Saving You a Seat

Karen sits down with Sharon Kilmartin, Area Manager for IHG Hotels Group.

Sharon is a world-class executive in the hospitality industry and has a heart for leadership. She discusses how to embody the power of connection through empathy and listening deeply in a way that inspires others. Her stories about leading through the pandemic are illustrative of how to process emotions during challenging times. Our conversation exemplifies how pivoting helps to create life-changing bonds with those we lead so they can soar.

Sharon shares her love of fly fishing, which helps her to connect to God, while also serving as a metaphor for leadership. As she tells stories about standing in the river, she encourages listeners to find their own “fly fishing”: something that brings inner peace to their hearts, balance to their lives, and insight into self.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Listening Deeply, Exhibiting Empathy & Connecting Consciously
• How spending time in nature enhances our emotional wholeness
• Tips on how to create environments that help people to soar

To find more on Sharon, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonkilmartin

Join Karen this week as she sits down to chat with Scott Allender, co-host of the Evolving Leader podcast and Enneagram blackbelt. Scott is no ordinary leadership consultant; he compellingly and artistically articulates the role radical self-awareness plays for senior leaders who want to balance commercial imperatives more effectively. It is by stepping into the connection between mind-body-heart-and-soul that leaders create the very things that are the antidote to the Great Resignation, disengaged employees, and disconnected workplaces. By integrating our emotional-physical-cognitive gifts, we come to embody our true selves with humility and authenticity.

As a Type 2 and Type 3 respectively, Karen and Scott dive into how their Enneagram types contribute to their whole-self integration. And how, through their work, they guide leaders to create the safe places in which their teams can thrive, innovate, include, and grow.

And don’t miss Scott’s answer to the question, “Who would you save a seat for?” His answer is beautiful and meaningful to all of us prodigals who believe beauty rises from the ashes.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Connecting Consciously, Courage-Based Confidence, and Celebrating Curiosity
• How the Enneagram transforms us from the inside out by calling leaders, at work and home, into deeper healing
• How organizations must pivot to pursue transformation and not just information

To find more on Scott, visit swayleadership.com/enneaflip or check him out on Twitter and Instagram (@scottallender) and on the Evolving Leader podcast, which is available where podcasts are streamed.

Join Karen this week as she sits down with Madhvi Verma, co-founder of NutriGuide.

Karen and Madhvi dive into the power of incorporating mindfulness into everyday life. Mindfulness changes our responses to difficulties and Madhvi shares her experience with this in exquisite and compelling ways. Being present helps leaders, at home and at work, to transform how they show up and the impact they have on others. Learning to remain open and accepting helps to strengthen connections in meaningful ways.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Listening Deeply & Exhibiting Empathy
• How being in Human School teaches us about self-empathy
• How a mindfulness practice enhances connection to self and others

To find more on Madhvi, visit Linkedin.com/nutriguide

Join Karen this week as she chats with Aaron Niequist, a liturgist, pastor, musician, and author of The Eternal Current. Karen and Aaron wade into a conversation centered around the things that enhance self-connection from a spiritual, relational, and emotional perspective. These two talk about how grounding and healing spiritual practices can be in this good-hard, amazing-messy life.

Join them as they chat directly (no sugar-coating!) about how difficult, yet releasing, it is to forgive people and the wisdom-ways that help. Aaron’s focus on practicing and living his faith is inspirational, especially during a season when so many are weighed down by so much. Let this conversation bring you a newfound resilience and hope.

In this episode you will learn:

• About the connection pillars: Listening Deeply, Navigating Chaos, and Connecting Consciously
• Ways to integrate the emotional-and-spiritual
• How God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves

To find more on Aaron, visit www.aaronniequist.com or visit him on social media @aaronieq. More information on Aaron’s upcoming retreat is available at www.pastorspriestsandguides.com. The Eternal Current is available now wherever books are sold.

This week, Karen sits down to chat with Eryn McHugh, a preacher’s kid turned journalist-recruiter-musician-and-songwriter.After losing her father in early 2020, Eryn is no stranger to how the ongoing process of grief can help us to understand our true selves and lead us to create even stronger connections.

Amid the Great Resignation, Eryn shares how connection in the workplace is more important now than it has ever been. Karen and Eryn discuss how creating true connection and psychologically safe places at work is the very needed thing as we run toward all things purposeful and positively game-changing.

