What if your worth had nothing to do with what you produce, achieve, or check off a list? 

In this raw and revealing UNCORKED conversation, Tim Windsor sits down with Gordon D. Melville—known as The Vault—to challenge one of the most dangerous lies of modern culture: “I am what I do.” Together they peel back the layers of identity, worth, and validation to uncover a truth that most of us have forgotten—your value doesn’t come from what you achieve, but from who you already are. This episode isn’t about adding more to your to-do list; it’s about rediscovering your I am list.

As you listen, you’ll find yourself confronting the exhausting chase for validation—the endless pursuit of more; more money, more recognition, more success—and realize that the fulfilment you’ve been chasing is already sitting quietly within you. Gordon’s concept of “worth wells” will make you rethink where you draw your validation from and why so many of us look outside ourselves for what only we can give. Through stories of athletes, leaders, and his own life lessons, Gordon invites you to stop striving to become something and instead start remembering who you already are.

This conversation is more than inspiration—it’s an invitation to live differently. You’ll walk away with a renewed sense of alignment, a deeper awareness of your intrinsic worth, and a few unsettling but liberating questions that can change how you see yourself, your work, and your legacy.

Listen in—and dare to be, not just do.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/
 

What if the things you call impossible are simply waiting for you to remember who you once were before the world told you what you couldn’t do? 

In this bold and mind-twisting episode of the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Tim Windsor cracks open a wild truth — before you were born, you breathed in water. That’s right. You lived, thrived, and grew in an environment that would kill you now. You didn’t just survive the impossible; it was your normal. And somewhere along the way, you forgot that impossibility used to be your reality.

Through storytelling, neuroscience, and raw challenge, Tim takes you deep into the tension between safety and growth. He exposes how your brain’s addiction to comfort and predictability disguises itself as logic, whispering that your dreams are unrealistic when they’re just untested. Drawing on the strange brilliance of a diving bell spider that learned to breathe underwater, he reminds you that thriving in unnatural places isn’t madness — it’s evolution. What if the “impossible” things in your life — the book you won’t write, the conversation you won’t start, the change you keep delaying — are just waiting for you to step into a new environment and take your first terrifying, necessary breath?

This isn’t a soft motivational message — it’s a challenge. A challenge to identify the goals you’ve drowned beneath fear, to stretch your comfort zone until it gasps, and to visualize your success until your brain believes it’s possible. It’s a call to embrace discomfort as a sign of growth, to reframe fear as progress, and to build your own “diving bell” — a safe bubble where you explore the impossible until it becomes inevitable. 

Remember, you were literally born out of an impossible act — breathing in water — and maybe, just maybe, it’s time to start doing the impossible again.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

What if the biggest threat to your business isn’t inflation, automation, or competition—but the fact that your people, and maybe even you, are half asleep?

In this UNCORKED conversation, Tim Windsor chats with the rebellious, inspiring, and fully awake Dirk Beveridge, founder of the Fully Alive Movement. This isn’t your typical leadership discussion. Their talk challenges toxic narratives that tell us to put ourselves last. They question the lie that you can't love yourself first and lead others. And they shatter the idea that “there’s no I in team” with the honest truth: if you’re not whole, you can’t serve your team or the world well. 

Throughout the conversation, Dirk shares what he uncovered over four summers and 55,000+ miles in an RV visiting distribution and manufacturing companies across the United States. His revelation: the stark truth that 80% of workers are overlooked, underinvested in, and quietly longing for more—and what leaders must do to address this. 

Tim and Dirk explore the power of entering through the metaphorical (and literal) “back door” of leadership, relationships, and organizations—to uncover the people and stories hidden within. Dirk also makes a strong case for restoring family as a sacred metaphor in workplace culture..

This episode is a rebellion against numbness, a manifesto for change, and a direct punch to the underbelly of complacency.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This 5 MINUTE & 6 SECOND mini NITTY-GRITTY episode explores this provocative and powerful question and idea; How do you identify the "pollinators" in your "ecosystem" and partner with them.

Why? Because you need "pollinators," you need "bees." 

You must engage and enlist the people who influence other people early and often. You need the people that others tend to look to, are naturally attracted to or have an affinity for in your "ecosystem" to help spread the "word." So take your idea to them first. Let them smell it. Let them taste it. Let them touch it and let them "rub up" against that idea in such a way that when you start to try to communicate that idea or that strategy or that new thing you want to do, they come alongside when you're not there and they "pollinate" and help grow and fertilize it.

Please overlook the rawness of the audio I recorded on my iPhone at the picnic table at my campsite. I just had to get this little idea out of my head.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were WEAVERS.

Listen to this episode, and you will discover the 3 Wonderous gifts the UNENDING WEAVER gives to you and me.

Firstly, they give us the gift of PARTNERS & PARTNERING. They help us see that the tapestry of our interconnected lives is a weaving. Connect you and me with other threads. And they weave their ideas and ideals in and through you and me.

The second gift the UNENDING WEAVER gives us is of PATTERNING & PATTERNS. They help us identify and address good and bad patterns in our lives. Teach you to “pattern match” with people. And they teach you to be a patient weaver.

And the third gift the UNENDING WEAVERS give us is the gift of PERSPECTIVE & PERCEPTION. They instruct and implore us to understand that there are no mistakes in the weaving. Encourage you to relax and submit to the “stretch” of the loom of life. Remind you and me that sometimes we all sabotage our own tapestry. And they equip and encourage us to alter our vantage point and come around with them to see the “finished” side of the tapestry.

