Written by Anastasia Schenk, Pediatric Feeding Specialist/Integrative Nutrition Anastasia Schenk is a Pediatric Feeding Specialist and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. She supports children from starting solids to young adulthood with evidence-based strategies for ARFID, picky eating, gut health, immune support, allergy prevention, and chronic inflammation. Walk into any supermarket, and you’ll see a glossy wall of baby food pouches, lined up like tiny fuel canisters for small humans. They promise convenience. “On-the-go.” “Mess-free.” “100% fruit.” And the modern toddler has learned the ritual, twist, squeeze, suck, and move on. In many families, pouches have quietly become a default meal format, not just a backup. And here’s the uncomfortable question we rarely ask: What happens when an entire generation grows up eating in a way that barely requires chewing? Because chewing isn’t just a food skill. It’s a developmental signal. It shapes how the mouth grows, how the airway forms, and how well sleep does its job. In other words, chewing doesn’t only affect the menu, but it may also influence the architecture. This article isn’t a moral panic about pouches. They’re not “bad.” They’re a tool. But tools can be overused, and overuse can create unintended consequences. Let’s zoom out.   The great de-chewing Humans didn’t evolve on smoothies. We evolved on foods that demanded work such as fibrous plants, tougher proteins, textures that made the jaw earn its keep. Chewing loaded the facial bones, trained oral muscles, and widened dental arches across childhood. Modern food technology has reversed that requirement. We now live in a world where calories can be consumed with minimal resistance, and baby food culture is at the front of that shift. When the early diet is dominated by ultra-soft textures (purees, pouches, “melties,” snack foods that dissolve instantly), the jaw gets less mechanical training. And bones are not passive. They respond to use. Your child’s face isn’t only genetic. It’s genetics plus the environment acting on developing tissue.   Chewing is a growth stimulus, not a bonus feature The mouth is part of a larger system, including muscles, bones, tongue posture, breathing patterns, and swallowing. Orthodontists call this the stomatognathic system, basically, the “chew-swallow-breathe” ecosystem that shapes the lower face. During childhood, the jaw and palate are still forming. And mechanical forces matter. The simple act of chewing creates loads that stimulate bone remodeling and muscular development. That’s why researchers have repeatedly found links (in animal models and emerging human data) between softer diets and reduced craniofacial development, including smaller jaws and narrower dental arches. Again, this doesn’t mean a pouch causes orthodontic issues. It means a diet that rarely challenges chewing may contribute to a low-stimulation environment for facial growth, especially if it becomes the norm during key developmental windows.   The palate is the floor of the nose Here’s the part most parents never get told. The roof of the mouth (the palate) is also the floor of the nasal cavity. So when the palate develops narrow and high-arched, there may be less room above it, meaning less space in the nasal airway. In pediatric sleep medicine, certain craniofacial features (like a narrow, high palate) are commonly discussed as part of the phenotype seen in childhood obstructive sleep apnea. This matters because breathing patterns influence everything. Sleep quality, nervous system regulation, and even how the tongue rests in the mouth. When the tongue rests low and the mouth tends to stay open, the palate may miss the gentle widening pressure that healthy tongue posture can provide over time. Development is a chain reaction. When one part of the system adapts, everything else starts negotiating.   Sleep is where the brain pays its bills Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea isn’t always obvious. Adults with sleep apnea often look exhausted. Kids can look wired. In children, disrupted breathing at night is associated with learning and behavioral issues, including difficulty paying attention and ADHD-like symptoms. When sleep fragments, the brain loses its overnight maintenance cycle. Memory consolidation, emotional regulation, impulse control, and attention stabilization. So if early feeding choices nudge oral development toward narrower structures and mouth-breathing patterns, the downstream effects may show up years later as “behavior” when the root issue is actually physiology. We are quick to label kids as difficult. Sometimes they’re simply tired.   