The Data Shaman Podcast - Quant Mind, Shaman Soul

Daniele Forni
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Quant Mind. Shaman Soul. I spent 15 years in banking before I finally said the two words that changed everything: f*ck it. I quit. Now I'm an executive coach, a recovering risk manager, and someone who genuinely believes most people are quietly waiting for permission to want more than the life they've settled into. This podcast is where we say the quiet part out loud. I'm Daniele Forni, and The Data Shaman is my space to explore the gap between who we are inside and who we perform at work, and what happens when we finally close it. It's part honest conversation, part field guide, and always real. No gurus, no highlight reels, just people telling the truth about their lives and their work. In Season 1, I sat down with coaches to unpack how transformation actually happens. What really shifts when someone changes, how the best coaches think, and the messy, human work behind helping people grow. You can listen to it now! Upcoming is Season 2, titled F*ck it, I Quit. It's about the moment people stop pretending and walk away from the safe job, the safe career, the safe identity, and what they build on the other side. Through my own story and candid conversations with people who leapt before they felt ready, every episode is a small dose of courage for anyone wondering, is this really it? If you've ever felt the crack between your outside life and your inside one, you're in the right place. Spreadsheets and soul. Pull up a chair. Hit subscribe and transform the way you look at your potential.

  1. 8h ago

    Season 3, Ep 1 - Confidence Is a Verb: Small Wins, Big Growth

    Hi Guys,  this is a new experiment - I have been reading lots of self-help books, and I wanted to share them. But, I was not sure how.  So, I partnered up with an text-to-speech voice to ask me questions (let's call her Jordan).  I hope you will enjoy this one, and learn something. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Everyone treats confidence like a feeling you wait to arrive. Sit in the waiting room long enough, the thinking goes, and one day you’ll feel ready — ready to ask for the raise, pitch the idea, send the steak back. It never comes. In this first episode of The Misfit Executive, we make the case that confidence isn’t a feeling at all. It’s a verb — something you do, badly, until it gets less bad. We get into why we confuse confidence with competence (and keep promoting the loudest person in the room), why self-compassion beats self-esteem when things fall apart, the two-minute ritual that makes you less defensive before a hard meeting, and the five-second window where most of our courage quietly dies. Practical, a little contrarian, and built for anyone who’s tired of waiting to feel ready. In this episode: • Why action builds confidence — not the other way around • Confidence vs. competence, and the “send the steak back” test • How belief changes the outcome (yes, really — the sham-surgery study) • Self-compassion over self-esteem, and Seligman’s “three P’s” • The two-minute values check before high-stakes moments • “If you’re hitting the bullseye every time, you’re standing too close to the target” • The five-second rule for beating hesitation Mentioned / further reading: Confidence Hacks (Barrie Davenport), The Motivation Hacker (Nick Winter), Quiet (Susan Cain), Life in Half a Second (Matthew Michalewicz), Stop Saying You’re Fine (Mel Robbins), Option B (Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant), What We Value (Emily Falk), How to Keep People from Pushing Your Buttons (Albert Ellis), Wild Courage (Jenny Wood). ⏱️ Chapters below. 🎧 New episodes coming soon — follow the show so you don’t miss Episode 2 on identity. If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  2. Sep 14

    He Quit at Number One. Then He Rebuilt Himself | Ming Chan

    Ming Chan became the top biller of his recruitment firm in Hong Kong. Then he quit. Not for a better offer, but because the pain of not changing had become greater than the change. Recorded at Soho House Hong Kong for the "F*ck It, I Quit" season, this conversation follows the whole arc: New York real estate, six years in actuarial search, the moment the achievement arrived and meant nothing, two and a half years of resetting an entire life, and the dark first months he does not gloss over. Ming is now building MKC, the Manhood and Kinship Circle: a space where men in Hong Kong can say the things they have been facing alone. We talk about killing the ego to be reborn, why willpower alone never breaks a pattern, fight-flight-freeze as a career strategy, and the breadcrumbs in your past that point to what you were always meant to do. If any part of this conversation lands close to home, please do not carry it alone. Talk to someone you trust, or reach out to a local helpline. Full transcript: danieleforni.com/post/fck-it-i-quit-ming-chan The story behind the season: Why I Quit My door is open on Mondays and Thursdays: book a free discovery session If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  3. Aug 25

    From HSBC to The Vurger Co., and Losing It All | Neil Potts

    Neil Potts sat next to Daniele on the trading floor at HSBC. He was also getting up at 4am to buy fresh produce at wholesale markets, running vegan pop-ups in Shoreditch after work, and telling almost no one, because he was scared of getting in trouble for not being his full self at work. That side project became The Vurger Co.: four restaurants, products in supermarkets across the UK, UAE and US, and a real shot at something big. Then COVID arrived, and Neil and his partner Rachel made a decision most of the industry refused to make: they closed completely rather than send their staff across London on the tube to make burgers. What followed was the hardest chapter of their lives, an insurance policy that paid nothing, hundreds of thousands of pounds lost, and debt taken on in desperation. This conversation is about what happens after. Why the fear never fully left until the worst had already happened. Why paper valuations mean nothing. Why doing it for money is the wrong reason. And how a man who lost everything he built now says there is basically nothing left that scares him. Neil today runs Silverwood Rose, a consulting practice in Los Angeles helping food and drink founders navigate what he survived: silverwoodrose.com If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  4. Aug 17

