Things Go Sideways

Stan Gibson built four decades of corporate success — and then watched it dissolve in a single phone call. When the Fortune 100 company he'd given everything to displaced his position, Stan wasn't blindsided by the job loss. He was blindsided by the question underneath it: who are you when the career that defined you is gone? In this conversation, Stan Gibson — executive coach, keynote speaker, and author of Living a Rich and Intentional Life — walks through what it actually takes to rebuild identity after disruption. He covers the moment a friend's terminal cancer diagnosis reoriented his entire understanding of what "rich" means; how his wife's stage four cancer diagnosis forced him to practice what he preached about self-care; and the coaching framework he uses with executives navigating their own identity collapse — from strengths mapping to "I am" identity statements to a reverse-engineered five-year vision process. Stan introduces a through-line he calls the "genius paragraph" — a granular translation of your five core strengths into a statement of who you are at your best. It's not motivational filler. It's a tool for people who've lost the external structure that told them who they were, and need something internal to replace it. Why Listen Now: If you've ever let a job title answer the question "who are you" — and then lost the job — this episode is a hand on the shoulder, not a blueprint. Stan's been there. He built a life from the rubble twice. If this is you… You're still carrying the weight of a disruption you didn't choose, and part of what's heavy is that you don't know who you are without it. Resources Double Down on You PDF (neuroscience-based resources: sleep, nutrition, fitness, visualization) — Stan Gibson: https://leadwithstan.com Living a Rich and Intentional Life — Stan Gibson (book) Website: https://www.stangibsonspeaks.com Speaker Reel: https://www.stangibsonspeaks.com/speaking LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stangibsonspeaks The Inspiration Podcasts with Stan — Stan Gibson's podcast Psycho-Cybernetics — Dr. Maxwell Maltz (referenced by Stan) About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy. Connect With Things Go Sideways: Substack: https://thingsgosideways.substack.com/welcome  Website: https://thingsgosideways.com  LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikilitalien/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikilitalien/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thingsgosidewayspod and https://www.tiktok.com/@thingsgosideways  For Business Inquiries: [email protected]  Listen & Subscribe Substack: https://thingsgosideways.substack.com/  Website: https://thingsgosideways.com/listen  Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site  Libsyn Video Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/spotify Spotify (video): https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Spotify (audio): https://open.spotify.com/show/2K6DYzLMRkbT4FfmDaFP7a?si=4b4c70c5a3a84ce2 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenThingsGoSideways  Join the Community Things Go Sideways Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube Playlist (Full Episodes): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150721167011215 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585524425304 00:00 — KiKi introduces Stan Gibson and the episode's stakes 01:53 — Stan describes his first sideways moment: threatened with termination at 23 03:45 — Writing the plan on a piece of paper: "No one will ever dictate my future again" 05:12 — The second sideways moment: Fortune 100 layoff he didn't see coming 06:40 — "Always have a plan B" — why Stan was ready the morning after 07:30 — Jerry walks over at dinner: "When death becomes certain, life becomes rich" 09:10 — Wife's stage four cancer diagnosis changes how Stan lives his own framework 11:00 — The swim lane metaphor: knowing who you are and who belongs beside you 12:15 — Neuroscience of identity: RAS, amygdala, and why early lies become truth 15:23 — Working with a client whose career became her entire identity 17:45 — The genius paragraph: translating Clifton Strengths into who you are at your best 20:00 — Visioning backward: assuming five-year success and asking what got you there 22:10 — "I am" versus "I will someday": stating identity, not intention 23:15 — Mother's passing, wife's cancer, and using affirmations to embrace hard seasons 24:49 — Solomon's vapor: life isn't meaningless, it moves fast 29:00 — Marianne Williamson quote: it's our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most 34:46 — Stan's closing counsel: "Own the moment. Are you a victim or are you an owner?"

Cecilia Satovich was 40, raising three young daughters, and living inside the life she had hoped for. Then she went in for her first mammogram. What started as something routine (an appointment you know you should make, the kind you might delay because life is full and you are busy and also, let's be real, who wants to deal with it?) became the beginning of a breast cancer diagnosis right as the world was heading into the uncertainty of early 2020. In this episode of Things Go Sideways, Cecilia talks about what it felt like to hear the word cancer when her children were still small, treatment was suddenly complicated by COVID, and the future she had been counting on no longer felt guaranteed. We talk about mammograms, fear, motherhood, asking for help, saying the wrong thing, and how hard it can be to stay close to someone else's pain when you don't know what to do with your own discomfort. This is not a neat cancer-survivor story with a shiny bow on it. Cecilia's story is about what happens when the body interrupts the plan, when ordinary life becomes precious in a way that feels almost unbearable, and when surviving something changes how you show up for other people who are still in it. Because sometimes the sideways moment is not only the diagnosis. Sometimes it is realizing how much you love your life. And yes. Get the mammogram. --- What is it like when your first mammogram leads to a breast cancer diagnosis? When a first mammogram leads to a breast cancer diagnosis, the shock is not only medical. It can interrupt your sense of safety, your plans, your family life, and the future you thought you were standing inside. In this episode of Things Go Sideways, Cecilia Satovich talks about being diagnosed with breast cancer at 40, while raising three young daughters and beginning treatment during the uncertainty of early 2020. Her story is about fear, motherhood, asking for help, and what changes when your body forces you to pay attention. --- Connect With Things Go Sideways: Substack: https://thingsgosideways.substack.com/welcome  Website: https://thingsgosideways.com  LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikilitalien/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikilitalien/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thingsgosidewayspod and https://www.tiktok.com/@thingsgosideways  For Business Inquiries: [email protected]   

