Discover Aoife O'Brien's hit podcast, "Happier At Work", at https://happieratwork.ie and on all major podcast platforms
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
There are an estimated 1 billion meetings held every day somewhere on this planet.
And yet so often when it comes to connecting in the workplace, so many people say “I hate meetings!” – and that includes the people organising them as well as those forced to attend! So how do we meet better, connect better, build relationships and get things done, so that our workplace meetings are a pleasure and the fuel to our growth, rather than a chore?
Dr Steven Rogelberg, an organisational psychologist, holds the title of Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte.
He is an award-winning teacher, has over 200 publications and has been cited well-over 10,000 times in the academic literature. Adam Grant has called Steven the “worlds leading expert on how to fix meetings”.
Steven’s previous book, "The Surprising Science of Meetings," has been recognized by the Washington Post as the #1 leadership book to watch out for, His new book, "Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings," came out in January and has been gathering rave reviews.
Steven has been featured on major TV broadcasts, CBS, CNN, BBC World), on radio, in most major newspapers and magazines, and on leading podcasts including Freakonomics, HBR IdeaCast and now here on The Unlock Moment. He’s delivered keynotes on how to have great meetings at Google, Facebook, Amazon, Pfizer, Cisco, The United Nations, the list goes on. And in 2022 Steven was invited to testify to the US Congress on the topic of being successful and engaging others in very difficult working environments.
I can’t wait to hear more.
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Steven Rogelberg: https://www.stevenrogelberg.com/
Glad We Met - The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glad-We-Met-Science-Meetings/dp/0197641873
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
A brilliant storyteller, Madelyn Blair's powerful and personal story about how she dealt with her daughter's brain tumour diagnosis is a model of resilience in action.
Madelyn is all about helping you navigate life's twists and turns with resilience and grace. She’s host of Unlocked on YouTube, e360tv and LinkedIn, where she gives out tips for embracing the unexpected. She’s an executive coach, a former Columbia University faculty member, a bestselling author, a blogger, and a puzzle enthusiast.
Resilience isn't just a buzzword to her; it's been her guiding light through some tough stuff, from facing her child's brain tumour to steering through major organisational shake-ups. Resilience isn't just about bouncing back; it's about that gutsy decision to leap forward, even when the ground feels shaky. It’s tapping into the resilient leader that each of us has within us.
Madelyn’s book “Unlocked – Discover how to embrace the unexpected”, came out in 2019 and explores the practices that build the capabilities of resilient people.
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Madelyn Blair: https://www.madelynblair.com/
Madelyn Blair on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madelynblair/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
One of the most remarkable episodes we have ever recorded on The Unlock Moment, Megan Gluth-Bohan's journey from a difficult childhood through addiction to becoming one of the most successful female CEOs in the US is a powerful one. She's a brilliantly vulnerable storyteller and, if you're like me, you'll be drawn in to the vivid pictures she paints.
As owner and CEO of a major multinational corporation, Megan Gluth-Bohan is a picture of success. But the path there was not easy, and her struggles have taught her the critical importance of compassion, empathy, and resilience in leadership. No matter who—or where—you are, Megan is living proof that now is always the best time to take the first step forward.
Megan leads Catalynt Solutions, a major US-based chemical distributor that makes raw materials for a huge range of industries and is one of the largest certified women-owned suppliers in North America.
Megan was one of five owners honoured as the Business Journal’s Middle Market Fast 50 Leaders of 2023. She is also a winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023.
But today we’re talking about Megan’s journey that made her the leader she is today. My regular listeners will know that I’m deeply curious about people, and in particular those Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity in your life or career that stick with you for decades and give you foundation and purpose. I’m fascinated to hear about a singular act of kindness that changed Megan’s life forever.
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Megan Gluth-Bohan: https://www.megangluthbohan.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In this very special episode, Adam Pacifico of The Leadership Enigma podcast got together with Dr Gary to talk all things The Unlock Moment. We talked about Gary's personal journey and how he discovered purpose in coaching, speaking and podcasting. And we discovered a powerful Unlock Moment in Adam's own journey, the day he dropped his daughter off at rehab for addiction and tuned into his own vulnerability as a parent.
Adam Pacifico is a partner at global leadership and recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles. A qualified lawyer, he prosecuted and defended in the criminal courts and took 6 years from the Bar to become a serving police officer with the Metropolitan Police. Adam has personally trained over 50,000 people nationally and internationally as a global educator, keynote speaker and conference chair. He is a fully qualified barrister and member of Red Lion Chambers and Inner Temple.
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Adam Pacifico: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adampacifico/
The Leadership Enigma podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-QgWo_6C-dQzQasZpJ-pFQ
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
This episode is a fascinating journey of deep discovery with top leadership coach Andy Martiniello, which had us landing on the idea of 'Accountability Untethered'. Join us on this wonderful exploration of a true Unlock Moment.
Andy Martiniello is an accomplished Executive Coach with over 25 years of business development and team leadership, bringing a wealth of lived experience to his coaching practice. His recent role as the global Head of Growth for Strategyzer, a leading Swiss innovation consultancy, immersed him in a world of strategy and innovation tools, which he regularly incorporates into his coaching approach.
Andy is part of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches community, in common with many esteemed past guests here on The Unlock Moment, and he is also on the International Coaching Federation Toronto Board as the Director of Corporate Outreach. He knows what it takes to lead, and to coach leaders, at the top table of high-performing businesses.
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Contact Andy at: andy@declareit.ca
and find him on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andymartiniello/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Hi, it’s Gary here. Welcome to a very special episode of The Unlock Moment. This is something we’ve been planning for a long time, and at the same time it’s something we didn’t plan at all. Something quite remarkable that gets right to the heart of The Unlock Moment.
Back in October 2022 I was joined by Maika Leibbrandt in Episode 42 of The Unlock Moment. She’s one of the world’s very best and highest profile strengths coaches, having spent many years at the Gallup Organisation developing and leading much of their work on talents and strengths. When we spoke she’d just left her role to set up as an independent coach and we talked about her journey of Finding Freedom.
That episode with Maika has been the most downloaded of all time here on The Unlock Moment. I invited her back to explore what she knows now that she didn’t know then. I thought we would be talking about personal growth and business growth. And then we found something much more powerful. A new perspective on the true essence of The Unlock Moment.
And that wasn’t easy to find. As you’ll hear, we recorded this episode and we thought we were done. And then Maika reached out to say “I just unlocked my Unlock Moment, we need to record again.”
Sometimes you just need to allow a conversation to go where it needs to go and run for as long as it needs to run. Trust in the journey. Trust in the process.
Welcome. Join Maika and myself on this very special exploration of The Unlock Moment.
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Maika Leibbrandt: https://hellomaika.com
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
A coach, a mentor and an expert in strategic insight, Febronia Ruocco’s career has taken her around the world. A career history that includes such world-leading brands as McDonalds, Heineken, GSK and Twinings Tea, she’s an expert in knowing what’s going on in the market and how to find out if you don’t know.
So in our quest to navigate uncertainty in our own lives and careers, I can’t wait to hear how she’s translating that curious mindset into a new strand in executive coaching.
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Febronia Ruocco on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/febroniaruocco/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Back in 2019/2020 when I started on this journey of coaching, speaking, podcasting and writing, I had the great privilege of training on the Henley Business School coaching programme here in the UK. My guest today is an esteemed Professor at Henley and I was fascinated by her recent choice to trade places and become a student on the same programme that I’d trained. We’ll talk about that! But her personal journey is also frankly pretty inspiring – how she beat the odds to ascend the academic ladder and become a business school professor.
Professor Rebecca Jones PhD is a Professor in Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School, a Chartered Psychologist and Co-Founder of the Inclusive Leadership Company. Her research interests lie in examining the factors that influence coaching effectiveness and her consultancy practice focuses on working with organisations to create diverse and inclusive workplaces using coaching and psychological theory and research to achieve sustained behaviour change. Rebecca is the author of the book ‘Coaching with Research in Mind’, host of ‘Coaching@Henley’ and ‘The Coaching Academic’ podcasts and has published her research in globally renowned journals.
I’m looking forward to hearing more of her personal journey and also to get her take on how we can turn intent into action and establish effective new habits in work and in life that help us to be at our very best.
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Prof Rebecca Jones: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-jones-35ab8526/
Coaching at Henley Business School: https://www.henley.ac.uk/coaching-at-henley
The Inclusive Leadership Company: https://inclusiveleadershipcompany.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Today’s guest is one of the very top coaches in the world. Michael Bungay Stanier grew up in Australia, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and now lives in Toronto. His work centres around coaching and curiosity, the challenges of change at an individual and organisational level, and how to stay focused on work that matters.
In 2023 Michael was awarded the prestigious Thinkers50 Marshall Goldsmith Award for Coaching and Mentoring at a gala dinner considered the Oscars of management thinking. His 2016 book ‘The Coaching Habit, Say Less, Ask More’ has sold more than a million copies and has been translated into 20 languages – the bestselling book on coaching this century. His TEDx talk, “Tame Your Advice Monster”, has been viewed well over a million times. He’s also written books including The Advice Trap, How to Begin and Do More Great Work. His most recent book is entitled How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building The Best Possible Relationships.
It's been a tough year in 2023 and a lot of people I’m working with at the moment are figuring out how they can work on building stronger relationships at work and in life. For all that AI might be taking over, one thing I’m sure of is that person and professional success in 2024 is going to be built on people and conversations. I’m looking forward to hearing Michael’s take on the power of a curious mindset and of course I’m looking forward to indulging my own curiosity in discovering more about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped his own life’s path.
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Michael Bungay Stanier: https://www.mbs.works/
How To Work With Almost Anyone: https://www.mbs.works/how-to-work-with-almost-anyone-book/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Last year it was my great pleasure to speak at Carfest, a huge summer festival here in the UK where the health and wellbeing zone Spafest brought together many leading lights in the areas of holistic wellbeing, mindfulness and the general pursuit of happiness.
And twas there that I met the force of nature that is Donna Easton. Donna is a Joyologist, a performer, a presenter and the creator of Joyology. A highly sought after speaker, Donna’s work can be found on TV, radio and she has written for national press including Hello! magazine, Stylist and The Express newspaper. Donna helps individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses re-frame mindsets and shift how we show up each day to re-connect with the real 'us'. Donna has hosted stages and delivered talks at events across the UK, including Car Fest, Camp Bestival, Mind Body Spirit Festival, Latitude and MOVE IT and has delivered keynotes for organisations such as Google, MARS and Holland & Barrett. She helps people re-connect with themselves, find their joy and maximise success in their lives and career.
Donna's challenging personal journey puts her life's mission in context. Childhood bullying, an eating disorder and overnight hair loss gave her a deep appreciation of what really matters in life. And this is manifest throughout her life and work as a parent and as a coach.
After a pretty challenging 2023, I think we all need a bit more joy in our lives and I’m looking forward to hearing Donna’s take on how to reconnect with our best selves through the power of Joyology. And of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped her own life’s journey.
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Donna Easton: https://mylifeshines.com/
Donna Easton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mylifeshines/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
My regular listeners will know that The Unlock Moment is a podcast about leadership, but more importantly a podcast about purpose. By diving into the moments of remarkable clarity when we suddenly figured out the path ahead, we unlock new connections and understanding of those deepest drivers of our fundamental purpose. It’s been fascinating to travel with my guests as they explore those new connections live in the conversation – it’s powerful stuff.
So given our focus on purpose, today’s guest is someone I’ve been keen to get on the podcast for a long time.
Davin Salvagno is an inspirational speaker and recognised as one of the top voices on purpose in the world. He is the Founder of PurposePoint and The Purpose Summit, and the Bestselling Author of “Finding Purpose at Work.” He’s an esteemed member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches and his work spans coaching, leadership and organisational development.
Through The Purpose Summit, Davin curates the wisdom and experience of some of the most forward-thinking leaders and coaches on finding purpose in work and in life. I’m looking forward to hearing his take on how to unlock purpose in yourself and in those around you. And of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped his own life’s journey.
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Davin Salvagno: https://www.davinsalvagno.com/
The Purpose Summit: https://www.thepurposesummit.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Hello dear listener and welcome to another episode of ‘The Unlock Moment’ podcast. And what a special episode. It’s our first returner, and a chance to welcome back my very first guest on the podcast, the hugely talented and all-round master of merriment Samuel Haughton. I can’t tell you how many people from all walks of life have reached out to tell me that they were touched by his story and inspired by the powerful choice he made. His was the Unlock Moment that defined the term for me, so I’m very much in his debt.
We’d been working together in coaching for a while and we’re going back to March 2022 when Sam recorded an episode I called “Choosing Happiness”. In the two years since we recorded that Episode 1 and heard about Sam’s fundamental Unlock Moment of remarkable clarity, he’s been on a quite extraordinary journey.
Let’s hear more about the Unlock Moment that sparked this all and catch up with the what happened next. Sam Haughton, it is my huge pleasure to welcome you back to The Unlock Moment.
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Samuel Haughton: https://www.samuelhaughton.com/
Samuel Haughton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samuel.haughton.42/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
This is a difficult story, but a powerful one. It’s a story of having it all, losing it all and finding the strength to build again, from the very beginning. It’s a story of struggle, of grit, of commitment in pursuit of freedom and empowerment for a mother and her three children.
When she walked out on her husband with three children in tow, she left behind the private jet, the Bentleys and Ferraris and the gilded lifestyle of a property tycoon. Her bank account was empty and she was left to sleep on a friend's floor and live off 14 pounds a day, with four mouths to feed. What happened next tells you everything about the kind of person she is.
Today Geeta Sidhu-Robb is a coach, an author, a speaker and a podcaster. She’s the kind of coach who counts A-list celebrities and royalty amongst her select clients. But what really makes her who she is today? Well that’s all tied up with the extraordinary journey she’s been on.
I am deeply grateful that she is coming on the podcast to share her story, what she’s learned from her Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity, and how her journey has shaped the person we see and know today.
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Geeta Sidhu-Robb: https://www.geetasidhu-robb.com/
Activate Yourself podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/61y3qdeZCwi5vgMAeFEWvx
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
One of the books that fundamentally changed my outlook early in my coaching journey was Challenging Coaching, by John Blakey and Ian Day – one of the UK’s best-selling leadership books. It explores a way to bring powerful challenge into the coaching conversation in a way that resonates strongly with senior leaders and helps them to accelerate their growth. Not all coaches agree that it’s right for the coach to be too challenging, but in my own work it's been a real game-changer. Today I’m delighted to have one of the authors, Dr John Blakey, here on The Unlock Moment.
John has been an executive coach to over 130 CEOs from 22 different countries – board-level leaders in organisations such as Capgemini, Kellogg's, British Airways, the NHS, and the BBC. For ten years, he was a board advisor on leadership development and executive coaching to global corporates. He has also worked extensively in elite sports, developing coaches in a variety of sports, from handling the media and managing the politics to leading team selection and developing inspirational communication skills. Today he works with a small number of ambitious and pioneering CEOs, particularly in the BCorp movement.
John is also the author of The Trusted Executive: Nine Leadership Habits That Inspire Results, Relationships and Reputation. His new book ‘Force for Good: How to Thrive as a Purpose-Driven Leader’ is coming out in summer 2024.
I’m looking forward to hearing John’s take on how leaders can perform at their best, build trust, challenge themselves and deliver exceptional results. And of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped his own life’s journey.
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Dr John Blakey, CEO Coach: https://johnblakey.co.uk/
'Force For Good' on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Force-Good-Thrive-Purpose-Driven-Leader/dp/1398615218
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Genuinely one of the most remarkable people I have ever had on the podcast, Inga Stasiulionyte is an Olympian and an elite performance and leadership coach, whose passion and prowess for throwing the javelin took her to the Beijing Olympics back in 2008 representing Lithuania. I was very kindly introduced to Inga by fellow Olympian Joe Jacobi who you can hear back in episode 112 of this podcast.
A lifetime in sport and over 14 years of working with executives in demanding industries has given Inga profound insights into resolving intricate leadership challenges using the mindset of a competitive athlete. She’s worked as a business analyst, built startups, and led the first MIT Sports Entrepreneurship Bootcamp – she brings a deep understanding of the challenges and needs of striving for self-realisation on and off the field. She’s also a co-founder of the Elevating Leadership Institute.
But it was facing into cancer that she faced her biggest challenge - learning to love her body again. In this intimate and disarmingly honest conversation, I was struck by her profound sense of clarity and freedom. And I want you to hear that in her and learn from it. I think Inga is quite remarkable and I’m so grateful to her for coming on and telling her story with such openness and vulnerability.
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Inga Stasiulionyte: https://www.instagram.com/javelingaworld/
OFounders: https://ofounders.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Now there are many reasons why I knew that today’s guest would be someone you’d really enjoy learning from, not least the title of his most recent book, “Exploding Turkeys and Spare Trousers, Adventures in Global Business”!
Ken Pasternak has a unique background that combines executive education, keynote speaking, management consulting, institution building, and corporate banking. Like me, he started out on a path to medicine but pivoted into a very different career. Prior to his more than twenty-five years advising and teaching business leaders around the world, Ken was Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and before that Vice President at Citibank while based in six countries. Ken focuses on building high performance organisations through visionary leadership, team effectiveness, creating a winning culture and improving cross-cultural understanding. Still a keen world traveller, he has taught at business schools around the world and splits his time between Florida and Helsinki.
Ken has a particular interest in Formula 1 – he co-authored a book entitled “Performance at the Limit, Business Lessons from Formula 1 Motor Racing” which sparked an eight part BBC World television series called Formula for Success.
I’m looking forward to hearing his take on what the rarefied world of Formula 1 can teach us about achieving success in leadership and in life, and of course to hear about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to navigate the straights, the chicanes and the unscheduled pitstops of his own life journey.
