The Pivot Dialogues with Dave Schoof

Dave Schoof
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Philosophy

Conversations exploring what it means to navigate uncertainty with wisdom, awareness, and depth. Dave Schoof speaks with leaders, thinkers, and practitioners about consciousness, leadership, meaning, and finding your way when the old maps no longer work.

  1. 3d ago

    Stop Trying to Figure Life Out. Start Figuring Yourself In.

    What does real leadership require when the old maps stop working? In this conversation, Dave sits down with leadership expert and coach Andy Cahill to explore the fantasy that someone out there has life figured out, and the alternative Andy offers instead: learning to figure yourself in. They get into why so many of us are pulled toward crisis and quests without meaning to be, what it looks like to drop the change agenda in coaching and in relationships, and how strength and gentleness work together rather than against each other. In this episode: The fantasy that someone else has it figured out Figuring yourself in versus figuring life out How leaders unconsciously create the crises they thrive in The change agenda, and what it costs a coach or a parent Holding strength and gentleness together The micro pause, and why real reflection happens in the moment Book recommendations on embodied cognition and the psychology of environment The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain — Annie Murphy Paul The Architecture of Happiness — Alain de Botton __________ Chapter Timestamps ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 — Introduction 04:57 — The fantasy of someone having it figured out 05:26 — Figuring yourself in 17:15 — The crisis I was creating 19:20 — The change agenda 33:52 — Strength and gentleness 46:47 — The micro pause 1:13:08 — Book recommendations [00:xx] — Closing question ______   Andy Cahill is a leadership development expert who works with purpose-driven executives and entrepreneurs. Past and current clients include Microsoft, Marriott International, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Patagonia, lululemon athletica, The Obama Foundation, MIT, and a variety of A-to-D series funded startups in the tech and social impact sectors. Andy earned his master’s degree in leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is a professionally certified coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Foundation, and he is also a Level 2 certified Internal Family Systems practitioner. He is also the host of Wonder Dome, a podcast with a global listenership that explores explores the intersections of philosophy, psychology, science, and spirituality. And his critically acclaimed science-fiction novel Gradient brings a mythic frame to the interplay of human and artificial intelligence, surfacing themes of leadership, cultural adaptation, identity formation, technological innovation, and collective resilience in the face of loss. Website: https://wonderdome.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a Substack: https://dschoof.substack.com Podcast: https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/

    Stop Trying to Figure Life Out. Start Figuring Yourself In.

  2. Jun 28

    What Makes Navigation Possible

    We live in a culture that rewards movement. Answer faster. Decide sooner. Keep going. But movement and navigation aren't the same thing. You can move all day and still become increasingly lost. What actually makes navigation possible isn't a better map, more information, or greater confidence. It's something that happens before any of that. Its orientation. Knowing where you are before deciding where to go. This is a solo episode recorded during an unexpected pause in the south of France — and an inquiry that's been quietly reshaping how I think about The Pivot itself.   🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a Substack: https://dschoof.substack.com Podcast: https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/

    What Makes Navigation Possible

  3. Jun 5

    Surviving to Flourishing — and What the Modern World Gets Wrong | with Dr. Rodney King