What happens when you've already had your wake-up call — and life sends another one? Lori Zoss Kraska built Growth Owl into a thriving consultancy helping nonprofits and associations land Fortune 1000 sponsorships. Then, in 2022, a doctor's hunch caught bilateral pulmonary embolisms that had no symptoms she could feel.  She was answering client emails from the ER! The lesson stuck — until her mother walked into knee surgery in 2024 and walked out with the first signs of vascular dementia. In this episode of Things Go Sideways, Lori shares what it's actually like to run a business while becoming a primary caregiver. She talks about "grace fatigue" — the exhaustion of trying to make everyone else comfortable.  She talks about boundaries that aren't slogans. She talks about why her client roster looks completely different now, why perfectionism didn't survive the second crisis, and the conversation with her mother on a patio that became an assignment for the rest of her life. This one is for anyone in the middle of caregiving, anyone whose body has tried to warn them, and anyone rebuilding a business around a life that won't sit still. Listen now. When things go sideways, that's where the real story begins.  Connect with Lori: Website: thegrowthowl.com Books: lorizossbooks.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lorizoss 00:00 — Cold open / intro 01:30 — Welcome and setup: holding responsibility and uncertainty at once 02:30 — The knee surgery waiting room: noticing the signs 04:00 — The sundowning event after surgery and the diagnosis 06:30 — "I had to start respecting my boundaries" 08:30 — Why she stopped taking every client and started getting selective 10:30 — Working with creators and voiceover artists — the new audience 12:00 — Walking, journaling, gratitude: self-care as infrastructure 15:00 — 2022: the pulmonary embolism and the lesson she didn't quite learn yet 18:00 — The healthcare system, the squeaky wheel, and being your own advocate  20:30 — Throwing out the perfectionism 22:30 — "Once I made the choice to work on myself, the right clients came" 25:00 — Trust, taboo, and the people who can't talk about dementia 27:30 — Grace fatigue (this is the segment to clip) 30:00 — The patio conversation with her mother 32:00 — Becoming an exceptional listener 34:30 — Her father, the protector vs. the daughter, the solutions-provider 37:00 — Final advice: listen to your body 39:00 — Close and CTAs grace fatigue, boundaries, caregiver burnout, sandwich generation, women in business, only child caregiver, corporate sponsorship, nonprofit consulting, health scare, blood clots, perfectionism, client selection, business pivot For Business Inquiries: [email protected]  Listen & Subscribe Substack: https://thingsgosideways.substack.com/  Website: https://thingsgosideways.com/listen  Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site  Libsyn Video Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/spotify Spotify (video): https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Spotify (audio): https://open.spotify.com/show/2K6DYzLMRkbT4FfmDaFP7a?si=4b4c70c5a3a84ce2 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenThingsGoSideways  Join the Community Things Go Sideways Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube Playlist (Full Episodes): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150721167011215 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585524425304 Share Your Sideways Story Podcast Guest Intake Form: https://forms.gle/UcccE9eJBSfEc9UN9 Schedule a Podcast Interview: https://calendly.com/kiki-interview/podcast-interview  

When career, grief, and identity all come apart in the same 30 days, the instinct is to fight harder. Geoff Livingston learned the opposite. In this episode of Things Go Sideways, marketer, author, and Zen Buddhist Geoff Livingston walks through the month his co-founded company Cognitive Path wound down and his father died — and the "think liquid" mindset he built afterward for navigating change you can't outrun. This is a conversation about forced surrender as a starting point, not a failure. About honoring red flags the first time you see them, instead of the third. About what the body teaches you that the mind can't. And about why the fastest way through grief, job loss, or any sideways moment is to let it bleed — not stuff it down. Geoff's new book, "Now Is Gone: Think Liquid to Navigate Never-Ending Change," comes out June 2. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN - Why surrender isn't losing — and what it actually unlocks - The "think liquid" framework for adapting at the speed of real change - How to recognize red flags before they become exit signs - Why misery often lives in how we consume life, not just what happens to us - What endurance running teaches about managing pain vs. quitting well TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open: the 30 days everything came apart 02:11 Cognitive Path winds down as Geoff's father is dying 04:42 The heart attack, the DNR, the drive back 07:11 "Begin by surrendering" — what surrender actually looks like 10:13 Honoring red flags: why we ignore what we already see 14:58 The "think liquid" mindset, explained 19:00 What the body teaches the mind about discomfort 21:48 Sassy the dog, Zen sits, and the social media audit 25:03 Writing the book in 30 days 28:18 The red flag Geoff is honoring right now 31:15 Manageable pain vs. real pain — and when to quit 41:33 "Let it bleed": honest advice for someone in their sideways moment CONNECT WITH GEOFF LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffliving/  Substack — The Buzz: https://buzzbylivingston.substack.com  Generative Buzz: https://generativebuzz.ai  Geoff's book, Now Is Gone: Think Liquid to Navigate Never-Ending Change, comes out June 2, 2026. Pre-orders are eBook-only; print will be available shortly before the publishing date. Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Now-Gone-Liquid-Navigate-Neverending-ebook/dp/B0GHNMM383/ FOLLOW THINGS GO SIDEWAYShttps://thingsgosideways.com/home Things Go Sideways Substack: https://thingsgosideways.substack.com/welcome TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thingsgosidewayspod and https://www.tiktok.com/@thingsgosideways For Business Inquiries: [email protected] Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site Libsyn Video Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/spotify Spotify (video): https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Spotify (audio): https://open.spotify.com/show/2K6DYzLMRkbT4FfmDaFP7a?si=4b4c70c5a3a84ce2 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenThingsGoSideways  Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube — search "Things Go Sideways Podcast" #ThingsGoSideways #CareerChange #ChangeManagement #GeoffLivingston #ThinkLiquid