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Ken Pasternak: https://www.kppasternak.com/
Exploding Turkeys And Spare Trousers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploding-Turkeys-Spare-Trousers-Adventures/dp/1788602811
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
On this podcast I learn about many different types of Unlock Moment. Some of them are subtle – the voice in your head telling you “this isn’t the right path for me.” Some of them are clear – the doctor telling you you have to change your lifestyle or suffer significant consequences. And some are dramatic – a sudden, remarkable clarity that leads to immediate and bold action. Today’s one of the dramatic ones!
I met Tony Martignetti recently but we share quite a few connections in common. Based in Boston in the US, Tony is a trusted advisor, leadership coach and facilitator, a best-selling author, a podcast host, and an in-demand speaker. He delivered his TEDx talk “Don’t Check Yourself At The Door”, just three months ago and already it’s gathered 1.7 million views. His message about how to create a more connected and human workplace is resonating with a wide audience.
Tony has been recognized by Thinkers360 and LeadersHum as one of the Top Voices in Leadership. He hosts The Virtual Campfire podcast and is the author of two books “Climbing the Right Mountain: Navigating the Journey to An Inspired Life" and his new book just out: "Campfire Lessons for Leaders: How Uncovering Our Past Can Propel Us Forward.” He has been featured in many publications, including Fast Company, Forbes, Life Science Leader, and CEO Today.
I’m looking forward to hearing Tony’s take on human, authentic leadership that enables leaders to be at their best and grow themselves and others, and of course I want to learn about a particularly dramatic Unlock Moment of remarkable clarity.
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Tony Martignetti - Inspired Purpose Coach: https://www.inspiredpurposecoach.com/
Tony Martignetti on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymartignett1/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
These days so many people, so many leaders I work describe themselves as stuck on the hamster wheel, firefighting the daily crises and struggling to find time, get their head up and properly look to the future. So it is perhaps timely that today I’m welcoming one of the world’s foremost authorities on vision and visionary leadership to the podcast.
Dr. Oleg Konovalov is a global thought leader, author, business educator, consultant, and C-suite coach. He speaks all over the world and gained his doctorate in business from Durham University here in the UK.
Oleg is named among the top eight global experts in leadership and shortlisted for the Distinguished Award in Leadership by Thinkers50. He is the #1 Global Leading Coach (Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50 Award).
Some call him ‘the da Vinci of Visionary Leadership’, Oleg is considered #1 in the world in the field of vision and visionary leadership. He is the author of The Vision Code, Leaderology, and other books.
I’m looking forward to hearing Oleg’s perspective on what makes for a powerful vision, how we figure out what ours is and how we can stop hurtling round that hamster wheel to pick our heads up and build for the future. But my regular listeners will know this podcast is as much about who you are as what you think – I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped Oleg to shape his path ahead.
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Dr Oleg Konovalov: https://www.olegkonovalov.com/
Dr Oleg Konovalov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-oleg-konovalov/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In a world where organisations are facing into huge volatility, challenge and uncertainty, we need leaders who can dig deep and go searching for the powerful truths that unlock the potential in all our people. And if you’re looking for someone who is an expert in going digging, find yourself a person who cut their teeth as an undercover agent in the Drug Enforcement Agency, the DEA. That’s where world-leading executive coach Dean Miles started out before transitioning into the pharmaceuticals industry with global giants Pfizer and Merck.
Now Dean is the Founder and President of Bridgepoint Coaching & Strategy Group, a global executive coaching firm. He has spent his career unlocking great leaders in the process of producing exceptional results. He's coached CEOs, executives, managers and supervisors across the world in pursuit of his core values of Awe, Adventure and Advocacy. Dean is one of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches, a Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Coaching and a member of Forbes Coaches Council.
Dean has been on several non-profit boards including Africa Renewal, whose mission is to enhance the holistic development of the child and community through support systems that ensure next generation leaders. He and his wife, Melanie, have four children and currently reside in Punta del Burro, Mexico.
I’m looking forward to hearing Dean’s take on the secrets to success and fulfilment in leadership and in life. And of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to shape the path ahead.
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Dean Miles: https://www.deanmiles.com/
Dean Miles on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridgepointcsg/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the topic of finding balance, especially in the context of this volatile, uncertain world we’re living in. Often people tell me they can’t find balance because they don’t seem to be able to step off that hamster wheel. Well today I’m delighted to welcome a guest to the podcast who is going to help us think differently about the power of a reset moment in the midst of a intense career trajectory.
Tingting Peng is Chief Capital, Strategy, and Impact Officer at Moove, a successful leader in fintech, an angel investor and advisor to startups. She is a graduate of MIT with an MBA from London Business School. Tingting is a member of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle and has been recognised by Fintech Magazine as a Top 100 Women in Fintech for 2023.
But this stellar career path has not been without its bumps and we’ll be talking today about what that looked like and what Tingting learned from navigating the potholes on the road to success. Of course ever curious, I’m fascinated to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped her find clarity on the journey.
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Tingting Peng: https://www.tingtingpeng.com/about
Moove: https://www.moove.io/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
It's always a privilege to interview a true pioneer on the podcast, and today I'm delighted to welcome Loree Draude, who became one of the first women to fly combat jets in the US Navy. Now she's a seasoned leader and entrepreneur who advises and coaches executives and founders on how to improve their leadership. She is the author of the recently published bestselling book, Soar Into Joy: A Combat Pilot's Wisdom on Falling in Love with Your Life, and a sought-after speaker for her entertaining and inspirational talks about how to soar professionally and personally.
Loree draws on her years of experience in the tech industry and the US Navy. She deployed twice to the Persian Gulf, accumulating over 300 carrier landings and 1,600 flight hours. After completing her naval service, Loree led product, marketing and operations teams at startups and tech companies, including Google and Meta. Loree holds an MBA from Wharton and a BA in Mathematics from the University of San Diego.
But her path wasn’t all glory and success. Loree has been laid off, forced to shut down her startup due to lack of funding, been divorced, fired, and quit her job.
She wrote a one-woman show called I Feel the Need about the first West Coast aircraft carrier deployment with women in combat squadrons. The show debuted Off-Broadway in New York and also played at the Edinburgh Festival here in the UK.
I’m looking forward to hearing her take on challenging established mindsets on an aircraft carrier, the soaring highs and crashing lows of life’s rollercoaster, and of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped her journey.
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Loree Draude: https://loreedraude.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Sometimes I have conversations with people on this platform who can speak to subjects that others might be thinking about but have never expressed openly. I met today’s guest recently and it is my huge privilege to bring his story to the podcast.
Rob Kalwarowsky is an impactful leader whose quiet realisations give his community loud transformations. Through his work and his podcast The Leadership Launchpad Project, Rob shares wise insights about toxic leadership, mental health and finding purpose in life. He gives people an intimate and caring space regardless of the size of the room, while bringing humour and research into his coaching.
Before transitioning into leadership coaching and speaking, Rob spent over 10 years at the opposite end of the sensitivity spectrum, honing his skills as an engineer within mining, oil pipelines, and consulting in heavy industry. Rob has a foundation of high-performance as he graduated from MIT with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Management. He was also a 3-time Academic All-American in NCAA Water Polo and played on the under 18 Canadian National Water Polo team.
But the fast track to success is rarely a straight road and Rob suffered significant mental health challenges. His journey of recovery led him to leadership coaching, podcasting, the TEDx stage and a complete life transformation. I’m deeply grateful to Rob for coming on today to talk about his experiences, and of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him find the path ahead.
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Rob Kalwarowsky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kalwarowsky/
Elite High Performance: https://www.elitehighperformance.com/
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Content note: this episode discusses in part the experiences of a person in North America treated for depression and acute suicidality with ketamine. In the UK, where this podcast is recorded, NICE does not currently reference ketamine in its guidelines for the treatment of depression, although there is an ongoing debate based on emerging evidence. The Unlock Moment does not take a view on the effectiveness of a particular medical intervention and I would always advise listeners to seek the advice of a qualified medical professional.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
One of the reasons why I love the world of ballroom dancing is because it connected me with an amazing global network of friends who, off the dance floor, come from all walks of life. Almost twenty years ago I met my wife Mildred through dancing, and through Mildred I met today’s guest and a very good friend over many years, Vicki Sato.
When she’s not competing in and winning pro-am dance competitions with her professional partner Nazar, Vicki is a world leader in the field of pharmaceuticals and biotech.
She has been fascinated by the interface of science and entrepreneurship for a long time. Having started out as an academic scientist at Harvard, she transitioned into the biotech industry with future stars of the sector Biogen and Vertex, where she spent 25 years helping to lead great teams, making medicines and building companies. Together those two businesses are now worth over $100 billion.
Later Vicki returned to Harvard to become a professor teaching both science and entrepreneurship at Harvard University and Harvard Business School. She met a lot of talented young (and less young) people and mentoring young entrepreneurs remains something she loves to do.
She has served as a corporate director of major companies such as BristolMyersSquibb and BorgWarner and growing companies in cool areas of science such as Denali, VIRbio and Allogene. Molecules and therapeutics developed under her leadership have become critical treatments for HIV, cystic fibrosis, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, and hepatitis C.
In her latest adventure she is learning about and contributing to science and public policy by serving on President Biden's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Committee on Science, Technology and the Law for the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. She’s the first guest I’ve had on The Unlock Moment who has her own page on the White House website!
I’m looking forward to digging in to Vicki’s journey, to understand The Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that guided her path. And I’m always fascinated to hear her wise take on finding intentional balance to shape a life you love and that connects deeply with your values and purpose.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/pcast/members/vicki-sato/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Let's just say this isn't the conversation I thought we were going to be having. Raw, emotional, unflinchingly honest and vulnerable - this is a story of commitment and compromise, connecting with purpose and priorities in balancing a hugely demanding career with family. It's a deeply memorable episode and I know it will resonate with so many of you. Enjoy this inspirational conversation with the wonderful Torie Campbell.
Earlier in the summer I had the pleasure of speaking on stage at the CarFest summer festival here in the UK, where 60,000 people come together for music, mindfulness and motoring! I’m delighted that one of my fellow speakers on stage at CarFest is joining me today on The Unlock Moment.
Torie Campbell is a TV presenter and sports reporter who is best known for her Formula One coverage but is just as likely to be found in a helicopter or a powerboat. She has fronted the World Powerboat Championships, launched the FIFA Women’s World Cup and interviewed some of the biggest names in sport on the red carpet at the Laureus World Sports Awards.
But life wasn’t always so glamourous. You don’t get the breaks if you don’t put in the work and Torie’s early career was seriously hard graft – she can tell us shortly whether much has changed! A Butlins Redcoat, a music presenter for campsites and treading the boards on a shopping channel. When we talked about Unlock Moments in a field at a festival, Torie said to me – “I know exactly what mine is, and I’ll tell you on the podcast!”
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Torie Campbell: https://toriecampbell.com/
Torie Campbell on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hello_toriecampbell
Torie Campbell presenter clips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mum_yjvOBOY
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
If you’ve been listening for a while then you might remember my conversation with world-leading coach Morag Barrett back in episode 35 of The Unlock Moment. Well today I’m delighted to be welcoming one of her colleagues and co-authors on to the podcast.
Eric Spencer’s passion is designing and facilitating executive & leadership development programmes that transform careers and leader reputations. As COO for SkyeTeam, he brings more than twenty years of experience building and shaping Human Resources organizations. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in Management from Arizona State University, and an MBA with a focus in Organizational Behavior from Virginia Tech. He is the father to two amazing young women and an avid musician, and spends his free time writing, recording, and performing in his band Rogue Two.
He’s the host and Chief Bartender of The Corporate Bartender podcast and, together with the aforementioned Morag Barrett and Ruby Vesely, co-author of the book You, Me, We: Why we all need a friend at work (and how to show up as one!).
Now apparently Eric has had meaningful moments in the back of Aerosmith’s tour bus - I can’t wait to learn more. I’m looking forward to hearing his take on leadership growth and culture, and of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped his own life’s journey.
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Eric Spencer: https://skyeteam.com/about/eric-spencer/
Eric Spencer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esspencer/
You, Me, We on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Me-We-Need-Friend/dp/1774582031
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In this amazing episode of The Unlock Moment, we tap into the mindset of a world-leading performance coach who won Olympic gold in the challenging currents of whitewater canoeing. We talk about how the places that feel safe are not always the places with highest opportunity. And we delve deep into the thoughts of one who is a true expert in the art of navigating the choppy waters of midlife uncertainty.
Joe Jacobi is an Olympic gold medallist, a CEO, a performance coach and author who guides high performance leaders to ignite their second wind to confront challenging midlife transitions with meaning and adventure. Back in the Barcelona Olympics of 1992, Joe won America’s first ever Olympic Gold Medal in the sport of whitewater canoe slalom, competing with his canoeing partner Scott Strausbaugh. These days he’s back in that same part of the world, where he lives in a mountain home in the Pyrenees.
In 2022, Joe published his first book, "Slalom: 6 River Classes About How To Confront Obstacles, Advance Amid Uncertainty, And Bring Focus To What Matters Most." It’s full of Joe's reflections, experiences, relationships, and strategies on how more than 40 years on the river transferred to navigating your river of life.
I’m looking forward to hearing Joe’s take on what it takes to become an Olympic gold medallist, the challenges he faced after retiring from the sport and how he got his life back on track. And of course I’m curious about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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Joe Jacobi: http://joejacobi.com/
Sign up for Sunday Morning Joe: http://joejacobi.com/sign-up-for-sunday-morning-joe/
Joe Jacobi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobijoe/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
This is a conversation about coaching, about leadership, about the work ethic and discipline that sparked an extraordinary career of success. We also touch on the power of AI, the perils of ChatGPT, purpose, plagiarism and prehistory in a fascinating and wide-ranging interview with one of the pre-eminent executive and leadership coaches of our time.
My guest on The Unlock Moment today is a globally-recognised coaching psychologist and executive coach, ranked among the top 10 professional coaches worldwide. Professor Jonathan Passmore has helped numerous leaders in finance, technology, sports and government to reflect, gain fresh perspectives and acquire new insights.
He is Professor of Coaching and Behavioural Change at Henley Business School here in the UK, which is where I trained in coaching, and his work includes 40 books and over 200 scientific articles and book chapters, making him one of the most published coaching researchers in the world. He is a Senior Vice President at EZRA Coaching, a world-leading digital coaching provider. Like many who have graced this stage, Jonathan is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches group and he has just this week been shortlisted for the prestigious Thinkers 50 Coaching and Mentoring Award.
I’m looking forward to understanding what drives Jonathan to be such a prolific researcher and author in the field of coaching, how he thinks about finding purpose and of course, I want to hear more about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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Prof Jonathan Passmore: https://www.jonathanpassmore.com/
Henley Centre for Coaching: https://www.henley.ac.uk/business/coaching
Ezra Coaching: https://helloezra.com/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
As my long-time listeners will know, I’m deeply curious about what makes people who they are, and Dax Grant has really had a remarkable life’s journey.
Born the daughter of a Bosnian coal miner and a shepherdess, she worked her way up, first to Cambridge where she studied economics and then into banking and finance where she became a Director at Visa and then CIO Global Operations at HSBC.
Now in her portfolio career she works with growth organisations and multinationals, and their leadership teams through positive changes to pivot, grow and innovate via digitisation and super-connectivity. She’s been featured on multiple top 100 lists in tech, is a prolific speaker and a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
She’s also the author of ‘The Entrepreneurial Quotient: Humanising Business Through Societal Leadership and Entrepreneurial Skill’
Dax says: "My mission is to bring forward the value of the societal C-suite executive and CEO to the world stage."
I’m looking forward to hearing about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped her and can’t wait to find out more!
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Dax Grant: https://daxgrant.com/
Dax Grant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daxgrant/
The Entrepreneurial Quotient: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Entrepreneurial-Quotient-Humanizing-Business-Leadership/dp/1739134311/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
We often think about overcoming a fear of failure, but have you ever thought about whether you have a fear of success? Many of the people I work with in coaching struggle the first time they feel exposed as a leader, the first time they feel people's expectations of them, the first time they feel that the consequences of their actions impact much more than just themselves. And overcoming a fear of success is what world-leading coach James Kerr described as his Unlock Moment when he recorded for the podcast.
With over 300 articles, 70 media interviews and 6 business books, Jim Kerr is one of the most prolific authors of thought leadership in the business and is top 10 ranked by Thinkers 360 in coaching, leadership, culture, strategy, change management and the future of work. He is the #1 ranked global thought leader in coaching. He has also been featured in Fast Company, BusinessWeek, Psychology Today and Bloomberg and he’s the author of “Indispensable, Build and Lead a Company Customers Can’t Live Without”. He’s also the host of The Indispensable Conversation podcast, where I was delighted to be featured a few weeks ago.
A guest with a lifetime of experience in leadership and coaching, his is such a wise voice and I know you'll get a huge amount from this episode. Enjoy my conversation with world-leading coach Jim Kerr.
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James Kerr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmkerr1/
Indispensable Consulting: https://indispensable-consulting.com/
Indispensable: Build And Lead A Company Customers Can't Live Without: https://indispensable-consulting.com/indispensable-book/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Today’s episode is one we’ve had in the planning for months, and I’m delighted that we can bring this powerful story to you today. I heard Oa being interviewed on the BBC earlier this year and I immediately reached out to invite her on to the podcast – I’m so pleased she said yes. She is a brilliant storyteller, and the epitome of a humble and quietly inspiring leader.
It was back in 2014 when Oa Hackett was diagnosed with breast cancer at the young age of just 28. She knew she wasn’t alone – every year approximately 55,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer and over 2 million worldwide. Following her own treatment, she decided she wanted to improve the experience of going through cancer treatment for others, and three years after her own diagnosis she founded a remarkable charity called Little Lifts.
Little Lifts is on a mission to provide free, thoughtfully-curated gift boxes to every breast cancer patient in the UK receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Starting in the East of England, already they’ve gifted well over 14.500 boxes. In recognition of the work of her and her team, this year she was recognised with a prestigious Point of Light award by the UK Prime Minister, one of only 2,000 such awards in the country.
