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

Stories Of Success Podcast

Reflecting on 3.5 years of podcasting - taking a break

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

Mixed Mental Arts

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

How to survive the crisis!

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

Mindfulness in the workplace - a chat of two enthusiasts

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

What all you can do with content! And what life taught us!

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

Finding your niche!

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

Providing Psychological Safety for schools and in the workplace

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

A new way to think for a new world

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

Leadership Development from a Brand Perspective

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

A chat about leadership

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

Let's talk uncommon sense

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

Life is about Impact, not likes.

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

Thursday, 9 am and October are all the same thing now

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

Thank you, Andy.

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

A reflection with friends on the global pandemic

For his podcast Stories Of Success, Volker Ballueder interviews business leaders and people that are classified as being successful. The focus is on leaders that are either in or from Europe. This podcast is for anyone interested in learning how to be successful and likes to learn from success habits, decisions others made and grow as a person.

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Stories Of Success Podcast

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