UNENDING WEAVERS encourage you and help you to turn the rug and the tapestry and look at it from the other side, the finished side. We look at our lives from the back side of the tapestry. See loose threads and messy knots. We see backwards patterns and unmatched and uncoordinated colours. UNENDING WEAVERS encourage us, sometimes with a “prophetic urgency,” to turn it around, flip it over, and see the “other side” … the wonderous and, of course, beautifully flawed tapestry that you and I are becoming .... a tapestry with just the correct number of mistakes. With just enough room for the Spirit, the divine, and with enough mercy and graciousness for ourselves and others to enter in and make us more human. A powerfully beautiful fabric garment that has discovered and embraced the interconnective tapestries of our lives. Not just as a single and separate piece of cloth but as one small piece in one epic weaving of all of humanity for all of history. UNIQUE HOMO SAPIENS who fully know that we are one thread and in need of others because, as a rich reminder of this, our UNENDING WEAVERS have woven themselves into us before they died.

UNENDERS are and were WEAVERS. And if you and I become WEAVERS NOW … Wise Weavers who enable and encourage everyone around us to see the wondrous beauty of the finished side of the tapestry of our lives, we can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers. UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Leaders need to stop fooling themselves; they don't really believe their employees are "customers" because they think their employees always have to "buy" into what they're saying and selling.

In this 4-minute and 38-second mini NITTY-GRITTY, we discover the 5 things that great leaders must "sell" to their employees. Because if they don't "buy" in ... you and your team will fail.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

What do you "lean" into? What are you "leaning" into in this season?

In this 4-minute and 39-second mini NITTY-GRITTY, we explore why the 23.5-degree tilt of the earth is so important and why our personal, professional, and organizational "tilt" is as well. 

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode is an eye-opening and practical chat with my colleague and consulting partner Amanda Macdougall about a bad habit, a very bad leadership and management habit that drives your very best employees to the brink and maybe even to drink.

Ponder these provocative questions with us: When is a gift not a gift? When is a reward not so rewarding? And why do leaders and managers sometimes reward their best and hardest working employees with the work that others fail to do?

In this conversation, Amanda and I unpack some practical and tactical frameworks that will enable leaders, managers, overachieving employees, and underachieving ones to navigate the waters of workload distribution and personal efficiency and effectiveness. And the sometimes tricky and difficult performance conversations that must happen to create a healthier and happier team.

Listen in as we explore and learn: What drives a leader to choose this bad workload and people management strategy? How some employees are protecting themselves from the generous gift of their colleagues' work? And how testing our beliefs, proactively articulating expectations, and encouraging everyone to hold their own feet to the fire is the best way forward.

Grab a coffee, and let me tell you the tales of woe that birthed this conversation. And don't worry, names have been withheld to protect and incent and the not so incent.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were RUNNERS. 

Listen to this episode, and you will discover why RUNNERS are not afraid to put their success in your hand and trust you to run well with "it" and them. And how they help you and others learn the skills and secrets required to get out of the blocks and into a fast stride; get rid of "toxins," and "oxygenate" yourself to run farther and longer in life. And to understand the wisdom of pace and rhythm and how to rest even as you run the long "race" of life. 

UNENDERS are and were RUNNERS. And if you and I can become RUNNERS NOW, with and for others, RUNNERS who set the pace, race, and place our baton in the hands of others, we can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers. UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were DIGGERS. 

In this, the 7th episode in a 14-part series, we explore another of the 13 characteristics, the actions, and the passions of those who are UNENDING legacy leavers. the UNCOMMODIFIED. the UNENDERS, who even though many of them are gone now, they are still alive with me.

UNENDERS are and were DIGGERS. And if you and I can become DIGGERS NOW ... DIGGERS who unearth, uncover and help people discover the shit and the silver, the poop and the platinum under the surface of their lives, we can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers. UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

Listen to this episode, and you will discover how DIGGERS are like Archeologists and Geologists in the lives of people they inspire and influence. Discover the "tools " they use to dig down to "bedrock" and what their "digging" up helps you and me rediscover and refresh in our lives.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode is entitled "UNBRANDED & UNBRIDLED: Living and Leading the Maverick Way" it's an UNCORK Conversation with consultant, trainer, mentor, speaker, and author Judith Germain.

Judith is a "Mindful Maverick" who amplifies impact and influence - hers, mine, and yours.

Judith and I set this conversation free and ride full-on into the world where Mavericks run free and wild for the sake of others. 

Ride with us along the trail, and you will discover what a Maverick is and how they use their superpowers to get it done, get it done right for you and them, and have a heap load of fun. 

Along the way, you will discover that some of you are Mavericks by personality and some Mavericks by leadership. And how socialized Mavericks adapt to create more significant impact and influence. 

Near the end of my conversation with Judith, I step into the "confessional" as I have an epiphany about how I parented my daughter into a "princess box" and ultimately muted her inner Maverick for many years. After all, only men are mavericks. Right. NO. Absolutely WRONG.

Grab a glass of water and get ready to run wild and free. UNBRANDED & UNBRIDLED: Living and Leading the Maverick Way.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were BELIEVERS. 

Listen to this episode, and you will discover how belief and being a believer in and for others will impact and influence them today ... tomorrow ... and even when you are dead and gone.