The pouch problem isn’t nutrition, it’s texture and mechanics The real issue isn’t that pouches exist. It’s how they’re used. When babies suck directly from a pouch spout, they bypass key skills: Moving food around the mouth Practicing lateral tongue movement Biting and chewing Learning textured variety Developing oral strength and coordination And pouches tend to deliver a uniform texture. Even the “chunky” ones are often the same sensory experience as smooth, sweet, predictable. That predictability matters. Not just for the jaw, but for food acceptance. Large studies tracking thousands of children have found that delaying lumpy textures past the end of infancy is associated with more feeding problems later, including reduced acceptance of fruits and vegetables and more reported feeding difficulties in childhood. This is why many public health guidelines emphasize progression with purees are a stage, not a lifestyle. Babies need to move through textures in order to develop the oral-motor skills that make real family food feel safe. Convenience becomes a problem when it freezes development at one stage.   How to use pouches without raising a liquid-diet kid Here’s the good news, you don’t need to ban pouches. You just need to stop letting them become the default format. 1. Treat pouches as “occasion food,” not daily food Use them for travel days, emergencies, and busy transitions. Don’t let them replace the developmental work of meals. 2. Don’t let babies suck straight from the spout Squeeze onto a spoon or into a bowl. It slows the pace, supports skill-building, and reduces constant contact with teeth. 3. Pair every pouch with a “chew opportunity” If you use a pouch as part of snack time, add something age-appropriate that requires gentle chewing: Soft finger foods Tender cooked vegetables Strips of omelet Soft meatballs Toast fingers (when ready and safe) 4. Move up the texture ladder on purpose You’re not “rushing” your baby by offering mashed/lumpy textures and finger foods in the appropriate window. You’re teaching their mouth what food feels like. 5. Slow the meal down Pouches are fast. Chewing is slow. Development happens slowly. A child who learns to sit, explore, chew, and self-feed is building more than nutrition, they’re building coordination, confidence, and regulation.   When to take a closer look Not every child who likes pouches has an airway issue. But certain signs are worth paying attention to: Persistent mouth-breathing Regular snoring Restless sleep, night waking, sweating Daytime hyperactivity or difficulty focusing Gagging or refusal of textured foods well past the early stages Prolonged “puree-only” eating without a medical reason If these show up, it’s worth discussing with your pediatrician, and sometimes a feeding specialist, ENT, pediatric dentist, or sleep specialist can help connect the dots.   The bigger picture Pouches didn’t ruin childhood. They solved a modern problem including time, stress, and convenience. But convenience has a side effect, it removes friction. And the developing body, especially the developing face, needs a little friction. It needs resistance, texture, and time. Let pouches be what they were meant to be, a backup tool. Then build your child’s everyday diet around real textures that teach their mouth how to grow. Because sometimes the most revolutionary thing you can do for a child’s future health isn’t adding a supplement. It’s giving them food that lets them use their teeth. Follow me on Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Anastasia Schenk Anastasia Schenk, Pediatric Feeding Specialist/Integrative Nutrition Anastasia Schenk is a Pediatric Feeding Specialist and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach who reversed her own autoimmune disease through nutrition. A mother of two, she combines clinical expertise with lived experience to help families navigate picky eating, Pediatric Feeding Disorders, ARFID, gut health, and chronic inflammation. Her programs are evidence-based and rooted in real life, supporting children from starting solids to young adulthood. She is the founder of Early Eaters Club, a platform dedicated to raising resilient, adventurous eaters for lifelong health.

