the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast

Hosted by Tim Windsor

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Episodes

225

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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EN-CA

About the show

WE ARE ALL BORN WITH THE WONDROUS POTENTIAL TO STAND OUT FROM THE HERD AND LIVE A SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTFUL LIFE- SO, LET’S START RIGHT NOW! the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast … an Unusually Provocative Guide to Standing Out in a Crowded World

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October 16, 202636 min

Put YOUR MONEY where YOUR VALUES ARE: from the VAULT with DIANE OSGOOD

Put YOUR MONEY where YOUR VALUES ARE: from the VAULT with DIANE OSGOOD What if your next shopping decision had the power to change a life, or destroy it? This is a VAULT episode of the UNCOMMODiFiED podcast, a conversation we are unleashing again because it aged forward, not backward. It was first released as Episode 173 on May 12, 2025. Diane Osgood is an environmental economist with a PhD from the London School of Economics who spent more than 30 years inside Fortune 100 companies helping them, and the products they make, become more sustainable for themselves, their customers and our world. Then she had a facepalm moment. She had been working the supply side her whole career, and the real power was sitting on the demand side, with us. Consumer spending drives roughly 70% of the economy. We are not victims of the economy. We are the economy. Tim and Diane get honest about the gap between our values and our shopping carts. Nobody wakes up wanting to buy something made by child labour, yet convenience, habit and next day delivery keep winning. Diane explains greenwashing as a fancy word for deceit, why words like natural and environmentally friendly are often meaningless, and why trusted third party certifications are the place to start. She takes apart the assumption that ethical always costs more, and tells the story of a young campaigner in Paris writing letters about dolphins caught in tuna nets, only to learn 18 months later that consumer pressure from about 2% of shoppers had changed how the industry fishes. Diane's invitation is refreshingly simple. There is no right or wrong place to start, so start where your heart pulls hardest. Make one swap a week. Aim for progress, not perfection. When we live aligned with our values we drop the little lies we tell ourselves at the checkout, and we win every day. Like a kayaker who looks at the open water and not the rock, we can steer toward thriving economies and better jobs for more people. You are the kingmaker, and demand is king. Could you be brave enough to make one different decision this week? Connect with Diane at https://www.dianeosgood.com/ and find Your Shopping Superpower at https://www.dianeosgood.com/books Connect at https://uncommodified.com/ Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Host and Guide tim@uncommodified.com PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne and Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 13, 202642 min

the PILL and the PROMISE: a Disaster CLASS with ELLEN LUBENSKY

What if the disaster you survived is the story someone else needs to hear? This is the very first Disaster CLASS episode of the UNCOMMODiFiED podcast. Think of it as the anti master class. A master class celebrates success, control and certainty. A Disaster CLASS is about losing, learning and leaning into the pain and provocation of difficulty. Tim Windsor brings Disaster CLASS from two live community events onto the podcast and frames three ways we meet disaster: the disasters we create, the disasters that conscript us into their service, and the disasters that compel us to respond and refuse to let us stay silent. Ellen Lubensky's story is a disaster that conscripted her. She graduated from Stanford, clerked for Chief Justice Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court and practised medical malpractice law. At 16, in a psychiatric hospital, she was told she would never amount to anything. What followed was a quick diagnosis, 25 years of antipsychotics with almost no offer of therapy, 20 years of physical disability and a long benzodiazepine taper. All of it began with trusting the doctors and the pill in front of her. Tim and Ellen talk about our hunger for the quick fix, the hubris of thinking side effects only happen to other people, and the shame that grows when we hide what we cannot see. Every disaster that conscripts us can also compel us. Ellen now speaks publicly and is building a not-for-profit to warn others. She is clear that no is a full sentence, and that a provider who will not accept your no is a red flag. Second and third opinions are a right, not an insult. Shame grows in the dark and loses power in the light. To anyone struggling, she offers four simple words: I'm glad you're here. To families and caregivers, she says to listen, collaborate and give a voice to the person who is struggling. This is not a conversation telling anyone to stop their medication. It is an invitation to be informed, honest and brave. If you are in crisis, reach out for help today. Connect with Ellen at https://ellenlubensky.com/ and The Mental Health Choice Project at https://www.thementalhealthchoiceproject.org/ Connect at https://uncommodified.com/ Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Host and Guide tim@uncommodified.com PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne and Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

