The Conscious Entrepreneur | Leadership, Self-Awareness & Mindset

• EP 115: A Better Way to Say Thanks: Authentic Employee Appreciation and Corporate Gifting

  Appreciation can lift a team or quietly erode it, and Sarah Lockwood breaks down why the difference often comes down to whether people feel genuinely seen.   In this solo episode, she explains why the usual holiday scramble for company gifts rarely creates the connection leaders intend and why Thanksgiving offers a clearer moment for gratitude that feels personal instead of performative. Sarah shares how a simple note or a small, thoughtful gesture can shift how someone experiences their work, and she challenges leaders to consider what their gifts say about their culture. A day of rest signals care, a learning budget signals curiosity, and a mismatched gift signals a gap between stated values and lived values. She also covers the practical side of appreciation with tools like Goody that let teams choose their own gift while still giving leaders room to add a personal message.   Sarah closes by reminding listeners that recognition works best as a steady habit. Even one specific thank you can strengthen trust, and she encourages leaders to pause, notice one meaningful contribution, and send a message that proves someone’s effort didn’t go unseen.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 The Art of Meaningful Employee Appreciation 01:25 Why Thanksgiving Is the Perfect Moment for Team Appreciation 04:05 The Power of Specific and Authentic Gratitude 06:10 Choose Gifts That Reflect Your Company Values 07:02 A Practical Tool for Personalized Corporate Gifting (Goody) 08:09 Make Recognition a Habit, Not a Holiday Task   Links: Goody   Connect with Sarah Lockwood: Visit HiveCast Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn   Connect with The Conscious Entrepreneur: The Conscious Entrepreneur  Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on LinkedIn Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on Instagram  Subscribe to The Conscious Entrepreneur on YouTube   HiveCast.fm is a proud sponsor of The Conscious Entrepreneur Podcast. Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

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• EP 114: How Great Leaders Reframe Fear: Nataly Kogan on Building a Possibility Mindset

  The story you tell yourself as a leader becomes the culture your team lives in, and Nataly Kogan shows how to rewrite that story with agency, awareness, and action.   Sarah sits down with Nataly Kogan for a grounded conversation about entrepreneurship, business, and wellbeing—how the way we think shapes the way we lead. Nataly shares how to “talk back to your brain,” a practice that helps quiet fear, interrupt unhelpful patterns, and create space for better choices. They discuss how mindset ripples through an organization, shaping how teams respond to uncertainty and whether they lean toward anxiety or possibility.   Nataly offers simple tools to help leaders edit their thoughts and reframe challenges as creative prompts. What story are you telling your team right now—and is it one that invites courage, clarity, and connection? This episode is a reminder that leadership starts in the mind, but it comes to life through the stories we choose to share.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Nataly Kogan on Entrepreneurship and Wellbeing 04:15 Why Confidence Follows Action 07:06 The Power of Agency in Times of Change 09:07 How to Talk Back to Your Brain 14:24 Reframing Negativity and Building Constructive Beliefs 18:04 From Obstacles to Possibilities 26:01 The Edit Your Thoughts Practice 34:01 Creating a Culture of Possibility in Business 42:56 Leading with Clarity, Courage, and Humanity Connect with Nataly Kogan: Visit Nataly Kogan’s Website Connect with Nataly on LinkedIn   Connect with Sarah Lockwood: Visit HiveCast Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn   Connect with The Conscious Entrepreneur: Visit The Conscious Entrepreneur website  Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on LinkedIn Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on Instagram  Subscribe to The Conscious Entrepreneur on YouTube HiveCast.fm is a proud sponsor of The Conscious Entrepreneur Podcast. Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

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• EP 113: The Secret to Loving Your Business - Even When It’s Driving You Crazy

  When your business becomes your identity, resentment follows. Entrepreneur and author Debbie King shares how she rebuilt her company, and herself, by separating self-worth from success metrics. Her framework, “the model,” links circumstance, thought, feeling, action, and result, revealing how the stories we tell ourselves drive outcomes. Facts are neutral; meaning is optional. Which thoughts support the kind of results and wellbeing you actually want in your business?   She explains how founders can interrupt unhelpful thinking through quick “thought downloads,” turning frustration into clarity instead of self-criticism. When results are viewed as data, not verdicts, entrepreneurship becomes a practice of learning and refinement.   Debbie also connects mindset to enterprise value. Every recurring pain point signals a risk: “no time” often means founder dependence; “too many mistakes” signals missing systems; low pricing power points to weak differentiation. Simplifying offers and building repeatable structures creates freedom, for both the owner and the company.   Her “future self” exercise ties mindset to strategy: put your goal in the result line, then ask what your future self believes and does to make it happen. Growth follows identity. When wellbeing and business align, entrepreneurship becomes sustainable, and success starts to feel like something worth keeping.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Identity Trap: When Business Becomes You 03:35 Rebuilding an Unsellable Business 05:38 The Model: Thoughts Create Results 17:46 Founder Mindset Shifts 25:27 Future Self Framework 32:06 Hidden Risks in Your Business 34:51 Systems That Scale 39:44 Data Over Drama Connect with Debbie King: Visit the Loving Your Business website Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn   Connect with Sarah Lockwood: Visit HiveCast Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn   Connect with The Conscious Entrepreneur: Visit The Conscious Entrepreneur website  Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on LinkedIn Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on Instagram  Subscribe to The Conscious Entrepreneur on YouTube HiveCast.fm is a proud sponsor of The Conscious Entrepreneur Podcast. Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

