What Do You Know To Be True?

Hosted by Roger Kastner

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103

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Oct 2026

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About the show

What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast for professionals discovering, building, or already living into their purpose and possibilities. Each episode is a real conversation with a guest who's navigated their own reinvention: from discovering a talent built out of something difficult, to now using their superpower in service of others. Their stories offer new perspective, validate what you already know, and inspire your next move. Wherever you are on that path, these conversations are for you. Each conversation gives you something real: a guest's honest story, a practice or perspective you can actually use, confirmation you're on the right path, and you're not alone. Roger Kastner is an organization development practitioner and a self-leadership coach who helps leaders and teams move past repeated patterns and limiting beliefs to create the clarity and alignment necessary to achieve their goals and become more of their possible selves. He created What Do You Know To Be True? to amplify the stories and experiences of others who have made that pivot to become more of their possible selves. #personaldevelopment #possibilities #reinvention #superpower #leadershipdevelopment leadership #coaching #RogerKastner

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October 29, 2026Episode 8347 min

Why Leaders Can't See What the Room Already Knows | Kristine Frost on Leadership Blind Spots

Why do leaders miss what everyone else sees? Kristine Frost explores how leadership blind spots keep teams from effective decision-making. Identifying your own leadership blind spots is the first step toward better inclusion and more accurate decision-making. By learning to recognize the signals your team is sending, you can move from performing as a static authority to becoming a responsive partner. We discuss why this shift is critical for high-level organizational health and personal professional growth. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Kristine Frost spent years in the C-suite and now advises it, and her argument is about who never gets a seat. The room goes quiet, the chief executive answers their own questions, and the real conversation happens in the hallway afterward. She offers a way back in: walk the plant floor, take the input without giving up the decision, and stop treating the people most affected as an afterthought. Key Takeaways • Most C-suite teams do not struggle because they lack diverse perspectives. They struggle because the room is not ready to hear them. • If you are different, it is lonely. Being the only woman, the only disabled voice, or the only LGBTQ voice in the room has a real cost, and masking it is exhausting. • Walking the shop floor and dressing like the people doing the work earns kinship, not just compliance, and it makes the decision land better once it is made. • Clarity about decision rights increases contribution rather than reducing it. People lean in harder when they know their input matters and the accountability is not theirs. • When a leader disciplines their ego in the room, the team starts behaving like a team instead of seven individuals competing for the decision. • Being told "you're just HR" is the price of being undervalued. The answer is to speak from the enterprise view rather than the functional one. Questions This Episode Answers • Why does my team agree with me too quickly? Because the people most affected by the decision usually aren't in the room when it's made, and the ones who are have learned it's safer to save their real opinion for the hallway. Agreement in the meeting is often not agreement. • What is a leadership blind spot? It's the perspective that's already shaping your decision without you being able to see it. It usually belongs to someone who wasn't consulted, and it surfaces after the meeting, in pairs and threes, once the room breaks. • How do I bring humanity into a decision without slowing everything down? Clarity about decision rights actually increases contribution rather than reducing it. People lean in harder when they know their input matters and the final call was never theirs to make. Naming that explicitly is faster than leaving it ambiguous. • What does it cost to be the only one in the room? It is lonely. Being consistently different from everyone else means carrying the work of breaking the mold, on top of the job, until you decide you won't wear the mask anymore. • How do I get people to say the unsaid thing? You have to genuinely want the other side of the argument. Kristine's test is simple: when you disagree, do you want to hear why, or do you want to be agreed with? Teams answer that question by watching you, not by listening to you. Chapters 0:00 If You're Not at the Table, You're on the Menu 1:51 From the C-Suite to Advising It 4:27 Why Healthy Debate Doesn't Happen 5:47 If You're Different, It's Lonely 7:36 What Can You Teach Me? 8:27 Walking the Plant Floor 14:20 Getting Comfortable in the Discomfort 16:47 The Cost of Wearing a Mask 21:38 The Grandmother Who Shaped My Superpower 23:54 Fascinated by People 26:20 Every Leader Is Lonely 29:50 Clarity on Decision Rights 34:36 "You're Just HR" 37:06 Questioning Your Own Truths 42:15 Trust, but Verify 44:23 Where to Find Kristine Watch next: • The Real Reason Your Team Avoids Difficult Conversations | DeDe Halfhill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbBAaKKlfyo&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=5&t=3s • Why Smart People Freeze When It's Time To Choose | Nil Demircubuk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuSAyyU50yM&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=18&t=71s • Lonely At The Top? Your Nervous System Can Help | Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud41XOScx6Q&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=19&t=2643s Resources mentioned in the episode: - Kristine’s company: https://shatteredglassadvisory.com/ Music in this episode by Sosin. What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who’ve navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ To be in more conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We’re recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca Keywords #leadershipblindspots #decisionmaking #perspective #executiveleadership #reinventyourself #LeadershipDevelopment #personaldevelopment #RogerKastner

