Stop Trying to Figure Life Out. Start Figuring Yourself In.

Stop Trying to Figure Life Out. Start Figuring Yourself In.

What does real leadership require when the old maps stop working? In this conversation, Dave sits down with leadership expert and coach Andy Cahill to explore the fantasy that someone out there has life figured out, and the alternative Andy offers instead: learning to figure yourself in. They get into why so many of us are pulled toward crisis and quests without meaning to be, what it looks like to drop the change agenda in coaching and in relationships, and how strength and gentleness work together rather than against each other. In this episode: * The fantasy that someone else has it figured out * Figuring yourself in versus figuring life out * How leaders unconsciously create the crises they thrive in * The change agenda, and what it costs a coach or a parent * Holding strength and gentleness together * The micro pause, and why real reflection happens in the moment * Book recommendations on embodied cognition and the psychology of environment * The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain — Annie Murphy Paul [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-architecture-of-happiness-alain-de-botton/7608d0e22673642c?ean=9780307277244&bkshp-astro=t] * The Architecture of Happiness — Alain de Botton [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-architecture-of-happiness-alain-de-botton/7608d0e22673642c?ean=9780307277244&bkshp-astro=t] __________ Chapter Timestamps ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 — Introduction 04:57 — The fantasy of someone having it figured out 05:26 — Figuring yourself in 17:15 — The crisis I was creating 19:20 — The change agenda 33:52 — Strength and gentleness 46:47 — The micro pause 1:13:08 — Book recommendations [00:xx] — Closing question ______   Andy Cahill is a leadership development expert who works with purpose-driven executives and entrepreneurs. Past and current clients include Microsoft, Marriott International, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Patagonia, lululemon athletica, The Obama Foundation, MIT, and a variety of A-to-D series funded startups in the tech and social impact sectors. Andy earned his master’s degree in leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a professionally certified coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Foundation, and he is also a Level 2 certified Internal Family Systems practitioner. He is also the host of Wonder Dome [https://wonderdome.substack.com/], a podcast with a global listenership that explores explores the intersections of philosophy, psychology, science, and spirituality. And his critically acclaimed science-fiction novel Gradient [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44143030-gradient] brings a mythic frame to the interplay of human and artificial intelligence, surfacing themes of leadership, cultural adaptation, identity formation, technological innovation, and collective resilience in the face of loss. Website: https://wonderdome.substack.com/ [https://wonderdome.substack.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/] 🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a] Substack: https://dschoof.substack.com [https://dschoof.substack.com/] Podcast: https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/]

What Makes Navigation Possible

We live in a culture that rewards movement. Answer faster. Decide sooner. Keep going. But movement and navigation aren't the same thing. You can move all day and still become increasingly lost. What actually makes navigation possible isn't a better map, more information, or greater confidence. It's something that happens before any of that. Its orientation. Knowing where you are before deciding where to go. This is a solo episode recorded during an unexpected pause in the south of France — and an inquiry that's been quietly reshaping how I think about The Pivot itself.   🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a] Substack: https://dschoof.substack.com [https://dschoof.substack.com/] Podcast: https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/]

Surviving to Flourishing — and What the Modern World Gets Wrong | with Dr. Rodney King