Written by Ashish Prabhu, Company Director and Freelance Journalist Ashish Prabhu has a wide range of experience when it comes to promoting equality in society. People being forced to fake how they feel in the workplace is one of the main causes of occupational burnout. That’s according to new research by Emlyon Business School. Researchers have discovered that surface acting creates a form of exhaustion that drains an employee’s ability to organise themselves and engage in everyday work-related tasks. This affects an organisation’s ability to function well and cater to its own staff and customers. This creates a huge impact on each individual’s ability to manage their cognitive capacity while eroding their sense of authenticity. It also negatively impacts team trust and makes engaging in leadership more difficult. The study, conducted by Gordon Sayre, Professor of Management at Emlyon Business School, alongside colleagues from Pennsylvania State University and National Sun Yat-Sen University, explored common behavioural patterns and analysed how the emotions individuals exhibit align with their need to meet personal expectations. The findings illustrate that emotional masking reduces each leader’s energy levels, increases tiredness, and creates a self-reinforcing cycle that becomes harder to escape. This cycle hampers their ability to develop ways of finding solutions to particular problems. Participants took part in two intensive studies, with 55 employees in the first and 87 in the second. They reported on their emotional energy, emotion regulation, and recovery activities several times per day across multiple working days. According to the findings, employees who begin the day feeling emotionally drained are more likely to engage in surface acting. This behaviour further intensifies fatigue by the end of the day. Over time, it traps individuals in a spiral of maladaptive surface acting that can be difficult to break free from. It also reduces leaders' capacity to remain present, authentic, and effective in their roles, affecting the quality of their interactions with colleagues and teams. Professor Sayre says that "recovery after work effectively breaks the loss spiral of surface acting. By building in moments of emotional recovery, leaders are better equipped to shift from surface acting to more authentic emotional engagement, reducing strain, strengthening trust, and preventing exhaustion from taking hold." Professor Gordon Sayre explains that "employees may surface act not of their own volition but because they are 'stuck' in a loss spiral." This means employees continue to put on a positive front, not because it is effective or healthy, but because depleted energy and emotional resources leave them without the capacity to engage in more genuine, adaptive forms of emotional regulation. The main findings of the research highlight the importance of allowing time for genuine recovery to wind down from strenuous tasks. Clearer boundaries should be set between the emotional demands of work and reducing customer mistreatment. There are many measures people can take to avoid burnout. These include: Self-care It is important to switch off after work and maintain a work-life balance. Make time to practice self-care and do activities you enjoy outside of work. When feeling burnt out, you may not be able to do as much as usual. Try to pace yourself and reward yourself for what you can do. You could try mindfulness to relax and feel more present. Take breaks To maintain a work-life balance and reduce the chances of burnout, it is essential to take breaks from work. Ensure you use your annual leave and leave work behind when you are away. Try not to check work emails when you are off and be clear if you are uncontactable. Stress awareness Check in with how you are feeling each day. You could try recording your stress levels in a diary to identify any triggers. Monitoring how you feel and taking prompt action to address your difficulties and minimise stress can reduce the likelihood of becoming burnt out. While burnout can be caused by stress, it isn’t the same as stress. Stress tends to be short-term, and while it may impact your sleep, energy, and emotions, you are still able to engage in the activity causing you stress. With burnout, you feel so detached and demotivated that it impacts your ability to function, and you feel hopeless that your situation can change. Burnout can occur when you have repeated and prolonged high demands that exceed resources. It’s likely that burnout, whatever the cause, will impact the individual’s well-being at work and in their personal life, such as their relationships. Due to the consequences of burnout, it’s important to recognise it before it saps energy and motivation and becomes overwhelming. Follow me on Facebook ,  Instagram,   LinkedIn,  and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Ashish Prabhu Ashish Prabhu, Company Director and Freelance Journalist I'm a multi award winning freelance journalist who covers news, current affairs and sports stories specialising in disability, equality and diversity issues.

