Matt West didn't have one sideways moment — he's had a sideways career. Musician, graphic designer, creative director, consultant, and now leadership coach: every time he got comfortable, the context changed underneath him. In this conversation, Matt (author of Bend, Don't Break: How to Adapt in the New World of Work) talks with KiKi about the layoff he now calls one of the best things that ever happened to him, and why he doesn't recommend saying that to anyone still in the middle of theirs.

They dig into the difference between healthy stress (eustress) and the kind that actually breaks people, why curiosity lowers the emotional temperature that control tends to raise, and how AI fear often has less to do with technology and more to do with losing the story we tell about who we are. Matt also opens up about "credible vulnerability," trusting himself, others, and systems in very different ways, and why he's grieved his professional identity more times than he can count.

The throughline is this...bending isn't weakness. It's what happens when you're rooted in values instead of titles. And it's the difference between adjusting and shattering when the ground shifts.

Read Matt West's book! Bend, Don't Break: https://amzn.to/4wlStPb

• 00:00 — Opening: what it means when things go sideways
• 00:56 — Matt West introduces Bend, Don't Break
• 01:34 — Why Matt calls it a sideways career, not a sideways moment
• 05:31 — Parenting decisions that were "imperfect, just messy"
• 09:38 — Where AI fear actually comes from (identity, not technology)
• 13:18 — Turning emotions into data instead of threats
• 15:32 — The layoff Matt now calls one of the best things that happened
• 17:56 — "The end of expertise" and why adaptability keeps you in the room
• 20:12 — Toxic positivity vs. healthy positivity and mental scripts
• 25:30 — Trust in yourself, trust in others, trust in systems
• 29:04 — Bend vs. break: the actual difference explained
• 29:43 — Eustress: the healthy stress nobody talks about
• 32:34 — What are you rooted to? Titles, opinions, or values?
• 36:17 — Why Matt wrote the book (it started as LinkedIn posts)
• 40:46 — Grieving identity, over and over again
• 43:04 — Advice for anyone feeling the ground shift right now
• 45:54 — Closing thought: bending is awareness, not weakness

Matt West's book: Bend, Don't Break: How to Adapt in the New World of Work — benddontbreakbook.com (also available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org)

Matt West's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/westpractices