Annika:

I work with personal and professional growth.

Annika:

To me, that's very much connected, because I believe all leadership

Annika:

starts with leading yourself.

Annika:

So to get to know yourself, lead yourself and then Lead others and, and

Annika:

also the communication aspects of that.

Annika:

I work with private people.

Annika:

My next thing is I'm going to target more companies to see if I can

Annika:

help them to grow their leaders.

Annika:

And maybe to be the support that I didn't get when I was a manager first time.

Annika:

That was now 15, 16 years ago, just okay, you're now the manager here, go.

Annika:

I'm the kind of person learning by diving in at the deep end and

Annika:

then swimming my way from there.

Annika:

And that's fine, but it would have been great to get a couple of steers.

Annika:

Start with yourself and then you can develop from there.

Annika:

So many times I've been sent myself and also I see new leaders sent to classroom

Annika:

trainings and it's great with those trainings and you sit there and it's

Annika:

flip charts, it's beehives and you think and you reflect and it's fantastic.

Annika:

Then you get back to reality with an inbox that's heaped over with

Annika:

emails and things to attend to, and people in your team coming to you.

Annika:

Hey, do you have a couple of minutes?

Annika:

And hey, can I bounce this with you?

Annika:

And all of a sudden, everything that you got in the classroom training has just

Annika:

fallen off, because there hasn't been time enough to really anchor it in yourself.

Annika:

What does this mean for me?

Annika:

Now that I know all this, how do I want to transfer it into knowledge and into

Annika:

something meaningful to me, so that I can lead with authenticity, so that I

Annika:

can lead in a clear way so that I can lead in a way that makes people feel

Annika:

so safe that they dare to be brave.

Rob:

I love that.

Annika:

That's what I have observed.

Annika:

Maybe that's a little bit of missing piece and I would love

Annika:

to, to come in and help there more because once I got a coach myself.

Annika:

That's when the coins started to drop spending that time on reflection

Annika:

and, and thinking and all of those things that you have read and heard.

Annika:

These things are important, but once you get really dedicated time

Annika:

to work on yourself and get an accountability buddy in a coach or a

Annika:

mentor or something, I think that's really when the magic can happen.

Rob:

Training is great for giving you knowledge and

Rob:

sometimes giving you a framework.

Rob:

What we then have to do is we have to customize how that fits to us.

Annika:

So what does that mean to you when you lead, when you think about yourself

Annika:

and when you reflect on your values your drivers and your ambitions so that's

Annika:

one part and the other part is to adapt and practice those skills that we need.

Annika:

An example would be active listening.

Annika:

That you really listen if you say that you need a team of people that you really come

Annika:

in with the intent to understand what they say and not the desire of oh I'm going to

Annika:

give them a steer here but believing that they have the answer within themselves.

Annika:

Or can find it with some support of you but then you need to be prepared

Annika:

to take a step back and listen and have that person explore for himself

Annika:

and find for himself what's the right way for that person to do it.

Rob:

What it comes to mind is how interlinked different aspects are of that.

Rob:

So for example, you talked about active listening, which is a skill in itself.

Rob:

But in order to do that there needs to be a growth in certain qualities,

Rob:

like being able to be patient.

Rob:

Being able to Not feel the pressure to have to respond immediately.

Rob:

I always think of first time manager is it's suddenly a jump and the

Rob:

biggest jump is not necessarily communication or any of that.

Rob:

It's about dealing with the pressure of what you feel others expect of you.

Rob:

That's more of an inner journey.

Rob:

We can change something intellectually, we can know something and we can see,

Rob:

oh yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Rob:

But when we're under pressure which I think for most leaders going back,

Rob:

there's suddenly demand after demand they're under stress and then you

Rob:

resort to what your operating model is.

Annika:

Yeah.

Rob:

So unless you transfer that.

Rob:

intellectual knowing into an operating way of being it doesn't

Rob:

have any impact because you'll be able to answer a test on it.

Rob:

But when the real test is what happens when you're under

Rob:

pressure, what do you do?

Rob:

And if it doesn't make that change it hasn't really had any impact.

Rob:

So in line with learning the skills, we also need to develop the qualities.

Rob:

And I think I'm getting a sense of that's what you're helping people by

Rob:

growing personally and professionally, they are able to assimilate and use the

Rob:

skills under pressure when it matters.

Annika:

Exactly it's both the learning and then it's the action that comes with it.

Annika:

Practice it and then it will become a quality.

Annika:

You've been made aware of it, you know about it.

Annika:

And then you practice it.

Annika:

Then one day, maybe it sits there.

Annika:

And hopefully you'll start to see some positive results too.

Annika:

With yourself, but also with the people that you lead that you lead.

Annika:

Because if someone feels that way, trusted and empowered and you

Annika:

know that, okay, I've got this.