Together we will discover the practical things that believers do that empower and demonstrate their belief in others. And we also examine the possibilities and potential that are unlocked when you are cheering others on and articulating and expressing your fanatic faith in them. 

In this, the 6th episode in a 14-part series, we explore another of the 13 characteristics, the actions, and the passions of those who are UNENDING legacy leavers. the UNCOMMODIFIED. the UNENDERS, who even though many of them are gone now, they are still alive with me.

UNENDERS are and were BELIEVERS. And if you and I can become BELIEVERS NOW … in others and in their ability to do anything they put their heart and soul into and onto ... We can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers. UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were RECORDERS. 

Listen to this episode, and you will discover the power and potential in your hands and heart when you get out paper, scissors, markers, or your iPhone or Galaxy Note or any other kind of smartphone and make it smarter and wiser for someone else. Be a RECORDER of events and ideas or your seemingly mundane life so it can be transformed from mundane to magical memories that inspire from the other side.

In this 5th part in a 14-part series, I explore another of the 13 characteristics, actions, and passions of those who are UNENDING legacy leavers. The UNCOMMODIFIED. The UNENDERS. Who are still with me and many others, even though many of them are gone now. 

UNENDERS are RECORDERS. And if you and I can become RECORDERS NOW and "document" and "capture" a moment in time ... to be lived and relived over and over again, we can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers. UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

What if fantasy wasn’t just an escape but a way of returning to your true self? 

In this engaging and mystical episode of the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Tim Windsor chats with Britt Scott—a Dungeon Master, therapeutic game facilitator, and story alchemist—who found her voice, confidence, and creativity by stepping into a character and a world of dragons, dice, and deep truths. Together, they discuss how the ancient craft of storytelling and the unpredictable power of a 20-sided die can foster healing, connection, and growth in both teens and adults.

Whether you’ve never created a character and stepped into their world or you’ve played through a hundred quests, this conversation will surprise you. You'll learn how Brit transformed her self-doubt through her elven persona Anya, how she’s helping neurodiverse teens find their voice through therapeutic role-playing, and how storytelling around the table can become a subtle and sacred act of restoration. 

Stay until the end for a spontaneous dice-roll showdown that transforms metaphor into a powerful and potentially prophetic moment—and a personal story from Tim that could just change your view of fate forever.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were PAINTERS.  

Listen to this episode, and you will discover how to: 

Help people "see" the hidden value in themselves and meaning in their lives. And what is real and what is possible for them.

Help people use the light and shadow of their lives and "paint" a brighter future with and for them.

And "PAINT" on "human canvases," so you will leave a lasting legacy that will outlive and outlast you. 

In this 4th part in a 14-part series, I explore another of the 13 characteristics, actions, and passions of those who are UNENDING legacy leavers. The UNCOMMODIFIED. The UNENDERS. Who are still with me and many others, even though many of them are gone now. 

They are UNENDERS because they were PAINTERS. And if you and I can become PAINTERS now … in and on the human canvases we meet in this life we can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers, UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode is an UNCORK Conversation with Bo Andersson. Bo is a passionate leader in the water and wastewater value industry. His career began over ½ a century ago and continues to flow today with a vibrant desire for excellence.

Our conversation ebbs and flows as we dive deep into why curiosity and caring are so transformational. And what Bo's understanding of the curious journey of H2O has taught him about being strategically curious and caring in life and business.

Join us as we let caring and carefulness energize our carefree curiosity and make us wide-eyed children who poke and prod problems and opportunities for the benefit of all.

Grab a beer or a glass of the water that Bo and his colleagues have helped pump to your house or business and let's get in the flow. 

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

UNENDERS are and were MENTORS. 

Listen to this episode, and you will discover the essential attitudes and actions that will empower you to empower others and enhance the impact and effect of your mentoring and encouragement of others even when you are gone.

In this 3rd part in a 14-part series, I explore another of the 13 characteristics, actions, and passions of those who are UNENDING legacy leavers. The UNCOMMODIFIED. The UNENDERS. Who are still with me and many others, even though many of them are gone now. 

THEY ARE UNENDERS because they were MENTORS. And you and I can become MENTORS now, on purpose and with purpose ... passionately practical MENTORS. And become UNENDING legacy leavers, UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this episode, I will explore the first of thirteen characteristics, actions, and passions of those who have become UNENDING Legacy Leavers. UNCOMMODiFiED UNENDERS to me.

Even though they are gone, they are definitely not forgotten because they were PUSHERS. And if you and I can become one now on purpose and with purpose, proactive PUSHERS, we can and will become UNENDING legacy leavers. UNCOMMODIFIED UNENDERS in the lives of many people we encounter in this life.

UNENDERS. Legacy leavers are PUSHERS.

Their PUSHERS of people, and they leave an imprint. Their PUSHERS of limits and limitations and of Barriers and Boulders who inspire you to do the same, and their PUSHERS who push Seeds into the soil of people they encountered that bear fruit in the lives of others long after they are gone. 

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

I will be your ferryman over the river Styx (you may have to google that reference) into a series of podcast episodes about my UNENDING, about your UNENDING, about the lasting legacy of the UNCOMMODiFiED. Because, when it’s all said but really never done, what unique mark will we leave?

The subject matter of these episodes has weight. It’s deep and maybe even a little dark for some. It’s dangerous and dramatic. And according to my wife, it may have the power to hasten my untimely death, but I don’t think so, at least I hope not.