Dr. Rodney King has navigated some of the hardest terrain a person can cross — homelessness on the streets of Johannesburg, a health crisis that ended his career, and the disorienting question that follows when everything you've built around yourself falls away: who am I now? He came out the other side not with a framework, but with a direction. As a philosopher, coach, and founder of Coaching Philosophia, Rodney now works with people navigating the meaning crisis — the growing gap between what modern life promises and what it actually delivers. In this conversation, Dave and Rodney get into why the modern world has confused excelling with flourishing. Why the self-help industry is largely a repair mechanism for a broken environment. Why you can be content without being happy. And what it actually looks like to find your way back to something real. This isn't an optimization conversation. It's a return one.   About This Episode Dr. Rodney King is a philosopher, coach, and internationally recognized self-preservation expert. Originally from South Africa, he spent decades as a martial arts coach with programs in 15 countries — working with everyone from Tier One Special Forces operators to airline cabin crew. A health crisis in 2020 ended that chapter and opened a new one. He now lives on the Isle of Man and works under the banner of Coaching Philosophia — bringing lived philosophy, mindfulness, and embodied practice to people navigating uncertainty, reclaiming meaning, and learning to flourish in a world that has largely forgotten how.     What We Explored The modern world has confused excelling with flourishing. Rodney had the car, the house with the right zip code, the global travel. He'll tell you directly that wasn't the best time of his life. The self-help industry is largely a repair mechanism for a broken environment. When the chimp is rocking back and forth in the zoo, the problem isn't the chimp. It's the zoo. We've built an unnatural environment, normalized it, and then told people to optimize their way through it. The meaning crisis is real - and it's structural. We are running ancient hardware in an artificial environment. The evolutionary mismatch between what we're designed for and what modern life asks of us is showing up everywhere. Happiness and contentment are not the same thing. The Western obsession with constant happiness may be doing significant damage. Contentment is something you can actually build. Happiness comes and goes. Vulnerability as a practice — from someone who spent his career in a world where it was seen as weakness. Rodney's move from fighter to philosopher-coach carries real weight here. Viktor Frankl on the streets of Johannesburg. The book ("Man's Search for Meaning" ) Rodney happened to pick up two weeks before becoming homeless — and the passage that kept him going.     A Line Worth Sitting With "Everything the self-help world advocates as solutions are really just solutions to help you slot back into the mainstream and keep the machine going. And I don't think that's good for us." — Dr. Rodney King   🔗 CONNECT WITH RODNEY Search for Sophia bi-monthly calls: https://www.coachingphilosophia.org/searchforsophia [https://www.coachingphilosophia.org/searchforsophia] Philosophy-inspired coaching: www.coachingphilosophia.org/coaching [http://www.coachingphilosophia.org/coaching]   🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com | Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a]  Substack: https://dschoof.substack.com [https://dschoof.substack.com/] | Podcast: https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s] |   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/]

When the Signal Breaks Down

What leadership instrument are you actually navigating with when the information environment breaks down? In this solo episode, Dave Schoof explores one of the most disorienting challenges facing leaders right now: the gap between what the official story says and what people are actually living. Prices move week to week. Markets say one thing while experienced leaders feel something else entirely. And the default response — consume more, find better sources, read more analysis — isn't producing more clarity. The problem isn't the data. It's the instrument. In this episode: * Why the most important question right now isn't "which source do I trust?" but "what am I navigating with?" * The difference between the information you're working with and the instrument you're running it through * What it looks like to navigate from a steadier place — not detached, not checked out, but fully present without being run by the noise * A simple 30-second practice you can try right now * Why developing your internal instrument is the most practical leadership move available in this moment 🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com [http://daveschoof.com] Newsletter: [The Pivot: From the Map to the Terrain [https://thepivot-newsletter-77eff8.beehiiv.com]] 🌀 THE PIVOT COMMONS [Pivot Commons link [https://www.skool.com/the-pivot-commons-4650/about?ref=99a271ec9e194ed5a83253bc91a78dc6%20]] 🧪 THE PIVOT LAB Six weeks. Small group. Starting soon. [Pivot Lab sign-up link [http://subscribepage.io/pivot-lab-waitlist%20]]

After the Map: Grief, Regeneration, and a New Way to Lead | Leadership & Consciousness

What does leadership look like when the old maps stop working — and the social contracts that guided your career have dissolved? In this second conversation with JJ Vega, leadership coach and founder of Art of Unfolding, Dave Schoof goes deeper into the territory most leadership development avoids: grief as a necessary passage, natural cycles as an organizational practice, and the embodied awareness that makes a genuinely different kind of leadership possible. Drawing on William Bridges' transition model and their shared background in somatic and consciousness-informed coaching, Dave and JJ explore what it actually takes to lead well through endings — not just survive them. In this episode: * Grief as a leadership skill — why it belongs in the room * The neutral zone: what lives between endings and new beginnings * Resilience vs. permeability — replacing the wall with a membrane * Regenerative leadership: honoring fallow seasons, natural cycles, and rest * Embodied awareness as the foundational leadership practice * Rewilding the human being — and the organizations we lead Guest: JJ Vega is a leadership coach working at the intersection of the inner world and organizational impact. Together, we cover emergence as a leadership practice, somatic intelligence, edge walkers, the disintegrating success template, and whether the Hero's Journey needs a postmodern update. CONNECT WITH JJ VEGA Website: artofunfolding.org Inside Out Leadership: leadinsideout.io [https://leadinsideout.io] Co-Creation Loft Berlin: co-creation.loft [https://co-creation.loft] LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jj-vega/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jj-vega/]     🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a]] Substack: [https://dschoof.substack.com [https://dschoof.substack.com]] Podcast: [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s]] LinkedIn:  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/] ]