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• EP 112: Why HALF of Founders Want to Quit their Startups (Replay)

  “It can be difficult for people to know who they can speak to about it,” says Amy Lewin, of entrepreneurs who are unhappy in their own companies.  Amy is the Editor at Sifted, a media platform focused on Europe’s startup ecosystem and she joins The Conscious Entrepreneur podcast to discuss a survey Sifted recently posed to a number of entrepreneurs, the vast majority of whom reported experiencing poor mental health, high stress and even a strong desire to leave their businesses within the coming year. Though these figures may seem alarming, they merely shed light on common struggles and pressures felt by entrepreneurs which are so often swept under the rug for fear of looking weak or needing to maintain an ultra positive mindset in order to see their businesses succeed. On today’s episode Amy will reveal more of the survey’s findings as well as what venture capitalists (VCs) can do to support entrepreneurs, in whom they, after all, have a vested interest.    The survey highlights the importance of a community in an entrepreneur’s life. Family and friends share the entrepreneur’s burden, while simultaneously being unable to relate. Professional networks of like-minded contemporaries can go a long way toward making isolated individuals feel heard and connected, as well as ease the mental health stigma.    Today, Amy shares the common regret shared among most entrepreneurs and why quitting might be the best thing they could do for their careers.    Quotes “It was just a real sign of the personal toll—and not just even on the founders, but on their family, on their friends, on their colleagues—just another reminder that building startups is really tough.”  (4:48 | Amy Lewin)  “Whenever we publish stories about that personal side of company building at Sifted, we get the most amazing response. People love knowing that they’re not the only ones. And I think sometimes, startup culture is so much that you’ve got to be optimistic. You’ve got to believe that your company can be the one in 100 that’s going to really make it. You hear from so many people that your idea is never going to work and you have to believe in it yourself and I think when times are really hard it can be difficult for people to know who they can speak to about it.” (6:27 | Amy Lewin)  “That attitude that’s going to be out there from some corners that if you are struggling in any way then you are weak and that you’re not in it for the long term, which I obviously don’t believe, but is obviously what some people still think.”  (13:04 | Amy Lewin) “Encourage founders to go on holiday. Encourage them to have a personal life. These things are important. We all need to recharge our batteries and ‘visionaries do,’ too. There’s that famous saying that comes from the VC world: “I’ve never seen a company go bust because the founder took a week off, but I have seen plenty of companies go bust because the founder didn’t.’”  (18:26 | Amy Lewin and Alex Raymond)   Links Connect with Amy Lewin: https://sifted.eu/articles/founder-mental-health-2024   Connect with Alex Raymond: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/afraymond/ Website: https://consciousentrepreneur.us/ HiveCast.fm is a proud sponsor of The Conscious Entrepreneur Podcast. Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

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• EP 111: Honest Conversations, Compassionate Leadership, and Real Accountability with Marc Lesser

  Traditional leadership models tend to choose between kindness and clarity. Zen teacher and executive coach Marc Lesser argues that’s a false dichotomy.   In this episode, Sarah sits down with Marc to unpack the concept of compassionate accountability — or in Marc’s preferred language, alignment with caring. It’s the core of modern Entrepreneurship and Business leadership: setting clear expectations while staying deeply connected to the humans you work with. Instead of defaulting to micromanagement or passivity, leaders can choose high standards and high trust at the same time, the key to building high performing teams without sacrificing wellbeing.   Marc shares why psychological safety isn’t just a cultural ideal, it’s a metric that correlates directly with business performance. Referencing Google’s Project Aristotle, he explains how teams perform better when leaders normalize mistakes, invite real feedback, and resist the urge to appear infallible. A strong team culture isn’t born from rigid systems or motivational slogans, it comes from leaders modeling vulnerability and follow-through. If you’ve ever wondered how to hold people accountable with compassion, this episode is your roadmap.   Episode Breakdown: 00:00 Marc Lesser & Compassionate Accountability 02:51 What Compassionate Accountability Looks Like in Leadership 07:19 Misconceptions About Accountability and Compassion 13:14 Vulnerability as a Leadership Strategy 15:02 Google’s Psychological Safety Study & Business Impact 20:01 Emotional Intelligence and Business Performance 24:51 Turning Breakdowns Into Breakthroughs 29:21 How to Hold People Accountable With Compassion 32:05 Leadership Lessons From the Zen Monastery Kitchen 34:06 Prioritizing Joy and Humanity in High-Performing Teams 36:21 Daily Habits to Build Clarity and Trust   Connect with Marc Lesser: Visit Marc’s website   Connect with Sarah Lockwood: Visit HiveCast Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn   Connect with The Conscious Entrepreneur: The Conscious Entrepreneur website  Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on LinkedIn Follow The Conscious Entrepreneur on Instagram  Subscribe to The Conscious Entrepreneur on YouTube   HiveCast.fm is a proud sponsor of The Conscious Entrepreneur Podcast. Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

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