Written by Daniela Aneva, Executive and Team Coach Daniela Aneva is widely recognized for helping leaders and teams perform at their best. She’s an executive and team coach, an OD consultant, and a small business owner, known for practical, people-centered work that drives real behavior change and measurable results. Most leadership development focuses on visible behaviors, communication, strategy, delegation, executive presence, decision quality. Those matter. But they’re not the source code. Underneath every leadership behavior sits an internal structure that silently determines what a leader notices, what they assume, what they fear, how they interpret people, and what they repeat under stress. That structure is a schema. When you learn to work with schemas, clinically, developmentally, and organizationally, you gain a level of leverage that conventional leadership training rarely touches. You stop “fixing behaviors” and start upgrading the system that produces them. This article takes an integrated approach, leadership + OD + executive management + therapist-grade insight, so you can understand schemas, diagnose them in leaders and cultures, and reshape them in a way that increases performance and sustainable happiness. What a schema is (and why leaders can’t out-strategize one) A schema is a deeply learned pattern of meaning-making. It’s a mental and emotional template that answers questions like: Am I safe here? Can I trust people? What gives me worth? How do I avoid rejection? What happens if I fail? How do I get love/respect/control? Schemas form early (family, school, social ranking, identity experiences) and later consolidate through adult reinforcement (career wins, failures, power, pressure, culture). In leadership contexts, schemas show up as: reflexive decision rules (“If I’m not perfect, I’ll be exposed.”) interpersonal assumptions (“People only respect strength.”) emotional reflexes (defensiveness, shutdown, overcontrol, pleasing) coping styles (avoid, overcompensate, submit) culture-making moves (how safety, accountability, conflict, truth are handled) Key point: A leader doesn’t react to reality, they react to the meaning their schema assigns to reality. Three levels of schemas that matter in leadership To use schemas well in executive development and OD, it helps to separate three interacting layers: Individual schemas (clinical/developmental): These include classic “life patterns” that drive emotion and coping. In high performers, they often masquerade as strengths. Relational schemas (attachment + power + trust): How a leader unconsciously manages closeness, conflict, dependency, authority, and vulnerability, especially under stress. Organizational schemas (culture as shared assumptions) Teams and organizations also hold schemas: “Mistakes get punished.” “Only loud confidence wins.” “We don’t talk about tension.” “Work equals worth.” “The customer is an adversary.” “Leadership must have the answers.” Culture is not only values on a wall. Culture is shared schema + repeated behavior + reinforced consequences. “Leadership schemas” vs. “schema therapy schemas” In leadership research and OD practice, people also use “schemas” to describe: mental models (how the leader believes the business works) implicit leadership theories (what “a real leader” looks like) scripts (“In conflict, we escalate or avoid”) In therapeutic frameworks (like schema therapy), schemas are often emotional-developmental patterns. These aren’t competing definitions. They’re complementary: Executive mental models shape strategy and systems. Early maladaptive schemas shape threat perception, emotion, and relationships. Great leadership is what happens when both get upgraded. Why schemas matter more as you become more senior The higher you go, the more three things become true: Stress increases. Stress activates o lder, faster brain pathways. Schemas become louder. Feedback decreases. Power insulates leaders from honest mirrors. Schemas go unchallenged. Impact multiplies. A leader’s schema becomes a cultural force: it shapes meetings, norms, promotion, conflict rules, and psychological safety. A single executive schema, like “mistakes are dangerous”, can generate an entire culture of concealment, politics, and stagnation. The schema loop: How leadership patterns self-perpetuate Schemas run in a predictable loop: Trigger (a missed number, dissent, a board question, an employee’s emotion) Schema story (“I’m failing.” “I’m not respected.” “People are incompetent.”) Emotion (shame, fear, anger, contempt, anxiety) Coping response Surrender: appease, comply, overwork, self-silence Avoid: delay, detach, minimize, “busy out” Overcompensate: control, criticize, dominate, perform Short-term relief (control restored, discomfort reduced) Long-term cost (trust erosion, burnout, turnover, lower innovation) Schema reinforced (“See? I can’t trust people.”) Leadership development becomes durable when you interrupt the loop at the story and coping stages, consistently. The 12 most common schemas that derail leaders (and what they look like