What is digital nomad life really like? For Katherine Tuominen — marketing strategist and founder of Catalyst Brand Strategy — it looked nothing like the Instagram version: visa battles, reverse culture shock, lost friendships, and the slow realization that a beautiful destination doesn't outrun an unhealed self. It started during Melbourne's hardest lockdown, when she couldn't leave her house without a grocery receipt and made a quiet promise to herself: she would never feel that trapped again. In this conversation, Katherine talks with KiKi about what the lifestyle actually costs, why the nine-to-five script makes any other path feel reckless to the people around you, how she landed on a travel rhythm that worked for her after almost three years of trial and error, and how the cultural fluency she's built abroad now shapes the brand work she does with founders in the health and wellness space. The thread running through it: when you strip away the titles, the resume, the corporate version of yourself nobody calls you by overseas, what's left tends to be what was already there — the kid who wrote plays, drew on lunch breaks, made up worlds. The life she designed didn't invent a new Katherine. It handed back the original one. Resources Catalyst Brand Strategy — Katherine Tuominen (website): https://catalystbrandstrategy.com Katherine Tuominen (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-tuominen/ Catalyst Brand Strategy (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/catalyst_brandstrategy/ HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 — KiKi opens with the gap between designed life and lived life 01:15 — Katherine on what a digital nomad actually is 02:48 — Melbourne lockdown becomes the non-negotiable turning point 04:18 — Making the jump: backlash, lost friendships, going against the grain 06:53 — The Instagram version meets the laptop on the beach 08:55 — First real hurdle: baggage travels with you 10:25 — Finding her travel rhythm after almost three years of trial and error 13:18 — How cultural nuance reshaped her brand work with clients 16:39 — The third culture kid origin: Finland, China, Australia 20:08 — Identity stripped of titles: who you were as a kid is who you are 24:30 — Fear as guide, and breaking the leap into bite-sized starts 30:11 — Closing: you don't have to resolve everything, just stop pretending If you've been suspecting the life you carefully designed is starting to design you back, Katherine's story is a steady, honest look at what happens when you stop performing the version that's been working. Listen & Subscribe Substack: https://thetrustproject.substack.com/  Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site  Libsyn Video Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/spotify Spotify (video): https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Spotify (audio): https://open.spotify.com/show/2K6DYzLMRkbT4FfmDaFP7a?si=4b4c70c5a3a84ce2 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenThingsGoSideways 

He Built a $25 Million Business. Then Everything Collapsed. 🔴 JOIN on SUBSTACK: 👉https://thetrustproject.substack.com/  Shane Barker thought he was building something that mattered. His company grew fast during the mortgage crisis by helping people challenge predatory loans. Within two years, the business exploded to 130 employees and a reported $25 million valuation. Then everything shifted. A $62 million lawsuit, frozen bank accounts, public attacks, and years of uncertainty forced him into a fight he never expected. In this episode, Shane Barker talks with KiKi L'Italien about what it feels like when your name, your business, and your future all come under pressure at once. They discuss the emotional toll of public scrutiny, the collapse of professional trust, losing opportunities because of online narratives, and the strange reality of trying to rebuild while still in the middle of the storm. This conversation also explores how that experience eventually led Shane into online reputation management and the creation of TraceFuse.ai. Underneath the business story is something more human: what happens when survival replaces strategy, and the only way forward is one day at a time. Resources Website — Shane Barker: https://shanebarker.com/ TraceFuse.ai — Shane Barker: https://tracefuse.ai/ LinkedIn — Shane Barker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanebarker About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy. Connect With Me On Other Platforms: Substack: https://thetrustproject.substack.com/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenThingsGoSideways/shorts  LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikilitalien/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikilitalien/  For Business Inquiries: [email protected]   

