Anchored Leadership: For Business Owners Ready to Lead and Not Just Manage

Kari Lotzien
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For established business owners who are ready to move from being the person everything runs through to being the leader who built something that runs without them. Anchored Leadership goes deep on what it actually takes to lead well. Host Kari Lotzien brings her experience as a business coach and former clinic owner to real conversations about leadership development, team building, delegation, and building a sustainable business without burning out.

  1. 1 day ago

    96 - The Internal Shift That Attracts Exceptional People to Your Team

    I’m inviting you to look at what’s happening on your side of the fence when it comes to hiring, keeping and growing great people. Every client I work with eventually talks about hiring challenges. And in almost every case, the first step isn’t about the team member. It’s about us. I often say business is an amplifier. Your strengths get bigger, and so do the things you’d rather not look at. The trickiest part is when a strength quietly becomes a liability. The scrappy, figure-it-out-myself independence that got you through the startup years is often the same thing that keeps exceptional people from joining you, or staying.  Key Topics Discussed: Why business amplifies both your strengths and your blind spotsHow hyper-independence hides a deep discomfort with asking for helpWhy I could easily hire an accountant or a lawyer, but struggled to hand off my calendarThe difference between a logic problem and an identity problem (if you know you should hire and still aren’t, it’s probably the second one)Letting people see the messy side: the unread emails, the half-written ideas, the sticky notes all over my officeThe back-and-forth delegation loop, and why it feels like micromanaging to a competent team memberReleasing control of the details without lowering your standardWhy “assume competence” and a collaborative process attract people who want to contribute, not just complete tasksIf any of this hit a little close to home, you’re in good company. I ran myself into burnout more than once before I learned to ask for help, and I still catch myself doing tasks I’d tell a client to hand off. You don’t have to have it all sorted before you hire someone great. You just have to be willing to let them in, mess and all. Pour yourself a cup of tea, sit with these questions for a bit, and notice what comes up. I’ll see you in the next episode.  Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you. Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership AcademyPrivate Business and Leadership CoachingContact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.caFacebook: BeTheAnchorLtdInstagram: BeTheAnchor.caLinked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    96 - The Internal Shift That Attracts Exceptional People to Your Team

  2. 13 Oct

    95 - Not Ungrateful, Just Not Done

    This is a tea episode. Softer, slower, and a lot more vulnerable than I usually get. It started in my hairdresser's chair. She's a young mom, runs her own business, and this year decided she's going to become an ultra-marathon runner. We ended up talking about something I've been feeling for months and hadn't said out loud: what happens when your life is genuinely good, you're grateful for all of it, and something inside you still says, "This isn't the end." There's more. You can feel it. But it doesn't feel solid or certain. It feels unsettled. And when you've built a life and a business on being the dependable one, unsettled is deeply uncomfortable. In this episode, I talk about what this stage actually feels like from the inside, and why the hard parts aren't a sign you're on the wrong path.   Key Topics Discussed: Liminality and the turning tide: why the in-between stage looks still from the outside but is full of possibilityWhy wanting more can feel selfish, and why the people who love you might try to pull you back to certaintyThe patterns that fill up the space you need for what's next, especially for high performers and people pleasers who get rewarded for taking on too muchThe grief nobody warned me about: letting go of who you were, including (for me) my hyper-independenceWhy you have to get less stable before you can move forward. You can't take the next step until you lift your foot.The disagreement my hairdresser and I had about whether this path is open to everyone, and the loneliness that can come with itWhat's actually helping me find my anchor right now: not doing this aloneYou're not ungrateful, and nothing's wrong with you. If you're standing in that in-between space, it's because the tide is turning and you can feel it before anyone else can. That's lonely, and it's also the start of something. Lifting your foot means losing your footing for a while, and that's part of it. So find your people, the ones whose eyes change when you finally say it out loud. I'm one of them. Let's figure out what's next together.   Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you. Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership AcademyPrivate Business and Leadership Coaching  Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.caFacebook: BeTheAnchorLtdInstagram: BeTheAnchor.caLinked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    95 - Not Ungrateful, Just Not Done