Annika:

I believe that then you rise to the occasion and deliver not only what's

Annika:

expected, but many times even more because you feel supported, you feel believed in.

Annika:

And then you want to give more.

Rob:

And when you have that early success, when you see it working, that

Rob:

then brings biochemically dopamine and suddenly you feel more confidence

Rob:

and you then build momentum because you feel you can do something.

Rob:

And that's when it becomes like a game.

Rob:

Like people love games because it perfectly gives them enough

Rob:

challenge that's interesting, but also enough dopamine that

Rob:

they stay involved in the game.

Rob:

And when we can do the same in learning it, that's how we really grow quickly.

Rob:

So I'm interested in specifically what kind of, what do you cover?

Rob:

Cause you have a program, don't you?

Rob:

Own your journey.

Annika:

Yes.

Rob:

So I'm just interested in what, and what happens in those stages.

Rob:

I'm interested in what you've talked about in how, yeah.

Rob:

What are the common lessons and qualities.

Annika:

So in that program, so it aims really to, to both to

Annika:

get insights about yourself.

Annika:

It focuses a lot on the self and then to get habits and to get some tools that

Annika:

you can use to lead yourself and stay on a positive and constructive way of

Annika:

being or what way of living, if you like.

Annika:

So what we do in the program is that we, the first piece

Annika:

of work is around your values.

Annika:

It's to discover what really matters to you.

Annika:

What is it that is to you so important that you would stand up and take a fight

Annika:

for it and put that as a good solid base.

Annika:

Then we come to a part which is about identifying and recognizing the

Annika:

voices that you have in your head.

Annika:

And this is not about being paranoid.

Annika:

It's about acknowledging that we have different voices.

Annika:

There are cheerleaders that say, you can do this, go on.

Annika:

And then there are other voices saying that who do you think you are that

Annika:

think that you can pull this off and shouldn't you instead be focusing on

Annika:

this and why on earth did you say that to her that was really stupid so like

Annika:

the kind of judgy and controlling sides of ourself so we work with getting to

Annika:

know that sort of the team that you have inside your head and finding strategies

Annika:

on, okay, so how can I now with this knowledge, knowing what typical voices

Annika:

I have, how can I work with them so that they favor me instead of harm me?

Annika:

So that's another part of it.

Annika:

The next part that comes after that, is about habits.

Annika:

And there we go, like basic habits for eating, sleeping, and moving.

Annika:

Our physical well being and our mental well being is so tightly

Annika:

interlinked, so that we need to have good habits in place in order to

Annika:

stay also in a good place mentally.

Annika:

So there we work with the clients, they get to identify what, what

Annika:

works for me, what can I do?

Annika:

What are some small shifts that I can take to do one thing better

Annika:

for eating, one thing better for sleeping, one thing better for moving.

Annika:

And then we work with a habit tracker to start to see the progress and and so on.

Annika:

So that's nice now too.

Annika:

I have a client now.

Annika:

When she brushes her teeth, she always stands on one leg.

Annika:

Cause that's keeps her, calm, grounded.

Annika:

She practiced, being there with all of her senses and can't

Annika:

be busy with anything else.

Annika:

It's a simple thing,

Rob:

I've heard that before.

Rob:

I think it was in martial arts, but it's yeah, it's, it gives you balance as well.

Annika:

Yeah.

Rob:

And coordination.

Annika:

Another thing that we work with is I'm quite fond of Paul Gilbert's work

Annika:

on the emotional systems or motivational systems, the red, the blue and the green.

Annika:

I don't know if you have read about it.

Annika:

It's a UK professor and he did this work talking about the calming system the

Annika:

performance system and the threat system.

Annika:

I think

Rob:

you've mentioned it before.

Annika:

I think so.

Annika:

We might have had a little bit of writing in our comments.

Rob:

I've got his books, one of those books that I don't think I've

Rob:

ever got round to going through, but I think I've got a couple of his.

Annika:

There's a piece in the program around that, what that is and how,

Annika:

Many of us, when we seek to rest, sometimes we rest still in the blue

Annika:

system, the performance system.

Annika:

We rest with our phones we go shopping, we do, and that's still,

Annika:

back to the, to what you said earlier on dopamine, it's still that.

Annika:

But what we need to do is also to be in the green system

Annika:

and find green activities.

Annika:

That helps us to soothe and calm and that can be just

Annika:

sitting and gazing out a window.

Annika:

For me, it's winter bathing, it's reading, it's doing a puzzle.

Annika:

It's gardening or working with flowers or something that's calming.

Annika:

So we talk about the importance of having that system in balance.

Rob:

Can you just run me through the three systems again?

Annika:

Yeah, so it's the threat system.

Annika:

It's also called the red system.