at work) Below are patterns frequently seen in senior leaders. The same schema can present as “drive,” “excellence,” or “high standards”, until stress reveals the cost. Unrelenting standards/hypercriticalness: Looks like: perfectionism, intolerance of mistakes, chronic urgency Culture effect: fear, risk-avoidance, low candor Hidden belief: “If I relax, everything falls apart, and I’ll be exposed.” Antidote: “High standards with high self-compassion” + systems that normalize learning. Approval seeking/recognition seeking Looks like: over-indexing on likability, branding, conflict avoidance, political calibration Culture effect: ambiguity, lack of accountability, decision drift Hidden belief: “If they’re disappointed in me, I’m not safe.” Antidote: values-based leadership + tolerating clean disappointment. Emotional inhibition Looks like: robotic calm, low warmth, difficulty praising or repairing Culture effect: low belonging, shallow trust Hidden belief: “Feelings are dangerous or weak.” Antidote: emotional range training + relational repair rituals. Mistrust/abuse Looks like: suspicion, testing loyalty, interpreting mistakes as betrayal Culture effect: politics, defensiveness, information hoarding Hidden belief: “If I’m not vigilant, I’ll be used.” Antidote: evidence-based trust building + transparency structures. Defectiveness/shame Looks like: hypersensitivity to critique, defensiveness, overworking, imposter cycling Culture effect: fragile leadership climate, others walk on eggshells Hidden belief: “If they really see me, I’m done.” Antidote: shame-resilience + separating worth from outcomes. Failure Looks like: risk avoidance or overcontrol, reluctance to stretch others Culture effect: slow innovation, talent underutilized Hidden belief: “If I fail, I lose my identity.” Antidote: exposure to safe failure + learning metrics. Entitlement/superiority Looks like: rules for others, impatience, low empathy, “special case” thinking Culture effect: resentment, disengagement, quiet quitting Hidden belief: “I must stay above to stay safe.” Antidote: humility practices + consequence alignment. Subjugation Looks like: saying yes, avoiding upward conflict, not setting boundaries Culture effect: burnout, passive aggression Hidden belief: “If I push back, I’ll be punished or rejected.” Antidote: boundary training + assertiveness reps. Self-sacrifice Looks like: rescuing, overfunctioning, creating dependency Culture effect: learned helplessness, leader exhaustion Hidden belief: “My needs don’t matter, I earn love by carrying.” Antidote: empowerment leadership + role clarity. Emotional deprivation Looks like: “Nothing is ever enough,” chronic emptiness after wins Culture effect: relentless pace without meaning, retention issues Hidden belief: “Support won’t be there, don’t expect it.” Antidote: connection design + meaning-based motivation. Vulnerability to harm/catastrophizing Looks like: over-planning, risk inflation, crisis mindset Culture effect: paralysis, bureaucracy, anxiety contagion Hidden belief: “If I don’t predict every risk, disaster is imminent.” Antidote: probabilistic thinking + nervous system regulation. Insufficient self-control/self-discipline Looks like: reactivity, impulsi ve decisions, difficulty following through Culture effect: volatility, whiplash priorities Hidden belief: “Discomfort is intolerable, relief now.” Antidote: impulse delay tools + accountability systems. The “mode” problem: Why smart leaders regress under Pressure A therapist’s lens adds a crucial dimension: leaders don’t just have schemas, they shift into modes (state-dependent versions of self). A calm, wise executive can become: the Driven Controller (micromanage, criticize, dominate) the Detached Protector (cold, unavailable, “too busy”) the Approval Chaser (overpromise, avoid hard calls) the Attack Defender (argumentative, contemptuous) the Shame-Soother (workaholism, numbing, distraction). This explains a common executive paradox: “I know what to do. I just don’t do it when it counts.” Because in the moment, a different internal mode is in charge. Leadership maturity is the capacity to notice the mode, name it, and choose a better response anyway. The executive schema audit: How to identify your patterns fast Here’s a practical, executive-friendly diagnostic sequence you can use for yourself or clients: Step 1: Find the repeated “hot situations” Ask: When do I get disproportionately intense? Where do I overcontrol, withdraw, or appease? What situations reliably cost me trust? Examples: being challenged in meetings underperformance from a direct report board scrutiny ambiguity and slow progress interpersonal conflict public visibility moments Step 2: Capture the “instant sentence” Schemas speak in short, absolute lines: “This