If you're the one everyone leans on… this conversation with brain health coach Barbara Gustavson is worth your time. Barbara's path to becoming a brain health coach started with a piece of paper handed to her at a Cracker Barrel on Thanksgiving Day — a document that revealed a family history of covered-up crimes, mental illness, and Huntington's Disease. That moment didn't end anything. It started something. What followed was fifteen years of navigating caregiving alongside a career just beginning to take shape, children, a marriage, and a growing awareness that her own brain was carrying more than she'd admitted. In this conversation, Barbara walks through the difference between resetting and regrouping — why you can sleep eight hours and still wake up depleted, and what it takes to actually address the root causes. We also talk about the limbo season: that stretch of time after something shifts where the old rules don't work and the new ones haven't formed. Barbara doesn't frame it as a problem to solve. She frames it as a pause that asks you to listen differently. The conversation also covers the window of tolerance, what it costs to work outside it, and how learning the language your brain actually speaks — signals, not shoulds — changed how Barbara made decisions, set limits, and stayed present through the hardest stretch of her life. Her book is Regroup: How to Reset Your Mind to Unlock Hidden Energy, Enjoy Productive Peace, and Feel Like Yourself Again. Resources mentioned the following during the episode: Regroup (Audiobook) — Barbara Gustavson: https://amzn.to/48AWdCw  Welcome to Your Crisis: https://amzn.to/3QJpyVc  Think Again — Adam Grant: https://amzn.to/3P2SxTg  Calm — mindfulness app: https://www.calm.com  Five Minutes' Peace — Jill Murphy (children's book): https://amzn.to/4w536G8  Connect With Things Go Sideways On Other Platforms: Substack: https://thetrustproject.substack.com/  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikilitalien/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikilitalien/  For Business Inquiries: [email protected]  00:04 — Show opens; KiKi introduces today's guest 01:53 — The Thanksgiving moment that changed everything 06:18 — Caregiving guilt: the feelings we don't name out loud 09:17 — What limbo season actually is and why it isn't a mistake 11:24 — From quicksand to surrender: reframing the stuck feeling 14:40 — Survival mode is biology, not a character flaw 18:32 — Regroup isn't reset: the difference and why it matters 23:30 — Listen to the whisper before it becomes the two by four 25:59 — The window of tolerance and the cost of ignoring it 31:12 — The principle Barbara still wrestles with: negativity bias 34:30 — Staying present in the current season, not the last one 36:32 — What to do when you're in the middle of your own limbo About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.

Justin Brown was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at 12, and for years he found ways to keep going anyway — ski life in Utah, cooking professionally, staying physically active. Then around 2005 his body stopped cooperating in ways that couldn't be pushed through. A bowel resection changed the baseline. Some of what he'd assumed about himself didn't come back. 👤 Connect With Me On Other Platforms: Substack: https://thetrustproject.substack.com/  LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikilitalien/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kikilitalien/    For Business Inquiries: [email protected]  In this conversation, Justin talks about the slow process of understanding what his body could and couldn't do — not as a limitation on who he was, but as information he had to work with. He's the founder and CEO of Rhino Skin Solutions, a company built around durability and staying in the game longer. It's hard not to notice how directly that philosophy tracks back to his own story. Want to check out the promo pack for Rhino Skin? Justin shared this great offer for our audience! https://rhinoskinsolutions.com/products/podcast-starter-pack The conversation covers: the year things broke down before surgery; what "identity" actually means when it's not tethered to a condition or a sport; the craftsman approach to illness, work, and incremental improvement; how Jiu Jitsu gave him a kind of community that cooking never quite did; and what he says when someone asks if it's going to get better. Join the Things Go Sideways Substack!  HIGHLIGHTS 00:04 — KiKi sets the episode premise and introduces Justin 01:15 — Justin describes the body breaking down: two good hours a day 03:58 — Self-discovery before surgery; the physical paths that closed off 06:17 — Being diagnosed at 12 and what it did to his sense of self 08:32 — Justin explains what Crohn's disease is and how it works 10:24 — The cultural story about strength, and when it stopped fitting 11:04 — The craftsman philosophy: illness, cooking, Rhino, all one approach 13:25 — Why identity shouldn't be tethered to a condition or an object 15:37 — Wondering if disability was the path; what pointed him toward Rhino 22:09 — Two pieces of family wisdom he still carries 24:07 — His annual resolution: no complaining without a solution 25:30 — Jiu Jitsu and the kind of community that earns your trust 29:53 — The honest answer: it's not going to get better for everybody 31:26 — What passion looks like today: family, Rhino, incremental improvement Resources Rhino Skin Solutions: https://rhinoskinsolutions.com/ Podcast Starter Pack — Rhino Skin Solutions: https://rhinoskinsolutions.com/products/podcast-starter-pack Justin Brown on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-brown-772717105/   Things Go Sideways Podcast Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150721167011215 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585524425304 Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb&si=85aYxvab0LAD8LKj Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj?si=6f32814b56004eab Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp Share Your Sideways Story (Guest Intake Form): https://forms.gle/UcccE9eJBSfEc9UN9 Schedule Your Sideways Story Interview: https://calendly.com/kiki-interview/podcast-interview About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.  