October 15, 2026Episode 8245 min

Can You Do This Work Without It Hurting You? Coach Emily Fanjoy on Burnout Recovery

This is the trap of high achiever burnout: the more you deliver, the more the same work gets handed to you. And if it's not aligned with your superpower and purpose, it's the path to burnout. In this conversation, host Roger Kastner sits with Inner Authority coach Emily Fanjoy to unpack the "competence cage" when we're prisoner to our own success, and how to reclaim inner authority. Emily shares her story of service without self, chronic injury, and a terrifying career reset. Emily also shares the name it to tame it framework and why self-care sometimes means saying no to what you want. KEY TAKEAWAYS • The competence cage forms when doing things well earns you more and more responsibility, until exhaustion and resentment feel like the price of being good at your job. • The cage stays locked when you outsource your authority to bosses, experts, coaches, or even AI. Breaking out starts with standing in your own inner authority. • Clean pain is facing what hurts and working through it, so it has a lifespan. Dirty pain is avoidance and denial, and it can last indefinitely. • Naming your feelings before, during, and after a new behavior builds the wiring for new beliefs. Name it to tame it. • Your capacity to show up for others is limited by how much you give to yourself first. QUESTIONS THIS EPISODE ANSWERS Q: What is the competence cage? A: It's Emily Fanjoy's term for the trap high performers fall into when competence keeps earning them more work and responsibility. Like the frog in slowly heating water, they don't notice until they are worn out, resentful, and missing the best parts of themselves. Q: What is the difference between clean pain and dirty pain? A: Emily draws on Resmaa Menakem's "My Grandmother's Hands." Dirty pain comes from avoidance, denial, and trying to control what you can't. Clean pain means looking directly at the challenge and working through it, so it has a limited lifespan. Q: How do high achievers learn to trust themselves again? A: Emily works with clients to expand their feelings vocabulary, run small belief and behavior experiments, and track how they feel before, during, and after. Naming the discomfort keeps you out of reactivity and builds trust in your own signal. Q: Is self-care selfish? A: Emily says no. Doing your own work is in service of the greater good, and real self-care sometimes means the harder choice: listening to what your body needs even when it disappoints you or others. CHAPTERS 00:00 Can I do this work without it hurting me? 01:31 Meet Emily Fanjoy 02:18 What is the competence cage? 04:07 Emily's own cage: service over self 06:24 Breaking out: help and conscious choice 07:38 Clean pain vs dirty pain 11:19 Why smart leaders struggle to trust a felt sense 14:41 Name it to tame it 15:51 Trusting wisdom in others, then yourself 22:52 Superpowers start as unmet needs 28:36 Self-care means doing what's hard 31:07 Superpower: synthesis and deep listening 34:28 What AI reveals about outsourcing authority 38:15 What Emily knows to be true Full transcript: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video-epsiodes RESOURCES MENTIONED Emily’s Website: https://www.emilyfanjoy.com/ Emily’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-fanjoy-9358301b9/ Music in this episode by Sosin What Do You Know To Be True? is a collection of leadership and personal development conversations for people discovering, building, or already living into their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ To be in more conversations: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/ We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We're recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca #HighAchieverBurnout #burnout #BurnoutRecovery #reinventyourself #LeadershipDevelopment #RogerKastner

September 24, 2026Episode 8153 min

Successful But Feeling Unlovable | Steve Sapourn on Trauma, Nervous System Regulation & Courage