Annika:

It's a fight flight.

Annika:

So it's when we become like really threatened if, back in the day we were

Annika:

hunted by lions today, it can be, a deadline coming up or you have a super

Annika:

important presentation to a group of managers that you really dislike.

Annika:

And that sort of will get those hormones going.

Annika:

The blue system is the performance system.

Annika:

And that's when we feel we get rewarded.

Annika:

We feel appreciated, recognized taking things off a to do list,

Annika:

a pat on the back, you did that well but also all things related

Annika:

to to our phones and to yeah those dopamine releases just package job.

Annika:

And then the green, the calming systems or the soothing systems.

Annika:

That's oh, let me see if I can say those hormones in English endorphins.

Rob:

Endorphins.

Rob:

Yeah.

Annika:

Yeah.

Annika:

And oxytocin that releases when we go calm.

Rob:

So it's reacting, doing, and then recharging.

Annika:

Yeah.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

Yeah.

Annika:

So I can send you a cheat sheet.

Rob:

You gave me a link.

Rob:

I think yeah, I remember reading them thinking it was really useful model.

Annika:

The reason I really like this and to bring it in was that it was a

Annika:

little bit of game changer for me myself, because I'm a super active person.

Annika:

I like to be engaged.

Annika:

I'm social.

Annika:

I like to keep busy.

Annika:

I have my fitness training classes and and I've always felt

Annika:

that, okay, but I recharge.

Annika:

I rest by doing things.

Annika:

And I think that was a little bit of trap for me.

Annika:

But when I caught eye on this through my coach, that was eyeopening.

Annika:

And I realized that, okay, yeah, I may feel that that I'm doing something else

Annika:

and my key, I keep my mind off, work or maybe other things that were troubling me.

Annika:

But I had missed then that I needed the green system things.

Annika:

That, that knowledge has helped me a lot.

Annika:

And that's why I like to pass that particular piece along

Annika:

as well to, to others who may feel that, that you just go.

Annika:

And if you don't really know, back to the knowledge again,

Annika:

how can you even then apply it?

Rob:

Was listening to something yesterday and basically the sweet

Rob:

spot of work is about 35 to 40 hours.

Rob:

More than that, you're lowering the quality.

Rob:

And once you get past 55 it's more of a detriment.

Rob:

So the difference between 55 and 70 hours, you're not adding any

Rob:

more, but I know, yeah, I know.

Rob:

I've, you get I'll get in the afternoon, especially after eating

Rob:

it and that'll be a slump and I know I'm not going to do productive work.

Rob:

And in the past I would have pushed through.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

Just do something and you're there like, and it's not high quality.

Annika:

What made you change what happened that made you stop that pushing through?

Annika:

I think that's really interesting.

Rob:

I think.

Rob:

I think it more like reading and just seeing different things and

Rob:

the understanding that when we talk about productivity, I think we've

Rob:

got to look at it's the percentage of energy you have in time.

Rob:

So half an hour of really engaged, really high quality work is worth maybe

Rob:

three, four hours of really low quality.

Rob:

So yeah, I think, and it's just shifting that's when I'll go and do the

Rob:

dog walk or I'll have some downtime.

Rob:

Or I'll just do something that away from work and then I've had a little bit of

Rob:

a break and then I'm for my second wave

Annika:

okay.

Annika:

So you have split up your workday.

Annika:

Is that what I'm hearing in two, in sort of two, two chunks, a morning chunk and a

Rob:

yeah.

Rob:

I basically I know that when I get to later afternoon, once I've eaten then

Rob:

there's going to be a dip and then I'm going to wake up and then I'm going to be.

Rob:

I'm more of a night owl.

Rob:

So it's also the being able to switch off which has often been because like

Rob:

you keep going and you yeah, I'm really into this and I'm I don't want to stop.

Rob:

So I never want to go to sleep.

Rob:

But then that means in the morning, I never want to get up.

Rob:

And so I've had to get in a pattern so that same time bed, same time

Rob:

sleep, even if it's, even if I am doing well, because it will mess

Rob:

up my sleep for the next few days.

Annika:

Yeah but if it works, and I think, that's, just, if you keep an eye

Annika:

on it and it works well for you and the rest of the family, then that's great.

Annika:

Otherwise, you need to find some, another way of doing it.

Annika:

I'm also more creative in the evenings, but that's also when, people around.

Annika:

We have three kids teenagers, they will all be teenagers this year our son will

Annika:

be 13 this year and the girls 17 and 19.

Annika:

So the kitchen is always open and they're so hungry which is okay but they,

Annika:

at 9, 9 30, that first one comes and just Oh, Snack and then the other one.

Annika:

Oh, is there something to eat?

Rob:

Yeah, it's just adapting to your environment, isn't it?

