Notes on Resilience

Send us a textWork should feel human, not like a daily battle with noise, sameness, and stress. We sit down with Travis Hollman, CEO of Hollman Inc. and founder of MeSpace, to unpack how neuroinclusive design, compassionate leadership, and AI can transform focus, creativity, and retention. Travis shares his personal journey with dyslexia and ADHD, then connects it to a bold but practical vision: give people control over their environment, measure real cognitive gains, and build a culture that celebrates difference.We discuss why open offices compromise attention and dignity, and how customizable private spaces can boost measurable cognitive output by 26%—for both neurodiverse and neurotypical teammates. Travis explains how AI transforms idea-first thinkers into clear communicators by eliminating the friction of formatting and spelling, allowing teams to tackle more complex problems more efficiently.This conversation is packed with takeaways for founders, managers, and HR leaders: design for brains, not trends; align words and actions to earn trust in a world where everyone has a voice; and consider how higher productivity could fund a four-day workweek without sacrificing results. If you care about workplace culture, retention, and real performance—not just slide decks—this one will challenge how you think about space, tools, and leadership.Travis Hollman is the CEO and owner of Hollman, Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of locker solutions, and founder of MeSpace, a workspace design company creating modern, customizable workstations for neurodiverse professionals. Overcoming childhood challenges with Legg-Perthes disease and severe dyslexia, he now leverages his personal journey to inspire innovation and inclusivity in the workplace. Passionate about giving back, he serves on the Board for The Family Place and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Dallas, and he co-founded The Hollman Family Foundation with his wife, Stephanie.Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textWhat if leadership is a practice you start the moment a gap appears? That’s the lens Sebastián Torres-Calderon brings to our conversation. He was an intern who helped stabilize a hospitality company during COVID and later became its leader Sebastian traces his first leadership roles back to the soccer field, where playing midfield taught him to connect people, read the whole game, and lead by example. Those instincts carried into a crisis: answer questions nobody else can, shoulder the unglamorous work, and set a steady rhythm when uncertainty spikes. We discuss how servant leadership transforms presence and support into performance, what compassion really looks like at work—less pity, more caring plus honesty and accountability, and why cultures modeled after high-pressure restaurant kitchens burn out talent. And we explore practical ways to build trust and psychological safety without lowering the bar: clear goals, fast feedback, and a leader who removes friction so experts can do their best work.We also get specific about measurement. Sebastian shares how he balances culture and the bottom line using business results and employee Net Promoter Score, and why managers (not HR) own the daily experience of their teams. As the company grew from a handful of people to seventy across Spain, the mindset stayed the same: service over status, humility over control, and learning over certainty. The result is a resilient culture where people feel supported, standards stay high, and success compounds.Sebastián Torres-Calderon is the general manager at Stay U-nique. He started his career studying at Le Cordon Bleu and working in top kitchens such as the Ritz Carlton in Florida, where he learned discipline and leadership in high-pressure environments. He is also the co-founder of Tekea, a frozen tequeño brand.You can connect with Sebastián on LinkedIn.Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp.Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textA steady voice can feel like a life raft when the world flips. We sat down with emergency management expert and ICISF faculty member Dr. Mary Schoenfeldt to unpack how leaders actually help in the acute moments and the aftermath—what to say, what not to fake, and how to hand off the mic. Mary breaks down the brain science behind crisis: survival chemicals narrow our vision, mute our hearing, and shift us from executive function into fight, flight, or freeze. That’s why messages must be short, repeated, and grounded in plain language. It’s why “I don’t know yet, and here’s how we’ll find out” can earn more trust than polished certainty. And also why expecting one person to master every phase is a recipe for burnout. SMary also reframes public blame and second-guessing as a predictable search for control, not a verdict on character. That perspective helps leaders stay calm, focus on their needs, and maintain humane communication. Along the way, we talk about peer support, ethical leadership, and the small, repeatable actions that make a huge difference when attention is tunneled and emotions run hot. If you lead people—at work, in government, in schools, or at home—this conversation offers clear tools you can use before, during, and after the next hard day. Dr. Mary Schoenfeldticis is an ICISF Faculty member and an emergency management professional who is known for her work with business, health care, government, schools, and communities. She has responded to incidents around the world including hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, floods, airline accidents, school and community violence, and mass fatality incidents.You can reach Mary by email at: yoursafeplace@msn.comGo to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textResilience isn’t a solo grind or a wellness checklist—it’s a system that lives in people, teams, and the way an organization actually works under pressure. We sit down with strategic advisor and executive team coach Natasha Kehimkar to reframe resilience as connection. When pressure spikes, leaders often go inward—exactly when community and connection matter most. Natasha explains why belonging is a performance driver, how isolation quietly erodes collaboration and trust, and organizational resilience. Most corporate playbooks cover finance, IT, and safety, but skip the messy middle where strategy fails: people. Natasha lays out the building blocks—aligned