October 5, 202612 min

the COST of STAYING

the COST of STAYING Have you ever stayed at a party too long? The music fades, the night has already turned, and you are still standing there holding a drink you do not even want, telling yourself just one more minute. In this solo episode of UNCOMMODiFiED, Tim Windsor makes the case that this is not a party problem. It is a life problem. Some of us are still in roles, relationships, projects and identities that said goodbye long ago, and we call it loyalty when it is often just fear. This is not a case for quitting at the first hard moment. Grit matters, and some of the best chapters of life only open after the messy middle. Tim is against self betrayal disguised as virtue. On one side of a fine line, staying is devotion. On the other, it is denial with better PR. Staying too long makes you smaller, more careful where you used to be alive, and resentful while calling it fatigue. Persistent dread, exhaustion from emotional labour rather than meaningful effort, and joy that now feels rare are not drama. They are information. Tim draws the line between friction and corrosion: one asks more of you, the other takes more from you. He swaps "should I leave?" for a sharper question, "what am I protecting by staying?", and lays out a clear path. Tell yourself the truth without theatre, price the stay as seriously as the exit, leave clean, and make space on purpose, because that is the difference between escape and exit. Leaders get a challenge too: stop rewarding loyalty that costs people their self respect. If you have been softening a no into a maybe for too long, this episode is a mirror and a nudge. Every honest goodbye makes room for a better hello. Connect at https://uncommodified.com/ Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Host and Guide tim@uncommodified.com PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne and Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 24, 202615 min

the LIE of ARRIVAL

the LIE of ARRIVAL What if the finished version of you never arrives, and waiting for it is the real cost? In this solo episode of UNCOMMODiFiED, Tim Windsor takes aim at something most of us treat like a private failure: we are not done, not finished, and not whole in the way the world keeps promising. And while we wait to become that clean, sorted, wobble free version of ourselves, we quietly withhold the person we already are. Tim names the LIE of ARRIVAL, the marketable finish line sold by performance culture, and the tyranny of waiting that follows it. Drawing on a night at the Stratford Festival with Waiting for Godot, he holds up a mirror: you can say “Let’s go” and still never move. Incompleteness is not proof you are behind. It is proof you are still alive to your own becoming. The danger is making unfinished the reason to stop living. This conversation walks the two ditches that keep people ordinary: refusing to move until you feel whole, and never deciding because you are still becoming. The UNCOMMODiFiED move is living inside that tension with ownership, showing up as you are, telling the truth about what is unfinished, and still taking the next honest step. Listeners leave with a sharper set of provocations. A finished product pretends the writing is over, while a human being is still a draft. Presence beats polish when it matters. Almost ready is often delayed responsibility dressed as humility. Incomplete does not mean irresponsible; it means in progress with your eyes open. The invitation is to try the 70% version this week, not the fantasy finished self, and to remember that admiration is cheap while joining changes lives. Why listen: if you lead, sell, create, or coach while privately auditioning for your own confidence, this episode is a mirror and a practical invitation. Stop waiting to be whole to show up. Bring the unfinished you into the room, and let usefulness do the introducing. Connect at https://uncommodified.com/ Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host and Guide tim@uncommodified.com PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne and Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 16, 20261 hr 9 min

the POWER of YOU: UNCORKED with TIM WINDSOR

What if the accountability you’ve been avoiding isn’t taking away your power, but is actually the very place your power is waiting to be reclaimed? In this special cross-release episode of the What Juices You and UNCOMMODiFiED podcasts, Brady Wilson flips the mic on me as they collide around the ideas at the heart of Tim’s new book, THE POWER OF YOU, and challenge some of the baggage we’ve attached to the word accountability. Too often, accountability has become synonymous with blame, shame, finger-pointing and someone else “holding our feet to the fire.” But what if we’ve got the object of the holding completely wrong? What if accountability begins when we stop waiting to be held accountable and choose to hold ourselves accountable? Brady and Tim explore the powerful relationship between accountability, ownership and human agency, why candour without compassion can become brutal while compassion without candour isn’t really compassion at all, and how taking responsibility for our contribution to a problem can actually return to us the power to become part of its solution. This conversation gets deeply personal and intensely practical. Tim unpacks the “3 Rs” of Accountability: Reality, Responsibility and Response, and why failing to practise them leaves us trapped in a dangerous fourth R: Reaction. Brady and Tim wrestle with over-accountability and the damage we can do when we steal someone else’s opportunity to own, learn and grow. And ultimately, they push beyond accountability as merely a workplace behaviour toward something much bigger: What is the contribution that is uniquely yours to make, and what happens if you refuse to make it because you’ve convinced yourself it’s too small to matter? That may be the greatest challenge in this conversation. Stop being deceived by your own insignificance. Stop asking, “Who dropped the ball?” and start asking, “What must I do to help pick it up and advance it?” Don’t just listen to this episode. Let it collide with you, expose where you’ve surrendered your agency, and challenge you to own what only you can own. Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide tim@uncommodified.com https://uncommodified.com/ PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

