What Do You Know To Be True?
"What Do You Know To Be True?" is a series of conversations with ordinary people about their extraordinary talent, their superhero power, and the meaningful impact it has on others.
These conversations are for coaches, leaders, mentors, Organization Development practitioners and anyone who wants to think more deeply about their work and positive impact it can have in service of others.
The goal of the conversations is not to try to emulate it or “hack” our way to a new talent. Instead, I’m curious to learn what inspired them to develop this extraordinary talent, how they think about their superhero power, and the impact it has on others as well as themselves.
The intention within these conversations is to learn something about the special talent in each of us that makes us unique, so that we can have a more meaningful impact on the people we hope to serve.
Why You Don't Need to Be Extraordinary to Thrive | Lisa Hallett on her Superpower of Being Ordinary
Lisa Hallett, CEO of Wear Blue: Run to Remember and a Gold Star spouse, argues that being ordinary is a powerful starting point rather than a limitation. She shares how running helped her process grief after her husband’s death and explains that true superpowers a...
Your Superpowers Start With Something Missing | Roger Kastner on the Reinvent Yourself Framework
In this episode marking the third anniversary of What Do You Know To Be True?, Roger Kastner answers how his guests’ common thread—empathy, curiosity, and connection—becomes a true superpower when it serves others. He presents a seven-part reinvention framework bu...
The One Big Pivot Won't Work | Reinvent Yourself with Career Coach Sam Alvita
Career reinvention isn’t a single dramatic pivot but a repeatable practice you return to: building a portfolio career shaped by personal brands, side projects, and collaborations rather than a single job title. Sam Alvita and Roger Kastner explore why the old ladd...
The Courageous Conversation Your Team Needs Requires Emotional Intelligence | DeDe Halfhill
Courageous leadership isn’t just about strategy and results—it’s about having the hard conversations your team quietly needs, guided by emotional intelligence and psychological safety. In this clip from What Do You Know To Be True?, DeDe Halfhill reveals how leade...
Words Won't Build Psychological Safety. Your Body Will | Coach and Author Croft Edwards
Psychological safety isn’t just about what you say, it's about what your body is signaling long before you open your mouth. Croft Edwards (former Army Lt. Colonel turned somatic leadership coach) reveals how embodied presence and self-regulation are essential to b...
Your Voice Always Tells the Truth, Even If Your Words Don't | Barbara McAfee
This TEDx talk with Barbara McAfee reveals that the same inner voice fueling imposter syndrome can also be the voice shaping your authentic self. McAfee shows how truth lives in the belly, not the head, and why aligning your outer voice, inner voice, and identity ...
Is Your Workplace Actually Safe? Nervous System Regulation | Sharon Podobnik Peterson
Sharon Podobnik Peterson reveals that trauma is any pressure that prevents a system from returning to homeostasis, and she breaks down trauma-informed leadership through three lenses: individual, culture, and systems. The talk emphasizes co-regulation as a core le...
Leaders Who Spot This Pattern Transform Their Teams | Nervous System Regulation
This episode reframes leadership through the lens of nervous system regulation, explaining that trauma responses turn patterns of connection into patterns of protection and how that can hijack a meeting even when you’re prepared. Sharon Podobnik Peterson shows how...
Follow Your Intuition: The Career Reinvention You’re Too Afraid To Make
This episode invites mid-career professionals to reinvent themselves by trusting their gut—using Sylvia Taylor’s sparkle and the Adaptive Identity Game to answer “who am I beyond my job title.” Learn why intuition can outperform pure data for career pivots, and ga...
Difficult Conversations: Your Questions on Relational Capacity | Author & TEDx Speaker
In this episode, psychotherapist and TEDx speaker Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes answers audience questions on applying relational capacity to difficult conversations, showing how respectful candor and vulnerability can heal rather than harm. She revisits her eight prin...
Difficult Conversations Build Stronger Teams | Colonel DeDe Halfhill
Difficult conversations are a high-performance discipline, not a soft skill, and silence from leaders costs teams more than it saves. In this episode, retired Air Force Colonel DeDe Halfhill explains how addressing emotional realities, speaking truths, and cultiva...
Overthinking? When To Trust Intuition vs Logic for Better Decision Making
This video argues that intuition is a powerful but imperfect input in decision making, and that the real superpower lies in discernment—knowing when to trust gut instincts, when to rely on logic, and when to seek more information. Nil Demircubuk introduces priming...
Loneliness Doesn't Have To Be The Cost of Leadership | Here’s the Fix | Author and TEDx Speaker
Loneliness at the top isn’t a necessary part of leadership—it's a signal that you’re operating against your relational nature. Kerry-Lyn Stanton-Downes, a psychologist, TEDx speaker, and author, argues that leadership care about relationships directly influences p...