  3. 29 Sept

    94 - Successful Isn't the Same as Scalable with Behrad Bayanpour

    Kari sits down with Behrad Bayanpour, a leader whose career has taken him from Iran to Canada to Dubai, China, and the US, for a conversation about what makes Canadian small and medium businesses strong, and where that same strength quietly becomes a ceiling. Kari and Behrad dig into the three pillars of scalable infrastructure (people, culture, and process), the "admin vs. ad hoc vs. strategic" triangle every owner should be running their time through, and why AI is a productivity partner, not a cost-cutting shortcut. The conversation closes on curiosity, ownership, and what it really means to stay anchored as a leader, and as a parent. Key Topics Discussed: Behrad's immigrant journey and how calculated risk-taking shaped his career across Iran, Canada, Dubai, China, and the USWhy so many Canadian founders aim for an exit rather than building for scale from the outset, compared to patterns Behrad has seen in other marketsThe three pillars of scalable infrastructure: people, culture, and processPayroll as a case study in "mission critical, not core to the mission" work, and why owners underinvest in it until it breaksThe admin / ad hoc / strategic triangle - a framework for auditing where an owner's time actually goes, and what it means if admin dominatesAI as a productivity tool versus a cost-cutting tool, and how it's compressing the "bell curve" of baseline competenceWhat Behrad looks for when hiring: curiosity (asking why) and a willingness to challenge the status quoWhy the right hires will irritate you first, and what that reveals about a leader's own nervous system regulationDelegating vision instead of tasks, and giving team members runway with guardrails rather than micromanagementThis conversation is a reminder that the traits that get a business off the ground. Grit, hyper-independence, doing it all yourself are rarely the traits that let it scale. Behrad's framework for building infrastructure, and his honesty about how uncomfortable it is to hand over control, lands squarely in the messy middle so many service business owners find themselves in. If this episode resonated, the next step isn't more hustle, it's building the systems that let you lead from altitude instead of the weeds.  Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next on Anchored Leadership. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you. Connect with Behrad Bayanpour and learn more about his incredible work here:  Behrad Bayanpour is the GM of Powerpay and SVP of Strategy & Growth at Dayforce, where he leads the Canadian SMB business. Over his career, he has held leadership roles spanning product, marketing, go-to-market and strategy, while working across Canada, Dubai, China, and the U.S. That breadth of experience has shaped his perspective on leadership, growth, and what it takes to build businesses that can scale sustainably.   LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/behrad-bayanpour-1935452/ Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership AcademyPrivate Business and Leadership Coaching  Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.caFacebook: BeTheAnchorLtdInstagram: BeTheAnchor.caLinkedIn: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    94 - Successful Isn't the Same as Scalable with Behrad Bayanpour

  4. 15 Sept

    93 - From Corporate Leadership to AI Governance: Theresa Lynn's Incredible Story of Starting Over at 50

    Theresa Lynn spent 17 years climbing the ranks at TELUS, from field manager to GM Alberta South to strategic programs director. Then in 2022, a mysterious illness took her out of the corporate world entirely. Kari and Theresa talk about the messy middle of that transition - the shower floor, the fights with a husband who wanted to help, the guilt of relying on someone else's paycheque - before getting into how that unraveling led Theresa to Oxford, to a new industry, and eventually to founding Clarity at Work, an HR and AI governance practice serving business owners across Western Canada. The conversation then turns practical: what AI governance actually means for a small or mid-sized business, why most AI implementations fail, and how to give a team permission to innovate instead of just handing them a list of rules. Key Topics Discussed: The slow roll to sickness - a summer of cardiac scans, MRIs, and a bone marrow biopsy that led nowhereThe moment Theresa's doctor told her she wasn't letting anyone down but herselfWhy Theresa decided she wasn't going back to her old role, and the three-week Caribbean cruise that became her unofficial exit from TELUSThe hardest part of the transition -  accepting financial support from her husband, and the guilt of going from a six-figure career to "honey, I'm broke"Turning 50 and buying a plane ticket to Oxford before telling anyoneThe exercise, inside a 29-person cohort from around the world, that gave Theresa the language for her purpose, and where the name "Clarity at Work" actually came fromWhy 80% of AI implementations fail, and what most organizations get wrong from the startThe bowling alley theory of AI governance - why the goal isn't more rules, it's clear gutters and permission to knock the pins down in betweenShadow AI, the risk hiding in plain sight when employees quietly use tools nobody's signed off onTheresa's framework for treating AI like a new intern instead of an expertWhy business owners starting over in midlife aren't starting from zero, and what changes when you're at the peak of your career instead of the beginning of itWhat "anchored" means for Theresa, and the one non-negotiable she built into her business from day oneTheresa's story is a reminder that the low points don't disqualify you from the next chapter,  they're often what make you good at it. She didn't get to Clarity at Work in spite of the shower floor and the summer of unanswered tests. She got there because of what those months taught her about setting expectations, asking for help, and protecting what matters. Whether it's a health crisis, a career pivot, or just the quiet realization that your business needs clearer gutters, the throughline is the same: define your non-negotiables, get honest about what you actually need, and trust that the mess is part of the story, not a detour from it. That's the practice at the centre of Anchored Leadership, staying regulated and clear-headed enough, even mid-crisis, to lead yourself and everyone counting on you. If this episode had you thinking about the "gutters" in your own business, where you actually need rules versus where your team just needs permission, that's exactly the work we do inside the Anchored Leadership Academy. The next cohort of the Anchored Leadership Academy opens this fall.Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you.  Connect with Theresa and learn more about her incredible work here:  Theresa Lynn is the founder and CEO of Clarity at Work, a HR, AI governance and Strategic Advisory practice based in Innisfail, Alberta serving clients across western Canada. Links: www.ClarityAtWork.cawww.linkedin.com/in/theresalynnwww.instagram.com/clarityatworkcohttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585916500684Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership AcademyPrivate Business and Leadership Coaching  Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.caFacebook: BeTheAnchorLtdInstagram: BeTheAnchor.caLinked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    93 - From Corporate Leadership to AI Governance: Theresa Lynn's Incredible Story of Starting Over at 50