So how will this work? Over 14 episodes, I will explore the characteristics, actions, and passions of those that have and are becoming, to me, UNENDING Legacy Leavers. UNCOMMODiFiED. UNENDERS. And even though they are gone, they are definitely not forgotten. They were and still are for me: Pushers, Painters, Mentors, Recorders, Believers, Wanderers, Diggers, Runners, Weavers, Carvers, Wounders, Survivors, and Lovers. And if you and I can become NOW on purpose and with purpose proactive Pushers, Painters, Mentors, Recorders, Believers, Wanderers, Diggers, Runners, Weavers, Carvers, Wounders, Survivors, and Lovers. We can and will become UNENDING Legacy Leavers. UNCOMMODiFiED. UNENDERS.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode explores the overused term but sometimes underappreciate journey of "the Pivot." Whirling from stability to following a dream and recalibrating when the world throws you curve balls like COVID. 

Join us, my friend and business partner Amanda Macdougall and myself for this UNCORK Conversation with former CTV News reporter, anchor, journalist, creator, and founder of Buff Mom, BUFFnation, and Delish by Design Leslie Gordon Christie. 

We often love the idea of being uncommodified, but how do you break free from the chains of routine, stability and sameness? 

Well … you do it, Leslie style and: admit that sometimes you talk yourself out of the success you should be experiencing. You change your mindset and don't let the tragedy you see and report on become a wearying burden. You hire a coach and get your life in line with your values. You get clear about what needs you "right now" and what needs your resounding "no." You water the seeds of who really are and let them grow. You watch who you're getting advice from. You realize that meditation is the "helper" that enables and prepares you to balance your internal and outer worlds. You get really lucky … and understand that luck is, as Seneca said, what happens when preparedness meets opportunity. And you use thankfulness and gratefulness to release and realize your and others better now and better future. 
 
So, pour a warm lemon water or lemon ginger tea … or any other lemony beverage you can think of and let's ignite this fiery conversation.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This 1 MINUTE & 53 SECOND mini NITTY-GRITTY episode explores these questions:

What season are you in, and are your expectations reasonable? For example, are you expecting whole ripe fruit in spring or planting your seed in the fall? Harvest in winter? Or cool spring rains in the heat of summer?

Understanding the season you are in and having reasonable seasonal expectations will help you settle in, enjoy the journey, and reduce your frustration with yourself and others.

Please overlook the rawness of this short episode that I recorded on my iPhone in the forest by my house. I just had to get this little idea out of my head.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

This episode is entitled "BLOW YOUR FEARS AWAY: the Secret Power of Your Nervous Farts." It's an UNCORK Conversation with media specialist, television broadcaster, news writer, and FEAR FACER Natasha McKenty. 

Natasha and I chat and chin wag about living life uncomfortably, facing our fears, and using your platform and your gifts to inspire and encourage others along the way.

As we dip and dive into our terrors and tears, Natasha shares her personal and professional journey from being terrified of crowds and speaking in public to being in front of crowds and the camera and "going public" for the sake of others. 

Natasha encourages you to find an audience for the good news stories and look for the helpers because good news soothes the soul.

Our conversation explores how she found her healing by exposing herself to others who have overcome. 

We chat about how we need to learn to be comfortable in fear or let it stop us from achieving our dreams and goals. And that if you get past the fear, you will find the rush. The First step is the hardest. Then baby steps. Focus on where you are. Get your eyes on something inspiring. Go over the wall of your fear, repel down it and nervous fart all the way down if you need to because nobody's listening anyway.

Natasha challenges you and me to "do it scared" and inspire others. And Let people inside your fear. Let them see you press into it and through it because it makes us all more human.

So, pour a glass of wine, have a drink with us and take the first step. Don't overthink it. Don't look down. Go over the edge of your fear with us for your sake and for the sake of inspiring others.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode is an UNCORK Conversation with Cam Shapansky, a social sector fundraising and program development advocate, thought leader, and an old friend of mine. Cam is the Founder and CEO of Blue North, a fundraising and strategy group that works with Non-profit Organizations around the world, helping them improve their programs, raise more money, and do more great work for others.

Cam and I reflect on what the privilege of working internationally, in other cultures over the past quarter-century, has taught us about life and leadership. We pour some tequila and Mezcal and share some battlefield stories that have informed and instructed us over the years, experiences and encounters that have taught us that we are bigger and build better when we listen first and well to the wisdom in the room or the wisdom in the hut.

We muse about the fact that we are most likely "dumb-as-a-stump" until we sit on a stump under a tree and listen and learn from village elders and battle-scarred helpers.

We reflect on how easy it is to dishonour without knowing, and that bestowing honour begins with reserving judgement.

I share with Cam the wisdom I learned on a visit to an Ontario winery that transformed how I worked with Political and Social Leaders in other nations: the wisdom of grafting my experience and knowledge onto cultural root systems in the countries and cultures that I had the privilege to work in.

Cam shares some powerful ideas about how impactful communication is empowered by SIMPLICITY, and by crafting and communicating our message "OUTSIDE IN."

Our hair has surely diminished over the years, but we have grown as men and mentors, as we have wandered, wondered, and grown wiser along the way.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this NITTY-GRITTY, I share two more Life and Leadership lessons that my RV trips are teaching me. I am applying these in my personal life and my work with my client partners.

I am learning valuable lessons about towing the LOAD and gaining some insights about "weight distribution" and burning "fuel" in my life as I do.

