Create Magic At Work® is a leadership podcast exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. Through conversations with visionary leaders, coaches, authors, and entrepreneurs, the show examines how leaders can navigate uncertainty, cultivate self awareness, and create workplaces that are both high performing and deeply human. Many episodes explore themes such as transformational leadership, intuition in decision making, organizational change, and the inner work required to lead well. The show also introduces frameworks rooted in spiritual intelligence, including SQ21, the Archetypes of Change, and the Edgewalker philosophy. These perspectives help listeners understand how people respond to transformation and support leaders in walking the edge into quantum leadership, where business decisions ripple outward for the greater good. Listeners of Create Magic At Work® are leaders who want to edgewalk rather than sleepwalk through their work and life. They want to bring their full selves into the spaces they inhabit, including their spirituality from a faith neutral lens. Many are founders, coaches, and professionals seeking deeper meaning in their work and lives. If you care about leadership that blends strategy, spiritual intelligence, and the courage to walk the edge during times of change, you're in the right place.
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October 1, 20261 min
Going Within (A Moment of Reflection)
Today’s reflection explores how moments of solitude can create the clarity we need to move forward. By making space to go within, we can listen more closely to ourselves and consider the decisions that may bring greater harmony and peace of mind. Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck . You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience
September 29, 202624 min
The Spark Sessions: Your Creativity Knows More Than You Do - Dreams, Divergence, and Precognition
What if your creativity knows something before you do? In this month’s episode Rachel Efron’s asks her most provocative question yet: if dreams can reveal truths outside of our conscious understanding, can our creativity do the same? Inspired by an experience teaching dreamers in Delphi, Greece, Rachel explores the intimate relationship between dreaming and creating, and the associative state of mind they share. Through neuroscience, personal stories, and the strange symbolic conversation between her own songs and dreams, Rachel considers what’s possible when we emphasize the connection between dreaming and creativity. She offers examples of dreams informing creative lives, and suggests that likewise, our creativity can inform our dreaming. She shares examples of her creative work being as prophetic as dreams: songs describing relationships and choices she had not yet experienced. Rachel then invites listeners into a series of association exercises she created to move us beyond effortful thinking (“convergent thinking”) and toward the looser thinking of dreaming (“divergent thinking”). She teaches listeners how to begin developing a dictionary of symbols available to both your creativity and dreaming. Sparks of Insight Creativity and dreaming share a mental process: divergent thinking. Dreaming is creativity practice; creativity is dreaming practice. Anytime we dream or create, we are deepening our relationship to both. If prophetic dreams are possible, what about prophetic creativity? A provocative exploration of whether a song, painting, or poem can sense what is still becoming. Effort is not always the fastest way forward. Stepping away from a problem and doing an “association journey” can lead us toward the small truths we need to make real progress. Rest creates a landing place for ideas. Sometimes what feels like lack of inspiration is really a lack of internal space for your plentiful new ideas. Ready to discover your unique creative landscape? Download the Muzi app at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id6739667782 to take the Creativity Assessment, and uncover your Spark profile. Then email your Spark to Rachel at rachel@rachelefron.com for a chance at a Spark Reading, where Rachel will offer personalized insight into what your creativity most needs from you right now. About Rachel: Rachel Efron is an Oakland-based songwriter, producer, and creativity coach. She's released four full-length albums of original songs, plus written for such legends as Narada Michael Walden and Journey. Rachel is a premier songwriting coach for songwriters across the world, and has over fifteen years experience helping artists, leaders, and teams find their voice. In 2022, Rachel turned her methods into a comprehensive framework and groundbreaking app, Muzi, to help everyone —artists and non-artists alike—access greater creativity in their lives. email: rachel@rachelefron.com website: https://www.rachelefron.com/creativity Download the Muzi app at http://itunes.apple.com/app/id6739667782 Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
September 24, 20261 min
Integrity (An Edgewalker Message)
Today’s Edgewalker card explores how integrity is shaped by the ongoing practice of knowing what we value and choosing to live in alignment with it. When our words, decisions, and behavior reflect those values, accountability becomes part of how we lead and live.\ Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck . You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience
September 22, 202641 min
How to Style What You Own: Executive Wardrobe Tips with Celebrity Stylist JenniLee
What if getting dressed is less about fashion and more about the relationship you have with yourself? Our clothes communicate before we ever say a word. They can help us feel visible, confident, creative, and aligned with who we are becoming. They can also keep us connected to an older version of ourselves that no longer quite fits. Amy and celebrity stylist and image consultant JenniLee explore personal style and confidence, authentic professional style, and why so many people have closets full of clothes while still feeling as though they have nothing to wear. JenniLee shares why the answer is often more styling, not more shopping, and how career changes, body changes, comfort habits, and old beliefs about clothing can shape the way we show up. They also explore individuality in the workplace, JenniLee’s SPARK Method, the limitations of AI and personal styling, thoughtful travel wardrobes, and the growing possibilities of resale and vintage fashion. Beneath all of it is a deeper invitation to become curious again. Getting dressed can be practical and professional without becoming another rule to follow. It can also be playful, intentional, kind, and deeply personal. Sometimes creating magic at work begins before we ever walk out the door. Take JenniLee’s Style Quiz to help you meet your style archetype and bring more of you into what you wear. https://www.jennileestylist.consulting/quiz Moments That Create Momentum: Style Is a Language – Explore what your clothes communicate not only to the people around you, but also back to yourself. When Your Closet No Longer Fits Who You Are – Understand why career shifts, body changes, and old habits can make getting dressed feel unexpectedly difficult. More Styling, Less Shopping – Learn how working differently with what you already own can reduce overwhelm and reconnect you with your personal style. Professional Does Not Have to Mean Invisible – Discover how fit, color, and thoughtful details can help you show up credibly without dressing like everyone else. Getting Dressed Can Be a Ritual – See how playfulness, creativity, and kindness can transform an everyday task into a more intentional way of showing up. About the Guest: JenniLee is a NYC-based fashion stylist and image consultant with over two decades of experience helping creatives and ambitious professionals dress with confidence, clarity, and intention. Her celebrity and editorial client list includes Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, Lauryn Hill, Elton John, and One Direction, with work featured in Harper's Bazaar, Rolling Stone, InStyle, People, and Real Simple. She also appears regularly on morning shows like Good Morning Atlanta and Fox News Good Day New York as a style expert. JenniLee's philosophy is "More Styling, Less Shopping," and she helps her clients build wardrobes that align with who they're becoming, not just what's in their closet. https://www.instagram.com/jennileestylist/ About Amy: Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work. She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™ . Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality. Connect with Amy: https://createmagicatwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427 https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
September 17, 20261 min
Partnership (A Moment of Reflection)
Today’s reflection explores how meaningful partnerships are strengthened through support, trust, and reciprocity. When we become intentional about the relationships surrounding our work, we can create greater harmony while finding a healthier balance between giving and receiving. Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck . You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience
September 15, 202633 min
The Invisible Work of Middle Management | Doug Barna
What happens when the job everyone assumes is becoming obsolete is actually where some of the most human work is happening? Middle managers live between pressure and people. They translate expectations from above, absorb problems before senior leaders ever see them, and help teams move through conflict, uncertainty, and burnout. Much of that work is invisible until it stops happening. Amy and Doug Barna explore what leadership looks like as AI becomes increasingly capable of handling coordination, reporting, and other technical tasks that once defined management. Doug argues that this shift does not make human leadership less important. It exposes the part of leadership technology cannot simply automate: understanding what motivates a particular person, noticing emotion, listening closely, building trust, and staying present when a conversation becomes uncomfortable. The discussion also reframes the skills we often call “soft.” Active listening, social awareness, empathy, and relationship management are not decorative additions to leadership. They are the capacities that allow someone to lead people rather than simply manage information. As technology becomes better at organizing the work, the question becomes more human, not less. Who can still read the room, recognize the person inside the performance, and help people stay connected when pressure pulls them apart? Moments That Create Momentum: The Invisible Work Between the Layers – Explore why middle managers often carry the human side of leadership that others