Many high achievers look successful on paper yet carry a quiet sense of unworthiness. Steve Sapourn, founder of The Neuro's Journey, argues trauma is not an identity but a nervous system injury, old survival adaptations that once kept you safe and now keep you braced. In this conversation we cover the pause that moves you from reaction to response, why courage plus self trust open reinvention, and how to retell your story as a hero's journey. In this episode: • Trauma is an adaptation of the nervous system, not a character flaw, and it can be re-adapted • The pause plus gratitude creates space between trigger and response and builds self compassion • Courage to turn toward old patterns is the doorway from intellectual knowing to felt knowing • High achievers often mask darkness with winning, and winning alone never resolves worthiness • Telling your story as a hero's journey increases meaning, resilience and agency • Self worth is the foundation for radiating love to others and leading from choice Questions This Episode Answers: • What is nervous system regulation for high achievers? It is learning to notice when an old survival pattern hijacks you and using a brief pause to let the prefrontal cortex choose response over reaction. • What is imposter syndrome really about? Often it is not a confidence problem but a felt sense gap, you know you are capable intellectually yet your body still braces as if you are unworthy. • Can survival patterns change in midlife? Yes. Steve frames them as wise adaptations from earlier circumstances that no longer fit at 57 what worked at 7, and they shift with steady practice, reflection and support. • How does the hero's journey build resilience? When people retell the same life events as a journey of challenge, learning and return, they report more meaning and resilience without changing any facts. Chapters 00:00 I felt like a bad man 00:17 Success outside, unworthy inside 01:51 Meet Steve Sapourn and The Neuro's Journey 02:33 Trauma as nervous system injury, not identity 03:10 Remember to pause: reaction to response 06:08 Gratitude moves the pause earlier 09:11 Love and courage for the messy middle 12:52 Not emptiness, it is darkness 16:34 Golden handcuffs and real risk 19:08 The heros journey as healing map 23:13 Brain scans, neurofeedback and I am not broken 29:51 Belief and connection after 9/11 34:22 Signal in the noise still needs action 38:42 Scared to look inside 40:48 Am I worthy of being loved 46:05 Acknowledge reality, aim for peace Full transcript: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/successful-but-feeling-unlovable-steve-sapourn-on-trauma-nervous-system-regulation-courage Resources mentioned in the episode: • Steve’s Platform: https://theneurosjourney.com/ Music in this episode by Amplify Music What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who've navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ To be in more conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We're recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca Keywords #trauma #courage #nervoussystemregulation #impostersyndrome #selfworth #reinventyourself #Leadership #personaldevelopment #RogerKastner

September 3, 2026Episode 8040 min

Why You Don't Need to Be Extraordinary to Thrive | Lisa Hallett on her Superpower of Being Ordinary

Lisa Hallett, CEO of Wear Blue: Run to Remember, an endurance athlete, and a Gold Star spouse, explains why she believes "ordinary" is a superpower, and not a limitation. She shares how running became the way she processed grief after her husband’s, Captain John Hallett, death in Afghanistan, why community is where our strengths get reflected back to us, and why she's about to run 250 miles from New York City to Washington, D.C. with One Flag Forward, a joint mission with Team Red, White & Blue and Wear Blue honoring military service and sacrifice and sharing a message of stronger together. Key Takeaways • Ordinary is not a limitation, it's a starting point: Lisa Hallett argues that accepting "I'm just me" is what makes hard, extraordinary goals reachable. • Running became Lisa's way to process grief without losing herself to it: "I was not running from my grief, but I was running through my grief." • Superpowers are relational: they get named, reflected, and grown through community, not discovered alone. • One Flag Forward is a 250-mile, 5-day run from NYC to D.C. (Sept 12–16, 2026) where Wear Blue and Team RWB carry a single flag hand-to-hand. • Holding onto "receipts," memories of past hard things you've already survived, builds the foundation for the next hard thing. Questions This Episode Answers • Why did Lisa Hallett choose running as a form of remembrance? After her husband, Captain John Hallett, was killed in Afghanistan, running let her feel her grief without letting it consume her. She calls it running through grief, not from it. • What is One Flag Forward? A 250-mile, 5-day relay (Sept 12–16, 2026) where Wear Blue: Run to Remember and Team Red, White & Blue carry one American flag from New York City to Washington, D.C. • How can you find your superpower? Ask a good friend. Superpowers are usually easier for others to see in us than we can see in ourselves. • Why does Lisa Hallett call being ordinary a superpower? Because it strips away entitlement and comparison, and proves that meaningful, hard goals don't require exceptional resources, just the choice to keep showing up. • How does Lisa Hallett describe community building as a superpower? She says superpowers aren't discovered alone, they get developed in relationship with others. It’s the opportunity to have a mirror for ourselves as we be in service of something bigger than ourselves. Chapters 00:00 Path to Extraordinary Starts with Ordinary 2:11 Lisa Hallett Introduction 2:45 Why running, not another form of remembrance 5:28 One Flag Forward: 250 miles, NYC to D.C., and why now 6:36 Hallets Do Hard Things 7:20 The permission in being ordinary 9:05 We're worthy to not be defined by our most difficult moments 11:14 We blossom in the light of others 14:05 How community reflects our superpowers back to us 17:02 The small moments vs. the finish-line moments 23:00 What does Lisa want me to know about the Gold Star Family and Military community 24:10 The Superpower of being ordinary 28:40 Permission to be ordinary and accepting self 33:32 Ordinary proves potential 34:19 How Lisa learned anything is possible Full transcript: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/why-you-dont-need-to-be-extraordinary-to-thrive-lisa-hallett-on-her-superpower-of-being-ordinary Resources Mentioned • Wear Blue: Run to Remember: https://www.wearblueruntoremember.org/ • One Flag Forward: https://www.oneflagforward.org/ • Lisa's 2013 TEDX Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9v3TMrsbdg Music in this episode by Amplify Music What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who've navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ Learn more about the conversations: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/ We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We're recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca #Ordinary #Grief #Superpowers #Running #Extraordinary #Communitybuilding #reinventyourself #LeadershipDevelopment #personaldevelopment #RogerKastner