shouldn’t be happening.” “They don’t respect me.” “I’m failing.” “I have to fix this now.” “I can’t trust anyone.” “If I’m not exceptional, I’m nothing.” Step 3: Name the coping style Surrender: comply, appease, self-silence Avoid: detach, delay, minimize, distract Overcompensate: control, dominate, perform, punish Step 4: Calculate the ROI What does this protect me from short-term? What does it cost me long-term (relationships, culture, health, execution)? That ROI calculation is where leaders become willing to change. Schema work without therapy-speak: The “story to strategy” reframe Leaders often resist “therapy language,” but they love precision and results. This frame is both: Story: What meaning am I assigning? State: What emotion/state does that create? Strategy: What behavior follows? Success cost: What does it break? New story: A truer, more useful interpretation New strategy: A small, repeatable behavior under pressure Schema change is not insight. It’s repeated new strategy in the old trigger until the nervous system learns safety. How schemas create culture (OD lens) From an OD perspective, schemas don’t stay inside a leader. They become: meeting design (who speaks, who gets interrupted, what “good” looks like) decision rights (control vs empowerment) error policy (learning vs punishment) conflict norms (avoidance vs clean confrontation) promotion signals (who is rewarded: performers, politicians, caretakers, truth-tellers) pace expectations (sustainable excellence vs chronic adrenaline) A leader’s private schema becomes public culture through reinforcement: what gets praised what gets punished what gets ignored what leaders model when stressed If you want culture change, you must identify the schema the culture is organized around. The happiness edge: Why wellbeing is not a soft metric The therapist’s view of “happiness” isn’t superficial positivity. It’s sustainable wellbeing, the capacity to experience meaning, connection, vitality, and emotional flexibility while facing pressure. Schemas distort happiness in predictable ways: Unrelenting standards – happiness postponed (“after the next milestone”) Approval seeking – happiness outsourced (depends on praise) Emotional inhibition – happiness muted (no joy, no intimacy) Mistrust – happiness defended (no vulnerability, no deep bonds) Self-sacrifice – happiness leaked (resentment + depletion) A high-performing leader who cannot access happiness will eventually pay in: burnout strained relationships addictive coping (work, alcohol, scrolling, spending, adrenaline) brittle culture succession risk Wellbeing is not a perk. It’s a performance stabilizer. The “happy leader” model that actually works Here’s a grounded, executive-compatible model of happiness that improves leadership outcomes: Emoti onal agility (not emotional perfection) Feel the signal without becoming the signal. Respond rather than react. Meaning and values alignment Decisions anchored in principles, not mood management. “This is hard, and it’s still what we stand for.” Secure relationships (at work and home) Repair quickly. Build psychological safety and high accountability. Vitality practices (nervous system leadership) Sleep, movement, boundaries, recovery cycles. Without these, schema work collapses under stress load. Contribution that isn’t self-erasure Service without martyrdom. Empowerment instead o f rescuing. This is how happiness becomes a leadership advantage: it reduces schema-driven reactivity and increases clarity, courage, and connection. Interventions: How to change schemas in leaders (without becoming their therapist) Whether you’re developing yourself or guiding executives, the most effective schema-change stack looks like this: Awa reness with precision Identify triggers and “instant sentences.” Track which mode appears. Regulation before reasoning A dysregulated nervous system cannot update schemas. Use simple practices: 90-second pause before responding breath + posture reset labeling emotion (“I’m noticing threat/anger/shame”) Cognitive restructuring (truth + usefulness) Replace schema stories with interpretations that are: evidence-based values-consistent action-generating Behavioral experiments (small, repeated) Schemas change through new experiences: delegate and tolerate imperfection invite dissent and stay warm hold a boundary and survive disappointment admit uncertainty without collapsing status Relational repair training High-level leaders need “repair speed” more than “never rupture.” Name impact Take responsibility Clarify intent Offer a new behavior Follow through System redesign (OD integration) Hard truth: many leaders fail at change because the system keeps rewarding the old schema. So you adjust: incentives decision rights team norms meeting formats