do not see. When AI Removes the Administrative Work – Discover why empathy, trust, and relationship skills may matter even more as technology takes on more technical tasks. People Tell You What Motivates Them – Learn how listening closely to concerns and frustrations can reveal what someone actually needs from their leader. Presence Changes Difficult Conversations – Understand how shifting attention away from your own discomfort can help create more trust and connection. The Skills We Carry Beyond Work – See how stronger listening, awareness, and compassion can influence not only teams, but relationships and communities too. About the Guest: Doug Barna is a Team Building and Leadership Coach with Acclaimed Summit, LLC. With over 20 years of experience as a project leader and people manager, Doug has dedicated over a decade to studying psychology and organizational behavior, honing the soft skills that are crucial for effective leadership. Doug’s not just another coach; he’s the compassionate mentor he wished he had so many years ago, bridging the gap between a scientific mind and an empathetic approach. In this quest for clarity and connection, Doug developed strategies that cut through superficial tactics and dive into the foundational elements that work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougbarna/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dougbarna About Amy: Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work. She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™ . Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality. Connect with Amy: https://createmagicatwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427 https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
September 10, 20261 min
Self-Awareness (An Edgewalker Message)
Today’s Edgewalker card explores how self-awareness deepens when we become intentional about where we seek inspiration and guidance. By tuning into something beyond ourselves, we create space to better understand our thoughts, values, and the way we move through the world. Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck . You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience
September 8, 202636 min
Break the "I'll Be Happy When" Trap: Building Habits for Inner Peace | Michele Phillips
What if the life you keep working toward is already asking to be noticed? For high achievers, happiness can become conditional. The next promotion. The next revenue goal. The end of the chaotic month. Peace is always waiting somewhere beyond the next finish line, while the finish line keeps moving. Amy Lynn Durham and Michele Phillips explore the emotional cost of conditional happiness, high achiever burnout, and a culture that has normalized running on adrenaline instead of alignment. Michele does not ask ambitious people to stop wanting more. She asks a more uncomfortable question: can you still feel satisfaction with where you are while remaining open to what comes next? Their conversation moves through happiness habits, personal energy, comparison, daily rituals, and the small resets that help leaders return to center when pressure takes over. It also examines the difference between appearing happy and being honest with yourself about what you actually feel. Inner peace is not a permanent destination. Neither is happiness. Both require a relationship with attention, values, and the stories we repeatedly tell ourselves. Maybe the goal is not to stop achieving. Maybe it is to stop requiring the next achievement to prove that this life is finally enough. Moments That Create Momentum: When Happiness Keeps Moving With the Finish Line – Explore how tying fulfillment to the next achievement can leave high performers constantly striving without ever fully arriving. Running on Adrenaline Instead of Alignment – Discover why urgency and pressure can feel productive while quietly disconnecting leaders from their body, values, and internal sense of direction. The Difference Between Looking Fine and Feeling Aligned – Understand why performing happiness for others is different from ignoring your own emotions and disconnecting from what is actually happening inside. A Full Life Is Not a Full Calendar – See how constant activity can become proof of success, while slowing down reveals whether those experiences actually reflect what matters to you. The Story You Repeat Becomes the Outcome You Expect – Hear how changing the language you use about yourself can shift attention from old limitations toward more conscious possibilities. About the Guest: Michele Phillips is a celebrated leadership coach, keynote speaker, and author of two books, the award-winning Happiness is a Habit - Simple Daily Rituals that Increase Energy , Improve Wellbeing and Add Joy to Every Day, and her brand new book, Energize Your Happiness - Tap into Your Personal Energy and Shape Your Destiny. This transformative new book blends neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and spiritual wisdom to help people elevate their energy and shape their destiny. With more than 25 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, Michele has inspired thousands to create motivating beliefs, powerful habits, and lives filled with purpose. She is the founder of Key Performance, a sought-after consultant known for her “Write Your Outcome” methodology, and host of the podcast by the same name. Michele has a Master's degree from Fordham University in Organizational Development, and is a certified practitioner of Positive Psychology and emotional intelligence. She wrote Energize Your Happiness to help people build the energy for change. She hosts Write Your Outcome podcast to help people raise their consciousness. She works with organizations to create more conscious leaders and individual contributors. https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-phillips-9409707 https://www.instagram.com https://www.facebook.com/Happinessisahabitaway