Mark Wallach was diagnosed with ALS in April 2021. By then, he'd already been losing function in his right arm for years — adapting each time, finding workarounds. He's now a quadriplegic and also a working entrepreneur who recently posted about learning to drive his wheelchair with his eyes. That post reached more than 300 people outside his network. An assistive technology company in Germany reached out to send him equipment. (Could this be what happens when someone stops protecting the image and starts telling the truth about their sideways moment?) In this conversation, host of Things Go Sideways podcast, KiKi L'Italien, and Mark cover what it means to keep building when the losses keep coming — and they don't stop. They talk through the grief that doesn't end (he lost use of his right arm, then his left, then both legs), how ALS clarified rather than collapsed his sense of what matters, and what legacy actually looks like when you have a real timeline. They also get into bandwidth, delegation, AI as a genuine equalizer, and why Mark believes vulnerability isn't a soft concept — it's an access point. Mark has a name for his disease that isn't ALS. He calls it "CSA: Constant State of Adaptation." If you were hoping for tidy resolutions, you won't find them here. This episode doesn't end cleanly. It ends with a man still in the thick of it, still building, still figuring out how to receive what other people offer him. And that's where things get interesting! Timestamps 00:04 — KiKi names the premise: stories about reckoning, not highlight reels 01:45 — Mark shares his mission: earn the right to be the first call 04:01 — Mark renames ALS to CSA: constant state of adaptation 06:07 — Going public with vulnerability: unexpected reach and a $8K technology offer 09:49 — What the disease taught him that anyone could use 14:47 — Outsourcing admin, leaning on AI, and working as a quadriplegic 18:21 — Mind shift: from salesperson stigma to connector with purpose 22:34 — Why building for legacy means learning to replace yourself 26:29 — What legacy actually looks like: his wife, his reputation, pizza nights 29:54 — The first sideways moment: August 2018, a weak right arm at Whole Foods 33:28 — The diagnosis, stopping driving, and doing what he'd been putting off 38:51 — Getting out of a funk: goals matter more than self-pity — with permission for rest 40:45 — The hardest thing he's learned: accepting help and letting go of the how 44:33 — The cave question: learning to receive what others offer Resources 🔗 Mark Wallach on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwallach/ 🌐 Engagement Mobile Strategies: https://www.engagementmobile.com/ 💙 I Am ALS (advocacy organization): https://www.iamals.org/ 💙 The ALS Association: https://www.als.org/ About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.    

Vidar Hokstad has spent more than 30 years building, scaling, and exiting tech companies. He's started price wars he couldn't win, fired people who didn't deserve it, and hit the kind of burnout that doesn't announce itself—it just slowly narrows your field of vision until all you can see is the next task. In this conversation, Vidar talks about what it's like when investors override your judgment, when a dot-com crash forces you to cut a team from 50 to 7, and what happens inside you when the company you relocated countries for starts to collapse. He also gets honest about why big corporate jobs felt like a vacation after startup life, why he kept going back to building anyway, and what finally made fractional consulting feel like the right fit—not a fallback. This episode is for anyone who's building something that looks successful from the outside but feels quietly unsustainable on the inside. Vidar doesn't offer a clean resolution. He offers what 30 years of sideways moments actually taught him: the sooner you take the break, the shorter it needs to be.  

At 28, Danielle Duran Baron was building the life she'd planned. Master's degree in hand, career moving, future wide open. Then routine blood work uncovered something no one expected: a massive liver tumor that would require emergency surgery within days. She flatlined three times on the operating table. Five years later, married and looking ahead, the cancer came back. In this episode, Dani talks about what it's like to be too young for the diagnosis you're given, too healthy for anyone to suspect it, and too early in life to have to tell the people you love that the future isn't guaranteed. She shares how strangers donated blood in record numbers, how her husband navigated a Brazilian hospital in a language he didn't speak, and how a neighbor's words, "it can't rain forever," became the thing she held onto when nothing else worked. This conversation sits with the reality that recovery doesn't follow a clean upward line. There are setbacks that feel like starting over. And there's a quiet, stubborn choice to keep making plans anyway...not because the fear goes away, but because the time you're here has to matter. Danielle published her debut book, "Viva para Contar," in 2020, becoming the first Portuguese-language author to delve into the topic of fibrolamellar cancer HCC and survivorship. Why Listen Now? Recovery isn't a montage. It's the days between the hard news and the next thing you try. If you're in that stretch right now, or sitting with someone who is, this conversation doesn't rush past it. Highlights 00:00  KiKi introduces Danielle Duran Baron and her sideways story 02:23  Dani describes a routine blood test that changed everything 05:03  How a cosmetic consultation uncovered something serious 06:43  The ultrasound room where the doctor's face changed 09:16  A community mobilizes to find the right surgeon 11:19  Surgery, flatlines, and a record number of blood donors 14:49  The cancer returns five years later 18:16  Why honoring the dark moments matters more than staying positive 25:22  "Make it matter"—how diagnosis reshaped her priorities 29:01  A secret blog becomes the foundation for a book 33:26  Why recovery is never the straight line we expect 35:16  The world keeps moving while yours stops 40:21  Volunteering with young cancer patients and losing some of them 43:36  "It can't rain forever"—honest words for a hard season Resources LinkedIn — Danielle Duran Baron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielleduranbaron/ About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.