    Dr. Rodney King has navigated some of the hardest terrain a person can cross — homelessness on the streets of Johannesburg, a health crisis that ended his career, and the disorienting question that follows when everything you've built around yourself falls away: who am I now? He came out the other side not with a framework, but with a direction. As a philosopher, coach, and founder of Coaching Philosophia, Rodney now works with people navigating the meaning crisis — the growing gap between what modern life promises and what it actually delivers. In this conversation, Dave and Rodney get into why the modern world has confused excelling with flourishing. Why the self-help industry is largely a repair mechanism for a broken environment. Why you can be content without being happy. And what it actually looks like to find your way back to something real. This isn't an optimization conversation. It's a return one.   About This Episode Dr. Rodney King is a philosopher, coach, and internationally recognized self-preservation expert. Originally from South Africa, he spent decades as a martial arts coach with programs in 15 countries — working with everyone from Tier One Special Forces operators to airline cabin crew. A health crisis in 2020 ended that chapter and opened a new one. He now lives on the Isle of Man and works under the banner of Coaching Philosophia — bringing lived philosophy, mindfulness, and embodied practice to people navigating uncertainty, reclaiming meaning, and learning to flourish in a world that has largely forgotten how.     What We Explored The modern world has confused excelling with flourishing. Rodney had the car, the house with the right zip code, the global travel. He'll tell you directly that wasn't the best time of his life. The self-help industry is largely a repair mechanism for a broken environment. When the chimp is rocking back and forth in the zoo, the problem isn't the chimp. It's the zoo. We've built an unnatural environment, normalized it, and then told people to optimize their way through it. The meaning crisis is real - and it's structural. We are running ancient hardware in an artificial environment. The evolutionary mismatch between what we're designed for and what modern life asks of us is showing up everywhere. Happiness and contentment are not the same thing. The Western obsession with constant happiness may be doing significant damage. Contentment is something you can actually build. Happiness comes and goes. Vulnerability as a practice — from someone who spent his career in a world where it was seen as weakness. Rodney's move from fighter to philosopher-coach carries real weight here. Viktor Frankl on the streets of Johannesburg. The book ("Man's Search for Meaning" ) Rodney happened to pick up two weeks before becoming homeless — and the passage that kept him going.     A Line Worth Sitting With "Everything the self-help world advocates as solutions are really just solutions to help you slot back into the mainstream and keep the machine going. And I don't think that's good for us." — Dr. Rodney King   🔗 CONNECT WITH RODNEY Search for Sophia bi-monthly calls: https://www.coachingphilosophia.org/searchforsophia Philosophy-inspired coaching: www.coachingphilosophia.org/coaching   🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com | Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a  Substack: https://dschoof.substack.com | Podcast: https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s |   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/

    Surviving to Flourishing — and What the Modern World Gets Wrong | with Dr. Rodney King

  4. May 18

    When the Signal Breaks Down

    What leadership instrument are you actually navigating with when the information environment breaks down? In this solo episode, Dave Schoof explores one of the most disorienting challenges facing leaders right now: the gap between what the official story says and what people are actually living. Prices move week to week. Markets say one thing while experienced leaders feel something else entirely. And the default response — consume more, find better sources, read more analysis — isn't producing more clarity. The problem isn't the data. It's the instrument. In this episode: Why the most important question right now isn't "which source do I trust?" but "what am I navigating with?" The difference between the information you're working with and the instrument you're running it through What it looks like to navigate from a steadier place — not detached, not checked out, but fully present without being run by the noise A simple 30-second practice you can try right now Why developing your internal instrument is the most practical leadership move available in this moment 🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com Newsletter: [The Pivot: From the Map to the Terrain] 🌀 THE PIVOT COMMONS [Pivot Commons link] 🧪 THE PIVOT LAB Six weeks. Small group. Starting soon. [Pivot Lab sign-up link]

    When the Signal Breaks Down

  5. Apr 13

    After the Map: Grief, Regeneration, and a New Way to Lead | Leadership & Consciousness

    What does leadership look like when the old maps stop working — and the social contracts that guided your career have dissolved? In this second conversation with JJ Vega, leadership coach and founder of Art of Unfolding, Dave Schoof goes deeper into the territory most leadership development avoids: grief as a necessary passage, natural cycles as an organizational practice, and the embodied awareness that makes a genuinely different kind of leadership possible. Drawing on William Bridges' transition model and their shared background in somatic and consciousness-informed coaching, Dave and JJ explore what it actually takes to lead well through endings — not just survive them. In this episode: Grief as a leadership skill — why it belongs in the room The neutral zone: what lives between endings and new beginnings Resilience vs. permeability — replacing the wall with a membrane Regenerative leadership: honoring fallow seasons, natural cycles, and rest Embodied awareness as the foundational leadership practice Rewilding the human being — and the organizations we lead Guest: JJ Vega is a leadership coach working at the intersection of the inner world and organizational impact. Together, we cover emergence as a leadership practice, somatic intelligence, edge walkers, the disintegrating success template, and whether the Hero's Journey needs a postmodern update. CONNECT WITH JJ VEGA Website: artofunfolding.org Inside Out Leadership: leadinsideout.io Co-Creation Loft Berlin: co-creation.loft LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jj-vega/     🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a] Substack: [https://dschoof.substack.com] Podcast: [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s] LinkedIn:  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ ]