Rob:

Something that you've said you start with values so it makes sense to And it makes

Rob:

me curious to understand your values So what are your values that drive you?

Annika:

I would say that my top four values are freedom

Annika:

authenticity, playfulness and trust.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

Freedom is one of mine as well.

Rob:

I think my I originally, after I came out of university was based on happiness.

Rob:

That's my first book.

Rob:

And I think happiness is really about freedom.

Rob:

Authenticity is another great one.

Rob:

I think authentic is one of those words that just becomes it's become

Rob:

devalued and I'm reluctant to use it often, but it's, the cliches are

Rob:

cliches because they're so true.

Annika:

Yeah it's a word that I also hear being used more and more.

Annika:

And I think let's take the opportunity then if it's being used more and fill it

Annika:

with a meaning that, that makes sense.

Annika:

And that is valuable which is staying true to your.

Annika:

true self.

Annika:

And then the next question is, so how would you know what is that?

Annika:

And that's when I think the values come in to play, knowing

Annika:

what really matters to you.

Annika:

What is really important?

Annika:

What really pisses you off?

Annika:

Because the opposite of that is likely a core value of yours.

Annika:

So that you can choose, that's why we work on it.

Annika:

So that, can choose more of that and bring it in into your life.

Annika:

If you would do like a value scan and say, okay, so how much of these

Annika:

things do I have in my life today?

Annika:

And maybe you want to use like a scale of 10 or something and you find, Oh,

Annika:

there's too little playfulness, let's say.

Annika:

So what can I do to to get more of that in?

Annika:

And then, yeah, and you fill that up and the more you're in tune with

Annika:

your values, the the happier you feel, the happier I feel, at least.

Rob:

Yeah.

Annika:

That's one thing I've noted for myself in these in this fitness class.

Annika:

training classes that I do.

Annika:

But playfulness is a big element there for me to be around those people, twinkle

Annika:

in the eye to cheer the what do you say?

Annika:

The trainers or the exercisers.

Annika:

What's the proper word there?

Rob:

I don't think there is one.

Rob:

No.

Rob:

Participants, but that's more like a psychological study.

Rob:

Yeah.

Annika:

The gym visitors,

Rob:

let's say fitness enthusiasts.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

Yeah I can see those like I love models and i'm mapping out that free freedom

Rob:

and freedom and playfulness go together and authenticity and trust go together

Rob:

but what i'm looking at is you talked about you were in corporate for many

Rob:

years and You love the communication and you love the leadership.

Rob:

It would seem that meetings are in the middle because that's

Rob:

where you communicate as a leader.

Rob:

But you said that was one of the things made you unsatisfied with it.

Rob:

So when I look at your values, I think I can see why, because

Rob:

you weren't able to be authentic.

Rob:

You weren't able to play.

Rob:

And you didn't exactly say, but I'm reading between the lines that there

Rob:

was probably politics and things that you didn't always agree with.

Rob:

So there wasn't the trust and you didn't have the freedom to really be yourself.

Rob:

And I'm guessing that's why you're discontent with corporate world.

Annika:

In the end felt that, yeah, we have grown apart now.

Annika:

So yeah, it's a really good analysis and also a conclusion,

Annika:

Rob, I think that's exactly it.

Annika:

I felt capped.

Annika:

At last, because it was always so many people to go and and check things

Annika:

with and get a alignment and approvals from here, there and everywhere.

Annika:

And with a freedom, I like to move.

Annika:

I like to be independent.

Annika:

I understand that there are processes to be respected and, stakeholders to be

Annika:

informed and decision makers to take care of, but you can do that in a simple way.

Annika:

Or you can do it in a complicated way.

Annika:

And, yeah, the last years it just became so complicated that, it created for

Annika:

me a feeling to be a little bit stuck.

Rob:

I think many people are feeling that.

Rob:

I think there's a maybe a paradox or dichotomy where the organization

Rob:

needs certain standards and it's done them traditionally through

Rob:

rules and through constraints.

Rob:

But what those constraints do is they also tie off Someone's whole self, their

Rob:

ability to really be and the freedom to be themselves, to be authentic.

Rob:

And I think organizations are going to have to find ways to allow people to have

Rob:

that freedom to be themselves and yet still deliver the same standards and not.

Rob:

Have the kind of problems of because before there were all those standards.

Rob:

Like when you look at McDonald's, uniform and that's what those standards bring.

Rob:

But what you're limited then to is the quality of a McDonald's.

Rob:

You can't have.

Rob:

Michelin star by that process.

Annika:

Something to that, because something wakens

Annika:

up here when you say that.

Annika:

It limits maybe the, to be your true self.

Annika:

And also I think it hinders Maybe the possibility for the task as such to be

Annika:

carried out the best way, because let's say, you'd hire a social media specialist.

