The Personal Success Podcast with Ryan Watts

Coach Rizwani spent a couple of decades in corporate leadership, including time at a Fortune 50 company, before burnout pushed him to leave. A second burnout, years later in a business he helped build, pushed him to rebuild his work around purpose. He is now the founder of Sahara Supplements, which he describes as the first halal-certified sports nutrition company in North America, and he coaches leaders on health and wellness. In this conversation with Ryan Watts, he explains how he told the difference between a hard stretch and a real misalignment, and why six months of new morning and evening routines did not fix it. You will hear: Why "keep pushing through the wall" stopped making sense once he had kids What he told himself the week before he knew he had to leave How he defines discipline: what you say no to Why environment, including the people around you, decides whether consistency holds How he built a bootstrapped, self-funded company that avoids debt and interest Why he chose to manufacture in Canada and stack third-party testing and certifications How his definition of success moved from net worth to impact Which international market he enjoyed most, and why Sahara Supplements Sahara Supplements store: https://saharasupplements.com. I opened it, and it is the official site Listed on the official Sahara site (I didn't open these) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saharasupplements/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@saharasupplements Ryan Watts (host): https://ryanwattscoaching.com/thepersonalsuccesspodcast https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwattsmba Listener offer: Coach Rizwani is offering listeners 10% off the entire Sahara Supplements store. If this conversation raised a question about your own leadership, follow The Personal Success Podcast for more conversations like it.

Most of us can name the boss who changed everything. The one who saw us, asked real questions, and fought for us. Fewer of us stop to ask what it would take to become that person for someone else. Susie Gidseg spent years as an actress and theater director, running companies on passion and gas money, before moving into corporate marketing in tech. She became a leader overnight, two weeks before COVID, with no roadmap. Her new book, BOSS: Becoming the Leader You Always Wished You Had, is the guide she wished someone had handed her. Ryan and Susie talk about why so many people are promoted into leadership without wanting it, what she learned when her team started challenging her, how she led through workforce reductions and then lived through two of her own, and the quiet pull every caring leader feels to be liked. In this episode: - Why one leader who sees you can change your career and your sense of yourself - The two paths people take into leadership, and why it matters - Why a team that challenges you is a sign of safety, not failure - What nurturing a team looks like on an ordinary Tuesday - Leading through layoffs with care, and rebuilding after being laid off twice - Wanting to be liked versus making the right call - The say-do ratio and two practical habits for first-time managers - Why you should never lose yourself in a job Get the book: BOSS: Becoming the Leader You Always Wished You Had https://a.co/d/07Y4C0m5 Follow The Personal Success Podcast for more conversations on success, leadership, and the choices behind both. https://thepersonalsuccesspodcast.com

Many leaders were taught that regulating yourself means staying calm. Lisa Danahy offers a different definition: regulation means moving your state to match what the moment needs, which sometimes means raising your energy instead of lowering it. Lisa is the founder of Create Calm Inc., owner of Radiant Child Yoga, a yoga therapist, educator and author of Creating Calm in Your Classroom. She spent 15 years in law firm management before running an early childhood program for twenty years. In this conversation, Ryan and Lisa explore: Why our language falls short of what the body experiences What nervous system regulation actually is, and what people misunderstand about their own behavior The difference between changing a state and changing a stage Co-regulation at home and at work, and why a leader's state reaches the room before their words Lisa's three part sequence for a tense room: read, attune and dissipate Simple breath and movement a leader can use at the start of a meeting Resilience as early noticing rather than endurance What self suppression costs a leader, and why accountability and vulnerability matter Mentioned in this episode: The Awakened Brain by Lisa Miller, Ph.D.; Chase Hughes, whose work Ryan is currently reading; Internal Family Systems. Connect with Lisa: createcalm.org If this conversation was useful, subscribe to The Personal Success Podcast so you do not miss the next one: thepersonalsuccesspodcast.com