    After the Map: Grief, Regeneration, and a New Way to Lead | Leadership & Consciousness

  6. Mar 20

    When the Map Runs Out — Leading Through the Hormuz Crisis

    Leadership in a crisis nobody's playbook covers — what happens when the map runs out. Three weeks into Operation Epic Fury, the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and crude above $100 a barrel — this episode covers what's happening inside the people running organizations through it. The financial briefings tell you what's happening to the system. I want to talk about the moment leaders reach for their map and find it doesn't cover where they are. Through the story of a composite leader I call Isabel — a CFO navigating this crisis in real time — I explore what it actually looks like to lead from genuine orientation rather than performed certainty. The difference between managing a situation and actually meeting it. And why the most practical thing in the room right now might be the one nobody's briefing you on. In this episode: Why working harder on the map is producing more noise, not more clarity What paralysis actually is — and why it's information, not weakness The 6 am practice that changed how Isabel showed up in the boardroom The 48-hour decision that changed the outcome What the unthinkable becoming real means for the next decade of leadership ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 — Introduction 01:30 — What the briefings aren't covering 04:00 — The moment leaders reach for the map 06:30 — Why working harder on the map stops working 09:00 — What paralysis actually is 12:00 — Meet Isabel 15:30 — Before — how she used to lead 19:00 — This week — leading differently 24:00 — The board call 27:30 — The Stefan moment 30:00 — The 48-hour decision 33:00 — What actually changed 36:00 — What this crisis is really revealing 38:30 — The question worth sitting with   🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a] Substack: [https://dschoof.substack.com] Podcast: [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s] LinkedIn:  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ ]

    When the Map Runs Out — Leading Through the Hormuz Crisis

  7. Feb 20

    The Grass Through the Concrete — Emergence, Desire, and the New Human Blueprint | Leadership & Consciousness

    Leadership coaching meets consciousness work in this wide-ranging conversation with JJ Vega — exploring what actually guides us when the old maps stop working.   What if desire, not strategy, is the real GPS for navigating complexity? That's where this conversation ended up — and neither of us saw it coming.   JJ Vega is a leadership coach working at the intersection of the inner world and organizational impact. Together, we cover emergence as a leadership practice, somatic intelligence, edge walkers, the disintegrating success template, and whether the Hero's Journey needs a postmodern update.   In this episode: Why emergence requires holding your experience lightly enough for something new to come through The body as an intelligence system that most leaders aren't using Edge walkers — the people at the margins, your organization is probably ignoring The Michelangelo principle — revealing what's already there vs. fixing what's broken When the old success contract stops delivering, and what the disquiet actually means Desire as navigation instrument — the GPS for a world without templates The Hero's Journey as fractal, not an arc Self-organized communities and the new human blueprint TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Introduction & how Dave and JJ connected 01:25 JJ introduces himself — coaching at the intersection of inner world and leadership 03:00 Expat life — Americans who chose another home 03:48 What emergence means — holding experience lightly 06:38 JJ on emergence — complexity theory and the relational field 09:22 Making emergence practical — bridging the esoteric 11:40 Invisible winds of the system — why teams repeat the same patterns 13:51 The body as intelligence — somatic coaching and why leaders aren't machines 16:14 From controlling to holding space — the identity transition 18:32 Intellectually getting it vs. embodying it 20:39 Supporting the destabilization — how transformation actually takes hold 21:11 Case study — the high-performing technician becoming a people leader 23:35 The two axes of transformation — vertical inner work and horizontal skills 25:31 From mechanic to gardener — a new orientation toward people 27:41 The field multiplier — how one leader raises the whole team 28:42 Navigating polycrisis — what JJ is finding in the field right now 29:20 Functional freeze — why people are maxed out and what to do 31:16 Crisis as threshold — the opportunity inside the breakdown 32:15 Check-in — modeling presence in real time 33:19 The coaching relationship as a leadership model 35:10 Behavior is contagious — how leaders infect their systems 38:33 Quantum physics never took off — why the relational field is still too spooky 41:23 Edge walkers — pay attention to people at the margins  43:51 The prophet not welcome in his own company 45:12 Upgrades to your sensemaking dashboard 46:25 Avoiding confirmation bias and echo chambers 47:22 The edge walker on your team right now — a concrete example 49:27 Polarity navigation — both/and leadership 51:16 Tolerating the unknown — why innovation requires accepting failed bets 53:42 White water was supposed to be temporary — why that story is over 54:03 JJ's life breakdown three years ago — the story of accelerating change 59:00 The new human — new capacities for a new world 01:00:31 Inheriting a template — and what happens when it disintegrates 01:03:58 The old contract is breaking down 01:05:23 Desire as the new GPS — what if spark is your navigation instrument      CONNECT WITH JJ VEGA Website: artofunfolding.org Inside Out Leadership: leadinsideout.io Co-Creation Loft Berlin: co-creation.loft LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jj-vega/     🔗 CONNECT WITH DAVE Website: daveschoof.com The Pivot Newsletter: [https://tinyurl.com/4vn8832a] Substack: [https://dschoof.substack.com] Podcast: [https://thepivotpodcast.net/?v=zm7s] LinkedIn:  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveschoof/ ]

