Dr. Matt Kodsi on "A Story Tale: ABCs of the Stories We Tell Ourselves,"

Host Julie Harris Oliver welcomes encore guest Dr. Matt Kodsi to discuss his book, "A Story Tale: ABCs of the Stories We Tell Ourselves," and his journey into writing. Kodsi explains how people fill gaps in knowledge by creating stories—often with a negative bias—and shares examples. He describes the book's short, parable-style format (about 72 pages; 1 hour on Audible), its framing as a Zoom conversation between a corporate executive father and journalism-major daughter, and its ABC framework for examining stories and their impacts. Kodsi outlines a planned five-book series on presence, life strategies, organizational culture, and identity, notes the book's addition to the University of Georgia MHA curriculum, and shares where to buy it on Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and Audible.

00:00 Welcome and Format

00:31 Encore Guest Matt

01:22 Why Write a Book

02:22 Stories We Tell Ourselves

03:55 Real World Examples

07:11 Stories About Ourselves

08:13 Building the Book Plot

12:31 Series of Five Books

15:55 Catching Your Own Stories

19:38 Who Its For

22:28 Where to Get It

23:38 Closing Invitation

Buy the book

Find Dr. Matt Kodsi here

Julieharrisoliver.com

Julie Harris Oliver welcomes Dr. Michael Hein, author of "Shifting Toward Unorthodoxy," to discuss "the first work" of leadership: prioritizing wellbeing as foundational leadership work in volatile, complex environments, especially healthcare. Hein explains that leaders often forget they have a body, yet leadership performance depends on physical health, recovery, relationships, and spiritual meaning; without these, leaders struggle to stay composed, curious, and effective. He describes how socialized workplace norms push high performers to work harder rather than recover, and argues CEOs especially must model healthy boundaries because behavior sets organizational expectations more than words. Drawing parallels to athletic overtraining syndrome, he notes burnout reflects the same maladaptive effects of unrelenting stress without recovery. Hein recommends a regular recovery cadence—daily routines, monthly reflection time, and periodic longer breaks—planned on the calendar and approached as experiments.

00:00 Welcome to the Show

00:37 Meet Dr Michael Hein

01:41 From CEO to Coach

03:12 Defining First Work

04:39 Body as Leadership Platform

06:51 Why Self Care Fails

09:57 Leaders Set the Tone

14:30 Athlete Burnout Parallel

17:58 Cadence of Recovery

24:42 Start Small Experiments

28:34 Wellbeing Is Leadership Work

30:21 Wrap Up and Invitation

To find Dr. Hein

—MEDI Leadership's page:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/medileadership/

—Dr. Hein's page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heindoc/

Host Julie Harris Oliver welcomes leadership coach Louise Hansell to discuss listening to and trusting your inner voice or "internal compass." Louise shares how she moved from corporate HR and transformation work into coaching, and explains that intuition is often subtle, felt through the body, and can be drowned out by societal, family, and logical "shoulds." They explore distinguishing intuition from the rational mind and a protective ego voice that reacts with fear and urgency, noting Louise's view that intuition appears in the first few seconds before other voices take over. Louise suggests building discernment through mindfulness, silence, and low-stakes experiments, using full-body cues like expansion, contraction, relief, tension, or persistence. They also address people-pleasing, clear no's, and tolerating uncertainty while doors gradually open. Louise closes with an Einstein quote about honoring intuition alongside reason.

00:00 Welcome to Deep Work

00:40 Meet Louise Hansel

02:18 Louise Coaching Origin

04:01 Theme Inner Compass

04:44 Hearing Versus Trusting

08:35 Body Based Yes No

09:29 Julie Pivot Story

13:32 Louise Three Voices

16:45 Naming Mind Protector

19:03 Ego and Body Listening

19:40 Mindfulness vs Thoughts

20:29 Silence and Inner Voice

23:02 Clean No Boundaries

25:15 Waiting for Doors

27:20 Trusting the Compass

28:48 Seattle Moving Example

31:26 First Three Seconds

32:42 Low Stakes Practice

34:41 Einstein Quote Wrap

35:30 Where to Find Louise

35:46 Final Invitation

Louisehansell.com

Host Julie Harris Oliver welcomes Dion Elliott Jensen, author of "Conscious Footsteps," who describes becoming an "accidental author" by using writing and long walks to process intense life changes and consolidate his journals into a book structured as standalone "walks." They focus on Dion's central theme, "I am who I am, not what I do," shaped by being abruptly fired from a CEO role and realizing he had outsourced his worth to his job. Dion explores how "what do you do?" creates instant masks, bias, and power dynamics that block real human connection, and suggests asking disarming, deeper questions about who someone is. He reflects on hardship-driven ego death, and how he now leads with less outcome attachment, wider "guardrails," and greater softness, trust, and authenticity.

