"Transformation isn’t about control, its about letting go… teams that breathe together thrive together"

Anthony and I explore the power of stillness and breathing into the present moment.

The constant pressure to keep going and keep busy means we never find (the time to find) calm and we ignore the innate wisdom in our body. Bringing inner work to the outside world means being enough and understanding this.

How can cultivating inner calm help us to navigate uncertainty and ground ourselves and our teams in purpose, presence and ultimately allow us all to perform to the best of our abilities ?

How can we recognise the frame we live in and consciously build emotional resilience for the greater good in our teams, our organisations and our lives ?

Leadership is about becoming aware of our inherent value and the impact we have, fostering a culture of care and connection through practices like conscious breathing.

Anthony shares his richinsights from his personal journey and from accompanying leaders all over the globe on their journeys to transformation and serenity.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

- Raising consciousness means appreciating how much power we have as human beings; being small is often easier but means we don’t understand the bigger frame of life.

- Breathing is the very first thing we do naturally, yet conscious breathwork is difficult - the significance of breath becomes ‘normal’ but there is so much to it physiologically, metaphysically and spiritually.

- The first breath of life is the only time we haven’t been hurt and we are filled with wonder and curiosity; the last breath of life is about letting go of everything, and we can be curious about that surrender.

- We only ever pay attention when we lose our breath, but emotional resilience and intelligence are about being able to take a breath when we don’t want to - we lose our choices and processing power when we don’t breathe properly.

- We tend to suppress trauma and panic and resort to fight, flight or freeze, which are not thinking processes; we can practise different types of breath for different states, e.g. anxiety, anger, etc., to have them at our disposal when necessary.

- The fourth choice after fight, flight or freeze is breathe: we lose our breath due to abuse or trauma but it lives on in our body. We can create space by breathing and (re)connecting with our inner child to find boundlessness and freedom.

- The BRIDGE technique is a way of saving the inner child without returning to the trauma, i.e. to repair our own wounds and become the agent of our own healing:

B = Breathe, R = Recognise, I = Investigate, D = Dialogue, G = Gather, E = Exercise.

- All learning, including the somatic, is operationalised through discipline and consistency to leave the familiar and move forward - transformation isn’t about control, it’s about surrendering and being the architect of your own soul.

- The moment we remove the masks we wear and become present is tender, private and individual; we need our will to breathe in and surrender to breathe out, and whilst we do it all the time, we live in a world where wilfulness prevails.

- Being embedded in corporate life comes at enormous personal cost (burnout is increasing, immunity is decreasing), which leads to a lack of resilience; we associate surrender with weakness and only surrender as a very last resort.

- The constant pressure to keep going means we never find (the time to find) calm and we...

"Code doesn't transform organisations : people do ..."

What truly drives innovation in the fast-paced world of technology? Is it solely the code, the algorithms, and the software?

Michel and I discuss this and more and the answer is a resounding no. It’s people.

We discuss how leaders can navigate the complexities of the tech world by prioritizing, understanding and nurturing the human element, as well as leading with context and clarity. Leaders must take advantage of the foresight and learning that comes from huge market shifts, and iterate on their blueprint for transformation.

What constitutes the new playbook for tech leadership? What’s shifting? Why is this shift necessary? We discuss the need for a new type of leadership, balancing technical expertise with cultural ambassadorship, inspiring teams with a clear vision and fostering open communication. Constantly reinventing connection and communication as the world evolves in more complex and numerous ecosystems is a call to simplify the human element intentionally. Transparent communication is vital to maintaining trust.

As humans, we need to intentionally guide AI as it develops. While AI excels at aggregating and correlating data, one can question its current ability to anticipate the unknown. AI agents may become self-learning, but they may still lack the human capacity to correlate unforeseen needs and read the deeper invisible relational and emotional energies.

Michel generously shares his experience and insights from his career in Silicon Valley and from working with start ups and leaders in the tech world.

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Cultivate Context: Engage engineering teams early with comprehensive information to avoid misalignment and foster collaborative problem-solving. 💡
• Embrace Multifactorial Leadership: Balance technical expertise with cultural ambassadorship, inspiring teams with a clear vision and fostering open communication.
• Reimagine Connectivity: Design innovative ways to reconnect distributed teams, promoting alignment and consensus through regular gatherings and transparent communication.
• Balance Chaos and Structure: Maintain a “startup kitchen” dynamic within large organizations to encourage fluidity, agility, and rapid adaptation to change.
• Prioritize Strategic Frameworks: Develop long-term strategic frameworks, encourage calculated risk-taking, and foster a culture of continuous reinvention to anticipate and navigate disruptions.

• Beyond the Code: Unveiling the Human Factor in Technology Leadership Innovations - https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Code-Technology-Leadership-Innovation/dp/B0F6LVCXHQ
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellanglois/
• Website - https://michellanglois.us/

"Personal agency is key, even within big systems. Ground yourself in self-assurance. and intentionally use your voice."

Have you ever wondered what it takes to truly understand and drive transformation within your organization? Rethinking leadership itself. Prioritizing coherence, clarity, impact, and purpose can unlock potential you never knew existed.

A great conversation with Erin Herman on rethinking leadership itself. Prioritizing coherence, clarity, impact, and purpose can unlock potential you never knew existed.

Only 14 - 16% of leaders can articulate their 'why' : is this your biggest leadership challenge ?

One of the ways of addressing this is to ground ourselves in self assurance. Self assurance provides a source of stability that confidence, reliant on external validation, cannot match.

This is particularly important for women leaders, who are still working in and often constrained by a system that was not made for or by them.

It’s about putting purpose over presence, owning your presence and recognizing that your voice needs to be heard, regardless of whether the system readily welcomes it. This will in turn create different relational patterns and dynamics in your teams and ecosystems.

By prioritising presence and purpose, fostering self-assurance, and celebrating both successes and failures, you can unlock the potential within your team and transform your workplace.

How do you cultivate self-assurance in your leadership?

The main insights you'll get from this episode are :

• Prioritize purpose over presence to build self-assurance. Focusing on the “why” behind your actions makes your presence more genuine and impactful.
• Self-assurance, unlike confidence, is internally driven and resilient. It empowers leaders, especially women, to navigate uncertainty and advocate for equity.
• Organizations should foster “positive failure cultures” to remove the shame associated with mistakes, encourage risk-taking, and enhance team communication.
• Cultivate coherence by aligning personal values with organizational values, actions, and outcomes, which enhances personal value systems and team dynamics.
• Shift from control to curiosity to nurture potential. Leaders should ask more questions, actively listen, and build intentional relationships within their teams.
• Embrace mistakes and reject perfectionism to foster momentum and growth. Recognize that striving for perfection can hinder progress and innovation.

Find out more about Erin and her work here :

website : https://www.theerinherman.com/

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-herman-97832217/