Resilience Unravelled

In this Resilience Unravelled episode, Dr Russell Thackeray meets Jerzy Gregorek, born in Poland, recounts becoming a firefighter at 19, studying fire protection engineering, and joining Solidarity during the 1981 crackdown, including a crushed 10-day strike and three years underground after the murder of a priest he knew. After warnings he could be captured, he left Poland in 1985 and later moved to the U.S., where he was rejected by the fire department as “overeducated.”Turning to weightlifting and early personal training in gyms, he built a successful coaching career focused on customised, measurable progression in flexibility, strength, posture, and bodyweight. He describes developing the “Happy Body Program” over 10 years as “athletic lifestyle medicine,” emphasising numbers, micro-progression, and long-term goals to combat aging, improve health, and avoid entertainment-only exercise.00:00 Meet Jerzy Gregoreck00:27 Firefighter Roots in Poland01:12 Solidarity Strike and Crackdown02:50 Losing Everything Finding Love05:57 Alcoholism to Empathy07:25 New Life in America09:25 Personal Training Breakthrough12:40 Engineering a Training Method14:56 Making Progress Fun18:52 Coaching Culture and Mentors21:08 Happy Body Lifestyle Medicine24:36 Aging Proof Strength Stories28:59 Big Goals and Resilience29:40 Where to Learn More30:12 ClosingYou can contact us at [email protected] can be found online or link to our website https://resilienceunravelled.com#resilience, #burnout, #intuition

Will Steel joins Resilience Unravelled and shares a business lesson from investing £50,000 in a shirt venture that failed after the designer overcharged and manipulated import paperwork, which Steele links to Keith Cunningham’s idea that leadership failures stem from lack of courage.He introduces himself as a coach for business owners and entrepreneurs, helping them grow while reducing time spent working in the business, after a 27-year background leading transformational programs and a prior career as an Air Force and airline pilot.Steele distinguishes his ontological coaching from curriculum-based mentoring, illustrating with a client avoiding a pay conversation with his brother/employee. He discusses limiting beliefs and confirmation bias, gives a personal spelling example, and explains writing his book, Free To Lead, to support leadership programs in the Middle East—especially for women—framing leadership as speaking up in the moment. He notes the book’s availability via Amazon and his website.00:00 Intros00:26 Shirt Business Betrayal00:59 Courage and Leadership Lesson02:32 Working With Creative Egos03:50 Meet Will Steele04:44 From Pilot to Transformation Work05:38 Pandemic Pivot to Coaching06:56 What Real Coaching Is08:00 Brother Employee Breakthrough09:53 Limiting Beliefs and Bias11:33 Spelling Story Mindset Shift13:06 Why He Wrote Free to Lead16:34 Leadership for Everyone18:24 Where to Get the Book19:33 Closing ThanksYou can contact us at [email protected] can be found online or link to our website https://resilienceunravelled.com

In this Resilience Unravelled episode, Alexis Sikorsky, a Swiss entrepreneur based in London, recounts building an internet café/ISP in Senegal, fleeing the country with only a suitcase, then returning to Geneva to grow a banking software and internet development business to about $10–11M revenue before the 2008 financial crisis cut 75% of revenue in a day. After years of survival, he rebuilt to breakeven and sold to private equity on an 11x EBITDA deal with 85% cash and 15% earnout, emphasising that PE deals involve uneven information and founders should do diligence on acquirers by speaking to prior CEOs. He discusses why most people shouldn’t be entrepreneurs, differentiates “having a job” from owning a company, advises seeking free mentors who’ve done what you’re doing, warns about conflicts with PE-paid advisors and small-company investment banks, explains when to avoid investment unless necessary, and describes his book Cashing Out and his initiative Night Scale to help firms stuck at $5–50M revenue using mission-based, part-time C-level expertise.00:00 Welcome 00:43 From Geneva to Dakkar02:03 Building and Losing It All03:20 Private Equity Exit Playbook06:24 Chairman Life and Retirement09:23 Who Should Be Entrepreneur11:57 Mentors and Real Advice16:14 Due Diligence on Buyers21:30 Investment vs Exit Decisions24:00 Why I Wrote Cashing Out26:05 Night Scale and Growth Plateaus27:49 Social Media Reality Check28:47 Final Thoughts and GoodbyeYou can contact us at [email protected] can be found online or link to our website https://resilienceunravelled.com