In this episode you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Exhibiting Empathy and Listening Deeply
• How connection to self helps you to step into who you weredesigned to be
• How true meaningful connection at work helps entire organizations thrive and grow

To find more on Eryn, visit her LinkedIn page at linkedin.com/erynmchugh. And to hear her beautiful, soulful, and not-to-be-missed music find her here: https://sptfy.com/munitions

Tune in as Karen chats with Becca Stevens, author of Practically Divine, Episcopal priest, justice entrepreneur, and founder of Thistle Farms which is home to female survivors of trafficking, prostitution, and addiction. Karen and Becca find a common love for the power of the table which symbolizes a coming together to heal in community and be welcoming hosts.

Whether our tables are set with lavish platters or just bags of potato chips, it is around gracious tables that we find connection and learn to be the heroes of our own stories. Through the power of love and grace, Karen and Becca share stories from their own lives and that of others that highlight how God blesses the broken road and that in our broken-openness there is resilience and healing.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Exhibiting Empathy, Courage-Based Confidence, and Connecting Consciously
• How to connect to the divine through the power of rituals, community, and walks in the woods
• The reasons you should never underestimate the value of a bag of chips or a cup of tea
• How connection occurs when we realize we are all made of angels and dirt

To find more on Becca, visit @beccastevens on social media and beccastevens.org. Her most recent book, Practically Divine, is available now wherever books are sold.

This week, Karen sits down with Marc Kantor, a certified intervention professional and founder of South Florida Interventions. Marc shares his struggle with addiction and his road to recovery. Karen and Marc discuss the intervention process which can save lives and how important it is for family members to realize addiction is a family disease. This is a not to be missed episode since over 20 million Americans are struggling with addiction and the deaths from overdoses and alcoholism total hundreds of thousands a year. We do recover and there is a path forward; first, there has to be awareness, acceptance, and action before change can occur.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Navigating Chaos Comfortably, Demonstrating Accountability, and Exhibiting Empathy
• How awareness and acceptance fuels recovery
• Ways to set meaningful boundaries with those you love
• How people in recovery and their families can forgive, love, and form healthy connections

For more information about Marc, addiction treatment paths, and interventions, please visit southfloridaintervention.com or @helpforaddiction on Instagram. You are not alone.

Tune in this week as Karen gets to chat with Christie Purifoy, author of Garden Maker, avid gardener and co-host of the Out of the Ordinary podcast with Lisa Jo Baker. As Christie shares her love of finding beauty in the ordinary things, Karen and Christie chat about a sense of sacredness and well-being found in the world around us.

Along with their love of all things “wintering”, Karen and Christie share their own experiences with loss and what they have learned about soul-connections. Using the garden as metaphor and also as a place of renewal, Karen and Christie talk about all things life-giving.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Navigating Chaos Comfortably and Listening Deeply
• How “death” leads to renewal
• How chasing slow is weight-lifting for the soul
• How honoring the garden can heal our souls
• How keeping the vigil leads to spiritual growth and transports us to a sacred space

To find more about Christie, visit christiepurifoy.com, her Instagram (@christiepurifoy) or listen to her podcast, Out of the Ordinary.

This week, Karen sits down to chat with Amy Seiffert, author of Grace Looks Amazing on You, and speaker. With humor and an appreciation for life’s messiness, Karen and Amy talk about grace and humility, struggles and joy. They walk right into the tough stuff and share how they find Grace really does ride shotgun.

With honesty and authenticity, their conversation will bring you to the real-and-raw while also filling your cup with hope and connection. No stranger to wondering if the darkness will lift, Karen and Amy discuss how truly grace-filled life’s experiences are and how God’s presence is constant.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Exhibiting Empathy and Walking With Courage-Based Confidence
• How getting deep in the dirt allows us to uncover the spots where we most need grace
• How to keep our own egos in check while accepting grace from the world around us
• How “no” is a holy word

To find more about Amy, visit amyseiffert.com or visit her Instagram page (@amyseiffert).

Tune in to today’s episode of Saving You A Seat as Karen is joined by Susan Packard, speaker, author of Fully Human, and former COO of HGTV.

Karen and Susan explore what it takes to be fully human at work and in life. They discuss having a morning mindfulness practice that includes things like meditation, inspirational reading, Centering Prayer, and writing.

Listen in as Susan talks about how her HGTV team’s love helped her to navigate a time of personal tragedy, which now inspires Susan to hold sacred space for others.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the connection-pillars: Listening Deeply & Connecting Consciously
• How tuning into ourselves with compassion inspires others
• How you do the morning is how you do the day
• How being real enhances connection

To find more on Susan, visit www.susanpackard.com or @susanpackard across social media platforms.