I am also learning about hooking up and testing my LIGHTS on our new RV, and that is helping me see how leaders need to "signal" their desire to "change lanes" and their other intentions to those they lead.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

What if the richest lessons in life, leadership, patience, and reinvention weren’t written in books—but aged in barrels, brewed in backrooms, and matured with patience? 

In this UNCORKED conversation, Tim Windsor sits down with Matt Howell—VP of Operations at Collective Arts Brewery, head distiller, microbiologist, and the “Pour Master” of Saint Howell Tastings—to explore what the distillation process of beer and whiskey can teach us about becoming better leaders, better creators, and better humans. Together, they uncork the gritty truth about fermentation, failure, experimentation, and the radical patience required to craft anything worth sipping—or living.

From exploding barrels to peated perfection, Tim and Matt expose the truth behind the myths—why older isn’t always better, why tension must be broken to unlock flavour (and freedom), and why predictability kills innovation. You’ll walk away challenged to embrace experimentation, to blend complexity like a master brewer, and to honour the process—even when the outcome is uncertain. 

Oh, and if you’re lucky, you might score one of two seats at a private scotch tasting event at Tim’s home in late August 2025. But be warned: the whisky will be strong, but the life lessons will be even more powerful.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Kris MacQueen & Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this NITTY-GRITTY episode, I encourage you to understand that your ears are not the only body part that helps you listen. So listen, and you will discover the other appendages you need to activate to help you hear better and more.

Give me 10-minutes and 53-seconds of your time, and you will discover the secret power of note-taking when you use it to keep you on track in the conversation, contain and place our interruptions so that they don't get in the way of good listening, and build greater trust along the way.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This UNCORK conversation is sparked by this quote from Haile Selassie, "We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community." 

Leadership Historian Craig Minchin and I UNCORK some exceptional whiskey and chat about the powerful and captivating character and leadership traits of Haile Selassie. We explore some of his accomplishments and expose some of his failures and flaws: his light and darkness.

During our conversation, we discover the destiny in his name. We explore what we should engage with and retain. We experience the captivating power of charisma, the real grace of leaders. The importance of self-care and soul-care, and we find out what good thing can start to happen at 3:30 am every morning.

Craig shares how Selassie's life and legacy challenge him to live and lead and how it should challenge us to owe our allegiance to the right thing and the right people and serve it all, and all, for the betterment of the human community.

Pour a drink and get ready to be inspired to be Bigger. More. Greater. and Larger for others.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Back in EPISODE # 50 entitled UNDETERRED & UNDENIED (If you haven't listened to that one yet, please check it out), I outlined 12 positive predispositions undeterred and undeniable people. 

In this 9-minute and 55-second follow-up episode, I share some more thoughts and encourage you to consider, at a deeper level, how they were TENACIOUSLY PATIENT, tenacious and patient. You will discover the powerful TUG-OF-WAR and the PUSH & PULL that will make you undeterred and undeniable. And the wisdom of HURRY UP and WAIT.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode is an UNCORK CONVERSATION with Matt Fletcher. 

Matt is an UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast listener that I connected with through social media. After learning his story, I wanted to have on the show to share his personal and professional journey of buying his Dad’s business. And then recently selling that business to a larger corporation in an industry in which up to 70% of the industry’s knowledge could vaporize in the next ten years, and a historic number of businesses will be bought and sold.

Matt and I chat about the GIVE and TAKE in negation and what we GIVE and GET in life and business transactions and transitions. Because in the end, Matt didn’t just buy and sell a business; he purchased and sold roles and identities.

Along the way, we explore: What was easier than he expected? And what was harder than he expected when the business transitioned from his father to him and his brother? And then what was it like for him when the business was recently sold to a larger corporation?

Grab Pepsi or a Coke, and let’s see what we can GIVE and GET and BUY and SELL today.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this episode, I highlight the 4 GIFTS that I consistently hear that employees, teams, partners, your partner, your children, and even your dog and cat want and need from you and other leaders this Christmas and throughout next year.

Give these 4 GIFTS that are on everyone's Christmas list this year and every year, and you will build trust and catalyze the attention and desire to set and achieve your goals. Because if you don't, there will be a lump of coal or a chunk of something else equally as disappointing in everyone's stocking and under every tree again this year. There will be division, confusion, and detrimental diminishment of effectiveness and impact for the people you attempt to lead and guide.

The four most BENEFICIAL and BEAUTIFUL Gifts that Wise Women and Wise Men who come together to lead others must come bearing this Christmas are CONSISTENCY. COHESIVENESS. COORDINATION. and CLARITY ... these are the Gifts people want and need from those who have been given the gift of leading and influencing them.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This episode is entitled "a CURIOUS Man. a CONSENSUS Building Mayor. an UN-POLITICIAN who Marches to the Beat of a Different Drummer." it's an UNCORK Conversation hosted by Kris MacQueen (my Podcast Producer) with Cam Guthrie, the Mayor of one of Canada's fastest-growing cities, Guelph, Ontario. 

In this UNCORK conversation, Kris and Cam (and myself: eavesdropper and occasional interrupter in this episode) poke and prod into the mysterious world of politics and politicians. And as we do, we push into ideas like ... What you can learn when you lose. How curiosity and open-mindedness make all the difference. And the importance of living and leading with "NO REGRETS." 

We talk about How to find a "hill to die on" without "killing people" on your way to the top. And about The cost and payoff of meaningful engagement as a leader. 