August 27, 2026Episode 7911 min

Your Superpowers Start With Something Missing | Roger Kastner on the Reinvent Yourself Framework

To mark the third anniversary of What Do You Know To Be True?, host Roger Kastner answers the three questions he's asked most often: what his 80+ guests have in common, how to find your superpower, and how to reinvent yourself to align with your purpose. Drawing on a conversation with leadership coach Joel Monk, Roger explains why most superpowers begin as an unmet need, then lays out a seven-part framework for reinvention built on purpose, joy, hope, adaptability, well-being, courage, and community. Key Takeaways • Empathy, curiosity, and connection show up across nearly every conversation about superpowers, a "power" only becomes a superpower once it's used in service of others. • In roughly nine out of ten conversations, a superpower traces back to an unmet need from earlier in a person's life. • Purpose gives a superpower its direction, but joy is what fuels people to keep using it. • Hope, using Charles R. Snyder's definition, means believing in your goals, your path, and your own agency to create change. • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs misses something: superpowers and reinvention only fully take shape in community, not in isolation. Questions This Episode Answers • What do the guests on What Do You Know To Be True? have in common? Across more than 80 conversations, empathy, curiosity, and connection are the throughline. Guests describe their superpower as something that only became a superpower once it moved from personal skill to service of other people. • How do you find your superpower? In most cases, a superpower starts as an unmet need from earlier in life. A person finds something that addresses that need, keeps doing it because it's healing, and it becomes a superpower once they start using it to help others. • How do you reinvent yourself to align with your purpose? Roger Kastner's framework points to seven building blocks: purpose, joy, hope, adaptability, well-being, courage, and community; with community as the piece most self-improvement models leave out. • What's the critique of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in this episode? Roger argues it's too focused on the self. Real growth and reinvention happen in relationship, with a team or a community, not alone. Chapters 0:00 Three Years of Conversations 1:11 The Common Thread of Superpowers 3:54 How to Discover Your Superpower 6:13 Aligning Work with Purpose 9:14 The Power of Community ▶️ Full Transcript available here: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/your-superpowers-start-with-something-missing-roger-kastner-on-the-reinvent-yourself-framework Music in this episode by Amplify Music What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who've navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ To be in more conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We're recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca Keywords #Superpowers #reinventyourself #Purpose #howtofindyourpurpose #LeadershipDevelopment #personaldevelopment #RogerKastner