leadership behaviors, psychological safety, and shared learning frameworks—and makes a compelling case for investing in middle managers. This is your core, the layer that translates direction into daily action and carries most employees through change. We break down why training alone rarely sticks, how to scaffold learning with real scenarios and feedback, and ways to turn off‑the‑shelf content into habits that fit your context.If you care about engagement, delivery speed, and reputation, you need a resilience strategy that goes beyond slogans. Walk away with a clearer blueprint for connection, alignment, and practical leadership development that strengthens your culture without soft‑pedaling performance. Natasha Kehimkar is a strategic advisor, executive team coach, and organizational transformation expert. Natasha and her team at Malida Advisors enable leaders and organizations to level up and thrive, address unhealthy friction, and drive transformation through expert coaching, inclusive leadership, and high-impact people strategies.You can learn more about Natasha on LinkedIn.Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textWhat if the key to becoming a better leader isn't about mastering others, but mastering yourself? When executive coach Massimo Backus joins me on this episode, he shares a revolutionary idea that's changing how we think about leadership: self-compassion as a leadership superpower.Most of us have been conditioned to believe that being hard on ourselves drives success. We push, criticize, and demand perfection, convinced that self-compassion would somehow make us weak or complacent. Yet research tells a completely different story. People who practice self-compassion are actually more resilient when facing adversity, more accountable for their mistakes, and better at learning from setbacks. \Massimo shares how our relationship with ourselves influences every other relationship in our lives, including how we show up as leaders. "I am a human being and that is enough." This simple yet profound statement offers a new foundation for leadership—one built on humanity rather than superhuman expectations. What would your leadership look like if you approached yourself with the same kindness you offer your team? How might your organization transform if psychological safety started with how you treat yourself?This conversation offers a refreshing perspective that could change everything about how you lead—starting with how you talk to yourself.Massimo Backus is a speaker, author, and executive coach who built his practice based on the radical idea that self-compassion is a leadership epiphany. His book is Human First, Leader Second.Website: https://massimobackus.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/massimo-backus/Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textWhat if the performance metrics we've relied on for decades are actually undermining our success? Radhika Dutt, entrepreneur, product leader, and author of Radical Product Thinking, challenges conventional leadership wisdom by revealing why traditional goals often backfire and introduces a compassionate approach to leadership through puzzle-setting and puzzle-solving frameworks.This eye-opening conversation explores how our current performance measurement systems originated from 1940s assembly lines, yet we continue applying them to complex knowledge work with predictably poor results. Radhika shares real-world examples from her 25 years of experience, including how companies can appear successful by their metrics right up until they suddenly fail. The culprit? Performance theater, where employees are incentivized to highlight wins and conceal problems, leaving leaders with a dangerous illusion of progress.The solution: Puzzle-setting and puzzle-solving. Rather than asking: What are your goals?, leaders can transform engagement by asking: What puzzles do you want to solve? This simple shift creates psychological safety and genuine enthusiasm. Her practical OHLs framework—Objectives, Hypotheses, and Learnings—provides the structure for implementing this approach without the anxiety of abandoning familiar systems.Ready to transform how you lead? Radhika Dutt is is an entrepreneur, speaker, product leader, and author of Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter which introduced a methodology now used in over 40 countries. She is also currently Advisor on Product Thinking to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator), and does consulting and training for organizations ranging from high-tech startups to multinationals on building radical products that create a fundamental change. She is now working on her second book, Escaping the Performance Trap: Why Goals and Targets Backfire and What Actually Works.Download the free OHLs toolkit at radicalproduct.com and start creating a more engaged, transparent, and truly compassionate workplace today.Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textDiscover why emotional intelligence might be the missing puzzle piece in your leadership strategy. Nada Nasserdeen, founder and CEO of Rise Up For You, unpacks the critical balance between compassion and maintaining high standards in today's workplace.She reveals the startling truth that 80% of business success depends not on technical prowess but on emotional intelligence, despite the fact that most companies continue investing primarily in technical training. She challenges the quick-fix mindset pervading leadership development, explaining why one-day retreats simply don't create lasting change. We explore the business impact of emotional intelligence--reduced turnover, increased engagement, higher sales performance, and solving costly people problems before they escalate. Nada shares practical insights on creating transparent company cultures where values are living principles guiding every aspect, from hiring to performance reviews.Perhaps most eye-opening is Gallup's consistent finding that 76% of North American workers remain disengaged while collecting paychecks. They are essentially being paid to underperform. This hidden productivity drain represents an enormous opportunity for companies willing to invest in meaningful emotional intelligence development.Whether you're struggling with high turnover, disengaged team members, or leadership effectiveness, this episode provides actionable strategies to transform your organization's approach to people development. Nada Nasserdeen is a speaker and the Founder and CEO of Rise Up For You, a global leader in soft skills and leadership development and author of Rise Up For You and Emotional Intelligence: The Path to Fulfillment, Influence, and Lasting Success. Her third book, Self-Confidence: How to Overcome the I’m Not Enough Mindset, is due out soon.Website: Riseupforyou.