Listeners to this podcast come from over 85 countries around the world and I’m hoping that someone listening will be inspired by Oa’s story and the mission of Little Lifts, and might help open a door to more funding and greater reach.
I can’t wait for this conversation, and in particular to hear about the Unlock Moments that I know shaped Oa’s journey along the way. Let’s dive in.
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Little Lifts: https://www.littlelifts.org.uk/
Oa Hackett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oa-hackett-1a321267/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
I met today’s guest a few months ago at a major national wellbeing event and was struck by her ability to make complex psychology simple in helping people to understand and deal with life’s tricky problems. In this episode you're going to hear about someone who has shaped a career based around making the biggest difference by focusing on the smallest things.
Dr Meg Arroll is a chartered psychologist, scientist and author with a specialist focus on behavioural psychology related to health and wellness, invisible or misunderstood illness and everyday trauma.
She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and written seven books on topics ranging from chronic fatigue to emotional eating. She works on a 1-to-1 basis with individuals, in corporate settings to improve health and performance and as an advisor to brands and the media. She’s a regular contributor to publications such as the Daily Mail, Psychologies, Women’s Health, Cosmopolitan and many others, where she translates complex scientific theories and research for public dissemination.
Her latest book is called "Tiny Traumas: When you don’t know what’s wrong, but nothing feels quite right."
I’m fascinated to learn more about the journey she made to focus in on tiny traumas, and the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped her to shape the path ahead. Let’s dive in!
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Dr Meg Arroll: https://www.drmegarroll.com/
Tiny Traumas: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiny-Traumas-Dr-Meg-Arroll/dp/0008536406
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
In this episode we’re going Down Under to Melbourne, Australia with Master Coach Mel Leow. He's an inspiring speaker whose philosophy 'Live. Be. Brave.' is a powerful mantra for finding empowerment and fulfilment in work and life.
With almost three decades in leadership, coaching, and unlocking human potential in the Asia Pacific region, Mel serves C- suite Executives and their teams to thrive at their best. He is a Master Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and leads a global ICF-Accredited online school "Catalyst Coach", with a mission to equip 10,000 coaches to impact 10 million people over the next 20 years.
Mel is a co-author of 3 books & author of “ENGAGE – How to Stop Living in Default & Start Living the Life You Desire”. He is also the Host of the #100MasterCoaches show. He is a proud father of 3, enjoys cycling and hiking, and together with his wife in Melbourne, they love exploring cafes and vineyards.
I’m looking forward to hearing about Mel’s perspective on career, life and fulfilment and of course those Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Do you have a coaching relationship today and you're trying to get the most of it? Or maybe you're looking to find a coach to help you figure things out in your life or career? Either way, this is the episode for you! You're going to learn all about how to Become Coachable and get the absolute best from a coaching relationship, from two of the very best in the business!
My regular listeners have been privileged to hear from many of the world’s leading coaches over the last year and half, from Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Goulston to Whitney Johnson and Carol Kauffman to name but a few. They’re all part of the prestigious Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches Agency, which is a veritable who’s who of the global coaching community. Well today we get to hear from the people who make it all happen and celebrate the launch of their latest book, Becoming Coachable – already an Amazon bestseller.
Scott Osman is the CEO of the 100 Coaches Agency, which he co-founded with Marshall Goldsmith in 2016. He’s also the cofounder of Methods by 100 Coaches, the online learning platform, and publishes a great LinkedIn newsletter called Insights from 100 Coaches. He has a fascinating background, from marketing to the movies – I can’t wait to learn more.
Jacquelyn Lane is the President of the 100 Coaches Agency, with them since the start and committed to improving the lives of people through elevating the quality of leadership. An engineer by training, she cut her teeth in the oil industry before transitioning into leadership development.
Scott and Jacquelyn have co-authored a new book together with Marshall Goldsmith called ‘Becoming Coachable’, a book that guides readers through the ins and outs of a successful coaching experience. You might have heard Marshall back in Episode 36 of The Unlock Moment – bookmark that for later. So now with Becoming Coachable – well if you want to figure out how to get the most from your relationship with a coach and how to upskill your leadership then keep listening!
And of course as ever I’m curious about how two people with such different backgrounds connected as co-authors and how their Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity shaped the people they are today.
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Becoming Coachable: https://becomingcoachable.com/
100 Coaches Agency: https://agency.100coaches.com/
Jacquelyn Lane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelyn-lane/
Scott Osman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottosman/
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Today it is my huge privilege to welcome George Mumford to The Unlock Moment. George is a globally-recognised speaker, teacher, and coach. He’s worked at the highest levels in elite basketball - Michael Jordan credits George with transforming his on-court leadership, and he has also worked with the late Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and countless other NBA players, Olympians, executives, and artists.
Kobe Bryant said: “George helped me understand the art of mindfulness. To be neither distracted or focused, rigid or flexible, passive or aggressive. I learned just to be.”
George’s first book The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance is a memoir and instruction guide to accessing your inner masterpiece. His new book “Unlocked: Embrace Your Greatness, Find the Flow, Discover Success” was just published in HarperCollins in May.
While at the University of Massachusetts — where he roomed with future Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving — injuries forced Mumford out of basketball and into addiction to pain medication and drugs. With the help of meditation and mindfulness, he got clean and made it his mission to teach and work with others.
When you meet someone with this kind of client list, you know it’s time to sit back, listen and learn. But there’s also this real depth to George’s personal story and I can’t wait to hear more. You'll learn from his great wisdom about mindfulness, finding flow and unlocking your inner masterpiece - this is the type of episode you're going to want to go back to and listen again and again!
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George Mumford: https://georgemumford.com/
Buy "Unlocked" here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unlocked-Embrace-Greatness-Discover-Success/dp/0063210096
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
Now, I really like having big thinkers here to talk about their experiences, their learnings and their perspective. I met Yannick Jacob recently and was fascinated by his outlook on the meaning of life and how he brings a sharp clarity to the complexity of how our minds work. I know you’ll enjoy hearing from him too.
Yannick is a coach, trainer and supervisor with Masters degrees in Existential Coaching and Applied Positive Psychology. He is part of the teaching faculties at Cambridge University and the International Centre for Coaching Supervision, and he’s the Course Director of the School of Positive Transformation’s Accredited Certificate in Integrative Coaching. He's an in-demand speaker and author of the book, An Introduction to Existential Coaching. And if that wasn’t enough to keep one person busy, he also founded Yannick’s Coaching Lab and hosts three podcasts – Coaching Uncaged, Talking about Coaching and Talking about Coaching and Psychedelics.
Now what I’m particularly interested in getting Yannick’s take on is the really big questions that help you find connection, meaning and purpose. If you’ve listened for a while then you’ll know about my passion for fostering ownership and intentionality in the people I work with. Yannick said this:
"The thing is that those who make the most out of their time on this planet, the ones we look up to as having really lived, they allow themselves to experience the whole spectrum of what life has to offer – “good” and “bad”, pleasant and uncomfortable, success and failure, happiness and anxiety. To not merely endure life, but to enjoy it in all its facets, that‘s what I call “a life well lived”. And it’s a choice away."
Wow, I can’t wait to hear more!
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Yannick Jacob: https://www.coachingandmediation.net/
Yannick's Coaching Lab: https://gocoachinglab.com/
Yannick on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/YannickJacob
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The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 100 countries. Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com
I was honoured to be a guest speaker at the recent Retail Trust Together Fest employee wellbeing event and today I’m absolutely delighted to be welcoming Chris Brook-Carter, the CEO of the Retail Trust.
From 1832 onwards, the Retail Trust has been caring for and protecting the lives of people working in retail. They believe the health of retail colleagues is the foundation they need to flourish in both work and life, creating a more sustainable and successful future for the retail sector. And in recent years the retail industry has been extremely hard hit by economic turbulence. Their services have never been more necessary.
Last year, over 270,000 retail colleagues reached out for help. The Retail Trust took 14,000 helpline calls, that’s one every 37 minutes, provided over £400,000 in financial aid and delivered over 10,000 counselling sessions.
Chris has been a passionate supporter, advocate and champion of UK retail across his entire career. Prior to joining the Retail Trust, Chris was the Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Retail Week - the most influential media brand in UK retail – and the World Retail Congress, the single biggest gathering of global retail’s leadership each year. Chris led these brands for ten years, transforming the business from a weekly print title, into a digital-first information and global events brand that continues to sit at the heart of global retail by delivering on its mission to inform, connect and inspire the leaders that continue to colour this great sector.
I’m looking forward to hearing about Chris’s life lessons in retail and the Unlock Moments that helped him to figure out the path ahead.
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Chris Brook-Carter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-brook-carter-3891474/
The Retail Trust: https://www.retailtrust.org.uk/
I met for lunch today with an old friend of mine. We were talking about how much of life is determined by our work – it shapes where we live, how much time we spend commuting, where we send our children to school. In reality wherever we’ve lived for the last twenty years has always been strongly influenced by the work we do, how we get there and how late we need to be in the office.
My friend said to me, “I’ve always thought you should start with where you want to live, and then figure out from there what work you can do.” My immediate response was probably like yours – in the real world we don’t have that freedom. But then I thought, well who owns that freedom? We do.
Who's driving your big life choices? It's today's question for reflection in the Box of Keys.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
Today is really special, because it’s the 100th episode of The Unlock Moment podcast. Joining me in this special centenary episode is a fantastic guest, NASA astronaut Dr Charlie Camarda. He's a world-leading expert in how to get to space and back in one piece, and he doesn't hold back here in his views on the NASA culture, what has and hasn't been learned since the Columbia shuttle disaster of 2003 and where there still needs to be focus in order to keep the astronauts safe.
Dialling in today from near Port Canaveral in Florida, where he’s been watching Space-X launches with the family, Charlie is an American engineer and NASA astronaut who spent almost 14 days in space in 2005 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, in the “Return to Flight” shuttle mission, the first shuttle flight after the Columbia disaster in 2003, in which the shuttle broke up on re-entry killing all seven astronauts on board.
After his space flight, Charlie was Director of Engineering at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and was then Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Office of the Chief Engineer, NASA Headquarters. Charlie retired from NASA in 2019. He holds a doctorate in engineering, 9 patents and over 20 national and international awards.
We’re going to hear about his journey through life, and through space, his leading role in the Columbia disaster investigation and his perspective on the culture at NASA and how mistakes can start to creep in in high stakes scenarios. And he'll bring to life his visionary work to inspire children across the world to get involved in space science, through his Epic Education Foundation.
Let's get into orbit with Dr Charlie Camarda!
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Dr Charlie Camarda - Epic Education Foundation: https://epiceducationfoundation.org/
I was reminded this week of the Maya Angelou quote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Time and again, my guests on The Unlock Moment talk about how the remarkable clarity they found was about how they realised that their purpose was to serve others.
I was in conversation with one of my coachees recently, an extraordinary person who has made it her personal mission to impact the lives of young children around the world who have been abused and abandoned. It made me reflect on what I was doing to impact the lives of others. Feelings matter and the smallest things you do can have a massive impact on others, if it helps them to feel seen, to feel heard, to feel valued.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
I was approached for a big role recently. The kind of role that would be higher profile than I’d ever had before, more responsibility than I’d ever had before, higher pay than I’d ever had before. It was seductive. Shiny things are seductive.
But in the back of my mind I also knew that it would represent a step back, from the life I’ve built today around the things that really are my purpose in life, to a past life that was more disruptive, higher stress and higher risk of burnout. In reality I know that material wealth does not and should not trump emotional health. It’s the foundation of human, humble, vulnerable leadership. Nevertheless, the magpie part of my brain was still going, “ooh, follow the shiny thing.”
For many people I’ve worked with, their Unlock Moment has been when they’ve figured out that the shiny thing was actually not so shiny. The glare is blinding them to what really matters. Their talent. Their passion. Their strength. Their purpose.
Material wealth does not, and should not trump emotional health. Don’t get blinded by the shiny thing. That’s my moment of clarity for today.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
When your Unlock Moment of remarkable clarity starts with you letting go of the bridge and then talking about what happened next ... well that's just the beginning of this powerful story of self-discovery and renewal that mental health advocate and executive coach Uwe Dockhorn went on. He's a brilliant storyteller and you can't help but get drawn in to his world.
Based in Germany but working globally, Uwe calls himself the Lifestyle Liberator and founded a programme called The AIM Experience for busy executives and their VIPs, their Very Important Partners, at home. He's also the host of the podcast, "Lift-Off With Energizing Results."
Uwe is on a mission to unlock the latent potential within high achiever families, elevating the standards of leadership success and triggering a ripple of positive impact that echoes through generations. He strongly believes that to become a better leader, you must first become a better partner at home.
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Uwe Dockhorn: https://www.uwedockhorn.com/
Uwe Dockhorn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uwedockhorn/
My regular listeners will know that I have many world-class leaders and coaches coming on the podcast. And I also invite people who I like to call ‘ordinary people with extraordinary stories’. I love the power of vulnerable storytelling to help people to unlock their thinking, feel connected and less alone and lonely in their own journey.
For today’s guest, Paru Radia, there is much more to her story than what you see of her today as a highly successful executive strategist, but it is that story that has shaped her into the powerful thought partner to senior executives and entrepreneurs that she is today.
Paru styles herself the ‘C-Suite Whisperer’ – a sought-after executive strategist who helps her clients take control of their businesses, careers and lives, whilst staying true to who they are. Born into an Indian entrepreneurial family here in England, Paru faced constant challenges that moulded her into a fearless conflict resolver. Over the years working for blue chip organisations and high performance leaders, she has gained invaluable insights into how to read the room and read between the lines to communicate with and motivate diverse personalities to achieve exceptional results.
But today we’re also going to hear much more of Paru’s origin story, the challenges she faced along the way and how she overcame them to become the person she is today. And of course the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped her to figure out the path ahead. I can’t wait to learn more.
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Paru Radia: https://www.paruradia.com/
You want authentic leadership? I'll give you authentic leadership! This is the straight-talking, unflinchingly honest account of how a successful tech CEO took accountability for his own failings and drew back from the precipice to shape a successful business and a hit podcast, 'Honey, I Blew Up The Business'. You'll learn how as a leader you can't hide behind spreadsheets or excuses. When you're in the hot seat, the buck well and truly stops with you.
Dan Kirby is CEO of The Tech Department, a business specialising in helping startup founders build reliable, scalable, tech. He has an eclectic set of interests, having starred in a movie pilot, launched a festival in London and run the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert raising £14,000 for a children’s charity.
We’re going to talk about what it feels like when things start to go off the rails, how you deal with it and how you can build to come out the other side resilient and ready to grow. And I’m looking forward to hearing about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped Dan figure out his own path.
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Honey, I Blew Up The Business: https://www.honeyiblewupthebusiness.com/
The Tech Department: https://www.thetechdept.com/
This episode of The Unlock Moment with rugby league star and mental health campaigner Stevie Ward is just so special. He’s such a powerful storyteller, he paints vivid pictures that bring you right into the moment. For a guy trained to put his body on the line, he’s remarkably in touch with his emotions and his vulnerability, and he’s got an extraordinary personal story to tell. This is not really a conversation about sports, it’s a conversation about challenge and adversity, aloneness and togetherness, redemption and triumph. This is an episode that’s going to give you that and so much more.
Stevie Ward is a keynote speaker and former professional rugby league player, part of the golden generation at the Leeds Rhinos, one of the most successful teams in super league history. Stevie became the youngest grand final winner ever, going on to win two more Grand Finals and 2 Challenge Cups, and was named captain at just 26. In UK elite sport, he’s a huge name.
In 2019 Stevie suffered a head injury in a game against Wigan. He was diagnosed with debilitating concussion, which led to him retiring from the game at just 27 at the start of 2020. His long journey of physical and mental recovery from brain injury, through lockdown and beyond, has shaped a passion for opening up the conversation about mental health.
Throughout all of the winning and losing in life, Stevie believes that the truest form of resilience is to realise the potential of our true selves. Stevie put this to the test by leading culture meetings as a captain of the Rhinos team. Promoting authenticity formed championship-winning teams and formidable relationships.
He channelled his own mental health challenges into Mantality, a movement where men can be vulnerable, address our mental health and then take up the responsibility to do something about it, to go find meaning and purpose within our lives. 25% of people in the UK suffer with a mental health problem each year, so Mantality is committed to donating 25% of all profits to offering immediate psychological support to young people who need it.
And Stevie launched the Mantality podcast to discuss mental health openly and freely with athletes at the top of their game and role-model celebrities. I’ve listened and it’s a really great conversation.
Stevie’s is a tough journey but I’m so impressed with how he has turned personal adversity into a mission to make a difference around mental health. I can’t wait for this conversation and to hear about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that shaped his path along the way.
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Stevie Ward: https://stevieward.co.uk/
Mantality: https://mantality.co.uk/
We’re in disruptive times here in the coaching world, with a massive acceleration of coaches being trained, a plethora of new digital coaching platforms like Better Up, CoachHub and Ezra, and new non-human digital coaching experiences like KultraLab where I'm Chief Coaching Officer. And then on top of that we’ve got ChatGPT, Google Bard and a myriad of other AI platforms landing and expanding. Can they reproduce a human coach? Well today’s guest is going to help us figure it all out!
Sam Isaacson is an enthusiastic coachtech thought leader, as well as being an active coach and coach supervisor. He writes a popular LinkedIn newsletter and has written two books on the topic: How to Thrive as a Coach in a Digital World (Open University Press, 2021) and Superhuman Coaching (Hanwell Publishing, 2022). He is the founder of the Coachtech Collective, a global community of coaches grappling with technology, and works closely with the big coaching professional bodies on the development of thinking around technology and ethics. He is Chair of the Coaching Professional apprenticeship, the biggest coaching qualification in England.
