About me
Happy people sell 37% more, are 31% more productive, and are three times more creative. Yet only 37% of executives prioritise this. What gives? I saw it myself in 10 years of advertising and corporate roles: businesses suppressing emotion, eroding creativity, and sucking the fun out of work. For what? Once I saw it, it became a mission. Since 2013, I’ve been getting businesses to focus on the right things. More joy per person, more love per person, which creates more profit per person. That’s what I teach.
I’ve worked with 700+ leaders at 30+ companies, including Zapier, Peloton, Nokia and Maersk. I’ve trained 200+ leaders in emotional intelligence, helped 180+ leaders at one company eliminate drama and master hard conversations, and guided an 80-person organisation through a bottom-up values overhaul. I built Think Productive’s Cracking the Engagement Puzzle training.
I’m a father, a daily meditator, a monthly improv performer and show host, a one-time actor on Czech television, and a trained trauma-release practitioner, which means I’m either very calm and present, emotional and profound, or spontaneous and funny, possibly playing the fool, sometimes all at once. I use my performance background to build workshops where people learn experientially and leave committed to new action.
What I help with
Creative Leadership, engagement and motivation, culture diagnostics, psychological safety, emotional intelligence, decision-making, belonging and team energy, confidence, communication and public speaking, navigating anxiety, hard conversations and conflict, presence and nervous system regulation, resilience and change, humour training and applied improvisation
Qualifications & credentials
- Certified Personal Resilience Coach
- Certified Team Resilience and Team Synergy Coach
- Certified Team Facilitation
- MBA, Leadership & Social Enterprise, Emory University, Goizueta Business School
- BA, Speech Communications, Honours in English, Penn State University
- Certified Havening Practitioner, a clinically developed technique for releasing stress and trauma at the nervous system level
- Facilitated four meditation retreats 23 years of corporate and consulting experience, including Zapier, Nokia, Peloton, EFG Bank and Maersk
- 8 years of live improv performance
Podcasts
I’ve appeared on a number of podcasts and in a YouTube interview, but don’t currently host my own:
- Managing Your Energy to Have a Better Life
- YouTube interview
- Gina Gardiner & Friends, with David Papa
- Helping Leaders Unlock the Power Of…
What it’s like to work with me
I will try to make you laugh. I’m going to get you to feel. I’ll try to surprise you into challenging your workplace assumptions and beliefs. I’m going to show you things you can do that will energise your work. And we’re going to have unplanned moments that we both remember. What fun!