September 3, 20261 min
Finances (A Moment of Reflection)
Today’s reflection explores how financial success can grow from intentional decisions, thoughtful leadership, and clearly defined goals. By considering where we direct our support and attention, we create space for greater confidence and possibility around our finances. Start your own journey of reflection, creativity, and intentional growth with the Create Magic at Work Journal or bring the wisdom of the Edgewalker mindset into your daily life with your own copy of the Edgewalker Card Deck . You can find both at https://magicthreadmedia.com/experience
September 1, 202634 min
The Unpaid Caregiver Crisis: The Hard Truth Workplaces and Families Ignore | Monica Vest Wheeler
What happens when taking care of someone else slowly requires you to disappear from your own life? Family caregiving rarely arrives according to plan. A diagnosis changes. A parent declines. A spouse becomes dependent. Roles reverse, schedules collapse, and someone quietly becomes responsible for another human being twenty-four hours a day. Amy and Monica Vest Wheeler explore the realities behind caregiver burnout, unpaid caregiving responsibilities, and the pressure to keep performing at work while privately carrying grief, medical decisions, and exhaustion. For many working caregivers, the strain is not only emotional. It can affect income, career stability, health, and the ability to remain in the workforce at all. Monica challenges the assumption that families should simply absorb this responsibility without consequence. The conversation turns toward workplace support for caregivers, the limitations of rigid bereavement and leave policies, and why flexible work for caregivers can be an act of both humanity and good leadership. Support can also begin closer to home. Another family member learns the care routine. Someone finally says what is really happening. A caregiver stops answering “fine” and allows another person to help carry the weight. Caregiving can be an expression of extraordinary love. But love does not make a person limitless. Sustainable care requires us to protect the life of the person receiving care without sacrificing the life of the person providing it. Moments That Create Momentum: When the Caregiver Becomes Invisible – Explore how responsibility for another person can consume so much emotional and physical energy that the caregiver’s own needs quietly disappear. The Workplace Mask Caregivers Learn to Wear – Understand why employees may appear composed and productive while privately managing grief, medical crises, and round-the-clock caregiving responsibilities. Why Flexibility Is More Than an Employee Perk – Discover how small adjustments to schedules or work location can help organizations retain experienced employees instead of losing them to caregiving demands. The Cost of Keeping Caregiving a Family Secret – See how shame, privacy, and poor communication can leave one person carrying responsibilities that could be shared across family, friends, and community. Your Life Is Just as Worthy as the Person You’re Caring For – Hear why caregiving cannot require complete self-erasure, and how protecting the caregiver may ultimately protect the person receiving care too. About the Guest: Monica Vest Wheeler speaks with heart, humor, and hard-earned wisdom, helping caregivers, families, and communities navigate some of life’s most difficult moments. Her work is rooted in lived experience, including hundreds of interviews, volunteer work at more than 180 stroke and brain injury camps nationwide, facilitating hundreds of support and discussion groups, personal caregiving journeys, and her own openness about mental health. She has written more than a dozen books on Peoria, Illinois, history, along with five books exploring health, grief, and the emotional realities families face during catastrophic life events. As a writer and presenter, Monica is unafraid to address the questions many people avoid. She brings truth, warmth, humor, and practical clarity to conversations about caregiving, grief, communication, and emotional survival. Her work gives caregivers permission to ask for help without shame, encourages patients and survivors to express what they are experiencing, and reinforces one of the lessons she has seen repeatedly: families who communicate are more likely to stay connected through crisis rather than fall apart. https://www.monicavestwheeler.com https://www.facebook.com/monicavestwheeler https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicavestwheeler/ About Amy: Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work. She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™ . Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality. Connect with Amy: https://createmagicatwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427 https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
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