With a background in professional services and a disruptive global coaching technology startup, he's the first person to have delivered executive coaching in virtual reality. His coaching consultancy practice Coachtech Ltd, based in London, supports clients with a particular focus on maturing organisational coaching ecosystems and enhancing coaching using technology, through coach development, coaching supervision, and advisory projects.
Let’s go virtual!
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Sam Isaacson: https://www.isaacson.uk/
Superhuman Coaching: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Superhuman-Coaching-technologies-coaching-possible/dp/B0B6LHYWQ6
As my regular listeners know well, I consider it just such a privilege to get to spend precious time with world-leading coaches on this podcast and today is no exception – my guest is someone who I’ve been hoping to convince to come on for a very long time!
Alisa Cohn is simply the best startup coach in the business and has worked with C-suite executives at prominent startups like Venmo, Etsy and Tory Burch as well as Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Google, Calvin Klein and Pfizer. She is the award-winning author of ‘From Start-up to Grown-up’, and the host of the podcast of the same name which provides insights and tools .. for the journey that founders (and all leaders) must go through as they scale their leadership.
Alisa was named the Top Startup Coach in the World by none other than Dr Marshall Goldsmith, who you can hear on Episode 36 of The Unlock Moment, and she was ranked globally as the #1 Global Guru for the past three years by Global Gurus Research Organization. She’s a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 group of coaches, many of whom I’ve been privileged to speak with on this podcast in recent months.
A sought-after speaker, Alisa was named one of the top 100 leadership speakers by Inc. She has keynoted events for IBM, PwC, Dell, and Citi. She is a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Inc, and she's been featured as an expert on BBC World News and in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. If all of that wasn’t enough, she is an angel investor and a Broadway investor.
We’ve heard some amazing Unlock Moments from entrepreneurs over the last year on this podcast and I can’t wait to hear Alisa’s take on emergent leadership as well as learning about the Unlock Moments that shaped her own path in coaching and in life.
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Alisa Cohn: https://www.alisacohn.com/
'From Startup to Grown-Up': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Up-Grown-Up-Grow-Leadership-Business/dp/1398601381
We took our dogs swimming last week. They’re both Pomeranians – not much dog but a lot of fluff. And they both have a bit of an aversion to water. One hates it on her feet, so the merest contact with a puddle and she’s frantically wiping herself on the curtains to get dry. The other hates to drink it, so will go for hours avoiding hydration until she’s virtually a dry cracker and then inhales half a bowl of water when she finally realises it’s the source of life.
So we really didn’t know how they’d take to water but we went to a local doggy spa where they have a dog hydrotherapy pool. And they were wearing their lifejackets with handles that we bought to go on a boat trip last year.
Often people stand in the way of their Unlock Moments. They can’t see the route to fresh thinking. They don’t believe they can do a thing they’ve never done before. But like Mochi and Beansprout at the doggy pool, maybe you just have to find your lifejacket and get in the water to discover that actually you can swim perfectly well.
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https://garycrotaz.com
Today we’re talking about talking – finding openness and trust in our leadership and our relationship with the people around us, and unlocking authentic leadership in the process.
Peter de Silva is a highly experienced financial industry executive and board member. A former Harvard University Senior Fellow for the Advanced Leadership Initiative, he is the author of ‘Taking Stock – 10 life and leadership principles from my seat at the table’ just recently published in March this year.
As Retail President for online stockbroker TD Ameritrade, he was responsible for the $5bn retail business segment and 5,000 employees. He also served as President of Scottrade Financial Services and UMB Financial Corporation, as well as being a senior leader at Fidelity Investments.
As well as his extensive business career, Peter is also shaped by his experience with a debilitating neurological condition, Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) disease, something he chose not to share with others for decades. He says “I believe that life experiences test the impressions people hold, values they set and believe, or a set of actions that people might want – or not want – to emulate."
I’m looking forward to hearing more about his journey in business and in life, how he balanced wellbeing and work, and the moments of remarkable clarity that shaped his path.
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Peter de Silva: https://peterjdesilva.com/
Peter de Silva on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-j-desilva/
Taking Stock: 10 Life and Leadership Principles from My Seat at the Table: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Stock-Leadership-Principles-Table/dp/B0BZF9GG7Z
I had the great pleasure of meeting Simon Sinek the other week. He was doing a speaking engagement at the Royal Festival Hall in London with Steven Bartlett, raising funds for a new piece of choreography for Rambert, where I’m involved as a board member. We were talking about my idea of ‘Alone, With Others’ – that sense of it being just you in the midst of the maelstrom. Most of us are lucky enough to have people around us who love us, care for us, support us, mentor us and are simply there for us when we need them. But at a moment of remarkable clarity when you suddenly figure out the path ahead, there is often this overwhelming sense of ‘it’s just me, here in this moment.' What others think, what others believe, that pales into the background. Like a macro zoom lens, what’s in the periphery fades away and what’s in sharp, sharp focus is me. Who I am. What I know. What I choose.
It's today's Box of Keys episode, here on The Unlock Moment.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
The forward-thinking ideas and bestselling books of one of the world’s leading business thinkers, Dr David Burkus, are helping leaders build their best team ever. He is the bestselling author of five books about business and leadership. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into dozens of languages. Since 2017, David has been ranked multiple times as one of the world’s top business thought leaders. His insights on leadership and teamwork have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, the Financial Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, CNN and the BBC. And his TED talk “The simple way to inspire your team” has been viewed over a million times in just 8 months. A former business school professor, David now works with leaders from organizations across all industries, including PepsiCo, Fidelity, Adobe, and NASA. His most recent book just out is called ‘Best Team Ever, the surprising science of high performing teams’. Talent doesn’t make the team—the team makes the talent. Why are some teams more motivated, innovative, and successful than others? Why do some groups of talented people fall short against lesser teams? And how do you go about building a high-performing team?
I’m appreciating more and more how The Unlock Moment is a powerful route to discovering your deepest underlying sense of purpose. I’m looking forward to hearing about how David thinks about purpose, how you find it, how you use it and how you leverage it in the team, and of course what his Unlock Moment was on his own journey to the person he is today. Let’s dive in!
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David Burkus: https://davidburkus.com/
David Burkus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidburkus/
David Noble is a deep expert in leadership and strategy, and a more recent convert to the coaching world. With over 20 years at the top echelons of global finance and consulting institutions including Morgan Stanley, Kearney and Oliver Wyman, these days he is the founder of leadership and strategy consulting firm VIEW Advisors, a senior advisor to recruiter Egon Zehnder, the Institute of Coaching and Oliver Wyman Group. He was named by Thinkers 50 as one of the world’s top coaches and is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith MG100 group, many of whom have previously graced this stage of course.
He's the co-author with Dr Carol Kauffman (Episode 61) of ‘Real-Time Leadership, Find Your Winning Moves When The Stakes Are High’. Whether you're making a split-second decision when your business is hit sideways … or finding the best strategy to navigate business-critical long-term circumstances, how can you be at your best in the most crucial moments?
I love how the value in coaching leaders comes from such a variety of perspectives and I’m looking forward to hearing how David leverages his experience to help senior leaders be their best at work. And of course to hear about the Unlock Moments that helped him find clarity about the path ahead.
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David Noble: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-noble-468222/
Real-Time Leadership: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Time-Leadership-Winning-Moves-Stakes/dp/1647823935
VIEW Advisors: https://www.view-advisors.com/
In this special episode, I’m bringing you a live recording of The Unlock Moment. In May 2023 I presented The Unlock Moment on stage at the Climb23 Innovation conference in Leeds here in the UK. Climb is the UK’s festival of innovation, industry and investment and is brought to you by Investor Ladder and CRSI. You can find out about next year’s event by going to the website climb24.co.uk
In this session I was in conversation with Georgia Kirke from Write Business Results, a business that helps entrepreneurs to share their ideas by getting published. We talk together about the origin of The Unlock Moment and how it is a powerful way to uncover your deepest underlying sense of purpose to fuel your success in business and in life. We do a live demonstration of The Unlock Moment with Georgia herself. And of course we bring to life many fascinating stories from here on The Unlock Moment podcast.
I hope you enjoy this special live recording of The Unlock Moment, in conversation with Georgia Kirke at Climb23!
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
Climb24: https://www.climb24.co.uk/
Write Business Results: https://writebusinessresults.com/
Now if you’ve been listening for a while then you’ll remember a powerful conversation with a friend of mine, and a brilliant coach, Beatrice Zornek. It’s one of the most downloaded episodes of all time on The Unlock Moment. So when Beatrice approached me recently and said ‘why don’t we turn things around and put you on the spot’, I thought it might be fun and interesting. And that’s what we’re doing today!
We talk about my life in dance, my journey to coaching and much more in between. How balance and imbalance are central to my coaching practice and how I embrace the state of 'figuring out' in a journey of continual learning and growth.
This is a conversation where you'll find out more about why I'm the person and the coach I am today - hope you enjoy it!
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
Thank you to all my wonderful listeners who support, follow and share The Unlock Moment with others. Please vote for The Unlock Moment at the British Podcast Awards in the Listeners' Choice category by going to britishpodcastawards/voting and clicking the pink button "Listeners' Choice Awards Vote". Thank you so much!
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britishpodcastawards/voting
It felt serendipitous to be introduced to today’s guest, a former scuba diving instructor on the Great Barrier Reef who translated his exceptional skills of diving below the surface into the same activity applied in the world of coaching.
Skip Bowman is an Australian author, consultant and keynote speaker now focusing on how to transform organisations with a growth mindset and psychological safety. Based in Europe, he has worked with global organizations for over 25 years developing unique programs and approaches for his clients.
His book ”From Safe to Great, the new psychology of leadership” will be published globally in September 2023 and outlines his integrated organizational and leadership development process for implementing a Growth Mindset based on Psychological Safety in global organizations.
I can’t wait to hear more about his journey and life lessons, and of course the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he experienced along the way.
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Skip Bowman: https://www.safe2great.com/
It’s the paradox of the successful. Psychologists call it survivor bias. The people you hear from are the people who were successful. That’s why now they have the platform that means you’re listening to what they say.
And what they say is ‘never give up’.
Muhammad Ali. ‘Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’
Vince Lombardi. ‘Winners never quit and quitters never win.’
Thomas Edison. ‘Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.’
But sometimes it might just be true that the gold you're searching for isn't there waiting to be found. It's ok to stop and choose to dig somewhere else. The Unlock Moment isn’t about knowing where the gold is. It’s being comfortable with the choices you make about how and where you choose to search.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
There is a famous quote by psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl.
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
It epitomises our permission to choose. Permission is a powerful word. Perhaps the most significant Unlock Moment in my own life journey was to give myself the permission to explore a different path.
There is power in the permission to act. To choose what happens next. But we need to find the space. And if we do then, as Viktor Frankl says, we will find our growth and our freedom.
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Dr Gary Crotaz: https://garycrotaz.com
Pride Month Special Episode.
Meagan O’Nan is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and expert in vulnerable storytelling. She is the author of the award-winning book, “Creating Your Heaven on Earth,” and “Courage: Agreeing to Disagree Is Not Enough.” Meagan is also a member of the Forbes Coaches Council where she produces regular content for Forbes.com – and that’s where we met. I was struck by the quiet power with which she tells a story and I want you to experience it too.
Meagan is passionate about creating deeper connections through speaking, workshops, and through her executive speaker coaching. Her approach is unique in that she uses storytelling as a way to overcome differences and generate healing. For the last decade, she has been a significant voice for the LGBTQ community in Mississippi, speaking with pastors, university representatives and classes, on the radio, and on the news as a voice offering unity and cooperation. She now lives with her wife, Clare, and their daughter, Merit, in Starkville, Mississippi.
Meagan’s third book has just been published and is called ‘Held and Free: Coming Out of Your Story’. It’s a powerful narration of her personal journey and I’m delighted she’s accepted my invitation to bring it to life for you here.
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Meagan O'Nan: https://www.meaganonan.com/
Meagan O'Nan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meaganonan/
Held and Free - Coming Out Of Your Story: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Held-Free-Coming-Your-Story/dp/B0C1HXZVF6
I’ve been reflecting a lot on a chapter heading for my forthcoming book on ‘The Unlock Moment’ – alone, with others. It reflects the idea that you are surrounded by people who love you, who support you, who mentor and coach you, who partner with you. And yet in the centre, and I mean this in a good way, you are alone.
Alone to own who you are. Alone to own the decisions you make. Alone to own what happens next.
Alone, with others. In that moment of clarity it’s just you, your purpose, your strength, your courage.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
A remarkable conversation with a masterful coach that gets to the heart of coaching and what makes it most magical when most simple - this is one of my favourite episodes with one of my favourite people.
Today it is my great privilege to welcome master coach Claire Pedrick to the podcast. We’ve known each other for about a year as I’ve been part of one of her coaching supervision groups and she has been quite pivotal in helping me to think differently about coaching and to evolve my own practice. Today I’m looking forward to delving into what makes her tick and what brings her joy.
In preparation for this conversation I asked Claire to describe herself, and in her answer you get something of her essence.
“I could say that I am a human who facilitates other people’s thinking. A business owner. A mother. A friend. A volunteer. A master coach with over 13,000 hours of coaching experience. The author of Simplifying Coaching and the host of the Coaching Inn podcast. All of these are true and each will impact how we start a conversation. With some definitions you might assign me power which I do not deserve.”
She also says “Every so often I go for a very long walk – in 2022 it was 600km on the Camino in Spain.
Well that’s what Claire says about Claire. What I’m going to say about Claire is that she epitomises wisdom through simplicity, and is also humble and deeply generous with her time and insight. And she was awarded the 2022 Outstanding Contribution to Coaching Award from Henley Business School.
Her upcoming book, co-authored with another master coach, Lucia Baldelli, is called “The Human Behind the Coach – How Great Coaches Transform Themselves First.”
There is much about Claire I don’t know and I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to this conversation, learning more about her journey, the lessons learned along the way and of course her Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity.
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Claire Pedrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairepedrick/
3D Coaching: https://www.3dcoaching.com/
The Coaching Inn: https://thecoachinginn.podbean.com/
I’ve recently brought another person on to my team, so now we’re three of us working on The Unlock Moment, the podcast, my coaching and speaking work. I’d put off the cost of an additional team member for as long as possible and then, when I realised that I was dropping the ball on important things, I knew I had to bite the bullet and invest in the additional help I needed. And what a good decision that was. With help, I’ve been able to spend more time where I can have most impact.
When I was stuck, I was thinking about the additional cost and how I would absorb it. Instead I should have been thinking about the additional opportunity and how I should unlock it.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
A master storyteller and inspiring leadership coach, Todd Cherches is the CEO and cofounder of BigBlueGumball, a New York-based consulting firm specializing in leadership development and executive coaching where, in his words, 'training is entertaining'! In this conversation Todd brings to life how his experience of horrible bosses taught him why great communication is such an important leadership skill and sparked a passion to develop brilliant communicators through the power of visual thinking.
Todd is a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s “MG 100 Coaches,” a three-time award-winning adjunct professor of leadership at NYU, a lecturer on leadership at Columbia University, a TEDx speaker, and the author of the groundbreaking book, "VisuaLeadership: Leveraging the Power of Visual Thinking in Leadership and in Life", published in 2020.
A pioneering thought leader in the fields of Visual Leadership and Visual Coaching, Todd was one of eight global finalists for the 2021 Thinkers50 "Distinguished Achievement Award" in Leadership, and is currently ranked by Thinkers360 as one of the "Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers" in the fields of Leadership, Management and Design Thinking, as well as ranked #44 on the Leadership Power List 200. Todd's book, "VisuaLeadership," was named by Soundview Executive Book Summaries as one of the "Best Business Books of 2022."
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Todd Cherches: https://www.toddcherches.com/
Todd Cherches on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddcherches/
This was one of the most enjoyable conversations I've had on The Unlock Moment, really a delight to spend time with such a humble leader.
I met Germain St-Denis recently when he was named a fellow Top 10 Thought Leader in Coaching by Thinkers 360. I heard him on another podcast and I knew that you would love to hear his story. He is one of the wisest and most reflective coaches and leaders I've spoken to for a long time. Based in Toronto he is a coach and former senior leader with the Oracle Corporation.
In 2015 a serious health episode caused him to re-evaluate his priorities and reshape the balance of his life and focus of his work. He developed a passion for people and culture, advocating for servant leadership and people-first principles. Now he’s writing a book on the subject of empowering your people through caring leadership.
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Germain St-Denis: https://germainstdenis.ca/
Germain St-Denis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/germain-st-denis/
Our minds are full of oughts and shoulds. And it’s often other people that put those oughts and shoulds in our head. You ought to have done that better. You should have made a different choice. You failed.
It’s paralysing, causing us to spin round in circles chasing something in the past that now we can never go back and change. And it makes us doubt our judgement and turn molehills into mountains.
It doesn’t mean we don’t pursue personal learning and growth. Quite the opposite. Freeing our mind of the overwhelming feeling of having failed, of being a failure, unlocks and enables your powerful growth mindset, where you learn to grow into your full potential, not learn to fix your faults.
Free yourself. Be yourself.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
In this episode I’m delighted to bring you a very special guest who I met recently and I knew I had to bring on to record.
Niraj Kapur is an expert sales coach, trainer, speaker and author of the Amazon bestseller, 'Everybody Works in Sales'. He has delivered Linkedin and Sales Training to over 450 small businesses, startups and solopreneurs. LinkedIn awarded him Top Voice status in 2022 and he has almost 30,000 followers on the platform.
Now if you think of your stereotypical salesperson, you might wonder what the fit is with The Unlock Moment. But today we’re not really talking about sales, we’re talking about honesty, authenticity and vulnerability in your personal journey. Niraj's TED talk has just been published on YouTube – it’s called “How Vulnerability Changed My Life”.
From personal challenges to building your personal brand to avoiding getting caught out by Get Rich Quick schemes, this conversation covers powerful story and actionable insight to help you on your own personal and professional journey. Enjoy this Unlock Moment episode with Niraj Kapur!