Annika:

That's maybe half your age coming in, being all excited and knows and navigates

Annika:

these landscapes like in their own pocket.

Annika:

As a manager, then I think you need to understand that maybe you don't understand

Annika:

as much and trust that person again.

Annika:

So there we go again with the trust and trusting that the

Annika:

other person has the answers.

Annika:

Because if you then come in and you're being hired for the talent that you

Annika:

have and the skill set that you have in an area, and then not being able

Annika:

to use it best way, because somebody in the hierarchy that's leading you.

Annika:

They don't trust you.

Annika:

So it goes too slow.

Annika:

And I think that's it.

Annika:

It's a way of killing creativity and it's a way of killing talent.

Annika:

If you don't trust the sort of the youngsters that come in

Annika:

with all of these new skills.

Rob:

It's also the way of killing productivity.

Rob:

Because there was a huge growth in productivity from

Rob:

the Industrial Revolution and it was because we specialized.

Rob:

But what that specialization did was constrained people and it didn't

Rob:

give them, like Adam Smith's example of the pin factory, like people

Rob:

just had this little bit, so they didn't have the sense of fulfillment

Rob:

of a complete creating anything.

Rob:

They just, press buttons and

Annika:

yeah,

Rob:

cut up metal or whatever they did.

Rob:

And since 1970, the productivity has Dramatically slowed down in its growth

Rob:

and technology hasn't made any impact.

Rob:

And I think that's because now we've moved to knowledge work.

Rob:

We haven't learned to specialize knowledge work.

Rob:

And so within the team, like everyone's doing sales, but there's going to be

Rob:

someone who's great at one part of sales and, or maybe sales isn't even the

Rob:

best example, but maybe something like marketing where someone's great with

Rob:

coming up with the idea and someone's great with I'm now using these contexts

Rob:

that I don't know enough about, but basically we need to, whatever we

Rob:

do, we need to separate like the part that shines for you in what you're

Rob:

doing, where you're authentic, where you're really enthusiastic about it.

Rob:

If you can do that and someone else can do the other part.

Rob:

And I think that's what we haven't really developed in knowledge work.

Annika:

It could be that.

Annika:

And it could also be.

Annika:

that we haven't really learned how to lead the specialism knowledge.

Annika:

How, because leading someone just doing pin work, it's the same for everybody.

Annika:

But how do we lead knowledge?

Annika:

Specialism.

Rob:

Yeah.

Annika:

Yeah, just as an additional thought to explore.

Rob:

I think that's very true.

Rob:

I think the structures and the style of leadership, when you go from where humans

Rob:

are resources to now, what we need is we need creativity, we need engagement,

Rob:

we need enthusiasm, we need ideas.

Rob:

We need people to be at the best of their game.

Rob:

And all of the things that frustrated you in corporate as being tied up,

Rob:

not having autonomy not being able to express yourself, needing so much

Rob:

approval to get anything done, all of those things are inhibiting people.

Rob:

We need to lead in a different style, which means that people

Rob:

need to be at different level.

Rob:

I think like the growth that you're talking about, people

Rob:

need to be more comfortable.

Rob:

They need to be they need to manage their ego more.

Rob:

They need to be able to.

Rob:

Let go of their ego.

Rob:

They need to be active, listening, all of those types of qualities.

Rob:

But also I think traditionally we've always put focus on the leader.

Rob:

And there is so much demanded of a leader.

Rob:

We're basically asking for a superhuman, we're asking, can you put your so

Rob:

what we're saying is in this team, the team members can, Come to work, but

Rob:

the leader has to be able to manage conflict and all of these things.

Rob:

My thesis is that we need to upgrade the team members so that they manage,

Rob:

because when you look at the data on communication and conflict, managers

Rob:

are spending a huge amount of time, even resolving conflict or trying to

Rob:

deal with communication blockages or.

Annika:

Yeah.

Annika:

And the time that isn't spent there is spent in meetings.

Rob:

If we can upskill the team members so that they manage the relationships,

Rob:

they manage the conflict and they manage the communication, then the

Rob:

lead, they have what I call the leader ready team, which is ready

Rob:

to be led, but also ready to lead.

Rob:

When you have specialists who have.

Rob:

knowledge that the leader might not have, they need to also have the

Rob:

communication skills, the ability to argue their case to the ability to deal

Rob:

with conflict, resolve differences so that they are able to lead their aspect.

Rob:

So you've got a team where you've got an overall leader who's coordinating

Rob:

and supporting all of these, but each element is a node in that, which

Rob:

is also leading their specialism.

Annika:

It starts with them.

Annika:

It's self leadership.

Annika:

In that is one point and another thought, then I want to try with you is it can also

Annika:

sit in a perspective shift of the manager?

Annika:

Because I think so.