Sometimes the blanket that keeps you warm is the same one keeping you from seeing clearly. Brian Kirkland's story is about what you find when you finally pull it off—not clarity, exactly, but the beginning of knowing what questions to ask. Brian Kirkland was a senior director at a major association, able to hold his liquor and show up at 6 a.m. for logistics meetings—and that behavior was rewarded. When he stopped drinking, the security blanket came off, and what was underneath wasn't what he expected. In this conversation, Brian talks about the long, uneven road after getting sober: chasing dopamine in new forms, walking into a job he knew was wrong within weeks, losing four people close to him in a matter of months, and eventually being told by a coworker in crisis to just leave it at home and get the work done. He also shares how diagnoses of PTSD, ADHD, and autism—arriving years apart—didn't simplify his story but gave him a way to stop calling himself broken. This isn't a recovery arc with a neat ending. Brian is still in it, still figuring out how to lead with empathy in spaces that don't always make room for it—and now building 501(booze)(free), a resource for the association community around sobriety and harm reduction. HIGHLIGHTS 00:03 — KiKi introduces Brian and the terrain of this conversation 01:30 — Brian names this chapter: "Pills and Thrills and Belly Aches" 03:43 — What rushes in when the security blanket goes away 05:05 — Chasing dopamine, shame, and the surprise of being supported 09:16 — Why Brian decided to go public about his sobriety 11:08 — What nobody tells you about what comes after you stop numbing 14:04 — The career spiral: burnout, a bad job decision, and a workplace that went Lord of the Flies 16:42 — Four losses in four months and a coworker's devastating response 19:10 — PTSD, ADHD, and autism: diagnoses that arrived years apart 22:06 — From "fundamentally broken" to understanding the wiring 25:25 — 501(booze)(free) and bringing sobriety talk into association spaces 27:42 — What feels risky—and what doesn't—about doing this publicly 33:11 — Brian's biggest takeaway: lead with empathy, not assumptions 34:23 — KiKi's closing: you don't have to be the bravest person tomorrow Resources Brian Kirkland, CAE — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-kirkland-cae-5296774/ Ungovernable Context — Brian's LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7432243137835753472/ 501(booze)(free) — Substack: https://501boozefree.substack.com/   About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.  

Kathryn Eipl was standing on a rooftop watching thousands of people pour into the park she'd spent months building. It was opening night. It was the moment she'd worked toward her entire adult life. And she felt almost nothing. That emptiness didn't go away when she ignored it. It just got louder. In this episode, Kathryn traces the years she spent managing that feeling with drinking, overwork, and busyness, until the avoidance stopped working and she had to start paying attention to what her body had been saying all along. We talk about what it actually looks like to leave a lucrative career you trained for: the doubt, the family pushback, and the identity confusion of not knowing who you are without the role you built. We also talk about how Kathryn developed the Neuro-Resonance Method™ — a nervous system regulation approach drawing on yoga, Reiki, sound healing, and cognitive behavioral techniques — and she didn't create this from a business plan. She discovered her new path by working through her own disorientation over roughly 18 months. This is a story about what happens when the gap between how your life looks and how it feels grows too wide to keep crossing. If you've ever built something that should feel like enough — and noticed it doesn't — Kathryn's story is a reminder that the gap between your life on paper and your life in the body is information worth reading. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00  KiKi opens: what this show exists to do, and who Kathryn is 01:22  The rooftop moment: opening night, thousands arriving, feeling almost nothing 06:32  Staying stuck: drinking and smoking to avoid the misalignment 10:38  The 4am moment: "There has to be more to life than this" 13:00  Returning to yoga: first healthy way to quiet the noise 17:00  One student's comment lands harder than thousands of event attendees 22:00  Living a double life: two wardrobes, two identities, growing inner confusion 25:22  Walking off the overseas project and choosing to leave entertainment 32:42  The doubt out loud: leaving a lucrative career to be a yoga teacher in LA 38:21  How the Neuro-Resonance Method™ developed from her own life, not a plan 45:39  Breaking down the method: physical, mental, emotional, and energetic body 52:16  First step: stop judging your emotions; the two-minute timer practice 57:16  "The right time to start is when you're ready to choose yourself" 58:23  KiKi closes: breakdown is not the opposite of wisdom RESOURCES: E.I.P.L. Healing — Kathryn Eipl: https://eiplhealing.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eiplhealing/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@eiplhealing  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eiplhealing  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-eipl/  Free Gift — 1 Neuro-Resonance Strategy Session (use code WELCOME at checkout): https://bit.ly/4o5Uw5y  About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.