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Niraj Kapur: http://www.nirajkapur.com/
Niraj Kapur on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkapur/
Niraj Kapur TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRCOUvSnk88
In this special bonus episode of The Unlock Moment, I meet CEO, entrepreneur and investor Gordon Bateman, who is hosting the Climb23 innovation festival for investors, start-ups, scale-ups and industry in Leeds, UK on 23/24 May 2023. We're going to be bringing The Unlock Moment to the Climb23 main stage on 24 May as we delve into the power of purpose-driven leadership, arena style!
In this conversation, we talk about the Unlock Moment that sparked Gordon's desire to set up his own business, CRSI, to build and develop teams in high-growth investor-backed businesses, and the Investor Ladder platform to connect investors and entrepreneurs across the UK in science and technology.
And of course there's a preview of the Climb23 conference, what you can expect and how to get the best from the experience.
Enjoy this bonus episode of The Unlock Moment, with Gordon Bateman.
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Climb23: https://climb23.com
CRSI: https://www.crsi.team/
Investor Ladder: https://www.investorladder.com/
Gordon Bateman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonbateman1/
Today we're talking about the topic of workplace wellbeing. Steph Lee is a business transformation coach here in the UK, and founder of People First Workplace as well as the host of the podcast 'Redefining Wellbeing In The Workplace'. Steph's previous career was as a Finance Director and CFO in large organisations such as the global data analytics and brand consulting firm Kantar. Continually under pressure trying to juggle her career, her workload and her deadlines with life at home, ultimately her Unlock Moment came when she suddenly hit severe symptoms of the perimenopause and she broke down. This is an honest and raw description of how she put things back together and refocused her life's purpose on helping others to find wellbeing at work.
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Steph Lee, People First Workplace: https://heronwellness.co.uk/
'Redefining Wellbeing In The Workplace' podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/409B8yAcaTDQHk1YTvgocA
In this powerful exclusive interview, Hollywood teen sensation Meaghan Martin, star of Disney Channel's Camp Rock and Mean Girls 2, talks about the challenges she faced as a child in an adult world. She questions why she was told as a seventeen-year-old girl by 50 year-old directors and network executives that she didn't matter and that she was an inconvenience. She asks why they thought that was an acceptable choice and what it says about the power imbalance inherent in an industry where a small group of people wield huge power over your career. Across the acting industry and in sports, people are starting to speak out more and more about this power imbalance, especially with regard to the treatment of children, and what we need to do differently to create nurturing and safe spaces, and to avoid physical and psychological harm. Now she is breaking new ground on the London stage, recently starring in the critically-acclaimed 'Smoke' at Southwark Playhouse, Meaghan's is a powerful message that needs to be heard so we can build a better future for young people.
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Meaghan Martin: https://www.instagram.com/meaghanjette
Meaghan Martin in The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/disney-channel-meaghan-martin-camp-rock-2-b2154471.html
My wife and I were sitting down with two sleepy dogs tonight and working on completing the jigsaw we’d started a few days ago. A pretty scene of Venetian canals at sunset, we’d decided that in this cost of living crisis, buying a jigsaw of Venice was a better use of our bank balance than a week on the Grand Canal.
In the last few months I’ve been working with several clients on figuring out how they fit in a leadership team when they don’t fit the traditional mould.
Hovering a jigsaw piece over the puzzle, I’d been staring at that Venetian gondola for a while trying to figure out how it all went together. Then I realised that I didn’t have my jigsaw piece the right way round. A quick 180 degree spin and suddenly the picture slotted into place.
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https://garycrotaz.com
When I interviewed world-leading coach Maika Leibbrandt on The Unlock Moment, she used a phrase that has stayed with me. She said “I chose to align myself with the people I wanted to grow me.” I thought it was a fascinating turn of phrase on intentionally choosing the people you surround yourself with – she didn’t say “align myself with great people so I could grow”, she said “align myself with the people I wanted to grow me.”
Where others might find themselves planted in an arid environment, drawing on the scant nutrients from the dry soil the best they can, Maika intentionally chose soil rich in nutrients to place her roots.
So seek out the people you want to grow you. Maybe in work, maybe out of work. Personal development and growth can happen on any day at any time. And as you learn and explore and reflect in this rich, nutritious environment, so you may discover for yourself that which defines you and makes you powerfully human.
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Maika Leibbrandt: https://www.hellomaika.com/
Dr Richard Osibanjo is a world-leading coach whose journey in analytical chemistry developed in him a fascination for the chemistry of people and leadership. Now Chief of Staff and Director of Organisational Transformation at the Intel Corporation he develops and delivers people strategy and is also a member of the prestigious Marshall Goldsmith 100 group of coaches, many of whom have previously graced this stage.
He’s a frequent contributor to Forbes and the author of the book ‘Turning Points: Action Today, Change Tomorrow.’
Richard has a powerful message for people to lead with purpose, informed by his own extraordinary life and career journey. I can’t wait to hear more about his path and life lessons, and of course the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he experienced along the way.
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Dr Richard Osibanjo: https://www.richardosibanjo.com/
Turning Points: Action Today, Change Tomorrow: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turning-Points-Action-Change-Tomorrow/dp/1449756085
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micro-Moment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast.
Cinta Miller is one of the top hair and makeup designers in the music and fashion industry. In this short extract she talks about how she found a sense of inner confidence and empowerment through challenging times. Losing her mum caused her to reflect deeply on what really formed her 'safety net'. This is a story of resilience and hope for the future.
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Cinta Miller: https://www.cintalondon.co.uk/
When I talked with world-leading coach Dr Carol Kauffman on The Unlock Moment, she described the three words that changed her life.
Such a simple, yet powerful message – in moments where she was facing a choice, she would come back to those three words and it would guide her as to the right path.
When life feels complicated, uncertain and anxiety-inducing, finding a few words that encapsulate your mission can help you to discover remarkable clarity.
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Dr Carol Kauffman: https://carolkauffman.com/
Today we’re getting into the space of high performance. How can you give more energy to others? How can you increase your mental agility? How can you adapt to disruption? How can you lead with impact?
Chris Males is Managing Director and form Head of Performance Coaching at TIGNUM, the world leading Sustainable High Performance development firm. A former athlete, Chris is also himself a sought after speaker and high performance coach, and in the last 5 years alone has presented in over 20 countries and coached over 500 senior leaders from leading organizations such as Novartis, Unilever and the US Special Forces. He’s a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 group of world-leading coaches.
I can’t wait to hear more about his journey and life lessons, and of course the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he experienced along the way.
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Chris Males: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-males-executivecoach/
TIGNUM: https://www.tignum.com/
I was working with one of my coachees this week who is figuring out a career change. She’s built up her expertise, her credibility and her personal brand in a particular field for many years and she’s in demand for her services as a practitioner and as an expert. But it doesn’t bring her joy any more.
It’s a classic example of ‘something needs to change, but I don’t know what’. And though it can feel frustrating to be in the not knowing, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is to give it time. Time in self-reflection. Time exploring what’s important to you. Time thinking back on when you were at your best. Time spent with the people who know you best and can help you see yourself in a new light.
To move to a new path it can feel like you need to give up everything you’ve done before. But often it’s just about applying your talents, skills and experience in a different way.
Look through a different lens.
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Dr Gary Crotaz: https://garycrotaz.com
Adwoa Akoto is a British-Ghanaian actor, writer, model and entrepreneur who appeared in HBO & the BBC's hit series 'I May Destroy You'. She talks about her unusual route from economics and finance into acting and how her experience working with NGOs shaped her desire to create impact in this world. In this short extract she describes how she explored different ways to connect with her purpose and achieve the impact she desired. It's an inspiring story of ownership. Enjoy this Unlock Micromoment with Adwoa Akoto!
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Adwoa Akoto: https://www.instagram.com/adwoaakoto_
York Witches Society movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLoV8ujv01E
If you’ve been listening for a while then you’ll remember psychiatrist and suicide expert Dr Mark Goulston’s powerful episode here on The Unlock Moment called Catching People When They Fall. I heard today’s guest in conversation with Dr Mark on his own podcast and was compelled to invite her to come and tell you all her story. I’m so grateful that she accepted the invitation.
Alexandra Wyman is an advocate and public speaker for resources in the aftermath of suicide. After she lost her husband to suicide in August of 2020, Alexandra found a need to change the rhetoric around suicide.
She is an Amazon best-selling author of The Suicide Club: What To Do When Someone You Love Chooses Death, a guide to navigate the grief process after loss by suicide. In this powerful and sensitive conversation we talk about her personal experience and what she learned about finding acceptance and peace after losing a loved on in these circumstances.
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Alexandra Wyman: https://www.forwardtojoy.com/
You might have heard the 1% mantra. … Every day become 1% better. Just 1%. It seems so tiny. Multiply that up through the course of the year, 1%, 1%, day by day, and by the end of the year you’ll be almost 40 times the person you were at the start. It’s beautiful maths … but of course hopelessly unrealistic for virtually all of us. As Dr Ruth Gotian said on this podcast, if self-improvement were so easy then why are we still buying so many self-help books?
Change takes time. But on the journey of change there will be breakthrough moments. What can you do to open your mind to the next step-change? Figure out your goal, imagine what’s going to need to be true then. What could you do now that puts you in that place?
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
In this fascinating conversation that flows from music school to investment banking, from balance in your career to balance on the dance floor, this interview with world-leading coach Whitney Johnson is quite the journey. With millions of followers, she's the celebrated CEO of Disruption Advisors, a leadership development company helping you grow your people to grow your organisation.
A Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon bestselling author, Whitney was named by Thinkers50 as one of the ten leading business thinkers in the world. She is a world class keynote speaker with a quite extraordinary 1.8 million followers on LinkedIn. Her course on Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has been viewed more than a million times, and her ‘LinkedIn Live’s have also had more than a million cumulative views.
Whitney is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, as well as the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling books ‘Smart Growth’, ‘Build An A Team’, and the critically acclaimed ‘Disrupt Yourself’. Integral to her work is the weekly Disrupt Yourself Podcast which has millions of downloads.
Let’s get disruptive – it’s one of my favourite sports!
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Whitney Johnson: https://thedisruptionadvisors.com/
Disrupt Yourself podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cn2cgc34znzwPkkwH58sQ
A bit of motivation as we go into the long weekend! It was Simon Sinek whose iconic TED talk in 2009 brought the idea of Start With Why to the world – one of my favourite business books. Tens of millions of people have viewed that video, where a speaker on a stage, armed only with a pen and a flipchart, changed the way people around the world view how great leaders inspire action.
You don’t have to solve everything in order to move yourself forward a bit, you just have to put some things to one side whilst you explore a different response from your usual habit. Empower yourself to make the change.
But just as important is actually getting started. I’d like to build on what Simon Sinek said with just one little additional word. If you want to make change happen in your life then Start With Why Not.
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Discover more about Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD at https://garycrotaz.com
Today’s guest is something of a legend in the world of coaching. Dr Carol Kauffman was ranked the number one leadership coach in the world by Marshall Goldsmith. She is an international thought leader and practitioner in the field of coaching, with over 40,000 hours of practice working with people from all walks of life, from aspiring leaders to CEOs, elite athletes and royalty. She launched the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School and is also on the faculty at Henley Business School here in the UK, which is where I trained as a coach.
In this episode she talks about the remarkable power of the mantra 'Don't Hold Back' and how it shaped the path of her whole career.
Carol has been described as a lateral thinker who pushes the edges with a sense of humour and can disrupt someone out of their comfort zone. I think we’ll get on! She describes her purpose as a coach to be a conduit of joy and the sword of truth to care for and confront the powerful, to galvanize their goodness, to become forces of good.
Her new book with co-author David Noble is called ‘Real-Time Leadership, Find Your Winning Moves When The Stakes Are High’ and is just out. Whether you're making a split-second decision when your business is hit sideways … or finding the best strategy to navigate business-critical long-term circumstances, how can you be at your best in the most crucial moments?
I can’t wait to get into the conversation.
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Carol Kauffman - https://carolkauffman.com/
Institute of Coaching - https://instituteofcoaching.org/
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micromoment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast.
Dolly Waddell is an executive coach, team facilitator and all-round joy magnet whose upbringing in the orbit of a highly successful family luxury jewellery business honed her natural instinct for entrepreneurship. A moment of tough self-reflection made clear how her life as a vicar's wife and mother of four was defined and constrained by societal expectations, running contrary to her vibrant natural spirit of individuality.
Enjoy this Unlock Micromoment with Dolly Waddell!
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Dolly Waddell: https://www.dollywaddell.com/
Recently our two little dogs Mochi and Beansprout have been burning the candle at both ends. No matter how late at night I take them out for their last bathroom visit, they still wake me up between 5:45 and 6:15 in the morning for another trip. It’s left me feeling oddly disconnected when I start my work for the day, almost as though my brain is struggling to get into gear.
I’ve had many times in my career where pressure of work has caused me to compromise on sleep. Then one of my coachees introduced me to the idea of time budgeting. She allocates her time through the week to all the activities she needs to do, including sleeping and self-care, and she leaves some in reserve for those unexpected things that always crop up. It’s helped her to regain control of her schedule.
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Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD: https://garycrotaz.com
If you’ve ever experienced the so-called fight or flight response, you’ll know about the rush of adrenaline you get when something triggers your sense of fear. Your heart beats faster. Your blood pressure goes up. Your breathing gets more rapid. Why? Because the adrenalin that your body produces interacts with receptors on cells around the body. Like a key in a lock, the adrenalin binds and triggers a response in those cells which leads to all those fight or flight symptoms you experience.
And equally you can block those receptors. Ever heard of beta blockers or anti-histamines? Well they’re blocking those same receptors to dampen down the body’s natural response.
The thing is, we didn’t always know how it was that cells knew about the world around them. It was Dr Robert Lefkowitz and his team that first isolated and studied cell receptors, and later discovered their protein structure. Today between 30 and 50% of all the prescription drugs in the world act by activating or inhibiting the receptors of the type that Dr Lefkowitz and his team isolated and characterised.
For this discovery, he has received more than 70 awards and in 2012 he and his former trainee Dr Brian Kobilka were together awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Dr Robert is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University in North Carolina, where he’s been an investigator since the mid-1970s.
He’s led an extraordinary life and I know he’s a master storyteller. I can’t wait to hear more about his journey in medicine, science and life, and to hear his reflections on the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he’s experienced along the way.
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Dr Robert Lefkowitz - https://medicine.duke.edu/profile/robert-j-lefkowitz
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Thing-Happened-Stockholm-Adrenaline-Fueled/dp/1643136380
I was delighted last year to welcome Canadian retail leader and a former colleague Normand Ciarlo to The Unlock Moment. At the time he had recently left Holt Renfrew where he was in charge of their flagship Montreal luxury department store, Ogilvy. Since he recorded he’s become a Director at the iconic Canadian retailer Chaussures Yellow where he looks after over 90 stores in Quebec and New Brunswick. In this short extract Normand talks about how to create an inclusive culture in your organisation – a topic he’s deeply passionate about.
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/normandciarlo/
There’s a Taoist proverb in my book The IDEA Mindset. We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
For most of my career, my mindset was running water, the bubbling brook, the racing stream, sometimes the whitewater rapids. I considered it my superpower that I could go fast, manage complexity, be decisive. It was in the pandemic that circumstances forced me to slow down. And when I began my coaching training, I started to appreciate all that begins to become clear when you still your mind and find that inner silence.
In this Box of Keys episode, reflect on what might change if you can find the silence.
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Dr Gary Crotaz: https://garycrotaz.com
Today’s episode is really an incredible story. A rising star in the hedge fund industry in New York, in 2019 Mike Ott experienced a near-death event that in just one moment changed everything. Today we’re going to hear from him about his journey of rehabilitation, recovery and reinvention and how it transformed his outlook on life. This is an episode you will not want to miss.
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Mike Ott: https://mikeott.net/
Tayo Rockson calls himself a polymath-in-progress. He is a writer, speaker, consultant, podcaster, poet, professor, co-founder and brand strategist at UYD Management, a strategic consulting firm that empowers organisations to incorporate sustainable diversity and inclusion practices. In this short extract he talks about his philosophy in life and how a dramatic life event gave him remarkable clarity about the path ahead. Enjoy this Unlock Micro-Moment with Tayo Rockson!
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Tayo Rockson: https://tayorockson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tayorockson/
In my book The IDEA Mindset, I wrote “Freedom is the day you realise that it’s ok not to be good at everything. Choose the path that plays to your strengths.”
It sounds so obvious, but often the simplest things are the ones you need to pay most attention to.
I spent a lot of my life trying to overcome my weaknesses and fill my gaps. I noticed what I couldn’t do much more than I noticed what I did really well. It led me down a lot of divergent paths as I saw myself as some kind of human multitool that needed to do a bit of everything.
This week's exercise is about acknowledging and activating your strengths. In it you’ll find some freedom. And with that freedom you’ll start to unlock some of that potential that’s been stored up - ready for the day you can open the box and let it fly.
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The IDEA Mindset: https://theideamindset.com
Whatever we do in our work or in our life, we're all selling something. Influencing others is selling. Getting buy-in is selling. Teaching is selling. Sharing an idea you're passionate about is selling. And when you ask people who they think is the best salesperson on the planet, alive or dead, most commonly they say 'Martin Luther King Jr.', 'Steve Jobs', 'Jesus'. Selling isn't only about selling products and services.
Colin Coggins & Garrett Brown sought out some of the most successful people from all walks of life, CEOs, entrepreneurs, doctors, trial lawyers, professional athletes, military leaders, and countless others in the hope of understanding why they're so extraordinary. They found that as different as all these incredible people were, they all had an eerily similar approach to selling. It didn't matter if they were perceived as optimists or pessimists, logical or emotional, introverted or extraverted, jovial or stoic - they were all unsold on what it meant to sell and unsold on who people expected them to be.