  5. 1 Sept

    92 - Lead From Here

    Kari's been noticing something in herself lately: the busier she gets, the harder it is to access the easy, flowing creativity she used to count on. In this episode, she gets honest about wondering if she'd simply "lost her groove", and walks through the three things she's found that actually bring it back: space, focus, and foundation. This isn't a productivity hack episode. It's a look at why your own brain, your ability to solve problems, spot opportunities, and think clearly is one of the most valuable assets in your business, and why most of us are quietly running it into the ground without noticing. Key Topics Discussed: Why creativity dries up when you get busy, and how to tell if you've actually "lost your groove" or just run out of room for it The shower-idea phenomenon, and what it reveals about how the brain generates ideas Why traditional meditation didn't work for Kari, and the movement-based alternative she uses instead The trap of turning one idea into 92 ideas by lunch How AI tools and social media algorithms are built to pull your focus, not sharpen it Why narrow, specific feedback questions (to clients and team) beat open-ended ones The personal foundation: sleep, food, hydration, movement The business foundation: systems, role clarity, and processes kept "just because" A client story on what's possible when the foundation work finally pays off Why the Anchored Leadership Academy exists, and what makes the room work Space, focus, and foundation aren't one more thing to add to your list,  they're what makes the rest of the list possible. You don't need to overhaul everything this week. Pick the one that's calling to you, give it 10 minutes, and see what shows up. Curious whether the Academy is the right next step for you? Book a call with Kari and figure it out together, no pressure, just a conversation about where you're at and what you're building.  The next cohort of the Anchored Leadership Academy opens this fall.   Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you.Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership Academy Private Business and Leadership Coaching Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.ca Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca Linked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    92 - Lead From Here

  6. 18 Aug

    91 - From Marketing to Vice President: Leading One of Canada's Largest Health Networks with Rochelle Hildebrand

    Rochelle Hildebrand didn't come up through the clinical ranks, she came in through marketing and communications and now oversees five divisions as Vice President of EHN Guardians and Outpatient Services, part of a network that has grown from a handful of employees to over a thousand in just over a decade. Kari and Rochelle dig into why clinical excellence and business leadership are two different skill sets, how EHN built a diversified revenue model that keeps expanding access to care, and what it actually takes, as a leader and as a person, to stay grounded while helping run an organization at that scale. Key Topics Discussed: How Rochelle's path to EHN started with her father's treatment centre, and a job she wrote for herself without meaning to Why her dad believed clinicians often struggle to make the leap into business leadership The difference between being an exceptional clinician and being an exceptional leader Growing from 4–5 employees to over 1,000 in just over ten years The two-part role of a leader: making today great, and building toward the future How EHN diversified its revenue streams from mostly private-pay to mostly third-party funded The shifting relationship between employers, mental health, and the workforce of the future A simple framework for leaders who notice someone on their team is struggling Who protects the people at the top, and why peer relationships matter so much Rochelle's vision for the future of mental health care in Canada Rochelle's story is a reminder that leadership doesn't have to come from the path you expected, and that the people who build resilient organizations aren't the ones with all the answers, they're the ones willing to keep asking the right questions, of their teams and of themselves. If this episode had you thinking about who's supporting you while you support everyone else, that's exactly the work we do inside the Anchored Leadership Academy. The next cohort of the Anchored Leadership Academy opens this fall.   Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you.   Connect with Rochelle and learn more about her incredible work here: Rochelle Hildebrand is the Vice President of EHN Guardians and Outpatient Services, overseeing EHN Guardians Nanaimo, EHN Guardians Rockies, EHN Guardians Gateway, EHN Guardians Atlantic, and EHN Online. She began her journey with EHN in 2014 in the marketing department and has progressed through successive leadership roles. Rochelle holds extensive experience in digital care expansion and implementing Measurement-Based Care. She is dedicated to team building and creating supportive environments for staff. Rochelle believes in empowering teams to deliver exceptional care to clients and families.   Links: EHN Guardians EHN Online EHN Canada   EHN Guardians Social: EHN Guardians IG EHN Guardians LinkedIN EHN Guardians Facebook   EHN Canada Social: EHN Canada IG EHN Canada LinkedIN EHN Canada Facebook Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership Academy Private Business and Leadership Coaching Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.ca Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca Linked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    91 - From Marketing to Vice President: Leading One of Canada's Largest Health Networks with Rochelle Hildebrand