We explore the power of Social Media and the boundaries that make it sustainable and healthy for you and others. And how a bit of levity and a proactive "thanks for caring enough to show up" conversation will break the harshness that can live within the rigorous debate and disagreements that will come from passionate people trying to be great and do great things for others.

Along the trails and rabbit trails in this Conversation, Cam … Mr. Mayor … Cam encourages us to understand the power of Authentic thankfulness and challenges and encourages you to understand that:

You don't have to go to University or College to be a continual learner. BUT YOU DO NEED TO BE CURIOUS & ADMIT YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING.

And that there is one bad "political behaviour" that always causes politicians to not give their attention to the right thing for the right reason. Cam challenged us, and I am sure he will challenge you to understand and believe that Democracy is BIGGER than YOU and ME ... and even HIM.

You will need a drink and a pad of paper for this one. Got it; let's get really UN-Political and UNCORK this one right now.


Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this NITTY-GRITTY episode, I uncover and expose the GREAT BIG LIE that keeps you from being as productive as you could be. 

Give me 12-minutes and 14-seconds of your time, which you will never get back, and you will discover the key to maximizing your impact and effectiveness. You will, as I have, find the TRUTH and the WISDOM within the GLASS.

Think about this question before you listen to this episode.

When you hear the word "TIME," what do you see? a Clock or a Calendar? or maybe you see something fundamentally more transformative, provocative, and instructive? ... I know I do.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Are your personal and professional relationships BUILT TO LAST? Or do they crumble, fail, and fall apart too often or too quickly? 

Here's what you will learn in this episode, if you want to build relationships that survive the "storms" and "winds" of life, relationships that thrive and stand the test of time, you will need to dig down and dig deep. 

In this 1 MINUTE & 48 SECOND mini NITTY-GRITTY, I share an experience I had when I was a teenager that challenged and changed me forever. I have used this life lesson for almost 50 years to build stable, lasting personal and professional relationships. Relationships that survive and thrive. Relationships that are BUILT TO LAST. 

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

This episode entitled "MindSet ReSet: Getting off the Hamster Wheel" is an UNCORK Conversation with Hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner Lisa Schermerhorn.

Lisa and I walk some of the fiery coals of our fears and failures and challenge ourselves and you to explore the conscience and subconscious beliefs, the "scripts" we run and rehearse in our mind – good or bad and how they predict and propel our behaviour.

She shared some practical ideas, strategies, and tools to create and sustain mindset "shifts and resets"? And how discovering your "WHY" is deeply connected to all this.

If you choose (and it is a choice) to listen in on this conversation, Lisa will provoke you to find the "purpose your the pain." And to give the gift of your pain a new job to do. She also explains how epigenetics may be at work in you. And the importance of understanding that Your purpose doesn't always pay, but it will reward you and others when you find it and live in it.

Grab a glass of wine, have a drink, spin the record …. and find and fix the skip.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Do you want to be a better and more effective Coach? 

Do you want to coach more and more often?

It's all about where you are during the game.

This episode is a 1 MINUTE & 24 SECOND mini NITTY-GRITTY that will give you one very simple yet powerful tip to instantly "put" yourself in a better "place" to cause you to have to coach better and more often.

Would you please overlook the rawness of this short episode that I recorded on my iPhone in my office? I just had to get this little idea out of my head after a call from a client.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

What if the most profound insights about love, purpose, and parenting are not found in the “perfect”family, but rather in an “imperfection” we’re told to fear? 

In this deeply human and disarmingly raw conversation, Tim Windsor sits down with Aidan and Leanne Hennebry—two creatives, parents, and unflinchingly real people—to talk about the journey they’re on with their son Leo, who has autism, and their other two children, Betty and Walt. They explore what it means to parent through joy, through grief, through diagnosis delays and missed milestones—and what it looks like when love, not control, becomes the guiding principle of a family. This isn’t a conversation about suffering—it’s about reimagining strength, rethinking "normal," and finding out what divine purpose might actually sound like in the quiet and chaotic spaces of your life.

Whether you're a parent, sibling, friend—or simply someone trying to understand how to show up better for others—this episode will challenge you. You’ll gain insight into how to advocate fiercely yet kindly, how to embrace tension without trying to fix it, and how to find unexpected joy where others only see struggle. You’ll hear how Leanne and Aidan confront systems that sometimes try—and fail—to hold them back, and how they, still amidst it all, manage to come out laughing, loving, and leading their family with radical hope. You’ll learn how Betty teaches Leo, how Leo teaches them, how God teaches them all, and how being a dad—or a mom—is not about having all the answers, but about being all-in regardless. If you’re brave enough to listen, you’ll leave feeling more human than when you arrived.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this UNCORK CONVERSATION, with Keynote Speaker, Facilitator, and Author, KRISTIN LINDEEN, we explore the idea of Generational Journeys. How personal and professional values translate, transfer, and continue to transform from one generation to another.

We muse about the privilege we all have to call out the gifts we see in others. And we ask if our journeys are determined choice or decided destiny. We challenge you to make sure you are transferring PASSION, not just process and principles. And we encourage you to understand that ideas and ideals are Caught AND Taught.

Kristin provides excellent advice and practical tools to empower and equip leaders, parents, and educators to transfer foundational values to the next generation. And, along the way, we challenge and encourage you to BE THE RIPPLE EFFECT and intentionally "ripple" into the next generation your most essential values.