Colin and Garrett’s book 'The Unsold Mindset - Redefining What It Means To Sell', just newly published, reveals a counterintuitive approach to not just selling, but life. This book is a journey toward an entirely new mindset — because the greatest sellers on the planet aren't successful because of what they do, they're successful because of what they think.
Colin and Garrett are now professors at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. And they teach a fantastically popular class, Sales Mindset for Entrepreneurs. They’ve both worked in a variety of emerging technology companies and were senior leaders in an identity management software as a service company called Bitium which was acquired in 2017 by Google. They’ve been on an incredible journey ever since.
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Colin Coggins & Garrett Brown: https://www.colinandgarrett.com/
Purchase 'The Unsold Mindset': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unsold-Mindset-Redefining-What-Means/dp/0063204908
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micromoment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast.
Nick Novak is a good friend, a social impact entrepreneur, an investor, non-executive director and consultant. With over 15 years of driving growth for social enterprises across the UK, US and Africa, Nick is passionate about building customer-centric organisations that deliver positive impact. In this short extract he talks about how a conversation in the car helped him recognise and respond to burnout, finding remarkable clarity about the path ahead. Enjoy this Unlock Micromoment with Nick Novak!
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Nick Novak: https://nicholasnovak.com/
This morning I was thinking about how running used to be so much easier than it is today. I wish I'd been more appreciative at the time.
It makes me think about how regret holds us back in life. We regret decisions we made, or didn’t make. We regret opportunities not taken. We regret not trying harder when, with hindsight it feels like that was our big moment.
But in reality, the only moment that matters is the moment right now. The only thing you can control is what happens next. And the only person who can take control of this moment is you. And that’s what came into my mind this morning when I decided to carry on running.
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The IDEA Mindset: https://theideamindset.com
Today’s guest on The Unlock Moment is John Baldoni, renowned US coach, keynote speaker and the author of no less than 16 books translated into 10 languages. He hosts the ‘Grace Under Pressure’ interview series on LinkedIn Live, and famously integrates piano improvisations into his keynotes – now that’s definitely a love we share.
Thinkers 360 has named John a Top 10 Thought Leader for both Leadership and Management. Global Gurus ranks John a Top 15 global leadership expert. In 2021, the International Federation of Learning and Development named John a World-Class Mentor and named him to its Hall of Fame.
John is also a member of the renowned 100 Coaches, founded by Marshall Goldsmith – if you’ve been listening for a while then you have enjoyed hearing from a number of this elite group of coaches, with more recording in the coming months.
John’s previous books include Grace Notes: Leading in an Upside-Down World; GRACE: A Leader’s Guide to a Better Us; MOXIE: The Secret to Bold and Gutsy Leadership; Lead with Purpose; Lead Your Boss; and The Leader’s Pocket Guide.
His new book Grace Under Pressure: Leading Through Change and Crisis is out at the start of April and focuses on three things leaders need to do when change and adversity strike.
After all of that, what John doesn’t know about managing and leading through change and crisis surely isn’t worth knowing. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the journey that shaped him and the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity he experienced along the way. And I’m hoping that you, my listener, will find a path to your own Unlock Moment through something you hear in this conversation.
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John Baldoni: https://www.johnbaldoni.com/
Grace Under Pressure: https://www.johnbaldoni.com/books/
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micro-Moment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast. Hayley Thomas is the vibrant and dynamic founder of Eleven Loves, an online fashion brand centred around effortless style, feelgood designs and sustainability. In this short extract she talks about how her husband’s cancer diagnosis changed her perspective on whether to act or whether to wait to start her business. Enjoy this Unlock Micro-Moment with Hayley Thomas!
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Eleven Loves: https://elevenloves.co.uk/
Eleven Loves on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevenloves.co.uk
Hayley Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayley-thomas-ab615817/
Time after time people say to me in coaching sessions, “I wish I’d done it sooner, when I still had time.” Whether you’re in your twenties or your eighties, everyone feels like they’re running out of time.
And yet it couldn’t be further from the truth. People are uncertain about what the future holds, but as world-leading coach Marshall Goldsmith said in Episode 36 of The Unlock Moment, “There’s only one thing you can ever be happy with – what you have. There’s only one time when you can ever be happy – now. There’s only one place you can ever be happy – here.”
This is why I wrote in The IDEA Mindset “There’s never a better time than now to follow your true calling.”
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The IDEA Mindset: https://theideamindset.com
Today’s guest is someone I’ve been following for a while and hoping to bring on to The Unlock Moment – I’m so delighted she said yes. Dr Ruth Gotian is a leading executive coach and trusted mentor. She was ranked as the #1 emerging management thinker in the world by Thinkers50. She is also the Chief Learning Officer in Anesthesiology and former Executive Director of the Mentoring Academy at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. In addition to publishing in academic journals, she is a contributor to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Psychology Today. Her research is about the mindset and skillset of peak performers, including Nobel laureates, astronauts, and Olympic champions, which she writes about in her award-winning book, The Success Factor published early in 2022. I’m looking forward very much to hearing about Ruth’s recipe for success in leadership and in life, reflecting all she’s learned from high performers, and of course her own Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity on her journey of lifelong learning.
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Web: https://www.ruthgotian.com/
Dr Ruth Gotian's Passion Audit: https://www.ruthgotian.com/passionaudit
Dr Ruth Gotian's Mentoring Team: https://www.ruthgotian.com/mentoringteam
Dr Ruth Gotian's Conversation Starters: https://www.ruthgotian.com/conversation
The Unlock Moment is that flash of remarkable clarity when you suddenly know the right path ahead. Listeners to this podcast are discovering their own Unlock Moments, by bearing witness to the stories of others and by learning from experts on coaching, psychology and motivation. Every lock needs a key, and for you to discover your own Unlock Moment, you’re going to need to find the right key for you. That’s why I created these Box of Keys episodes, little ideas that might help you find your own moment of remarkable clarity. Welcome to my Box of Keys.
We’re generally better at starting things than stopping things. Learn to let go of the things that frustrate you the most or slow you down. You’ll find yourself with more time, better thinking, better balance. People around you will notice. You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before.
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The IDEA Mindset: https://theideamindset.com
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micro-Moment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast.
Simon Alexander Ong is a personal development entrepreneur, coach and public speaker. Since we recorded this episode, his book Energize has topped the charts and he’s been invited to speak around the world on the subject of optimising your energy. In this short clip you’re hearing a bit about his journey to writing the book and how it tied in to his personal story of transformation. Enjoy this Unlock Micromoment with Simon Alexander Ong!
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Follow Simon Alexandra Ong on Twitter @SimonAlexanderO
Instagram: @SimonAlexanderO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonalexanderong/
Visit his website - https://www.simonalexanderong.com/
Buy Energize at https://getenergizebook.com/
Today’s guest Beatrice Zornek is genuinely one of the most fascinating and insightful thinkers I’ve come across in recent times and it’s why I asked her if she would come and record with me. If you’ve listened for a while you’ll know how much I enjoy spending time with people who are figuring things out in the moment and it’s a privilege to be able to witness that deep work in practice. You’ll hear an extraordinary personal journey, you’ll learn something about giving your brain the space and time to do the thinking it needs to do. And you’ll see the powerful impact of letting go of the constraints that are defined by society to forge your own path.
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Web: https://www.beatricezornek.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatrice-zornek/
Free ebook "RISE, 5 keys to creating more powerful results for your clients as a highly-sensitive coach": https://www.beatricezornek.com/ebook
The Unlock Moment is that flash of remarkable clarity when you suddenly know the right path ahead. Listeners to this podcast are discovering their own Unlock Moments, by bearing witness to the stories of others and by learning from experts on coaching, psychology and motivation. Every lock needs a key, and for you to discover your own Unlock Moment, you’re going to need to find the right key for you. That’s why I created these Box of Keys episodes, little ideas that might help you find your own moment of remarkable clarity. Welcome to my Box of Keys.
You can’t think to a deadline. It’s a phrase I wrote in my book, The IDEA Mindset, about how to figure out what you want, and how to get it. But what does it mean and is it your key to an Unlock Moment of remarkable clarity?
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The IDEA Mindset: https://theideamindset.com
This episode is all about getting unstuck in mid-life and unlocking your passion. Based here in the UK, Clare Roberts-Molloy is a potentiality coach, empowering individuals and businesses to identify and achieve their potential. She focuses on working with women over the age of 40 to realise their goals and dreams. As a multi-entrepreneur who is passionate about her local community, Clare is a curator of one of the TEDx idea sharing events, the founder and chair of Periods Matter, a period poverty charity, a magistrate and a trustee of other women-focused charities and organisations.
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Clare Roberts-Molloy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-roberts-molloy/
Periods Matter: https://www.periodsmatter.co.uk/
TEDx Wolverhampton: https://tedxwolverhampton.com/
In this Unlock Micro-Moment, you're hearing a short extract from my conversation with Anthony Fletcher, the ground-breaking CEO of Believe In Science, the parent company of healthy doughnut business Urban Legend, and former CEO of Graze Snacks. Since our conversation he has raised over £10m and launched Urban Legend in leading UK retailers Tesco and Selfridges. In this short extract he talks about discovering how to become the most effective leader he could be. Enjoy this Unlock Micro-Moment with Anthony Fletcher! For the full conversation, check out Episode 25 of The Unlock Moment.
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Anthony Fletcher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-fletcher-3b766a27/
Urban Legend: https://urban-legend.com/
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micro-Moment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast. Morag Barrett is a member of the prestigious Marshall Goldsmith 100 group of leading coaches and author of multiple books on leadership and culture. In this short extract she talks about the critical relationship dynamics you need to recognise in the workplace. Enjoy this Unlock Micro-Moment with Morag Barrett!
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Morag Barrett: https://skyeteam.com/about/morag-barrett/
From off-the-charts low scores in his school exams to raising $3 billion, Marc Kramer's story is an extraordinary one of defying expectations and making his own way in the world. As he puts it with his characteristic dry wit, "I think people always want to say, 'No, that can't happen.' And yet they overlook the fact that if somebody puts themselves out there and tries it, that there's a reasonably good chance that that might work. After all, it's all a matter of trying. I always tell my kids 50% of life is just showing up." Marc is now the executive director of the Private Investors Forum and has worked with over 1,500 companies from all over the world making introductions to angel investors. He is also the host of the hit podcast, 'The Best Business Minds'. This is an inspirational journey and a reminder that you should never write anyone off just because they didn't pass the conventional hurdles.
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Marc Kramer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-kramer-21280/
The Best Business Minds podcast: https://thebestbusinessminds.com/
My name’s Dr Gary Crotaz, award-winning author of ‘The IDEA Mindset’. In this Unlock Micro-Moment, you’re hearing a short extract from one of my top guests on The Unlock Moment podcast. Nathan Furr is a Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, France’s leading business school, and author of The Upside of Uncertainty. In this short extract he talks about how to manage, navigate and overcome uncertainty in your working life. Enjoy this Unlock Micro-Moment with Nathan Furr!
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Nathan Furr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-furr-044852/
Instagram: @nathanrfurr
My guest today comes from the world of the NBA and the NFL. I’m looking forward to hearing about what he’s learned along the way in a fascinating career in the world of sport, business and leadership.
A 15-year pro sports business executive, Paul Epstein became the go-to fixer for NBA teams, NFL franchises, and league executive offices. He was the Why Coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He recognizes that victory comes from the inside, and requires an All-In culture empowered by a growth mindset and a belief that we all have unlimited potential – when we double down on our strengths, gifts, talents, and passions.
The author of "The Power of Playing Offense", leadership coach, and the host of the Playmakers podcast, Paul is on a mission to inspire purpose and transform leadership as we know it.
He’s got a great story and is an inspiring speaker, but I really want to find out how he got here and what makes him tick. What were those Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity when he figured out the path ahead?
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https://www.paulepsteinspeaks.com/
https://whyinstitute.com/purpose
The remarkable clarity that you experience in an Unlock Moment can trigger significant change in your life – a change of perspective, a change of priorities, maybe a change of location or career. When you suddenly let go of what’s been holding you back, the opportunities that appear ahead can be extraordinary.
My guest today is an expert in making change happen, and he’s lived that experience himself.
Alex Budak is on the faculty at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley. He’s a social entrepreneur, and the author of the new book, “Becoming a Changemaker”. He believes everyone has the potential to lead positive change, and he dedicates his life to helping people from all walks of life become changemakers.
Budak co-founded StartSomeGood.com, a platform that breaks down the barriers that prevent people from enacting change. StartSomeGood.com has now helped over 1,000 changemakers in 50 countries raise over $12 million to catalyze new initiatives. He previously ran Sweden’s leading social innovation incubator, Reach for Change, and worked at Change.org.
Alex has given lectures on changemaking, entrepreneurship, and leadership in venues ranging from the Ukraine to Cambodia, Los Angeles to the Arctic Circle, and at the White House and UN agencies.
“Becoming a Changemaker.” is his first book and is just out. Drawing from his UC Berkeley courses, the book gives readers the tools and confidence required to become changemakers.
I’m looking forward to hearing about the Unlock Moment when Alex realized that not only could he be a changemaker – but that, more importantly, every single person can be a changemaker. He describes it as a moment that catalyzed his career and became the red thread connecting his work as a social entrepreneur and academic.
I love people who love change and I can’t wait to find out more.
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Alex Budak: https://www.alexbudak.com/
Becoming a Changemaker: https://www.changemakerbook.com/
I always find it fascinating talking with veterans about the transition from the command and control structure of the military to the leadership and cultural conventions of the civilian world. We know that veterans can be some of the most inspiring and effective leaders in the workplace, but that’s no accident. It takes time to transition, assisted by personal development, mentoring, coaching. All designed to find that true, authentic leader that can bring their best self to the workplace. My guest on this episode of The Unlock Moment is a deep expert in unlocking the potential in veterans.
After graduating from the University of San Francisco, Kevin Sullivan, Lieutenant Colonel US Army (retired) served 20 years as an aviation officer with the United States Army. Throughout his military career as a Blackhawk pilot, Kevin served in numerous leadership positions, culminating with service as the Director of Aviation for the US Army Pacific Command. He is a proven leader with over 30 years of senior leadership, international business development and marketing experience. He’s worked in many sectors, including significant work supporting veterans, and is the Founder and President of Leading Points Corporation, a company that builds and implements comprehensive military programs for businesses interested in establishing themselves within the military and government markets. He’s launched military programs for companies as diverse as CostCo, Golf Channel, Vail Resorts, Untuckit and many more.
And now as we move into a new era where coaching is becoming available in the palm of your hand, Kevin and his team are working together with me and my colleagues at pioneering digital coach company KultraLab on a fascinating idea to support hundreds of thousands of veterans across the US using the power of digital coaching. We’ll come to that later in the conversation.
I’m keen to learn more about Kevin’s own experience of the military to civilian transition, and the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him to figure out the path ahead. I’m also hoping to learn more about what drives his passion to continue to serve veterans and his vision for the future.
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Leading Points Corporation: http://www.leadingpoints.com/
KultraLab: https://kultralab.com/
Now this is an episode I’ve been looking forward to recording for a long time. When you look at the global coaching community, there are very many coaches but not many that you would recognise walking down the street. Today’s guest is one of the most famous faces in world coaching. After starting her career in broadcast radio, Maika Leibbrandt spent over 14 years at the Gallup Organisation where she developed and launched Gallup’s Global Strengths Coach program, educating thousands of coaches and leaders on the life-changing potential of a talent-first approach to coaching – one of those coaches was me. Together with her colleague Jim Collison, she spent many years co-hosting Gallup’s popular Theme Thursday podcast, a tool for understanding and interpreting Gallup’s CliftonStrengths talent assessment. Every single one of my coachees over many years has undertaken CliftonStrengths and I always direct them to Jim and Maika’s incredible podcast content to discover more about their top talents and strengths.
After working in different contexts and different countries, Maika describes herself as coming home to coaching. She says it’s the work she was born to do. Just last month she took the leap to set up her own business and is now helping leaders in her own right to experience their unique power and promise.
Maika has been one of my top targets to convince and cajole to come on the podcast ever since I started The Unlock Moment, and I can assure you with absolute certainty that this is an episode you will not want to miss.
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Maika Leibbrandt: https://www.hellomaika.com/
Maika on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strengthstalk/
CliftonStrengths Theme Thursday podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/gallup-theme-thursday/id960806223
Gallup CliftonStrengths: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths
My guest today is something of a legend in the business world, a champion of inclusive leadership and famous for building a culture of incredible employee engagement.
Garry Ridge, the self-styled Culture Coach, has 25 years of experience as Chairman and CEO of WD-40 Company, makers of the iconic penetrating oil. Most of us have probably reached for our can when we’ve had a squeaky wheel or a stuck lock – it’s the kind of product that needs no introduction and no squeaky or squeak-free home can be without it.
Garry is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego, where he teaches the principles and practices of corporate culture in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership program.
Garry’s philosophy on company culture is based on Aristotle’s quote – “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” Turning that principle into action, Garry believes that all leaders can create a workplace where you go to work each day, make a contribution to something bigger than yourself, learn something new, feel safe, are protected, and are provided freedom by a set of values and go home happy!
He is passionate about the learning and empowering organizational culture he has helped establish at the WD-40 Company.
In 2009, Garry co-authored a book with renowned speaker and author Ken Blanchard outlining his effective leadership techniques, titled “Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called ‘Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A.” A native of Australia, Garry holds a certificate in Modern Retailing and a Master of Science in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego.
And like several others who have graced The Unlock Moment in recent times, Garry is a member of the esteemed Marshall Goldsmith 100 group of the world’s leading executive coaches.
I’m looking forward to hearing Garry’s unique perspective on inclusive leadership and how to build a culture where your people are truly engaged. And of course, to discover the Unlock Moments when he figured out this remarkable clarity about the path ahead.