September 6, 202639 min

WONDERING: UNCORKED with STACY ROSS

What if the way through the hardest moments of your life isn’t to find the answer faster, but to slow down long enough to wonder? In this deeply human UNCORKED conversation, Tim Windsor sits down with author, speaker and mental health advocate Stacy Ross to explore what happens when life refuses to follow the story we thought we were going to live. Stacy shares openly about raising a child with mental illness, navigating years of uncertainty and crisis, and discovering that resilience isn’t always about fixing what’s broken or finally reaching “the other side.” Sometimes it begins with taking a breath, telling ourselves the truth about what is happening, caring for ourselves in the middle of it, and remaining curious enough to ask, What else might be possible? Stacy’s experiences eventually became her memoir, Searching for Slippers, and helped shape her children’s book, I Wonder Where the Waves Come From, a celebration of childhood curiosity and the power of wonder. Along the way, Tim and Stacy challenge listeners to examine their own instinct to fix, control, catastrophize and rush toward resolution. What if you don’t need to have your story tied up with a beautiful bow before there is wisdom worth sharing? What if two seemingly contradictory things can be true at the same time: you can be hurting and hopeful, exhausted and resilient, uncertain and still powerful? Stacy challenges us to rediscover something many of us surrendered as we grew older: the ability to remain childlike without being childish, to be curious, perplexed, fascinated and open to possibilities we cannot yet see. Listeners will leave this conversation challenged to pause before reacting, breathe before fixing, practise honest acceptance of what is actually in front of them, make self-care an act of strength rather than selfishness, share wisdom even while their story is unfinished, and reclaim wonder as a source of resilience and possibility. Above all, Stacy offers a powerful reminder that even when another shoe inevitably drops, we still have choices. We can care for ourselves, tell the truth, remain curious, keep moving and remember that we have the power to affect change in ourselves and in the world around us. Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide tim@uncommodified.com https://uncommodified.com/ PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

August 22, 202640 min

UNCLENCHED: UNCORKED with LISA SCHERMERHORN

UNCLENCH: UNCORKED with LISA SCHERMERHORN What if the thing keeping you stuck is not what happened to you, but what you are still holding onto because of it? In this deeply provocative UNCORKED conversation, Tim Windsor reconnects with transformational leader, author, speaker, and human behaviour expert Lisa Schermerhorn to explore something most of us would rather avoid: forgiveness. Lisa is the author of "In Every Belief Is a Lie" and "We Are Quantum,” an expert in the unconscious mind and quantum healing, and is featured in the film Zero Limits . But this conversation goes far beyond credentials and theory. Lisa shares her own journey from profound personal pain and resentment to discovering forgiveness as a force that changed how she experienced herself, her relationships, and the possibilities unfolding around her. At the centre of our conversation is a challenging proposition: forgiveness is not primarily something you do for the person who hurt you. It is something you do to release yourself. Together, Tim and Lisa explore the Hawaiian forgiveness practice of Ho'oponopono, the pursuit of neutrality and nonattachment, the energy consumed by resentment, and what can happen when we stop rehearsing old wounds and begin releasing them. They wrestle with forgiveness not as weakness, sentimentality, or permission for what happened, but as an act of personal power. Lisa challenges us to consider how bitterness, anger, betrayal, and unresolved hurt can occupy enormous amounts of emotional space and energy, leaving less available for creativity, relationships, leadership, opportunity, and growth. They also push the conversation beyond our personal lives into workplaces, families, communities, and even our increasingly polarized culture, asking what might become possible if we could disagree without turning opponents into enemies. This episode will challenge you to identify what you are still carrying, what continues to trigger you, and what your refusal to release it may actually be costing you. You may not be ready to forgive. You may not even be ready to make the list Lisa describes. But perhaps you are ready to confront the price of staying exactly where you are. Because we all say we want growth, momentum, expansion, and flow, but flow does not move easily through clenched fists or clenched hearts. Forgiving your way forward isn't about pretending the past didn't happen. It is about refusing to let the past keep deciding what happens next. Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide tim@uncommodified.com https://uncommodified.com/ PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