Annika:

It's quite common that leaders, they come in as parents and the team, the children,

Annika:

this is transactional analysis, right?

Annika:

But what if you shift?

Annika:

So that it's two adults meeting.

Annika:

One is super strong at social media marketing, let's say, and then you have

Annika:

the leader, but you meet eye to eye.

Annika:

It's too, it's two adults that have gone to work that morning.

Annika:

It's two adults that meet and have a conversation and trust that

Annika:

the other one wants to do a super good job either as a specialist

Annika:

or as the manager for this person.

Annika:

I think that also shifts something when you move away from the parent perspective

Annika:

and just take the adult perspective.

Annika:

I don't know what you say.

Rob:

I definitely agree.

Rob:

I think there's two, two points to that.

Rob:

One is The problem of hierarchy, traditionally, we've had

Rob:

hierarchy because it made sense.

Rob:

There is a natural hierarchy.

Rob:

Ken Wilber talks about that.

Rob:

And he said there's a move to shift hierarchy, but,

Rob:

there's a hierarchy in nature.

Rob:

It naturally occurs.

Rob:

And so there's a hierarchy, but it's about having a flexibility of hierarchy

Rob:

so the leader has the hierarchy when they're coordinating, but the specialist

Rob:

has hierarchy over their specialism.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

And so it is definitely about it's definitely about, moving to

Rob:

adult, which is raising the team member, but someone has to go first.

Rob:

And so the leader has to have that level above of maturity emotional regulation

Rob:

and the ability, the big picture.

Rob:

But what also comes to mind there is the typically our model has often been family.

Rob:

We're one family, but actually that becomes dysfunctional because the basis

Rob:

for every organization is transactional.

Rob:

We join and we have to be really clear on the purpose of why we're joining.

Rob:

Netflix has done something because they've explicitly said we're based on a high

Rob:

performing team rather than a family.

Rob:

Yes.

Annika:

Yeah.

Annika:

I've seen that too.

Annika:

I think that's a metaphor.

Annika:

That's resonates far better with me to see it like that.

Annika:

You can't have all the forwards.

Annika:

That would not be good.

Annika:

Also, not only goalkeepers would also not make sense.

Annika:

The blend.

Rob:

You cover quite a wide range of, Aspects.

Rob:

You've been a leader, you're very interested in fitness.

Rob:

We've talked about your values and program that you do.

Rob:

If you were going to do a TED talk or write a book, what would it be about?

Annika:

The first thing that comes to mind is about how to make the best popcorn.

Annika:

But that's something else.

Annika:

I'm really good at making popcorn on the stove and I can talk for

Annika:

a long time about, what fats to use, should it be rapeseed oil or

Annika:

olive oil or butter and how does that affect the popcorn and so on.

Annika:

Maybe it wouldn't be material enough for for an entire TED talk.

Annika:

I realized that when I'm pitching the idea to you here now and I

Annika:

see you're a little bit hesitant.

Annika:

So it's not going to be on popcorn let's decide that here and now.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

Let's go with that a minute.

Rob:

Why popcorn?

Annika:

Oh, I love popcorn.

Annika:

That was my favorite snack when I was when I was a little, and every

Annika:

weekend we could make a big bowl.

Annika:

Me I have two siblings, so we each made a big bowl and it was like, Private

Annika:

personal bowl, no sharing so that there wouldn't be any arguments because someone

Annika:

ate faster and someone ate slower.

Annika:

And then in the end, how many did you have?

Annika:

And all of those discussions that anyone having a brother or

Annika:

sister would be familiar with.

Annika:

So I'm just very used to that.

Annika:

I love the crisp.

Annika:

I love the combination of fat and salt, probably a horrendous thing to

Annika:

say, but I think it's really nice.

Annika:

And the popcorn is just a wonderful carrier of that.

Rob:

Yeah, I always look at what someone does now is usually

Rob:

rooted in something in childhood.

Rob:

So it's maybe a way that you were playing and a sense of experience

Rob:

generally popcorns when you watch film.

Annika:

Yeah,

Rob:

so it's family time.

Annika:

I think you're right in that that it's a reflection of some things

Annika:

that you have enjoyed in the past.

Annika:

And I had dream professions when I was when I was a kid, I used,

Annika:

I love to play teacher and my.

Annika:

poor brother and sister.

Annika:

They were the very reluctant students alongside with Barbie dolls and teddy

Annika:

bears and, that I put in place in a school classroom formation, et cetera.

Annika:

So that's one part.

Annika:

The other dream job was to become a a journalist or a writer.

Annika:

So me and a friend, we wrote a little tabloid paper that we then

Annika:

printed out with the help of my dad's copying machine and walked around,

Annika:

knocked on doors and tried to sell.

Annika:

And I can see today, how that is what I enjoyed doing today.