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Garry Ridge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garryridge/
The Learning Moment: https://thelearningmoment.net/
In this episode I’m delighted to welcome one of America’s top corporate leaders, James D White, to The Unlock Moment. As the former CEO of the smoothie brand Jamba Juice, James led a successful turnaround, achieved record results and ushered in a new era of diversity and inclusion.
He is a transformational leader with over thirty years' experience as a CEO and operating executive in the consumer products, retail, and restaurant industries, as well as an experienced corporate director and adviser with twenty years of experience on more than fifteen public and private boards. James currently chairs the board of the recently IPO'd Honest Company, founded by Jessica Alba, and is Executive Chair of the startup Air Protein, in addition to several other boards.
In 2020, he launched his own firm, Culture Design Lab, to coach, train, and lead CEOs, boards, Chief People Officers, and Chief Diversity Officers on operationalizing his diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) playbook. White is regularly featured in the media for his work, including Harvard Business Review, Shark Tank and the Wall Street Journal.
Now, in his groundbreaking book Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World James and his daughter Krista, who has joined him in his work, offer real-world advice on how business leaders can address what has become the most important goal in the corporate world today.
I’m looking forward to hearing James’s perspective on practical actions leaders can take to promote diversity and inclusion to create a true culture of belonging. And of course I’m fascinated to hear the Unlock Moments along the way that helped him figure out the path ahead.
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Purchase 'Anti-Racist Leadership: How to Transform Corporate Culture in a Race-Conscious World' at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anti-Racist-Leadership-Transform-Corporate-Race-Conscious/dp/1647821975
Discover the Culture Design Lab at: https://www.culturedesignlabs.com/
Discover Honest Company at: https://www.honest.com/
Today's guest is a master in the art of a great question as well as one of the smartest people I've had the pleasure of interviewing on The Unlock Moment. This is an episode that will help you to think really big when figuring out your north star or purpose in life. Seth Goldenberg's most recent book, "Radical Curiosity: Questioning Commonly Held Beliefs to Imagine Flourishing Futures", was recently selected as an FT Business Book of the Month.
Seth Goldenberg is a designer, curator, and entrepreneur who harnesses the power of questioning to catalyze innovation and cultural change. He is the founder and CEO of Curiosity & Co., a one-of-a-kind bookstore, experience laboratory, and design-ventures studio, and the creator of the Ideas Salons, invitational thought-leader retreats that tackle the essential questions of our time.
Goldenberg has led high-profile projects with clients such as Apple, American Express, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and the governor of Rhode Island. He also founded Dialog:City, the civic arts festival for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and Fast Company. He lives on the island of Jamestown, Rhode Island.
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https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2205446/seth-goldenberg/
https://www.instagram.com/goldenbergseth/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-goldenberg/
For many years I’ve encouraged my corporate teams and my coaching clients to take a more 100,000 foot view of the world. We all have a habit of getting lost in the weeds sometimes and it’s a useful skill to be able to rise above the chaos and survey the big picture. So it made a huge amount of sense to bring someone on to the podcast who could help us do just that.
For space tech CEO Ryan Hartman, a life in the military, aerospace and defence prepared him for top leadership roles in some of the most cutting edge industries in the world. But what he discovered about himself and his own purpose was even more impactful. Flying fast, now the lesson of slowing down.
Ryan Hartman is the Chief Executive of space tech pioneer WorldView. Based in Tucson, Arizona, WorldView is unlocking opportunities through a low-cost, long-duration persistent high-altitude flight for commercial and government customers. That’s a lot of long words and I know Ryan’s going to bring it to life for you much better than I ever could.
But here on the Unlock Moment, we’re also fascinated in the personal journey. Ryan is a veteran of the US Air Force and Navy. He led the Unmanned Systems Directorate for aerospace and defence business Raytheon. And most recently he’s been President and Chief Executive of Insitu, a pioneer in the design, development and manufacturing of unmanned aircraft systems. His is a fascinating CV and I’m looking forward to finding out what he’s learned about leadership and purpose along the way in so many high performance environments.
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https://worldview.space/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-m-hartman/
When I talk to people who have experienced an Unlock Moment, a remarkable flash of clarity when they’ve figured out the path ahead, they often describe a moment of silence. It might be real silence, the absence of sound, or it might be that the world has slowed down for a moment – a shocking piece of news, a change in circumstances, that has caused them to stop and reflect.
What’s the deepest silence you’ve ever known? Today, amidst the mass proliferation of mental stimulation, this may be a difficult question to answer. Yet it’s a question that could contain a key to solving some of the most serious personal and even global challenges that we face. In their new book "Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise", Justin Zorn and Leigh Marz invite us to rethink our definition of silence—not just as the absence of noise, but as a presence that can bring us energy, clarity, and deeper connection.
I’m keen to discover more about how you can find this silence in your everyday life, and through that silence discover the path to your own Unlock Moment. Let’s pause ….. listen ….. and dive in to this fascinating topic.
Discover more about Justin and Leigh at: https://astreastrategies.com/
And buy the book at: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/golden-justin-zornleigh-marz?variant=39669210906658 and https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442122/golden-the-power-of-silence-in-a-world-of-noise-by-marz-justin-talbot-zorn-and-leigh/9781529146080
In this remarkable Master Locksmith episode of The Unlock Moment, I meet Dr Marshall Goldsmith, the world's number one executive coach. A member of the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame, Harvard Business Review named him the World’s #1 Leadership Thinker. He’s written or edited 43 books, which have sold over 2.5 million copies and been translated into 32 languages. In Amazon’s 100 best leadership-and-success books ever written, he has 2 of them, including my favourite leadership lesson of all, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. A former professor of management practice at the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business in New Hampshire, Marshall has worked with over 200 major CEOs and their management teams. On social media he has 1.4 million followers on LinkedIn and over 3 million views on YouTube. Marshall’s new book The Earned Life came out just recently. Subtitled Lose Regret, Choose Fulfilment, it offers practical advice aimed at helping us shed the obstacles that prevent us from creating our own fulfilling lives. With this book as your guide, readers can close the gap between what they plan to achieve and what they actually get done – even in a world full of inescapable unfairness and curveballs – and live an earned life that is too fulfilling to dwell on the “what ifs”.
Find out more about Marshall at: https://marshallgoldsmith.com/
Discover The Earned Life at: https://marshallgoldsmith.com/book-page-the-earned-life/
In this Master Locksmith episode, I interview Morag Barrett, one of the top executive coaches in the world. She’s a leadership development expert, and bestselling author of “Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships” and “The Future-Proof Workplace”. Her new book on the ally mindset, “You, Me, We: Why We All Need a Friend at Work (and How to Show Up as One!)” is coming out later this year. Morag is the founder and CEO of SkyeTeam, a boutique leadership development firm, and has supported more than 15,000 leaders from 20 countries and on 4 continents achieve outstanding results by improving the effectiveness of their leadership and teams. She herself worked in the finance industry for 15 years, including with Royal Bank of Scotland. I love talking to coaches who have sat on both sides of the table. Morag was recently selected from more than 16,000 candidates as a “Top 100 Coach” by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, recognized as the world’s most influential leadership thinker and executive coach. For fun, in addition to time with her three sons, you’ll find Morag playing the bassoon or ballroom dancing – now that’s a passion we share!
Discover more about Morag Barrett at:
https://skyeteam.com/morag-barrett
and listen to her podcast People First! at:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peoplefirst-with-morag-barrett/id1529214721
In this special Master Locksmith episode, I interview INSEAD Professor and author Nathan Furr, whose latest co-authored book, “The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown” is out now. Whilst the classic format of the Unlock Moment podcast explores a person’s life and career journey and dives into their personal moments of clarity, with The Master Locksmith episodes I invite experts in psychology, leadership and motivation to bring their ideas and guidance to help you, my listener, to find your own Unlock Moments.
Most people – especially leaders – view uncertainty as a negative, something anxiety-inducing, stressful, even paralysing. But what if uncertainty could be transformed to produce a wellspring of new ideas and fresh approaches, while turning fear into courage, paralysis into resilience, and converting change-resistant people into adaptive, risk-taking innovators? This is not dream thinking. It is based on the actionable, research-backed framework developed and taught by renowned INSEAD Professor and corporate advisor Nathan Furr, a global authority on leadership, strategy, digital transformation, and disruptive innovation – and one of the world’s foremost experts on managing uncertainty.
Listen in and hear how to navigate uncertainty in your own life and career!
Purchase 'The Upside of Uncertainty' at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Upside-Uncertainty-Guide-Finding-Possibility/dp/1647823013
Discover more at: https://uncertaintypossibility.com
In this episode I interview serial start-up entrepreneur and CEO Ben Prouty, whose experience at high-growth startups including Streetcar (car sharing), Lovespace (storage by the box), Shepper (asset inspection) and now Poncho (family support platform for working parents) taught him the stage of a company's lifecycle that energises him and brings out his best as a leader. Ben brings a refreshing honesty to counter the assumption that entrepreneurs all want to be the next Zuckerberg or Musk - in fact he is at his best in the scrappy, early stages of start-up growth. This is a rare opportunity to hear from someone who's been there and worn the t-shirt time after time, on each occasion creating strong, scaled businesses that disrupt their sectors using a fresh strategic approach and the power of technology.
Ben Prouty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-prouty/
Poncho: https://poncho.care/
Shepper: https://shepper.com/
Lovespace: https://lovespace.co.uk/
The story of Streetcar: https://techcrunch.com/2010/04/21/zipcar-streetcar/
In this Master Locksmith Masterclass, Dr Gary Crotaz switches from interviewer to expert, sharing content from his book about figuring out the path ahead, The IDEA Mindset. This Masterclass is all about Finding Happiness. He dives into the elements of IDEA - Identity, Direction, Engagement and Authenticity - and shows how they come together to help you intentionally design a life you love and that connects with your values and purpose. The Masterclass features memorable extracts from conversations with his guests on The Unlock Moment podcast, so you can hear how these topics show up in real people's stories of remarkable change.
Discover more about The IDEA Mindset at https://theideamindset.com and explore the other episodes of The Unlock Moment to hear more from Dr Gary's guests.
In this Master Locksmith Masterclass, Dr Gary Crotaz switches from interviewer to expert, sharing content from his book about figuring out the path ahead, The IDEA Mindset. He explains the six powerful levers, the '6 Ps', that can help you build stronger mental resilience, together with tips, tricks and exercises to help you put each one into action. Each topic is illustrated with a memorable extract from a conversation with one of his guests on The Unlock Moment podcast, so you can hear how these topics show up in real people's stories of remarkable change.
Discover more about The IDEA Mindset at https://theideamindset.com and explore the other episodes of The Unlock Moment to hear more from Dr Gary's guests.
In this bonus seven-minute extract from The Unlock Moment, discover a coaching masterclass from top US executive coach and author Dr Mark Goulston on his leadership framework, Michelangelo Mindset. An empowering way of unlocking your leadership talents to change the behaviour of those around you, this approach will make you think differently about what makes a great leader.
Want to hear the whole episode with Dr Mark Goulston? It's Episode 6 of The Unlock Moment.
https://markgoulston.com/
https://michelangelomindset.com/
In this episode I interview emerging stars of the dance and performance world Anthony and Kel Matsena. This episode of The Unlock Moment is very special, very moving, very powerful. Listening back. I was amazed at Anthony and Kel's richness of thought, their perspective, their wisdom at such a young age, still only in their 20s. The Matsena brothers have been through a huge amount in their lives. Being uprooted from their home in Zimbabwe, terrible family tragedy, and their experience of oppression has shaped their creative identity as breakthrough choreographers and performers. But so has the warm community that welcomed and embraced them in South Wales, the creative industry that has given them a huge platform, and the audiences who are wowed by their work. I've known the brothers a while and knew some of their story before we talked, but I have rarely had a conversation that has left me so affected. If you're like me, you'll be struck by how the tough times could so easily have pushed them to a really dark place, and instead have inspired them to speak through love, joy and empowerment in their creative voice. With most of these podcasts, we edit them down to give you just the best bits of the conversation. Here it's so compelling, we just couldn't take anything out. Sit back and listen in to this incredible interview with the extraordinary Anthony and Kel Matsena.
Shades of Blue - Exclusive Preview: https://youtu.be/JU6dg6buiRk
Matsena Productions: https://www.matsenaproductions.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/anthony_matsena
https://www.instagram.com/kelmatsena
https://www.instagram.com/matsenaproductions
Cinta Miller is one of the top stylists in the business. She's worked for some of the biggest brands in the world. She's created looks for London Fashion Week. She's worked with the likes of Robbie Williams and Ed Sheeran. But she didn't make it to the top in her field by accident. This is a story thats starts on a council estate, a challenging school environment, scraping by, living on tips to make enough money just to afford the bus fare to be able to get to work the next day. If you want to hear what it sounds like to make it through passion, grit, hard work and serious amounts of hustle, this is the episode for you. Cinta is an amazing storyteller - honest and real. Maybe you feel the odds are against you. Maybe you feel people are knocking you back. Listen in and this will give you the confidence that you can make it if you find your focus, back your talent and your skills, and just refuse to give in.
Cinta Miller: https://www.cintalondon.co.uk/
Cinta Miller on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cintalondon/
In this episode I interview charity sector CEO Steve Woolcock, who became a first-time CEO last year when taking on the top job at educational charity First Rung, an organisation that exists to provide learning and employment opportunities to support young people in the UK to achieve success and fulfil their potential. Steve talks eloquently about how he worked on unlocking his natural talents and strengths, helping him to find his feet in the CEO role, define his unique leadership style and bring his best to this amazing charity.
First Rung: http://www.firstrung.org.uk/
Barnardo's: https://www.barnardos.org.uk/
Steve Woolcock on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-woolcock-47365610/
First Rung on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-rung-limited/
In this bonus ten-minute extract, executive coach, transformation specialist and international speaker Chris Tibbetts talks about his Unlock Moment, when his doctor gave him the news that he had to change his lifestyle immediately or he could drop dead at any time. He talks about how he changed his mindset in order to transform his physical health and ultimately lose over 100kg in weight - ten years on he's here to tell the tale.
Want to hear the whole interview with Chris? It's Episode 18 of The Unlock Moment.
Instagram and Facebook: @theemotionaleatingcoachuk
Web: https://emotionaleatingcoach.uk/
LinkedIn: Chris Tibbetts
Overeaters Anonymous: https://www.oagb.org.uk/
In this episode I meet Amit Patel, former breast and endocrine surgeon who left the NHS to pursue a career in business and entrepreneurship. After six years in Director roles for the £12bn international healthcare group BUPA, Amit decided to strike out on his own and found Peachy, the UK's first truly digital health insurance platform targeting millenials and small to medium-sized enterprises. He describes the tough decision to leave medicine, how he weighed up his love for helping people and performing surgery with the challenges of control of career path as a doctor. Amit talks openly and honestly about taking on risk and keeping moving forward even when life is uncertain. This is an episode that will resonate strongly with people in vocational professions - medicine, dentistry, law etc. - who are exploring their options and also with those who have left and are struggling with doubt or regret.
Amit Patel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitpatel911/
Peachy: https://www.peachy.health/
In this bonus nine-minute extract, Patrick J. McGinnis, investor, author, podcaster and the inventor of FOMO talks about his Unlock Moment when he found perspective after a highly challenging period of his career through the 2008 financial crash and started to rebuild for the future. Patrick's unique take on the Easter Bunny helps to expose the difference between myth and reality in discerning what really matters when designing a career that you truly love and that connects with your values and purpose.
Want to hear the whole interview with Patrick? It's Episode 16 of The Unlock Moment.
Website: https://patrickmcginnis.com/
Podcast: https://fomosapiens.com/
Instagram: @patrickjmcginnis
The 10% Entrepreneur: https://www.amazon.co.uk/10-Entrepreneur-Startup-Without-Quitting/dp/1591848091
Fear Of Missing Out: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Missing-Out-Decision-Making-Overwhelming/dp/1492694940
In this episode I meet Adwoa Akoto, British-Ghanaian actor, writer, model and entrepreneur who appeared in HBO/BBC's hit series 'I May Destroy You'. She talks about her unusual route from economics and finance into acting and how her experience working with NGOs shaped her desire to create impact in this world. Reflecting on the conversation, she says, "I didn't even realise a lot of the answers to the questions that you're asking me, I've never really thought about in so much detail. So this has been really enlightening for myself as well." Listen to the power of silence in allowing the brain to do the thinking it needs to do - an essential element of discovering your own moments of remarkable clarity. Adwoa is an inspiration to young actors and entrepreneurs, especially those of hybrid nationality like herself, and this episode is an object lesson in how you can discover clarity in your path ahead if you just create the right environment for great thinking.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adwoaakoto_
Twitter: https://twitter.com/adwoaakoto_
In this episode I meet celebrated healthy food inventor, entrepreneur and CEO, Anthony Fletcher, whose experience at Innocent Drinks followed by 8 years as the CEO of Graze snacks inspired his mission to remove the junk from junk food and reinvent the doughnut through his latest Willy Wonka creation, Urban Legend. He describes with great honesty and authenticity both the highlights and the tough moments of growing Graze to a $100m turnover business, facing major challenges along the way that threatened the fundamental business model. He talks about how it impacted him as a leader and how he had to change his ways of working with the team to reflect the maturation of the business. This is CEO-ship in its most raw form - fast-paced, straight-talking, no BS. Essential listening for startup CEOs and leaders transitioning from high growth to sustainable success. Grab a healthy doughnut and enjoy!
Urban Legend:
https://urban-legend.com/
https://www.instagram.com/urbanlegenduk
Graze: https://www.graze.com/
Innocent: https://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/
In this episode I meet executive coach and team facilitator Dolly Waddell, whose upbringing in the orbit of a highly successful family luxury jewellery business honed her natural instinct for entrepreneurship. A moment of tough self-reflection made clear how her life as a vicar's wife and mother of four was defined and constrained by societal expectations, running contrary to her vibrant natural spirit of individuality. This Unlock Moment led her to intentionally change the rules, define her own future and take ownership of the path ahead. Supported by a loving husband and a family advisory board aged between 5 and 13 (the offspring genuinely have contracts in place - listen in!), Dolly's energy and spirit that she brings to her life and work is truly infectious and I'm sure you will enjoy this fabulous episode!