On the podcast Resilience Unravelled, Russell speaks with Susan Inouye in Los Angeles about resilience themes in homes, products, and organisational culture, including companies that post values but don’t live them. They discuss generational differences at work, with Susan describing shifts from command-and-control leadership toward belonging, meaning, and authenticity, and noting that millennials are now a large portion of the workforce. Susan also shares that millennials are complaining about Gen Z, arguing it’s often about age and development, and references brain development and the influence of how generations were raised. She emphasises that leadership change requires embodied practices, not just advice, explaining that transformation happens through the body and somatic intelligence, with HeartMath Institute research as an example. Susan tells a client story about an event-production leader whose gift for planning became controlling behaviour; using the Sawubona (“I see you”) gift-centered approach, rituals for letting go, and trapeze lessons, the client replaced fear with freedom and became more trusting at work. Susan’s book, "Leadership’s Perfect Storm: What Millennials Are Teaching Us About Possibility, Passion, and Purpose," is aimed at leaders, includes stories and a coach’s corner with practices, is used in over 30 countries, is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and donates all proceeds to the nonprofit Youth Mentoring Connection. She notes Sawubona Leadership originated in South Central Los Angeles through Tony LeRae’s mentoring work.00:00 Welcome 01:05 Resilience, building standards & planned obsolescence03:00 Corporate values vs reality: authenticity and truth-telling at work04:47 Millennials & Gen Z reshape leadership expectations06:28 Are generational stereotypes real? Command-and-control vs belonging10:24 Brain science, upbringing & why each new cohort gets judged15:40 From advice to embodiment: practices, somatics & emotional intelligence19:17 Client story: planning as a gift—and learning to let go (trapeze breakthrough)25:49 The book: Leadership’s Perfect Storm—who it’s for & what’s inside27:21 Where to buy + proceeds to youth mentoring; Sawubona ‘I see you’ origins28:34 Wrap-upYou can contact us at [email protected] can be found online or link to our website https://resilienceunravelled.com

In this Resilience Unravelled episode, host Russell interviews Brad Ley in Texas about oxygen and exercise with oxygen therapy (EWOT). Ley explains he turned to oxygen therapy about a decade ago after chronic illness and autoimmune conditions, including psoriasis and autoimmune arthritis, when standard drugs carried serious risks and he developed melanoma. He contrasts EWOT with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, noting hard-shell hyperbaric treatments were recommended to him but were too expensive and time-consuming. Ley describes “inflammaging,” where inflamed blood vessels and swollen capillaries restrict oxygen delivery, pushing cells into anaerobic respiration, lowering energy production and increasing inflammation; he says delivering a high dose of oxygen during exercise can reduce inflammation and help reestablish blood flow in capillaries. He addresses concerns about oxygen and oxidative stress, stating oxygen is also important for detoxification and that research does not show increased oxidative stress from EWOT. Ley outlines the origins of EWOT research from Manfred von Ardenne and explains how oxygen therapy relates to inflammation and hypoxia, comparing it to hydrogen-based approaches. He discusses founding 1000 Roads after building his own system as an engineer and then producing units for patients, with a focus on affordable at-home use and a protocol of about 15 minutes of cardio with a mask, three to five times per week. Ley shares a customer anecdote about osteoarthritis improvement and notes response times vary. The conversation also covers red light therapy, which he says targets mitochondria to increase oxygen demand and pairs with EWOT by boosting oxygen supply then uptake, with claimed benefits including healing, cognitive function, reduced inflammation, skin and collagen support, and recovery. Ley notes the company ships from the US and internationally, with tariffs varying by country, and directs listeners to 1000roads.com and the 1000 Roads HQ YouTube channel for weekly videos on EWOT and red light therapy.00:00 Welcome & meet Brad Ley (Texas)01:04 Why more oxygen can reduce inflammation: ‘inflammaging’, capillaries & hypoxia02:42 Is oxygen ‘rusting’ us? Oxidative stress vs detox benefits03:51 Brad’s autoimmune journey & why he needed a third option05:01 Hyperbaric oxygen vs exercise-with-oxygen: cost, time, practicality06:32 The origins of EWOT: von Ardenne’s research & Brad builds his own device08:32 Oxygen vs hydrogen therapy: how both target inflammation10:01 Oxygen is ‘multimodal’: energy, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer & detox11:28 At-home EWOT systems: 15 minutes, 3–5x/week, accessible pricing13:11 Can it help osteoarthritis? Early user results & what to expect14:17 Red light therapy explained — mitochondria, oxygen demand & synergy with EWOT17:18 Shipping worldwide, 1000 Roads links & final wrap-upYou can contact us at [email protected]