  7. 4 Aug

    90 - How to lead long term employees who resist change

    In this episode, Kari Lotzien explores how business owners can effectively introduce change to long-standing team members while maintaining a cohesive and motivated team. Learn a practical framework to communicate vision, manage resistance, and implement sustainable systems that support business growth. Key topics  The challenge leaders face when long-term team members resist new systems and standards The importance of understanding human resistance to change and the nervous system response A three-step framework: Plan (Why), People (Who), and Process (How) for managing change How to communicate the bigger vision and connect change to long-term business goals Strategies to clarify roles and responsibilities during transition Recognizing natural discomfort versus outright refusal from team members The importance of setting clear review timelines and success metrics for new systems Setting the anchors - communicate what isn’t changing  If this episode named something you've been avoiding, that's exactly the work we do inside the Anchored Business Academy. The next cohort of the Anchored Business Academy opens this fall. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you. Work with Kari:  Anchored Business Academy Private Business and Leadership Coaching Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.ca Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca Linked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    90 - How to lead long term employees who resist change

  8. 21 Jul

    89 - What is Your Business Worth - even if you don't plan to sell with Robert Welke

    Most business owners assume that if their business is profitable, it's automatically valuable to a buyer. Robert Welke, Calgary-based Mexit advisor, business growth transformation coach, and a three-decade veteran of starting, scaling, and selling his own companies, joins Kari to explain why that assumption is wrong, and why it matters far beyond any one owner's retirement plans. With 76% of Canadian business owners planning to exit by 2030, this conversation is about what actually makes a business transferable, and why so few are ready. Key Topics Discussed: Profitability does not equal saleability Robert lays out the five factors that actually determine whether a business can be sold, and it's not the one most owners assume.   There's a hidden risk sitting in most owners' heads A huge amount of what makes a business run - the relationships, the know-how, the decisions, often lives in one person. Robert explains exactly why that's a ticking clock, and what tends to trigger the fallout.   Not every growth path leads to a sellable business There are two very different ways owners build their companies, and only one of them ends in something someone else can actually buy. Robert shares how he learned the difference the hard way.   The real threat to your team isn't who you think Robert's "A, B, C, and Culture Killer" framework flips a common assumption about which team members are actually holding a business back, and it's not the underperformers.   Your business matters to more than just you. With a striking number of Canadian owners planning to exit in the next decade, Robert connects the dots between individual businesses and what happens to entire communities when they aren't set up to be passed on. Robert's story is a reminder that the things we avoid looking at, the systems we haven't written down, the person we haven't let go of, the plan we keep telling ourselves we'll get to eventually, don't stay small. They compound, quietly, until a health scare or an unexpected offer forces the question we should have answered years earlier. The good news is that none of this requires reinventing who you are as an owner. It requires getting honest about where the business still depends on you, and building the structure that lets it stand on its own. That's not a threat to your legacy, it's how you protect it. If this episode had you thinking about what's really running through your head instead of your systems, that's exactly the work we do inside the Anchored Leadership Academy. The next cohort of the Anchored Leadership Academy opens this fall.   Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify - start building a business that works for you, not just because of you.   Connect with Robert and learn more about his incredible work here: Website: mexit.ca Email: rwelke@proactv.ca LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robert-welke-cepa-b-comm-cert-value-builder-author-753b141/ Work with Kari:  Anchored Leadership Academy Private Business and Leadership Coaching Contact Kari Lotzien | Be the Anchor:  Website: BeTheAnchor.ca Facebook: BeTheAnchorLtd Instagram: BeTheAnchor.ca Linked In: Kari Lotzien Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    89 - What is Your Business Worth - even if you don't plan to sell with Robert Welke
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For established business owners who are ready to move from being the person everything runs through to being the leader who built something that runs without them. Anchored Leadership goes deep on what it actually takes to lead well. Host Kari Lotzien brings her experience as a business coach and former clinic owner to real conversations about leadership development, team building, delegation, and building a sustainable business without burning out.

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