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/riseupforyou/Emotional Intelligence quiz: https://www.riseupforyou.com/eqquizGo to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textWhat if everything you thought you knew about leadership was based on an illusion? Hussein Hallak takes us on a remarkable journey from his childhood in Syria—where entrepreneur wasn't even a word in Arabic—to becoming a successful company founder who learned the hard way that command-and-control leadership doesn't work.Hussein admits he was once horrible to work with, until he discovered that true leadership means raising others up rather than asserting dominance. His transformation reveals how compassionate leadership creates organizational environments where innovation thrives. He challenges the fundamental premise that we can control our organizations, our teams, or even ourselves, and explains how our desperate attempts to maintain control actually sabotage our ability to adapt and grow. He reveals that these principles aren't new-age management theories but ancient wisdom about human psychology that we've temporarily forgotten during the industrial age. As he puts it, "That's how tribes work, that's how we work for a longer time." In returning to these collaborative roots, modern organizations can outpace competitors still clinging to outdated hierarchies.Ready to transform your approach to leadership? Listen to discover how compassionate leadership can revolutionize your organization while honoring the fundamental human need for meaning, connection, and contribution.Hussein Hallak is the CEO of Next Decentrum, a founder, entrepreneur, and strategist dedicated to helping people and organizations find clarity in complexity and build lasting impact. He is the author of The Dark Art of Life Mastery, a guide for living fearlessly, second-guessing less, and embracing true purpose.Website:  husseinhallak.comSubstack: husseinhallak.substack.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/husseinhallak Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textHow do you build an organization that grows without losing its soul?Kenny Lange believes the answer lies in compassionate leadership—but not in the way most people think.Kenny challenges the false dichotomy between organizational success and staying true to principles and argues that accountability represents one of the highest forms of compassion. In fact, organizational policies can often hinder authentic connection--they reflect what we do, not who we are.We also discuss why leaders struggle with compassion: they're being asked to give something they never received. With most people receiving their first management position a decade before receiving any leadership training, it's no wonder we see gaps in human-centered leadership. His solution? Start with self-compassion, then extend that same grace to teams while maintaining clear boundaries.Kenny Lange helps faith-forward founders scale without losing their soul. Creator of Lead to Scale™ and host of How Leaders Think podcast. Clients say he "calls you up, not out."You can learn more about Kenny on his website www.kennylange.com. Download his free 5-minute diagnostic to figure out how to grow without losing your soul and to receive a 44-page PDF customized to your leadership stage and style.Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor

Send us a textWhat's the true value of kindness in business? According to Tara May, CEO of Aspiritech, compassion is a powerful driver of innovation, revenue, and profit.Our conversation explores the ROI of kindness, a concept that challenges traditional views by connecting human-centered leadership directly to business outcomes. Tara shares compelling insights from her experience leading a tech company where over 90% of employees are autistic adults, revealing how embracing neurodiversity creates a workplace where everyone can thrive as their authentic selves.We discuss the leadership development gap that plagues many organizations. Too often, companies promote stellar individual contributors into management roles without providing proper training, setting them up to struggle. "Leadership is a very different skill from individual excellence," Tara explains, "and it's a muscle that needs to be built up over time." This perspective offers a refreshing take on why compassionate management requires intentional cultivation.As we navigate technological disruptions like generative AI, Tara makes a compelling case that psychological safety—the ability to take risks and fail without fear—has never been more crucial. Companies that create environments where people feel safe experimenting will be the ones that thrive through constant change.Whether you're a seasoned executive or an emerging leader, this episode offers both practical wisdom and inspiring vision for creating workplaces where kindness and business success go hand in hand.Tara May is a leader in the movement for neurodiversity in the workplace. She is CEO of Aspiritech, a revolutionary tech company that employs more than 100 autistic adults representing more than 90% of its team. Tara is co-director of Neurowrx and a member of the strategic committee for HAAPE, or Helping Adults with Autism Perform and Excel, advocating for neurodiversity and employment both nationally and internationally and is a renowned speaker championing embracing neurodiversity, mental health, and most of all kindness, in the workplace.You can learn more about Tara and here work at Aspiritech or on LinkedIn.Go to https://betterhelp.com/resilience or click Notes on Resilience during sign up for 10% off your first month of therapy with my sponsor BetterHelp. Support the show__________ Producer / Editor: Neel PanjiInvite Manya to inspire and empower your teams and position your organization as a forward-thinking leader in well-being, resilience, and trauma sensitivity.Please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice. It really helps others find us.#trauma #resilience #compassion #MentalHealth #CompassionateLeadership #leadership #survivor