August 13, 2026Episode 7844 min

The One Big Pivot Won't Work | Reinvent Yourself with Career Coach Sam Alvita

Career strategist Sam Alvita explains why traditional career ladders no longer work for career reinvention. Job skills now last as little as six months to two and a half years, and what works when you want to reinvent yourself instead: a "web" of diversified skills, side projects, and personal brand rather than a single job title. She and host Roger Kastner cover the learn-unlearn-relearn cycle, why AI is leveling the executive playing field, and why real reinvention happens in small steps rather than one dramatic pivot. The big question for the conversation: What if career reinvention is not one dramatic pivot but a practice you return to again and again? The conversation also covers the learn-unlearn-relearn discipline, why AI is acting as an equalizer in the executive room, and the Navy SEAL principle that the most senior person in the room speaks last. Key Takeaways Job skills now have a shelf life of roughly 6 months to 2.5 years, so a single skillset is not a stable career foundation. Replace the "career ladder" model with a "web of work": diversified skills, side projects, and a personal brand reduce dependency on any one employer. Great leaders are measured by how well they develop the people around them, not by individual output. The Navy SEAL principle, the most senior person speaks last, improves team decision-making by surfacing others' ideas first. Simplicity is not the same as ease. Reinvention happens through small, repeatable steps, not one dramatic pivot. Questions This Episode Answers How do I reinvent my career? Treat it as an ongoing practice, not a single leap, build a portfolio of skills and projects you can adapt as the market shifts. How do I prepare to change careers? Start the learn-unlearn-relearn cycle before you need it: keep adding skills, actively let go of outdated ones, and stay willing to be a beginner again. What makes for great teams? Leaders who are evaluated by how well they develop the people around them, and who let the most senior voice speak last so others contribute first. What is the learn, unlearn, and relearn cycle? A continuous loop of questioning assumptions, acquiring new skills, deliberately discarding ones that no longer serve you, and rebuilding your approach, rather than a one-time retraining event. Chapters 00:00 Career Reinvention Is a Practice, Not One Pivot 01:49 Learn, Unlearn, Relearn: The Cycle Every Job Now Demands 05:54 The Navy SEAL Rule: The Most Senior Person Speaks Last 07:30 Why the Career Ladder Is Dead (Skills Expire in 2.5 Years) 09:16 Build a Web, Not a Ladder: Diversify Your Footprint 12:24 What Makes Great Teams: Leaders Are Evaluated on Who They Build 18:51 The Identity That's Quietly Holding You Back 22:26 Meeting Learners Where They Are 28:15 The Marathon Mindset: Bite-Sized Steps Over the Big Leap 31:30 Unlearning: Fulfillment Lives in What You Give 38:02 Simplicity Isn't Ease 40:53 What's Next for Sam and Work Rewritten Full transcripts available at: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/career-reinvention-isnt-one-pivot-its-a-practice-sam-alvita Resources mentioned in the episode: ➡️ Sam’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-sloan-alvita/ ➡️ Sam’s Company: https://www.byworkrewritten.com/ Watch Next: ▶️You Know It's Time To Reinvent Yourself But You're Waiting | Midlife Reinvention with Sylvia Taylor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z97isd_iNNk&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=6&t=1094s ▶️Still Designing The ‘Perfect Plan’? Become A Good Tryer | Stop Overthinking with Wynne Leon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWK294OpZVI&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=15&t=134s Music in this episode by Amplify Music What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who’ve navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ Check out the site: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/ ➡️ Subscribe to the What Do You Know To Be True? newsletter to get insights into each conversation: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We’re recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca Keywords #CareerReinvention #reinventyourself #LeadershipDevelopment #PortfolioCareer #CareerPivot #leadershipcoaching #personaldevelopment #RogerKastner

July 30, 2026Episode 7745 min

Words Won't Build Psychological Safety Your Body Will | Coach and Author Croft Edwards