Annika:

I like to teach.

Annika:

Instruct my classes transfer knowledge, transfer energy transferring inspiration.

Annika:

And I also like to write and create and craft things and that creative side of me.

Annika:

So I think when I look back I can see that it, it started there along

Annika:

alongside the bowls of popcorn.

Rob:

Okay that's interesting because my eldest she loved to, to teach.

Rob:

She was always coming down when she was a child and she would have her sister

Rob:

and she, yeah, all these things and she'd be teaching them or she'd be mum.

Rob:

And she's graduating soon as a journalist.

Rob:

It combines those two things.

Annika:

Yeah, same

Rob:

pattern.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

So let me get to own your journey, that's about, that says authenticity.

Rob:

And it says freedom and I suppose playfulness.

Rob:

And then when you have that, people can trust.

Rob:

Where did that idea come from?

Annika:

It came from, I think from, I think from different parts.

Annika:

Some, you know that it comes from different ways or different,

Annika:

yeah, from different places.

Annika:

One place was that I really want for people to trust themselves and be

Annika:

true to themselves and listen inwards to what they want so that they don't

Annika:

just become a doctor or a teacher or a lawyer because that because you're

Annika:

imposed to do choose for yourself, and you have to have some self knowledge

Annika:

to do and I know that through coaching.

Annika:

I'm in a good position to help people to find what that is for themselves.

Annika:

And then when you have it, you can make those choices.

Annika:

So that was one driver.

Annika:

And I think the other driver was Perhaps me 10 years ago, just trotting away in the

Annika:

hamster wheel, doing all of these things.

Annika:

And who was it for always pleasing others, forgetting a little bit myself.

Annika:

And even if I'm lucky enough to always have been interested in training

Annika:

and fitness and eating well I think that was what also kept me going.

Annika:

But only up until a certain moment in time because then the wall was there

Annika:

and I had to go home for burnout leave.

Annika:

Just having to take it on so much.

Annika:

And had I had the tools that I now know of, I think I could have avoided that.

Annika:

And that's the second driver of it, to help people become more

Annika:

conscious, knowledgeable, and taking the right actions for themselves.

Annika:

so that they can last for a long time.

Annika:

Yes, you can be productive and have a high productivity, but you want to have

Annika:

that maybe over a long time period, not just here and now and the next

Annika:

week and up until next vacation when you can rest, but still maybe can you.

Annika:

Put your phone off and away, or is the expectation that

Annika:

you will have to be reachable.

Annika:

So it's a little bit about the boundary setting there, which I

Annika:

have not always been being great at.

Annika:

And yeah, that's why I created it to help others.

Rob:

When you talk about coaching did you have a coach, what was the step from you

Rob:

being dissatisfied to making that leap?

Annika:

I think it was a long process maybe longer than it needed

Annika:

to be because things need to land.

Annika:

Need to find the courage to go and do something else.

Annika:

It's easy to say follow your heart and off you go.

Annika:

In reality, maybe you have a house, maybe you have some

Annika:

kids to provide for, et cetera.

Annika:

And not everybody can just take that leap.

Annika:

Yeah to work with that and to process that and then finally realize that, all

Annika:

right so this is what's right for me and I now know that this is the right path.

Annika:

But that, it didn't come overnight for me because I really like to

Annika:

work and I loved also my colleagues.

Annika:

I had fantastic manager and there were so many things that were good.

Annika:

And also now, when looking at it, it was a fantastic place to work.

Annika:

I worked there for 17 years and it has given me so much.

Annika:

Ultimately, the everyday work day didn't fit my values any longer.

Annika:

And then I guess I grew in the coaching to realize that this is

Annika:

always, this will be a glitch now.

Annika:

And then it's better to do something proactively about it than, hang around

Annika:

and maybe risk being bitter and even more tired and less energized and being

Annika:

annoyed at my family, because that's where we can be really ourselves.

Annika:

So I didn't want that to happen.

Rob:

Yeah, makes sense.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

So if you okay, so who would be the kind of person who would join your program

Rob:

and really benefit from your program?

Annika:

What I've seen that I work quite well with people that are

Annika:

quite driven, that are ambitious.

Annika:

They have busy agendas both at work.

Annika:

And they can't really see how they will get time to themselves.

Annika:

And that's also one thing.

Annika:

You have to take that time.

Annika:

It's a matter of where do you put yourself on the to do list at the bottom?

Annika:

You need to flip the list then.

Annika:

So people who have started to feel that, something is not quite right.

Annika:

This is not going to be sustainable in the long run.

Annika:

I need to do something.

Annika:

I'm not sure exactly what it is I want to do.

Annika:

I want to change because I want to feel happier.

Annika:

I want to have more peace of mind.

Annika:

I want to feel lighter.