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Web: https://dollywaddell.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dollywaddell/
In this exclusive long-form interview I talk to World Ballroom Showdance Champion, Strictly Come Dancing Champion, musical theatre star and someone I’m proud to call a close friend, Joanne Clifton. She describes in compelling and sometimes shocking detail the journey she took to becoming world champion - the intense training regime, the extreme physical and psychological pressure she endured and the toll it took on her mental health. From having her ankles whipped in the training room to extreme emotional pressure and financial stress, this is an unforgettable story that has not been told previously in this depth and with such honesty and openness. This is a side of Joanne Clifton that you have likely never heard before. It brings new context to her extraordinary reserves of strength and fortitude and contains a powerful message about courage, resilience and self-worth.
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Joanne Clifton’s world championship-winning performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er7tPzt0__k
Joanne Clifton on the world championship podium (referenced in the interview): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJVDp5fJh-k
Joanne Clifton and Harry Judd on Strictly Come Dancing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7O1juxTB_4
Joanne Clifton and Ore Oduba on Strictly Come Dancing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYX6laFZuAg
Joanne Clifton in Thoroughly Modern Millie: https://youtu.be/CDQjh4LfZoo
Joanne Clifton on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realjoanneclifton
In this episode I meet Amanda Britton, the inspirational Chief Executive, Principal and Artistic Director of the world-renowned Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Her powerful story, from leaving home at the age of 12 to pursue her passion for dance, through being one of the youngest new hires at Ballet Rambert and eventually taking on leadership of the iconic Rambert School, reflects her deep personal connection with dance and the legacy of Marie Rambert, but also her incredible vision for the future of a School that just celebrated its centenary. She talks in depth about how the team pivoted an elite dance training institution to fully online learning within 3 weeks of the start of the COVID pandemic and discusses what managing the School and its family of students through the crisis taught her about leadership, culture and values. Essential listening for senior executives, especially those leading brands with a significant legacy to protect. Enjoy this episode - Amanda demonstrates how the best leadership comes straight from the heart.
Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance: https://www.rambertschool.org.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rambertschool/
"Away As One" - a film by Rambert School student Blair Moore. The incredible story of how Rambert School managed to shift world-class dance training on to Zoom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eIdi65DmWg
Archive interview with Marie Rambert, founder of Rambert School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gng5b2_a_Ko
In this episode I interview Brett Sammels who worked his way up through the family business LAW Creative, helping to build it into one of the leading European independent full-service marketing agencies. He talks about managing the weight of the family name, building a distinctive culture and eventually taking the hot seat as Managing Director. I do a significant amount of coaching work with family businesses preparing the next generation to take over leadership in the coming years, and Brett articulates many of the unique characteristics and responsibilities of proving yourself as a member of the founding family.
Web:
https://www.lawcreative.co.uk/
https://hertspodcaststudio.co.uk/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettsammels/
In this episode I interview charismatic Canadian retail leader Normand Ciarlo who ran the leading luxury department store in Montreal - Holt Renfrew Ogilvy. With a background in dance and performing arts, Normand brings his love of theatre to the retail stage. Passionate about creating a culture in which everyone feels that they belong, Normand talks with conviction and brings to life his leadership philosophy on diversity, inclusion and belonging, and how senior leaders can create the environment in which their teams feel fully engaged and able to fulfil their potential.
Normand Ciarlo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/normandciarlo/
Holt Renfrew Ogilvy: https://www.holtrenfrew.com/en/stores?location=holtrenfrewogilvy
In this episode I interview New York-based Tayo Rockson, an inspiring thought leader in diversity, inclusion and anti-racism. A self-styled polymath-in-progress, Tayo has established himself as an authority in communicating effectively across cultures and personal branding. He has graced various stages including TEDx, the Chautauqua Institution in New York, and the United Nations. Tayo hosts 'As Told By Nomads', one of the top business podcasts for entrepreneurs in the world, and is the author of 'Use Your Difference To Make A Difference', a book on how to connect and communicate in a cross-cultural world. In this powerful conversation, Tayo reveals how a near-death experience shifted his mindset from a crippling fear of failure to a fear of not achieving his potential - it changed his life.
Web: https://tayorockson.com/
Instagram, Tiktok: @tayorockson
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayorockson/
As Told By Nomads podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/as-told-by-nomads/id910739730
Use Your Difference To Make A Difference book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Use-Your-Difference-Make-Cross-Cultural/dp/1119590698
In this episode I interview executive coach, transformation specialist and international speaker Chris Tibbetts. Massively overweight and faced with the prospect of just six months to live, he turned his life around and went on to lose over 100kg - transforming his life expectancy in the process. Ten years on, he now helps others to be in the best shape both physically and mentally. This is a raw and honset account of the ebbs and flows of a battle with emotional eating, and an inspiration for listeners facing into seemingly impossible odds.
Instagram and Facebook: @theemotionaleatingcoachuk
Web: https://emotionaleatingcoach.uk/
LinkedIn: Chris Tibbetts
Overeaters Anonymous: https://www.oagb.org.uk/
In this episode I interview social impact entrepreneur, investor and EdTech pioneer Nick Novak, who spent years working intensively in high profile and high-growth EdTech platforms including Schoolnet and Arbor Education Partners. Nick had figured out his personal values some years before, but his Unlock Moment was the realisation that knowing was not enough - he had to take action in order to combat burnout and create the happy and fulfilling life he craved. It's a powerful story that will resonate with anyone who is feeling stressed, overwhelmed and burned out, with guidance on practical steps you can take to change the narrative.
Find out more about Nick at: https://nicholasnovak.com/
Tony Walmsley has coached at some of the biggest football clubs in the world. It shaped his thinking on how to inspire world-class leaders who influence performance. His Unlock Moment came when thrust into a live TV interview after a tough defeat - how he handled the provocative questioning helped him to understand the kind of leader he was at his best. The vivid stories Tony tells of both the highs and the lows offers an honest, gritty and authentic reflection on a life in football and brings you right on to the touchline in the heat of the game.
Want to hear the whole interview with Tony? It's Episode 11 of The Unlock Moment.
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Follow Tony Walmsley on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-walmsley/
Discover The Leaders Advisory at: https://theleadersadvisory.com/
Interview at Central Coast Mariners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT59DkSklJo
In this episode, I interview the inventor of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), Patrick J. McGinnis. He talks with honesty and humour about the experience of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in the 2008 financial crash and the journey he went on to discover a path where he could make a difference to millions through his books, podcast and speaking work. Patrick's hit FOMO Sapiens podcast has been downloaded over 2 million times and his TED talk on faster decision-making has over 1 million views - this is someone you're going to want to listen to and learn from!
Website: https://patrickmcginnis.com/
Podcast: https://fomosapiens.com/
Instagram: @patrickjmcginnis
The 10% Entrepreneur: https://www.amazon.co.uk/10-Entrepreneur-Startup-Without-Quitting/dp/1591848091
Fear Of Missing Out: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fear-Missing-Out-Decision-Making-Overwhelming/dp/1492694940
In this episode, I interview Dr Gauri Seth, psychiatrist, coach and mother of three, whose background in psychiatry, family therapy and academia formed the basis of her powerful work in helping parents build stronger family connections with their children. Her Unlock Moment was a realisation that she had to adjust her priorities in favour of her children in their most formative years, which led her to put her medical career on pause and establish herself as an entrepreneur with a successful coaching practice based around her Brain-Based Connection model for parent-child connection.
Website: https://www.brainbasedconnection.co.uk/
Instagram: @drgauri_connectioncoach
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gauri-seth-168638142/
DISCLAIMER: Any information or advice Dr Gauri Seth gives is purely based on her own experience. Comments made are as a coach - this is not medical or psychiatry advice. There is no guarantee as there are many variables that will impact outcomes. Everything stated should be taken as opinion.
In this very special episode, I interview TV personality, star of Strictly Come Dancing, actor, author and astrologer Russell Grant, for whom a life-changing call to join the cast of Strictly reconnected him with a long-lost passion for performing and brought out his natural spontaneity. Strictly helped Russell recover from a dark time in his life and to rewrite the public's perception of him. It gave him a new lease of life and a refreshed energy - he is living proof that it's never too late to create a life you love. Discover a new perspective on his Strictly journey, his relationship with fame and how his upbringing shaped the person he is today.
Twitter: @THERussellGrant
Strictly American Smooth with Flavia Cacace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkC9LACAJkA
Strictly Christmas Special with Joanne Clifton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqcmCbDq-mU
In this episode, I interview author, speaker, and coach Simon Alexander Ong, whose Unlock Moment was sitting in the crowd at a Tony Robbins event, realising he was more fascinated by how Robbins created that incredible impact on his audience than he was in the content of Robbins’ talk. From a background working at Lehman Brothers in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, over the course of a decade, Simon reinvented himself as a personal development entrepreneur and has now published his first book, 'Energize', out now with Penguin. In a world where we are always 'on', Simon coaches you to work with your natural energy resources to recognize your most energized state. Simon is a seasoned speaker and author and I'm delighted that he is the first Master Locksmith episode on The Unlock Moment podcast.
Follow Simon Alexandra Ong on Twitter @SimonAlexanderO
Instagram: @SimonAlexanderO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonalexanderong/
Visit his website - https://www.simonalexanderong.com/
Buy Energize at https://getenergizebook.com/
My interview with US strengths expert and executive coach Micah Lorenc is the most downloaded episode of The Unlock Moment to date. His blend of authentic self-reflection and beautiful storytelling has resonated strongly with you, my listeners. So here's a short and snappy seven-minute extract from our conversation talking about how he figured out that he should change his priorities and career path. If you're struggling with frustration and looking for clarity and purpose in your future, this is the episode for you.
Want to hear the whole interview with Micah? It's Episode 5 of The Unlock Moment.
In this episode, I interview global style icon Alexis Knox, who has worked alongside the biggest names in popular music as an in-demand international fashion stylist, working with music’s most edgy personalities including Miley Cyrus, M.I.A, Charli XCX, Little Mix, Bruno Mars, Craig David, Rita Ora, Jessie J, Grimes, and more. She talks honestly and candidly about the personal toll her 24/7 globetrotting lifestyle took on her and how the pandemic lockdown in 2020 caused her to re-evaluate her priorities and design a more sustainable and fulfilling lifestyle without compromising her ambition. Alexis is a real force of nature and you can’t help but be drawn in by her relentless positivity and determination to find joy and fulfillment in everything she does. And of course, you get free fashion tips too!
Follow Alexis Knox on her socials:
Instagram/Twitter/Facebook: @alexisknox
Tiktok: @itsalexisknox
Website www.alexisknox.com
Can you give me just eight minutes of your time to learn something that might change your life? In this bite-sized extract from my conversation with actor Samuel Haughton, he talks about the moment when he figured out that he was choosing happiness over success as his primary mission in life, and the extraordinary change in his mindset that resulted. I have received incredible feedback from many people who have listened to Samuel's full episode and took away so much that they can apply to their own lives. Go find it, it's Episode 1 of 'The Unlock Moment'.
Find the full episode, Samuel Haughton: Choosing Happiness here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/samuel-haughton-choosing-happiness/id1613086637?i=1000553655127
Follow Samuel Haughton on Twitter & IG:
https://www.instagram.com/samuel.haughton.42
https://twitter.com/samuelhaughton
In this episode, I interview performance specialist and elite football coach Tony Walmsley, whose experience with Manchester United, Sheffield United, and Central Coast Mariners shaped his thinking on how to inspire world-class leaders who influence performance. His Unlock Moment came when thrust into a live TV interview after a tough defeat - how he handled the provocative questioning helped him to understand the kind of leader he was at his best. The vivid stories Tony tells of both the highs and the lows is an honest, gritty and authentic reflection on a life in football and brings you right on to the touchline in the heat of the game. There is so much to learn here about how to stay curious and lead under pressure.
Follow Tony Walmsley on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-walmsley/
Discover The Leaders Advisory at: https://theleadersadvisory.com/
Interview at Central Coast Mariners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT59DkSklJo
In this episode, I interview New Zealand-based wellbeing specialist and TEDx speaker Lauren Parsons, whose Unlock Moment was to transform the shy, unsporty persona from school into a confident and outgoing fitness instructor, educator, and public speaker. Listen in if you want to learn how to turn your negative labels into positive ones and unlock your confident self.
Feel free to connect with Lauren on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenparsonsnz/
Tune in to the Thrive TV Show at https://thrivetvshow.com/
Get your complimentary copy of Lauren’s ebook “5 Keys to a Positive, Energised, High-Performance Culture” at www.LaurenParsonsWellbeing.com
In this episode, I interview online fashion founder Hayley Thomas, whose husband's diagnosis of Stage 3 Bowel Cancer completely changed her perspective on life and triggered her to get on and turn her entrepreneurial dream into reality. Five years on, Ben is cancer-free and her sustainable fashion brand Eleven Loves is growing from strength to strength, now with 35,000 Instagram followers. This is a powerful story of hope, teamwork, and achievement that challenges the idea that there is a 'perfect moment' to launch a business.
Follow Eleven Loves on Instagram: @elevenloves.co.uk
Web: elevenloves.co.uk
In this episode, I interview dance / pop sensation Segiri, by day known as Serena Kern-Libera, international trade lawyer and winner of the prestigious Asian Women of Achievement award in 2020. In her Unlock Moment, deciding to launch her own record label D2D Records to support young up-and-coming talent brought together her passion for music, her sharp legal and business brain and her desire to effect social change through the power of mentorship. This podcast also features Segiri's sparkling dance / pop track 'Parallel'.
Follow Serena Kern-Libera on Twitter: @Serena_Kern
Instagram: @SerenaKern and @segiri_music
Web: d2drecords.com
In this episode, I interview U.S. strengths coach and serial foster mom Wendy Willard about her Unlock Moment, in which a move to Nicaragua with her family led her to fundamentally re-evaluate her needs. Through foster-parenting 25 teenagers, she developed her simple but effective SLATHY (shamed, lonely, afraid, tired, hungry, yucky) framework to help people in families and in business find the words to talk about their feelings when their needs aren't met.
Learn more at thestrengthsencourager.com
Discover SLATHY at slathy.com
Follow Wendy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestrengthsencourager/
Follow The Strengths Encourager on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-strengths-encourager/
In this episode, I interview best-selling author, coach, and psychiatrist Dr. Mark Goulston about his unique methodologies Surgical Empathy, and the Michaelangelo Mindset. He brings these powerful approaches to life through the stories and experiences that have led him to where he is today. A master storyteller and a master listener, Mark is someone you could listen to for hours - this is truly a powerful episode that you will remember for a long time. Dive deep inside his mind when he describes his formative experiences at medical school and how he intentionally translated that experience into the design of the work he has built his career on. * CONTENT WARNING: Dr. Mark Goulston is a psychiatrist and expert in suicide prevention, and this episode discusses suicidal feelings *
Follow Dr. Mark Goulston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markgoulston/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markgoulston/
Website: https://markgoulston.com
Check out Defeating Self Defeat on Himalaya.
In this episode, I interview Micah Lorenc, U.S.-based strengths expert, and executive coach. We talk about his journey over several years to exit the relative safety of an enjoyable and comfortable corporate role to pursue his passion for coaching and facilitation. Micah talks with great honesty and authenticity about the realities of the choices you have to face as an entrepreneur with a family to support and you will feel his warmth and energy as he brings to life his personal journey.
Connect with Micah Lorenc on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micah-lorenc-0564885/
Visit his website on https://micahlorenc.com/
In this episode, I interview US champion and world silver medallist professional ballroom dancers Mariko Cantley and Nazar Batih. They talk about their unusual backgrounds and how Nazar dealt with being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as an elite athlete in his mid-20s. Their Unlock Moment was a meeting with two coaches in Italy who completely changed their outlook on dance and enabled them to break through to the highest echelons of world-level competitions. They are an inspirational example of achievement against the odds and the power of pursuing your passion with every ounce of your being.
Follow Mariko Cantley & Nazar Batih on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nazarandmariko/
Support using Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nazarandmariko
Website: https://www.nazarandmariko.com/
In this episode, I interview US-based strengths guru and former senior marketing leader for Southwest Airlines, Dana Williams. Her Unlock Moment was to discover a new understanding mid-career about what she was really here to do. That realisation led to a fundamental reorientation of priorities in the pandemic, the creation of a new business and her book, 'The Strengths Journal'. She reminds us that we should always stay curious about what makes us love the work we do.
Connect with Dana Williams on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/danawilliamsconsulting
Follow her Strengths Journal on https://thestrengthsjournal.com/
Website: https://www.danawilliamsco.com/
In this episode, I interview Hollywood actor and producer Marietta Melrose, whose extraordinary journey from Bulgaria to London to the bright lights of LA could really have been taken from a movie. Her Unlock Moment was discovering certainty about her passion for acting, and her subsequent story of unwavering commitment against the odds is genuinely inspiring.
Follow Marietta on Facebook & IG:
https://www.instagram.com/marietta_melrose
https://www.facebook.com/mariettamelrose
In this episode, I interview Samuel Haughton, an actor and performer, and one of the first people ever to work with me on the IDEA Mindset journey. His Unlock Moment was finding clarity on his true purpose by giving his brain the space and time to do the thinking it needed to do.
Follow Samuel Haughton on Twitter & IG:
https://www.instagram.com/samuel.haughton.42
https://twitter.com/samuelhaughton
The Unlock Moment with Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD is a series of revealing one-to-one conversations with people who have accomplished great things or brought about significant change in their lives. In learning about their Unlock Moment, a flash of remarkable clarity when they suddenly knew the right path ahead, listeners will tune into the confidence, clarity and calm that is at the heart of ‘The IDEA Mindset’.