A family business paid bonuses of 20,000 pounds and staff still complained. Dave Williams asked the directors one question: is money really the motivator? The room went silent. Dave Williams is a UK-based master coach, keynote speaker, and two-time #1 bestselling author of Confidence for Life!: 23 Proven Strategies to Improve YOUR Confidence, for Greater Success! He took his first management role at 18 and has spent forty years leading teams and troubleshooting organizations. In this conversation with Ryan Watts, Dave explains why most people want recognition more than money, why the most negative letter in the alphabet is T, and why leadership sits at the center of every performance problem. He walks through his Management M.A.S.T.E.R.Y. framework and shares the personal loss that rebuilt his approach to coaching. In this episode: - Why being busy is not the same as being productive - The client who waited 50 years to hear "I'm proud of you" - The question that silenced a boardroom about bonuses - How "can't" becomes the most expensive limiting belief - What he learned as an 18-year-old manager - Why knowing your team is the first leadership skill - The one sentence Dave would put in every manager's office Content note: between roughly 53 and 55 minutes, Dave speaks about bereavement and a period when he nearly took his own life. If you are struggling, in the US you can call or text 988. In the UK, Samaritans are available on 116 123. Connect with Dave Williams: Website: https://davewilliamscoaching.com Management M.A.S.T.E.R.Y. University: https://managementmasteryuniversity.com Book, Confidence for Life! (Amazon US): https://us.amazon.com/Confidence-Life-Strategies-Improve-Greater/dp/B0B4GPFFP2 LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/davewilliamscoaching Connect with Ryan Watts: Website: https://ryanwattscoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwattsmba Follow The Personal Success Podcast so you never miss a new conversation.

Most people problems at work are leadership problems. Michelle Edwards spent nearly 30 years in operations, human resources, and head of talent roles, watching thousands of careers move through organizations. One pattern held every time: the leader decided the trajectory. What does people-first leadership look like in practice? For Michelle, the job changes the moment another human is in your care. You stop managing the work and start developing the person. You set clear expectations, have courageous conversations, and remove barriers. Take care of the people, and they take care of the work. In this conversation, Ryan and Michelle talk about: - Why she promoted high performers but held back direct reports until they proved they could lead - Why people are judged quickly and leaders are judged softly - Two commandments from her book DEI Died. Leadership Lives.: fire leaders who refuse to lead, and data doesn't lie - The career database she built on nights and weekends to see every person's full picture - Why most people don't trust HR, and what changed when she chose to protect the people - Her GAS strategy: go deeper, take a stand, lead with love, and self-efficacy - What grace looks like when you stay in the fight - What to do this week if you lead a team of eight and something feels off CHAPTERS 00:00 Who Michelle Edwards is 01:49 From managing work to taking care of people 05:39 Prove you can lead before you get direct reports 09:59 People are judged quickly, leaders are judged softly 11:20 DEI Died. Leadership Lives. 15:33 Fire leaders who refuse to lead 17:19 Data doesn't lie 21:20 The rooms where careers get decided 25:08 The leader who truly saw her 31:36 Why people don't trust HR 34:45 Designing HR from a blank canvas 38:21 The GAS strategy 42:36 What she couldn't fix, and grace 45:18 The database no one saw 52:55 Staying true to herself 55:03 How her definition of success changed 55:49 Leading a team of eight: what to do this week 56:35 Why we avoid real connection 59:07 Where to find Michelle 1:02:21 Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable CONNECT WITH MICHELLE EDWARDS Website: https://michelleedwardsspeaks.com Book, DEI Died. Leadership Lives.: https://a.co/d/06470JmH LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellekedwards/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelleedwardsspeaks/ CONNECT WITH RYAN WATTS Ryan Watts Coaching: https://www.ryanwattscoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwattsmba FOLLOW THE PERSONAL SUCCESS PODCAST Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-personal-success-podcast-with-ryan-watts/id1699785392 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0poXmaxpjA6ViNDy1KOh9c YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thepersonalsuccesspodcast Web: https://www.ryanwattscoaching.com/thepersonalsuccesspodcast New episodes weekly.