Sometimes the dream you fought for turns into the thing you have to survive. Liz Dapo's story is about what it costs to hold something together alone—and what becomes possible when you finally set it down. Liz Dapo is a professional puppeteer, voice actor, and fabricator who has worked with Jim Henson projects, SNL, and National Geographic. None of that prepared her for what happened when she became artistic director of a small puppet theater in D.C.—one week before the pandemic shut everything down. Over the next four years, Liz inherited a company with $2,000 in the bank and 600 puppets, rebuilt a board from scratch, and held 17 roles at once—directing, performing, designing sets, doing sound, maintaining the building, writing new shows. She was sleeping four hours a night in the theater. She herniated two discs. She crashed her truck from exhaustion. And then a colleague sent a text that said she was bad at her job. This is a conversation about what happens when the thing you love most becomes the thing that's tearing you apart—and what it takes to stop, walk away, and find a gentler place to land. Liz is still in the middle of figuring out what comes next. That's part of why this one matters. HIGHLIGHTS   00:01 — KiKi introduces Liz and the art of reinvention 03:14 — Growing up on a Colorado ranch as the family outlier 06:03 — Pushback and defiance: how being told no shaped her path 09:19 — From carpenter to puppeteer: the Little Shop of Horrors moment 11:44 — London, grad school, and staging Shakespeare in a cemetery 17:28 — Why puppets give adults permission to play again 22:04 — The invisible labor behind bringing a puppet to life 24:18 — Which characters reflect who Liz is in the moment 28:32 — Taking over a theater one week before the world shut down 33:49 — Seventeen jobs, 100-hour weeks, and sleeping in the theater 37:14 — The text that broke it: resigning in five hours 44:39 — Finding a gentle place to land and learning to collaborate again 52:08 — Forgiveness, saying yes, and being a work in progress 59:10 — Liz's closing: give yourself time and give yourself grace Resources Liz Dapo — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-dapo-72009447/ Albie's Elevator — WHYY/Big Howl (Instagram Reel): https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8wg_FTxhMC/ Monkey Boys Productions — Puppets, props, creatures, costumes, and SFX for TV, film, and stage: https://www.monkeyboysproductions.com/ About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.  

A layoff can feel like more than losing a paycheck. It can feel like losing your place in the world. In this episode, KiKi talks with Phil Putnam, a former tech executive who was laid off in October 2023 and had to face the messy middle that followed: the grief, the self-judgment, and the quiet panic of "what now?" Phil shares why job loss hits so hard (even when it's "common"), how workplace identity gets welded to self-worth, and what it's like to realize you don't want to "put your fate back in someone else's hands" again. This episode also talks about trust – how it fractures when you see how decisions get made — and the unnerving truth that power doesn't always equal maturity. Along the way, Phil names the shift that mattered most: moving from survival mode to a clearer sense of agency. The episode holds one steady thread: don't rush to perform a comeback. Stay with what's real, move slower than your panic, and let the next step come from honesty — not from pressure to "bounce back." Why Listen Now: If you've been "falling asleep in the snow" at work — pushing through risk you can't name — this is a calm listen that helps you wake up gently and find your footing. HIGHLIGHTS 00:17 — KiKi frames the "messy middle" and identity collapse 01:28 — Phil names why job loss destabilizes survival and self-worth 03:10 — He admits the dissonance: common event, deep impact 04:08 — KiKi names grief and the pressure to "rebound" fast 04:54 — Phil says expectations are "absorb it and move on" 07:30 — The breakup analogy: acting "ready" while you're a wreck 08:03 — He reveals he helped architect layoffs, then got included 09:45 — The turning point: "I can't put fate in others' hands" 11:03 — Trust fractures: "we don't want you" vs "we can't use you" 16:43 — Leaders, power, and the lack of real checks and balances 20:37 — What's revealed: living without agency, then finding it 22:26 — What had to die: false humility and self-doubt 28:42 — "Don't wipe your soul on me" and trauma-dumping at work 33:52 — The Newark airport moment: "This is exactly what I want" 35:29 — Closing: sit with what was lost before you pivot Resources Website — Phil Putnam: https://philputnam.com/ LinkedIn — Phil Putnam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philputnamspeaks/ About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.  Listen & Subscribe Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY   Join the Community Things Go Sideways Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube Playlist (Full Episodes): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150721167011215 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585524425304   Share Your Sideways Story Podcast Guest Intake Form: https://forms.gle/UcccE9eJBSfEc9UN9 Schedule a Podcast Interview: https://calendly.com/kiki-interview/podcast-interview