August 6, 202647 min

BOUND to be FREE: UNCORKED with DOUG SMITH

What if the collapse of everything you built was not the end of your story, but the death of the false version of you that was never meant to survive? Doug Smith was a successful social policy professional, a husband, a father, and a man quietly carrying untreated trauma, depression, addiction, and shame. By the age of 40, the life he had constructed had collapsed. He had lost his career, his reputation, his freedom, and the right to be with his daughter. Sentenced to 15 years in prison after committing four robberies to support a crack cocaine addiction, Doug discovered that when every title, achievement, and external source of identity was stripped away, something more authentic remained. Today, Doug is a trauma-informed leadership specialist, policy advocate, and the author of The Path of Rocks and Thorns: Leadership Lessons from a Prison Cell. This deeply honest UNCORKED conversation between Tim Windsor and Doug Smith is not simply about addiction, incarceration, or image repair. It is about the rugged responsibility of redemption. Doug challenges us to stop anesthetizing the wounds we need to walk through, confront the false stories we have accepted about ourselves, and consider whether the darkest chapters of our lives might become the source of our greatest contribution. You will hear how service helped Doug rediscover his true identity, how investing in others became the best use of his time, and how his lived experience eventually helped change public policy and reduce barriers for thousands of people returning from prison. As you listen, prepare to wrestle with some uncomfortable questions. What pain are you still hiding behind performance? What part of your identity needs to die so something more honest can live? Where are you trying to escape the very experience that may be transforming you? Doug’s story reminds us that redemption is not a return to who we were before everything fell apart. It is the courageous reconstruction of who we were always meant to become. Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide tim@uncommodified.com https://uncommodified.com/ PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

July 20, 202638 min

WHO before What: UNCORKED with OMAR HUSSEIN

What if the life you trained for is keeping you from the life you were meant to live? How do you know when it's time to stop following the path everyone expected and start pursuing the one that gives you purpose? In this thought-provoking conversation, Tim Windsor sits down with Omar Hussein, a computer scientist turned social entrepreneur, whose journey across countries, cultures, and careers reveals a powerful truth: discovering who you are is often far more important than deciding what you do. Tim and Omar explore the courage it takes to walk away from certainty, why reflection is a competitive advantage, and how trying something imperfect is often better than endlessly searching for the perfect next move. Omar shares his remarkable philosophy of combining purpose with sustainability through social enterprise, explains the Japanese concept of Ikigai as a framework for meaningful work, and challenges us to think beyond individual success toward creating lasting impact in the lives of others. Along the way, they wrestle with questions about identity, community, leadership, listening, and what it really means to live a life of significance. If you've ever felt stuck, questioned your career, wondered whether there's something more, or wrestled with balancing success and purpose, this conversation is for you. You'll walk away challenged to reflect more deeply, pay closer attention to the people around you, embrace experimentation instead of perfection, and ask one of life's most important questions: Am I building a career, or am I building a life of impact? Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide tim@uncommodified.com https://uncommodified.com/ PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

June 28, 202652 min

where WISDOM Waits: UNCORKED with LENORE WALKER

What if the greatest wisdom you'll ever discover isn't somewhere "out there"... but waiting quietly inside you? Some conversations don't give you answers. They invite you into a different way of seeing. In this deeply thought-provoking UNCORKED conversation, Tim Windsor sits down once again with psychotherapist, artist, and returning guest Lenore Walker for one of the most unexpected conversations ever featured on UNCOMMODiFiED. Together they explore imagination and AI, the power of imagery, ancient archetypes, masculine and feminine wisdom, creativity, spirituality, and the surprising role that resistance often plays in our personal growth. Rather than asking listeners to adopt a particular belief, this conversation simply asks a far more courageous question: What if you've dismissed parts of yourself that have been trying to speak to you all along? Throughout the conversation, you'll wrestle with ideas that challenge conventional thinking. Why do images often reach us more deeply than words? What happens when we stop trying to explain everything intellectually and allow wisdom to emerge from somewhere deeper? How do we hold tension instead of rushing to certainty? Whether you're a leader, creator, entrepreneur, parent, or simply someone seeking greater wholeness, this episode will encourage you to rethink how you make decisions, experience beauty, and listen to your own inner voice. You may not leave with all the answers, but you'll almost certainly leave asking better questions, and that's exactly where transformation begins. Tim Windsor the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide tim@uncommodified.com https://uncommodified.com/ PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.