feedback loops Personal change sticks when the environment stops paying the leader to stay the same. Practical tools you can use immediately Tool 1: The schema-to-strength map Take a “derailing” pattern and translate it: Schema fear: What am I trying to prevent? Hidden value: What do I care about? Overuse strength: What strength is being overdriven? Next-level strength: How does this value look when mature? Example: Unrelenting standards fear: “If we slip, we’re unsafe.” value: excellence overuse: criticism, urgency next-level: excellence + learning + sustainable pace Tool 2: The clean pressure script (for conflict) When triggered, use: Observation: “Here’s what I’m seeing…” Impact: “Here’s what it’s causing…” Ownership: “Here’s what I may be missing…” Request: “What I need is…” Choice point: “Can we agree on X by Y?” It creates accountability without schema-driven domination or avoidance. Tool 3: The happiness operating system check Weekly, rate 1–10: energy (sleep/recovery) connection (real conversations) meaning (purpose felt, not stated) autonomy (choice and boundaries) play/joy (yes, even for executives) Low scores predict schema flare-ups. This becomes preventative maintenance. What “schema-informed leadership” looks like at the highest level A schema-informed executive is not someone with no triggers. It’s someone who: recognizes their internal narrative under pressure regulates before they speak chooses values-based courage over threat-based coping builds cultures where truth is safer than politics protects sustainable performance through wellbeing measures success not only by outcomes, but by how outcomes are achieved That’s not softness. That’s mastery. Closing: The real competitive advantage In modern leadership, the bottleneck is rarely intelligence. It’s patterned reactivity. Schemas are the patterns behind: micromanagement conflict avoidance brittle cultures executive loneliness burnout disguised as ambition “high standards” that quietly kill psychological safety When you can name and reshape schemas, you don’t just become a better leader, you become a healthier human with more access to happiness, connection, and meaning. And that, paradoxically, is what makes you more formidable in the boardroom and more trustworthy to the people you lead. Follow me on Facebook , LinkedIn , and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Daniela Aneva Daniela Aneva, Executive and Team Coach Daniela Aneva is an international executive and team coach, coaching supervisor, professional speaker, and author. With over 25 years of executive experience in multinational organizations, Daniela has supported the growth of more than 5,000 leaders and teams across the globe. She is a council member at Forbes, a mentor at Rice University’s Doerr Institute, and has co-authored books with Brian Tracy, Jonathan Passmore, and contributed to Team of Teams by Peter Hawkins and Catherine Carr.

Written by Toren Ylfa, Tattooed Alkhemist Toren Ylfa is an ex-martial artist, trauma-informed practitioner, and Traditional Japanese Reiki Master Teacher known for mythic branding, survivor-led advocacy, and scholarly fire. As the author of Sigil of the Mind (title forthcoming), Toren transforms lived experience into fierce, poetic reclamation. Food is not only fuel, it is a ritual threshold. Across cultures, fasting, feasting, and sacred herbs have been used to purify, celebrate, and commune with the divine, encoding identity, lineage, and belonging. Biochemically, these practices orchestrate autophagy, ketone signaling, serotonin synthesis, dopaminergic reward, immune modulation, and gut–brain communication. This article advances a unique, reciprocal view, ritual and molecules co-construct one another. Cultural practices sculpt biochemical rhythms, while biochemical cascades reinforce the symbolic power of ritual, turning “sacred eating” into a multi-scalar choreography across cells, bodies, and communities. (Cabo and Mattson, Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease | New England Journal of Medicine )   Fasting: Autophagy, ketones, and the ritual of emptiness Anthropological context and ritual motifs  Purification: Fasting rites (Ramadan, Lent, Yom Kippur, Buddhist retreats, Indigenous vision quests) mark liminality, stepping outside ordinary time for moral clarity, discipline, and transcendence.  Thresholds: Withholding food reframes scarcity as sacred, preparing the person for initiation or renewal.  