    The Grass Through the Concrete — Emergence, Desire, and the New Human Blueprint | Leadership & Consciousness

  8. Feb 7

    You're Not Burned Out: Understanding Polycrisis vs Metacrisis"

    Navigating the Polycrisis and Meta-Crisis: Strategies for Leaders in Uncertain Times In this episode, Dave Schof explores the complex landscape of multiple simultaneous crises shaping our world — the polycrisis and the metacrisis — and offers practical tools for leaders to respond with clarity, resilience, and purpose. Discover how shifting from reactive survival to strategic navigation can transform your approach to leadership and change.   If you're feeling overwhelmed by complex interconnected crises, this episode offers a lens to see beyond the noise and act from a deeper awareness. Shift your focus from merely surviving the storm to understanding its climate — and start navigating with intention. Most of us feel overwhelmed by the chaos of today’s world—climate crises, economic instability, AI disruptions, and collective anxiety. But what if the real challenge isn’t just managing these crises but understanding the deeper system that causes them? In this episode of The Pivot, Dave Schof reveals the distinction between the polycrisis—the storm of many crises occurring simultaneously—and the metacrisis, the underlying operating-system breakdown shaping it all. You’ll discover how shifting your perspective from reacting to symptoms to addressing core patterns can transform your response to chaos.   Key Topics   The difference between polycrisis and metacrisis and why understanding both matters How the experience of overwhelm reflects deeper systemic patterns Naming symptoms versus patterns to create space for decision-making Practical attention hygiene practices to reduce reactivity Using relational questions to move from symptom management to systems thinking Reframing anxiety around AI and change as deeper fears about security and identity Cultivating embodied capacity and relational awareness to navigate uncertainty The importance of shifting your inner operating system to influence external change Ways to incorporate these insights into daily leadership behaviors   Timestamps   00:00 - Exploring the shifting landscape of global crises 02:13 - The collective experience of overwhelm and confusion 03:11 - Understanding polycrisis: many crises occurring simultaneously 05:35 - Introducing the meta-crisis: the operating system problem 07:32 - Responding to the polycrisis vs. the meta-crisis 08:30 - Practical questions to understand what the moment asks of us 12:57 - The shift from drowning in the storm to recognizing the pattern 13:26 - Practical steps:    Connect with Dave Schof LinkedIn Substack Website

    You're Not Burned Out: Understanding Polycrisis vs Metacrisis"
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Conversations exploring what it means to navigate uncertainty with wisdom, awareness, and depth. Dave Schoof speaks with leaders, thinkers, and practitioners about consciousness, leadership, meaning, and finding your way when the old maps no longer work.

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