Do you want to Equip and Empower others to be accountable and live a value-based life? THEN YOU MUST BREAK THE "WIZARD OF OZ" SYNDROME.

Grab a coffee and get ready to drop your pebble into the pond and become the "Ripple Effect."

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this NITTY-GRITTY Episode, we explore the "Alchemy of Change and Choice."

Listen in and discover:

- The four base "elements" that need to be "mixed" together to create and sustain CHANGE and CHOICE.

- That when your desire for change is "magically morphed" into a true OBSESSION for the change you want, you will begin to make "gold."

- That the words you use to "mix" your "potion" of change with really matter. Do you "want" to change or "MUST" you change?

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

this is a 1 MINUTE & 42 SECOND mini NITTY-GRITTY Episode that will provoke and challenge you to understand that your organization DOESN'T EXIST or DO ANYTHING.

If you think that your organization can be fundamentally different than your people, you are deceiving yourself. Your organization DOESN'T EXIST or DO ANYTHING ... PEOPLE DO.

If you want to be a better "organization," you have to focus on making your "people" better.

If you want to be a world-class "organization" that delights its clients, you have to focus on making your "people" world-class delighters ... it's really that simple and that hard.

If you want to be a kinder, more tolerant "organization" that treats each other well and respectfully, you have to focus on making your "people" less rude and disrespectful ... it's really that simple and that hard.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

In this episode Leadership Historian, Craig Minchin and I explore the life, legacy and leadership lessons we can learn from MOTHER INDIA - Indira Gandhi.

We chat about:

Building alliances. Seeing beyond and through the Crowds to individuals. Wise and Foolish advice. Discovering what we need to stand up for and stand up to. The danger of becoming an overconfident leader. How our strengths can become our weaknesses. And that regardless of our flaws and failures, we ALWAYS still have a choice.

Along the way, Craig shares his process of how researches and learns for historical leaders.

Grab a whiskey. And Get ready to be inspired by the past … to live better now .. for the future.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this mini NITTY-GRITTY, I share 3 Life and Leadership lessons I learned on a recent RV trip.

It's My Site.
Don't be a campsite"cutter." You need permission to cut across and cut through.

Tanks.
FRESH. GREY. And the dreaded BLACK one. It's time to check how full they are.

& the Fire.
How do you start and stoke yours and others?

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Riddle me this. When food isn't free ... but you can't buy it ... but you can shop for it ... where are you and what are you doing?

In this NITTY-GRITTY, I share the story of how my friends and I UNCOMMODiFiED compassion and support for the poor and marginalized in a community I lived in for over 20 years. And at the end of this episode, I give you my cell number and ask you to do me a favour. Please listen and give me a call.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

This is a thought-provoking and timely UNCORK Conversation with leadership speaker, consultant, trainer, coach, and author Alain Hunkins 

Alain and I dialogue about the impact and implications for employees, employers, and leaders of the fact that the U.S. Labor Department reported that a record 7.6 million people quit their jobs in April and May of 2021. and that The 2021 WORK TREND INDEX shows that 41% of the workforce is considering leaving their employer this year 

The Great Resignation: 

What is it? In what sense is it "great"? Why and how is it "great" or could it be "great"? 

How do employees, employers, and leaders Lean into the wind of the Great Resignation?

What Values and Ideologies are people Resigning from and resigning to. 

As we explore these questions, Alain shares some ideas and wisdom (from his book) on the desire of employees to have Safety. Be Energized. Have Ownership. And find Purpose in their jobs and How Managers and Leaders must make sure that their behaviour, systems and structures help meet and address these four core needs and expectations … especially during these times.

Alain will encourage and challenge you to understand that leaders that Lean into being exceptionally more human and more communicative and focus on facilitating more connection, communication, and collaboration will position themselves and their organization to weather this storm, harness this wind, and create positive momentum. 

The Great Resignation: Understanding the NO and the HELL YES

Unfurl your sails, and let's get into this one.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

How do you get your people to desire and embrace change better and quicker?

In this mini NITTY-GRITTY episode recorded on my iPhone, I share a provocative idea that I believe is what leaders often forget and overlook when they are trying to get their people to embrace change. You will instantly catalyze the energy and desire required to propel your change if you do this.

Change Agents cultivate and catalyze DISSATISFACTION! Do you?

Please overlook the rawness of this recording and hear the provocation.
Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

This is an insightful and practical conversation with an international SAP and Supply Chain Execution Architect, my friend, and as you will find out … just a “dude” – Dave Webb.

Dave and I explore what over 22 years of working with Senior Leaders during large-scale process and system change & implementation have taught him about: Leading change. Leaders. Leadership.Life. And Himself

For Dave, it’s all about the journey, and if you journey with us today, Dave’s experience will challenge you to understand that:

Change is scary. 

And, you should never buy into the lie that it’s just about changing the process. Or the lie and that asking your people to meet you in the middle is a great strategy when it is just lazy leadership.

Dave will challenge you to be honest about your motivation for change … even if the truth hurts.

And he will encourage you to understand that simplicity brings sharpness and that clutter in your life and your business is a curse that must be broken.

Grab a tea, have a sip, and let’s get into it this…

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

In this UNCORK episode with Jon Wagner (Virtual Team Pioneer & Author), we tuck into a conversation about Making Virtual Teams Much More Human. We explore the importance of Personal and Professional Community, Connection, Collaboration, and the Human Systems that create, enhance, and sustain them.