Leadership coach and former Army Lieutenant Colonel Croft Edwards explains why psychological safety isn't built with words, it's built with your nervous system. Your body broadcasts signals long before you speak, and your team reads every one of them. Croft and host Roger Kastner cover the moment his military training collided with a room full of dancing people, why somatic leadership starts with regulating yourself before you can co-regulate anyone else, and why he calls the body "the Holy Grail in coaching and leadership." Key Takeaways • Psychological safety isn't just about what you say, it's about what your body is already communicating before you open your mouth • You cannot co-regulate someone else if you haven't learned to regulate yourself first • The body receives roughly 11 million data signals per second, but the conscious mind is only aware of about 50 of them • The most difficult person you will ever lead is yourself • Somatics means how you show up in your body as a living, breathing entity, not just a metaphor for "gut feeling" Questions This Episode Answers • How to create psychological safety? Show up in an open body rather than a guarded one. Your team reads your nervous system before they hear your words, so safety starts with what you're physically communicating, not what you're saying. • How to regulate my nervous system? Notice the roughly 11 million signals your body takes in per second (even though you're only consciously aware of about 50), and use small physical shifts, like changing posture or opening your hands, to change your state before trying to think your way out of it. • What is embodied leadership? Leadership that operates through the body, not just the intellect. Somatics is how you show up in your body's full living, breathing capacity, since the body holds intelligence that most leadership development leaves untapped. • How can I be more authentic as a leader? Recognize that the hardest person you'll ever lead is yourself, and stay honest about your own reactivity, like arrogance or defensiveness, rather than performing confidence you haven't actually built. Chapters 0:00 The Body-Armor Moment 1:04 From Military Command to Ontological Coaching 8:30 Going Native: How Embodied Leadership Builds Trust 15:00 Self-Leadership: The Hardest Person You'll Ever Lead 20:00 The 10,000-Hour Permission Slip 24:30 The Body Is the Holy Grail in Coaching 29:30 Nervous System Regulation: 11 Million Signals Per Second 35:00 How Your Body Creates Psychological Safety 40:00 One Practice That Changes Everything Full transcript: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/psychological-safety-your-body-is-the-key-to-unlocking-connections-croft-edwards Resources Mentioned • Croft's company: https://croftandcompany.com/ • Croft's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftedwards/ Watch Next • Why You Overreact Then Regret It Instantly | Nervous System Regulation with Ashley Douglas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yim5d8FO7Oo&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=13&t=677s • Is Your Workplace Actually Safe? Nervous System Regulation | Sharon Podobnik Peterson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX6Hs-CQp4c&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=3&t=1522s • Your Voice Always Tells the Truth, Even If Your Words Don't | Barbara McAfee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CPwnUdqKwU&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=1&t=1021s Music in this episode by Amplify Music. What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who’ve navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ Catch more conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We’re recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca #PsychologicalSafety #SomaticLeadership #NervousSystemRegulation #reinventyourself #leadershipdevelopment #personaldevelopment #rogerkastner

July 16, 2026Episode 7645 min

Your Voice Always Tells the Truth, Even If Your Words Don't | Barbara McAfee

Master voice coach, singer, and TEDx speaker Barbara McAfee explains why your imposter syndrome and your most authentic self are running through the exact same instrument, your voice, and why the truth always lives in your belly rather than your head. Barbara walks host Roger Kastner through the five elements of vocal expression (earth, fire, water, metal, air), how internal family systems work applies to the "parts" behind your inner critic, and her central thesis: you can't change your voice without your life coming along for the ride. Key Takeaways • Imposter syndrome and your most authentic voice use the same instrument, the question is which one you let speak • Tone of voice reveals what your words are trying to hide, since the truth lives in your belly, not your head • Your inner critic is a "part" in internal family systems terms, and it softens when your grounded self, not the part, leads the conversation with it • Expanding your vocal range literally expands your sense of who you are, it's not just a communication technique • The five elements framework (earth, fire, water, metal, air) gives you access to vocal registers most people have shut off since childhood Questions This Episode Answers • How can I find my voice? Use simple physical entry points into each of the five elements, like yawning like a bear for an earth voice or howling like a wolf for a water voice, rather than trying to think your way into a different sound. Big, playful changes are often easier to access than small, careful ones. • How to overcome imposter syndrome? Recognize that the same voice powering your inner critic is also the voice of your most authentic self, so the goal isn't to silence it, it's to let the unexpressed parts of you speak safely (through sound, story, or character) instead of leaking out sideways as anger, illness, or shutdown. • How do I fix my inner critic? Treat it as a "part" that's trying to protect you, not an enemy to defeat. Have a conversation with it and let your grounded, curious self, rather than the activated part, lead that conversation. • What does a voice coach do? Help people access vocal choices they've shut off, not replace the voice they already have. Barbara's approach is to expand someone's range (through the five elements) so they can match their voice to the moment, whether that's projecting authority or telling a story. Chapters 0:00 The Shadow Will Speak 1:15 The Five Elements & Barbara's Air Voice Story 3:52 Ancestors, France & The Workshop That Changed Everything 7:03 IFS: The Parts Speaking Through You 9:48 How Secrets & Abuse Live in the Voice 11:23 The Decoder Ring 14:28 A Client Transformation Story 16:24 Why You Cringe at Your Voice 19:25 Five Elements Practices for Your Voice 24:30 Tone vs Words, Boundaries & Connection 27:26 Coregulation with 1,000 Strangers 30:20 Trusting Your Multi-Passionate Path 34:59 Training 85 Practitioners & The Next Generation 37:51 "It's Weird and Touchy-Feely" No Longer Full transcript: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/your-voice-always-tells-the-truth-even-if-your-words-dont--barbara-mcafee Resources Mentioned • Barbara's website: https://www.barbaramcafee.com/ • Barbara's book, "Vocal Intelligence: Leading with Vitality, Presence, and Impact": https://bookshop.org/p/books/vocal-intelligence-leading-with-vitality-presence-and-impact-barbara-mcafee/d7b6df5d69ba9bb6 • Brain Rats video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOuzuMx9wP4 Watch Next • Your Inner Critic Is Trying to Protect You | Janet Livingstone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOUomW7i2sI&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=20&t=350s • High-Achievers Stay Stuck For This ONE Reason | Brooklyn Dicent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qLW1CMu2G8&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=14 • Is Your Workplace Actually Safe? Nervous System Regulation | Sharon Podobnik Peterson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX6Hs-CQp4c&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=5&t=1610s Music in this episode by Amplify Music. What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who’ve navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ Catch more conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We’re recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca Keywords #FindYourVoice #ImposterSyndrome #ExecutivePresence #authenticleadership #personaldevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #reinventyourself #RogerKastner

