Getting Unstuck: “We are Living in Transition Now. What Stories Help Us Navigate this New Normal?” — Guest Interview: Sarah Elkins Interviews Kris Macchiarola

How do you view life’s changes? As a series of one-off events that are largely disconnected from each other? Or as an ongoing transition? How you view them will speak to your capacity to shift, and the ease or struggle that you’ll experience along the way.

This episode comes to you courtesy of Sarah Elkins and her podcast, “Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will.”

This episode comes to you courtesy of Sarah Elkins and her podcast, “Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will.”

To get a perspective on those questions, in this episode, we listen in on an interview that our good friend, Sarah Elkins, conducted with Kris Macchiarola in October 2018 on her podcast, "Your Stories Don't Define You, How You Tell Them Will.”

Sarah is a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, storytelling coach, musician and personal storyteller. And as you’ll hear, she is a great interviewer. She is the Connector of Connectors, so it comes with no surprise that she is also the host of the unique “No Longer Virtual” conferences – two-day, limited participation events with the theme of “connecting beyond the keyboard.” (Listen to episode #6, which contains the interview we did with Sarah.)

Kris – center front – leading a leadership workshop for first time managers.

Kris – center front – leading a leadership workshop for first time managers.

Kris Macchiarola is a consultant, speaker, leader, and coach. She specializes in helping organizations create a culture where employees feel energized, enabled, and engaged, ultimately, giving them a competitive advantage. She is the author of the forthcoming book, #NoApprovalNeeded, “a spicy mix of Sex and the City, Daring Greatly, and You Are A Badass. This book is for women in their forties, younger women wondering what to expect, older women who understand it only gets better, and for men who want to understand women.

We really enjoyed this episode, which is titled “We are Living in Transition Now, What Stories Help Us Navigate this New Normal?” when it first aired because it speaks so well to the grittiness of personal change.

Listen for:

• The importance of knowing and honoring your truth.

• The role of self-compassion and self-love in transitions.

• How our primordial brain affects our efforts to change.

Leadership is never a solitary enterprise. Being human means you have vulnerabilities. The best leaders understand that there is courage behind vulnerability, not weakness. They embrace them and they know how to leverage the power of their teams. — Kris Macchiarola

• How the illusion of the perfect journey can hold us back.

• How having an early role model of change affects change attempts later in life.

• Why all stages on your journey matter.

• The importance of building a community to support attempts at change.

• Why change ultimately comes down to making a personal choice to get unstuck.

After Listening to the Episode:

  1. What does “living with intention” mean to you?

  2. Why are honoring your truth and self-compassion so important when undertaking a personal transition?

  3. Think back on a personal change in which you were engaged. How did getting through the rough patches affect who you became and the success of the change?


Jeff Ikler