00:00 Welcome to Deep Work

00:39 Meet Dion Jensen

01:37 Why He Wrote

03:41 Core Theme Identity

06:05 Masks and Job Titles

12:28 Better Questions to Ask

15:46 Tell Me About You

18:50 From Ego to Love

20:55 I Am Poem Exercise

23:56 Leadership After Shift

26:05 Parting Advice and Links

27:13 Closing Invitation

Instagram: @dionelliottjensen

Web: www.consciousfootsteps.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/stores/Dion-Elliott-Jensen/author/B0G3WJP22G?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Host Julie Harris Oliver interviews business leader and Time Billionaires podcast host Rebecca Shaddix on reclaiming 90-second to 15-minute gaps between meetings to reduce frantic context shifting and improve happiness, energy, and fulfillment. Shaddix describes how a COVID-era habit of replacing scrolling with tiny actions—like brief audiobook listening, pushups, breathing, or stepping outside—compounded into hundreds of books a year and a research-backed framework of six micro-moment categories (reflection/mindset, connection, movement, nature/sensory awareness, play/creativity, and gratitude/mindfulness). She emphasizes planning ahead via a weekly Friday reflection ("what went well, what didn't, what do I want more of") and focusing on a realistic "floor" rather than aspirational "ceiling" goals. They also discuss labeling meetings with a single intuitive word to clarify next steps and reduce lingering anxiety, and the broader theme of agency over time as a guardrail against resentment and burnout.

00:00 Welcome and Format

00:36 Meet Rebecca Shaddix

01:50 Time Billionaires Origin

03:35 Why Micro Gaps Matter

08:38 Nature Minutes Add Up

09:10 Plan Your Micro Moments

09:38 Six Micro Moment Categories

10:24 Tiny Creativity Reset

13:31 Balance Without Perfection

15:21 Micro Workouts Not Gyms

16:13 ADHD and Starting Small

18:35 Stop Self Blame

19:14 Floor Not Ceiling

20:13 Mindful Micro Moments

23:11 Gratitude Deep Dives

24:37 Mindfulness Anywhere

25:31 One Word Debriefs

31:06 Reclaim Time Agency

34:10 Closing And Invitation

Julie Harris Oliver welcomes Dr. Kim Stepanski, an executive coach and organizational psychologist, to explore what leadership feels like right now amid rapid change, AI disruption, geopolitical volatility, and polarization. They discuss how leaders face loneliness, pressure to have answers, and the challenge of guiding teams whose perspectives are shaped by narrowing information "echo chambers." Kim emphasizes building capacity to see beyond one's own lens, getting comfortable with not knowing, and using reflection, connection, and community to stay grounded and humane. Julie shares practices such as acknowledging heaviness, simple meeting check-ins (e.g., green/yellow/red), and creating space for people to share what they're carrying without leaders needing to fix it. Kim describes using small experiments, grounding tools, and peer groups—especially for senior women—to build vulnerability, perspective-taking, and support, and closes with ways to connect with her online.

00:00 Welcome to Deep Work

00:33 Meet Kim Stepanski

02:17 Why Kim Chose Coaching

04:16 Leading Right Now

06:56 Filters and Echo Chambers

09:30 Simple Human Check Ins

12:26 Coaching Tools and Experiments

15:07 Practicing the Uncomfortable

15:53 Building Leader Community

20:37 Systems and Human Centered Work

26:42 Staying Grounded and Closing

Host Julie Harris Oliver welcomes transition and emerging leaders coach Ben Basilan, who shares how layoffs in his industry and his background in counseling and UX research led him to coaching. They explore identity as a root issue in major transitions such as becoming a manager or small business owner, experiencing layoffs, divorce, aging, and retirement, focusing on what feels fixed versus changeable and how "inner saboteurs" formed in childhood can stop serving us. Ben describes growing up as a Filipino immigrant kid navigating cultural and emotional silence, moving states, and realizing he was gay, then later finding greater openness through grad school and counseling training. They discuss authenticity at work as a spectrum tied to psychological safety and how integrating Ben's identities as coach and researcher improved his motivation and communication. They also address identity clashes with loved ones amid polarized beliefs and the role of coaching in healing.

00:00 Welcome to Deep Work

00:31 Meet Ben Basilan

01:19 Why Ben Chose Coaching

02:10 Identity as a Theme

02:53 Transitions Trigger Identity

06:01 What Can Change

07:15 Roots of Rationality

09:33 Move South and Isolation

12:48 Coming Out and Becoming Whole

14:51 Authenticity at Work

18:40 Merging Work Identities

23:26 Life Stages and Reinvention

28:43 When Identities Clash

32:53 Coaching as Healing Purpose

33:54 Where to Find Ben

34:26 Closing Invitation

Host Julie Harris Oliver welcomes executive coach and former CFO Heather Pomerantz to discuss living your authentic self through clarifying core values and purpose. Heather shares how her early love of listening and connection, a long achievement-driven finance career, and a Unilever purpose program led her to coaching when she realized she was in physical pain from misalignment. They outline steps: identify core values from a word list, narrow them, define what each means personally, translate them into "I am" statements, assess alignment, and decide what must shift to integrate joy now rather than waiting for "someday." They explore freedom as a sample value, signs of misalignment like anxiety and Sunday dread, authenticity in interviewing, and how leaders can improve results and retention by understanding employees' values and reshaping responsibilities.

00:00 Welcome to Deep Work

00:36 Meet Heather Pomerantz

02:23 Heather's Coaching Origin

03:32 Achievement to Purpose

06:20 CFO Misalignment Wakeup

08:17 Living Authentic Self

08:53 Find Your Core Values

11:36 Define Values and Freedom

13:47 Check Alignment and Shift

15:23 Why Wait Integrate

19:29 Lead Through Values

22:04 Strengths Versus Values

28:15 Values in Career Transitions

30:56 Somatic Signs of Alignment

34:19 Closing Takeaways and Links

Dr. Matt Kodsi's book: A Story Tale - ABC's of the stories we tell ourselves