July 2, 2026Episode 7549 min

Is Your Workplace Actually Safe? Nervous System Regulation | Sharon Podobnik Peterson

Sharon Podobnik Peterson, founder of the Center for Conscious Leadership, explains why trauma isn't a diagnosis, it's anything that turns patterns of connection into patterns of protection. She walks host Roger Kastner through the three lenses of trauma-informed leadership, why co-regulation is a leadership skill nobody taught you, and her "unripened tomato effect": how organizations promote emerging leaders before their nervous system capacity can support the role, and then wonder why burnout and imposter syndrome follow. Key Takeaways • Trauma is anything that puts sufficient pressure on a system that the response doesn't let it return to homeostasis, not just a single catastrophic event • Trauma-informed leadership comes down to three questions: am I safe here, do I matter, and am I loved or cared for • Defensiveness in a conversation is a signal, not a character flaw, it means someone's nervous system has already shifted from connection into protection • Co-regulation starts with staying in tune with your own nervous system before you can help regulate someone else's • The "unripened tomato effect": teaching people to perform executive presence without building the underlying capacity for it leads directly to burnout and imposter syndrome Questions This Episode Answers • What is trauma? Trauma is anything that puts enough pressure on a system to activate a protective response, and that response doesn't let the system return to its normal state afterward. It's the difference between stress that resolves and stress that gets stuck. • What is trauma informed leadership? Leadership that engages with people from a place of safety, assuming that everyone you work with has experienced some form of trauma, and looking at nervous system safety through three lenses: the individual, the collective culture, and the systems and structures around them. • How to not activate a trauma response in others? Stay tuned in to whether the person in front of you is still in connection or has shifted into defensiveness and protection, and give them real choice and agency, like the option to pause a conversation, rather than pushing through. • How to regulate my nervous system? Start by staying in touch with your own state before trying to help anyone else, since you can't co-regulate someone if you're not already regulated yourself. It's less a single technique than a constant tuning to what's actually present in the room. Chapters 0:00 What Is Trauma-Informed Leadership? 3:56 Defining Trauma: When Nervous System Regulation Fails 5:21 The Three Lenses of Trauma-Informed Leadership 8:47 Co-Regulation: How Leaders Create Nervous System Safety 13:54 Psychological Safety: Am I Safe? Do I Matter? Am I Loved? 17:00 Burnout Symptoms: The Unripened Tomato Leadership Metaphor 20:29 Holding Space: Sharon's Origin Story & Superpower 36:09 Imposter Syndrome: The Cost of Looking the Part 41:46 Leadership Development As Public Health & Well-Being Requirement Full transcript: https://whatdoyouknowtobetrue.com/video/is-your-workplace-actually-safe-nervous-system-regulation-sharon-podobnik-peterson Resources Mentioned • Sharon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonpodobnik/ • The Center for Conscious Leadership: https://www.thecenterforconsciousleadership.com/ Watch Next • Why You Overreact Then Regret It Instantly | Nervous System Regulation with Ashley Douglas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yim5d8FO7Oo&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=13&t=677s • Lonely At The Top? Your Nervous System Can Help | Author and TEDx Speaker Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud41XOScx6Q&list=PLbWfh34FP_dUcAaCrI31z00_fLdphi6b7&index=11&t=2643s Music in this episode by Amplify Music. What Do You Know To Be True? is a personal development and leadership podcast capturing insights and experiences with people who’ve navigated their own reinvention, to be more aligned with their purpose and possibilities. Each conversation offers new perspectives and inspiration for your next move. Wherever you are on the reinvent yourself path, these conversations are for you. ➡️ For insights into each conversation, subscribe to the newsletter: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ➡️ Catch more conversations: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 We're hosted by Roger Kastner and produced by Three Blue Pens. We’re recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover more about the land you are on, go to https://native-land.ca Keywords #TraumaInformedLeadership #NervousSystemRegulation #PsychologicalSafety #impostersyndrome #emotionalintelligence #coregulation #personaldevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #reinventyourself #RogerKastner