Sherry Whitaker Budziak is known as the helper, the fixer, the leader who can walk into a messy situation and make it workable — until life handed her a year where the disruptions didn't stop: the unexpected loss of her husband, more loss soon after, and a chain of emergencies that made "keeping it together" feel non-negotiable. In this conversation, Sherry shares the moment her "I've got this" identity finally cracked — right before a speaking engagement she'd done a hundred times. We talk about what happens when your strengths stop working, how fear quietly shrinks your world, and why naming the thing everyone steps around is often the first honest move toward real change. You'll also hear the origin story of "The Rug"—a metaphor that became a framework and two books: Jules Moves the Rug (for kids) and RUG: How to Move What You're Tripping Over and Lead with H.E.A.R.T. (for leaders). It's a surprisingly human way for teams (and families) to talk about what's been hiding in plain sight. Why Listen to This Episode Now? A lot of teams are tripping over the same issues and calling it "busy." This episode helps you name the rug, lift the edge, and stop managing around what everyone can already feel. If you've been living in 'waiting for the next bad thing,' Sherry's story will give you a steadier foothold. HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 – Welcome to Things Go Sideways (no quick fixes, real reckoning) 01:23 – "What sideways moment could Sherry possibly have?" 02:04 – The year everything piled on: loss, disruption after disruption 03:10 – The breaking point: "I can't do this" before a talk she'd normally crush 04:44 – "I don't have time for therapy": when support is offered and refused 05:30 – A first step outward: joining Judi Holler's Speaker School 06:20 – The fear pattern: waiting for the next bad thing 06:50 – Mindset work with Tim Shurr and "One Belief Away" 07:57 – Why her message got clearer (and deeper) after what she endured 08:39 – People, process, culture, tech—and why the human part is the hard part 10:37 – The Rug origin story: "Why don't you move the rug?" 11:40 – The culture issue underneath: needing permission for everything 12:25 – Naming the "rug" gives teams lighter language to face hard truths 13:32 – Why a children's book (and why that choice matters) 14:30 – The story of Jules: lifting the rug and finding what's underneath 15:59 – What's next: "The Rug Party," mastermind, AI accelerator, book push 18:28 – Making meaning after loss: finding a reason, without pretending it's neat 19:10 – "I had a rug": the cost of being the reliable one 20:24 – Closing: one small step forward, and why that's enough Resources Jules Moves the Rug — Sherry Whitaker Budziak (Bookshop): https://bookshop.org/p/books/jules-moves-the-rug-sherry-whitaker-budziak/23463546?ean=9781963732269&next=t RUG: How to Move What You're Tripping Over and Lead with H.E.A.R.T. — Sherry Whitaker Budziak & Kevin G. Ordonez (Hardcover, Feb 1, 2026): https://a.co/d/0bBLySO8 About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy. Listen & Subscribe Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY Join the Community Things Go Sideways Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube Playlist (Full Episodes): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/  

What happens when leadership, systems, or roles you trusted stop making sense—and you can't think or perform your way through it? In this episode, KiKi L'Italien speaks with Simon Mont about identity collapse, moral injury, and how to stay oriented and human when values collide with reality. Why this episode now: When trust in leadership and institutions feels fragile, many people are left questioning who to listen to and how to stay grounded. This episode offers a steady, human conversation about values, identity, and orientation—without rushing to answers or asking listeners to harden in response. Timestamps 00:00 — When values meet reality in leadership 02:05 — The breakdown you can't think your way out of 07:15 — When systems cause harm while trying to help 11:45 — Losing the savior identity 16:55 — Why new identities can become another trap 22:50 — Staying oriented without certainty 28:55 — Gratitude, beauty, and grounding beyond success 41:20 — What to hear when things are quietly unraveling Guest Resources Simon Mont — Website: https://www.harmonize.work/ Article: Power of Wholeness in the Workplace https://medium.com/harmonize/power-of-wholeness-in-the-workplace-561659b18d70 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-mont-a8b442104/ Podcast Resources — Things Go Sideways Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj Libsyn Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss YouTube Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 Share Your Sideways Story: https://forms.gle/UcccE9eJBSfEc9UN9 Schedule an Interview: https://calendly.com/kiki-interview/podcast-interview

After 15 years in the workplace, Dr. Shannon Whittington was outed before she was ready –– and everything changed. In this episode of Things Go Sideways, KiKi L'Italien sits down with Shannon to talk about the quiet moments when dignity is tested: being seen when you didn't choose visibility, losing safety at work, and realizing someone in power is trying to block your future. Shannon reflects on: Being outed and treated differently overnight Starting over after career sabotage Learning to sit with failure without letting it define you Why exhaustion doesn't mean you're done This is a grounded, honest conversation about care, courage, and what it really takes to keep going when life takes an unexpected turn.  

Welcome to Things Go Sideways. I'm KiKi L'Italien. In Season 1: Episode 1 of Things Go Sideways, I'm joined by Stacy Heisey Terrell (career ownership coach and former HR/organizational leader) for a real conversation about burnout, reinvention, identity, and agency, especially in seasons where you're "fine"… but something inside you knows you're not. In this episode, we talk about: The difference between burnout and misalignment Why "I should be happy… so why am I not?" is a real signal What happens when your career goals don't match your life goals anymore How identity loss shows up after a job shift (or a long season ends) Why you don't have to have the next answer yet Listen, reflect, and if you want more conversations like this, follow Things Go Sideways. Check out Stacy Heisey Terrell and her great resources at her website: mylifemybiz.com https://sheisey-terrell.esourcecoach.com/ Question of the Week: What's one sign you've been "shrinking on the inside" at work...even if everything looks fine on paper? #ThingsGoSideways  

When life or leadership go sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien shares real stories of transformation, resilience, and trust from leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption. Each episode explores how we rebuild identity, agency, and purpose in a world defined by uncertainty, reinvention, and courage. Listen weekly for authentic conversations that help you grow through change — and design what comes next. Podcast Launch: Friday, January 23, 2026