    F*ck It, I Quit: From Law Firm COO to MoveMen, with Brian Henderson

    Belfast-born, Brian Henderson did everything the corporate deal asked of him. He trained as a lawyer, took an MBA, and spent decades running global law firms as Chief Operating Officer across London, Paris and Hong Kong. He also learned, early, that the job came with a price: be strong, be certain, tell people what to do, and keep the softer, more sensitive part of yourself well out of sight. Then the bill arrived. Social unrest in Hong Kong brought back the hypervigilance of growing up in the Troubles, the hours stopped adding up, and he found himself sleeping two and a half hours a night. A visit to his doctor turned into a diagnosis of depression and anxiety and, in his words, a strange sense of relief. So he quit. In this Season 2 conversation on The Data Shaman, Brian and Daniele talk about the bargain so many leaders quietly make, the grief of losing touch with the ten-year-old you used to be, why most of the C-suite privately want out, and the mind-body work he now does through The Movement to help men feel the emotions corporate life trained out of them. In this episode: Growing up in Belfast, and a nervous system built for threatThe corporate bargain, and its slow costBurnout, insomnia, and the diagnosis that brought reliefWhy men are allowed to be angry but not softMudita, and finding meaning in the happiness of othersWhat he would tell his younger self about quittingFind Brian: brianhenderson.hk, movemen.hk, and Brian Henderson on LinkedIn. If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  5. Aug 10

    F*ck It, I Quit: Why I Left Banking After 15 Years | The Data Shaman, Season 2

    For fifteen years I hid my tattoos under a suit. Then one morning, measuring my own blood pressure in front of the mirror, I asked what the hell I was doing, and I quit. This is the opener of Season 2, F**k It, I Quit. No guest, just me on why I left a Director role in global banking after fifteen years: the HSBC lions photo, the family script, the masking, my diagnosis of depression, ADHD and autism at forty-five, the panic attacks, and turning down a safe job in London. And what I found instead, an executive coaching practice, a meditation book, and becoming a Reiki master. If you left the safe thing and built something truer, come on the show. All episodes and transcripts: https://www.danieleforni.com/podcast If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  6. Aug 7

    Your Parents Are Ageing and Nobody Is Talking About It, with Winnie Chan and Lizzie Chan

    After 30 years as a barrister in Hong Kong, Winnie Chan's second career began at her father's bedside. Caring for him through cancer taught her that even the closest families fall into conflict over treatment, money, accommodation and, hardest of all, where a parent will die. She became an elder mediator to help families have those conversations before a crisis forces them. She is joined by Lizzie Chan, the first Asian elder mediator qualified by EMIN and a trained end-of-life doula. Together we explore why families do not really know each other until a crisis, Hong Kong's fragmented households, the sandwich generation, why peers matter more than children in later life, and why a good death starts with living well today. All episodes and transcripts: https://www.danieleforni.com/podcast If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  7. Jul 15

    In Conversation with Nalin Pathiranage

    | A conversation with Nalin Pathiranage on his work and perspective.    If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

  8. Jul 15

    The Brain & Behaviour — Neuroscientist Michael Coleman

    Neuroscientist Michael Coleman joins the show for a conversation on the brain and human behaviour, and what the science means for how we work and lead. If you want to know more about Daniele Forni, go to www.danieleforni.com

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About

Quant Mind. Shaman Soul. I spent 15 years in banking before I finally said the two words that changed everything: f*ck it. I quit. Now I'm an executive coach, a recovering risk manager, and someone who genuinely believes most people are quietly waiting for permission to want more than the life they've settled into. This podcast is where we say the quiet part out loud. I'm Daniele Forni, and The Data Shaman is my space to explore the gap between who we are inside and who we perform at work, and what happens when we finally close it. It's part honest conversation, part field guide, and always real. No gurus, no highlight reels, just people telling the truth about their lives and their work. In Season 1, I sat down with coaches to unpack how transformation actually happens. What really shifts when someone changes, how the best coaches think, and the messy, human work behind helping people grow. You can listen to it now! Upcoming is Season 2, titled F*ck it, I Quit. It's about the moment people stop pretending and walk away from the safe job, the safe career, the safe identity, and what they build on the other side. Through my own story and candid conversations with people who leapt before they felt ready, every episode is a small dose of courage for anyone wondering, is this really it? If you've ever felt the crack between your outside life and your inside one, you're in the right place. Spreadsheets and soul. Pull up a chair. Hit subscribe and transform the way you look at your potential.

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