June 18, 2026Episode 7443 min

You Know It's Time To Reinvent Yourself But You're Waiting | Midlife Reinvention with Sylvia Taylor

What if the midlife reinvention you keep postponing isn't waiting for more data or a better plan, it's waiting for you to trust your gut again? For many professionals like you, career reinvention feels too big to trust your intuition and instead let the big decisions be made by spreadsheets, pros-and-cons lists, and taking the safe route of certainty. Sylvia Taylor calls that inner signal "the sparkle." As an "adapt-ologist" who has navigated career changes across marketing, organizational development, and agile leadership, Sylvia discovered early that her most significant career pivots were never purely logical. They were intuitive. She followed what lit her up, even when the path made no sense on paper. In this conversation, you will learn: ➡️ How to answer "Who am I beyond my job title?" without spiraling ➡️ Why your gut may be more trustworthy than your brain when considering a career reinvention ➡️ The difference between hope as a feeling and hope as a daily practice ➡️ Why hope is an amplifier for adaptability and resilience ================= Want more info about What Do You Know To Be True? ➡️ Check out the channel: What Do You Know To Be True? ➡️ Subscribe to the What Do You Know To Be True? newsletter to get insights into each conversation: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ ================= In this conversation, Sylvia introduces the Adaptive Identity Game, a play-based tool she designed to answer the question that surfaces during every midlife reinvention: "If I'm not my job title, who am I?" The answer, she insists, isn't found by updating your LinkedIn profile. It's uncovered by reconnecting with the skills, traits, and metaphors that have been quietly shaping your work all along. Sylvia shares the tool she created, the Adaptive Identity Game, a play-based tool she designed to answer the question that surfaces during every midlife reinvention: "If I'm not my job title, who am I?" The answer, she insists, isn't found by updating your LinkedIn profile. It's uncovered by reconnecting with the skills, traits, and metaphors that have been quietly shaping your work all along. In this episode, Sylvia answers the following questions: ➡️ What does reinvent your career mean? ➡️ How can I follow my intuition? ➡️ How accurate are gut feelings? ➡️ How to be more adaptable? My favorite quote from the episode: "Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." -Rainer Maria Rilke, from "Letters to a Young Poet" Resources mentioned in the episode: ➡️ Sylvia's Adaptive Identity Game Music in this episode by Ian Kastner. What Do You Know To Be True?" is an invitation for those who are in the middle of a mid-career reinvention, attempting to pivot from the old version of you, into one that is more aligned with purpose and values, and becoming more of your possible self. These conversations are with leaders who have been at that pivot point, who’ve navigated the messy middle, and now creating more meaning in the world through their work. Want more info about What Do You Know To Be True? ➡️ Check out the channel: https://www.youtube.com/@WDYKTBT?sub_confirmation=1 ➡️ Subscribe to the What Do You Know To Be True? newsletter to get insights into each conversation: https://rogerkastner.substack.com/ "What Do You Know To Be True?" is hosted by Roger Kastner, is a production of Three Blue Pens, and is recorded on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish people. To discover the ancestral lands of the indigenous people whose land you may be on, go to: https://native-land.ca/ Keywords #midlifereinvention #reinventyourself #careerchange #intuition #personaldevelopment #leadershipdevelopment #careerreinvention #reinvention #adaptability #personalgrowth #RogerKastner

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