Jon shares 11 Key Principles that his years of research and experience showed him will create an effective Virtual Team. Along the way, we ask and answer the following questions:

How has your sense of mission driven and shaped you and your work over the past 40 years?

How have you used and applied your formal education (as an Engineer and in Cross-Cultural Psychology) to drive and shape your work with Human Systems?

Why are personal and professional community, connection, collaboration, and relationship (virtual and in-person) crucial to people, organizations, and you personally?

How do we use technology to assist or even enhance community, connection, and collaboration? When is technology not enough?

How do we build trust with individuals and teams (virtual and in-person)

What does it mean to work "cross-culturally" to you? How do we do this well personally and professionally?
 
What is "Friendship Force?" What is their story? Why is it such a powerful movement? Why are you so passionate about it?

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

What if the real power to change someone’s life isn’t a shove or a scream, but a gentle, well-timed nudge? 

In this soul-stirring and side-splitting episode of the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast, Tim Windsor sits down with Susie Moon, the unapologetic, hilarious, and deeply insightful self-described “Mother Nudger.” Together, they explore the transformational power of nudging—how it differs from nagging, how it motivates action without manipulation, and why it might be the most underrated leadership and life skill you’re not utilizing enough. From corporate misfit to entrepreneurial trailblazer, Susie’s journey is a masterclass in breaking free from roles that don’t fit and embracing the messy, nonlinear path to authenticity.

Listeners will walk away with hard-won insights about the power of accountability, the unexpected gift of discomfort, and why embracing humour—especially during moments of uncertainty—can be a potent catalyst for growth. You’ll hear how COVID became a cosmic nudge for both Susie and Tim, why self-promotion shouldn’t feel slimy, and how to build systems that nudge you (and others) toward your true impact zone. If you’ve ever felt like you're playing small, hiding behind comfort zones, or holding back out of fear of what others might think, this episode will nudge you gently, but unapologetically, toward your own “Summer of You.”

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

A recent conversation with a Client inspired me to explain that my experience has shown me that Transition Planning, NOT Succession Planning is a much better way to say it, see it, understand it, and really feel it.

WHY?

Because words matter and have an immediate and lasting emotional impact, especially when talking about people's lives, identities, intrinsic value, future, and legacy. 

And, it's a HUMAN THING, not just an organizational thing. 

Join me for a coffee in my backyard, and let's meditate on this idea together.

Please overlook the rawness of this recording and hear the provocation of this mini NITTY-GRITTY episode recorded on my iPhone.

This was a thought-provoking and practical conversation with leadership and team trainer, facilitator, coach, consultant, and my business partner Amanda MacDougall.

In this conversation, we explore this provocative question ... if you are giving or receiving an opportunity to become a Manager, a people Manager, is that just a Fantastic Promotion or is it ultimately a Fundamental Career Change?

Your answer and understanding about this transition and transformation will make or break you and others.

Amanda uses her years of practical experience and research and the results of her recent LinkedIn Survey to respond to and explore these questions: 

• Why don't People or Organizations think of becoming a manager as a career change?
• What is the cost to people and organizations if you don't?
• If I am becoming a Management Professional, a People Leader, can you give me a Checklist of things I need to consider? 

Along the way, we explore the "identity Shift" that must take place. The importance of going back to "school". The emotional impact of going from Technical Expert to Management Apprentice. And how the cost of no longer being one of the "gang" can be a price that even the "pay raise" can not cover.

AMANDA'S CHECKLIST

Checklist for Deciding to Become a Management Professional:

You love working with people (culture) 

You are drawn to thinking more broadly than your own work (strategy)

You are ready to set aside technical details in your day to day work

You have good communication skills

Monitoring, measuring, and tracking are fun! (workflow management)

People come to you for support or advice (leadership)

Collaboration is a skill in your toolbelt

You routinely take initiative and don't wait for direction

Are you ready to shift from being one of the "gang" to setting the example? (Personal accountability)

You have talked to people who are in the role you aspire to – what does it take to succeed in your role? Open yourself up to reflection and feedback – because that is what you get in management!

What to do When you land in a management position:

Make your "FROM .. TO" list

Create your leadership philosophy

Build community – it's lonely in the middle

Additional Thoughts for Organizations 

Review the employee checklist above with prospective managers

Be honest with yourself and with prospective managers on requirements – are they people leaders, or workflow managers? 

Determine what skills are actually required to be successful and hire for those skills – long-term or strong technical individual contributors may not be the best managers.

Approach people management training as you would any other technical training requirements

Be clear on expectations, time requirements for people and leadership skill development

Ensure transparent support for employees considering management, clarifying the unique requirements and shifts required to move into management

Think about "off-ramps" if the move to management turns out not to be a good fit that honours everyone in the process.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com

PRODUCER: Kris MacQueen
TECHNICAL EDITOR: Alyne Gage
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

A recent conversation with a Network of Consultants and Coaches that I connect with inspired me to explore this question - Work-Life Balance, Myth or Manageable Expectation?

Join me for a coffee in my backyard, and let's ruminate on this idea together.

Let me challenge you to consider the mental image that immediately comes into your mind when you think of this subject. And share some strategies that I use to establish a healthy rhythm in my own life.

Please overlook the rawness of this recording and hear the provocation of this mini NITTY-GRITTY episode recorded on my iPhone.

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@theuncommodified.com