Annika:

I want to feel that I have energy left at the end of the day to spend with

Annika:

family or with the kids without being irritated with things popping up,

Annika:

but just be calmer be more balanced.

Annika:

So those are person.

Annika:

And usually it's women don't know why, but that's how it

Annika:

has been a couple of men too,

Rob:

but mostly women.

Rob:

I suppose looking my background is relationships and when you look

Rob:

it was like 70 percent women who would look at the relationship.

Rob:

Men tend to not look so much for, to other people for help.

Annika:

Interesting.

Rob:

So what I'm seeing is basically people are stuck in a mindset and they

Rob:

can't see how to carry on with, I think if you go into If you live the default life,

Rob:

which is you go into corporate you follow the rules, you do, you turn up every day.

Rob:

I think that grinds people down.

Rob:

And I think it's not sustainable for most people.

Rob:

Because there's going to be more and more pressure, the more

Rob:

that you rise and less time.

Rob:

And.

Rob:

One of the keys now is we have so much more choice of where to give our

Rob:

attention, where to spend our time than we actually have time or attention.

Rob:

And so what it seems to me is what you do is.

Rob:

You break people out of their box of what they can see so that they can

Rob:

zoom out and see more possibilities.

Rob:

So how they can do the same job or how they can have the same lifestyle that they

Rob:

want without having without being bogged down by the, and also have more capacity

Rob:

and energy and joy from their life.

Annika:

Yeah, I like how you summarize that.

Annika:

So yeah, it's self awareness, a sort of self knowledge and habits and tools

Annika:

to steer yourself with so that you can come from a place of of choice.

Annika:

intentional choice for yourself.

Rob:

By your name, you have a little logo, like a little not

Rob:

a flower, but a plant growing.

Rob:

I'm interested in the significance of that because immediately you

Rob:

started drawing, I started In my head had I can't draw but it was like

Rob:

a growth of a flower or something.

Rob:

So i'm interested in where that came from.

Annika:

I just wanted to choose something that's signified or displayed That you'll

Annika:

grow you can grow and we grow together.

Annika:

If we work together, we grow together because that, that, that's the case too.

Annika:

That, in a coaching relationship or a partnership, both parties grow,

Annika:

both the coachee and the coach.

Annika:

So I wanted to just find a little way to, to show that and I chose that emoji

Rob:

I don't know if it was subliminal that i'd noticed it.

Rob:

But when you were talking about personal and professional growth.

Rob:

And the way that you were talking brought to mind, like a little plant growing.

Rob:

And I think really the way that we get out of our trap that we create

Rob:

problems are at level of thinking.

Rob:

And then if we grow up we can grow past the problems or we know

Rob:

how to deal with the problems.

Annika:

We can.

Annika:

And there's another thing to that too, to the growing part.

Annika:

It's that it grows where we water.

Annika:

That's a very Swedish saying.

Annika:

What grows it is where we put the water.

Annika:

So we need to water the the positive sides and and the conscious sides of ourselves.

Annika:

So that they grow and not the other ones.

Rob:

Which goes back to what you were talking about at the inner

Rob:

team.

Rob:

Now if you had a message for someone who's stuck in that position,

Rob:

maybe where you were 10 years ago.

Rob:

What is the key message that you would want them to know?

Annika:

I want them to know that the answer it's somewhere in you.

Annika:

Maybe it's hidden because of others expectations or overloaded agenda.

Annika:

Others, what do you think are others desires or demands and

Annika:

what you need to do and don't but you do know what's right for you.

Annika:

Give yourself time to figure that out, start by unplugging and going

Annika:

outside, spend time in nature, go for a long walk and listen inwards.

Rob:

Yeah.

Rob:

I suppose that's really the problem, isn't it?

Rob:

Is that the speed of life and the amount of stuff that we've got coming at us

Rob:

means that we're moving faster and it's hard to have that time to stop.

Annika:

For sure.

Annika:

The faster you drive, the, the less visibility you have on what's, what's

Annika:

actually happening alongside the road and you just go to maintain the speed.

Rob:

If someone is in that position and wants to reach out.

Rob:

How should they get in contact with you?

Annika:

It works lovely with a direct message on LinkedIn or visit my website.

Annika:

It's in Swedish though, but contact is the same word in Swedish and English.

Annika:

Yeah so there's there's a link there with an email address.

Annika:

Or the good old phone, if somebody would fancy just, giving a phone call.

Rob:

Okay, so if they look on your LinkedIn profile, that

Rob:

has all that information.

Rob:

All

Annika:

of those details are there.

Annika:

That's the short and packaged answer, of course.

Annika:

Yes.

Rob:

Okay.

Rob:

That's great to put more detail to the person I've, that I've seen online.

Annika:

It's been great to chat