Molecular cascades and stress resilience  Autophagy activation: Intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding increase autophagic flux, a cellular “cleansing” process that recycles damaged proteins and organelles, improving stress resistance and metabolic adaptability through AMPK–mTOR and sirtuin signaling. ( Nieto et al.A Narrative Review about Metabolic Pathways, Molecular Mechanisms and Clinical Implications of Intermittent Fasting as Autophagy Promotor | Current Nutrition Reports ) Ketone signaling: Extended fasting induces nutritional ketosis, β‑hydroxybutyrate serves as both an efficient neural fuel and a signaling metabolite linked to neuroprotection and hormesis. Large observational cohorts show long-term fasting reliably elevates ketone bodies with favorable safety profiles. (Grundler)  Neuroendocrine adaptation: Fasting modulates bioenergetic sensors (NAD+/NADH, ATP/AMP), reduces insulin and amino acid levels, and engages FOXO, PGC‑1α, NRF2, AMPK, and SIRT pathways, molecular signatures of renewal that mirror ritual purification.  Unique angle: Scarcity encoded as sacred  Ritual ↔ molecule reciprocity: Fasting sacralizes emptiness, biochemically, scarcity triggers repair programs (autophagy) and alternative fuel signaling (ketosis). The rite enacts “clearing” and “vision,” while cells enact degradation and signaling, two languages, one choreography.  Feasting: Serotonin, dopamine, and the ritual of abundance Anthropological context and social bonding  Celebration: Feasts mark harvests, weddings, coronations, and communal victories, encoding gratitude and abundance.  Cohesion: Shared feasting reinforces norms, trust, and belonging, both symbolic and physiological.  Molecular cascades of reward and satiety  Serotonin dynamics: Meal composition and timing modulate brain serotonin via tryptophan transport, mounting evidence details how serotonergic circuits regulate meal initiation, satiety, and affect across dorsal raphe pathways. (Blundell)  Dopamine interplay: Dopamine and GABA inputs to serotonin neurons shape feeding onset and reward, integrated models explain how palatability, anticipation, and social context recruit these circuits for communal joy and reinforcement.  Immune and growth signals: Nutrient surges activate anabolic pathways (e.g., mTOR), supporting growth and repair, biochemical motifs that mirror the symbolic flourishing of communal feasts.  Unique angle: Abundance encoded as sacred  Ritual ↔ molecule reciprocity: Feasting sacralizes plenty, the body echoes abundance through serotonergic contentment, dopaminergic reward, and anabolic repair. Social celebration entrains reward circuits, which in turn reinforce the memory and meaning of the feast.  Sacred herbs: Phytochemistry, neuroreceptors, and the gut–brain axis  Anthropological context and plant lineage  Communion: Ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, soma, and sacred smudging encode plants as mediators, bridging human and divine, carrying ancestral wisdom and ceremonial potency.  Ritual craft: Preparation, timing, and setting (“set and setting”) curate meaning and physiological effects.  Molecular cascades from receptor to microbiome  Serotonin receptor modulation: Tryptamine and indole alkaloids (e.g., psilocybin) act on 5‑HT receptors to alter perception and induce mystical states, computational and experimental work shows diverse phytochemicals can target 5‑HT1A/4/7 with promising pharmacologic profiles.  Neuroactive polyphenols: Phytochemicals exert multi-target effects on neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, synaptic plasticity, and neurotransmission, supporting mood and cognition via convergent biochemical routes.  Gut–brain axis: Herbal fibers and bioactives shape microbiota composition and metabolites (e.g., SCFAs), influencing CNS signaling through immune and endocrine pathways, integrative reviews highlight phytochemicals’ potential in neurological health through the gut–brain nexus.  Unique angle: Communion encoded as sacred  Ritual ↔ molecule reciprocity: Ceremonial herbs sacralize communion, biochemically, receptor-level modulation and microbiome signaling open perceptual and affective channels. Symbolic frames guide expectancy and integration, while molecules and microbes choreograph neurochemical states.  Ritual synchrony: Group timing, hormones, and collective resilience  Multi-scalar alignment across people and pathways  Shared timing: Ritual calendars (fasts at dawn, feasts at dusk) entrain circadian rhythms that coordinate metabolic and hormonal cycles across communities, easing stress and enhancing predictability.  Bonding molecules: Communal eating elevates trust and affiliation, oxytocin and reward circuitry interplay can be inferred from coordinated feeding studies and social neuroscience, aligning symbolic cohesion with biochemical synchrony.  Stress modulation: Structured ritual reduces uncertainty and cortisol, neuroendocrine models of fasting–feeding cycles explain how predictable oscillations cultivate resilience at cellular and communal levels.  Unique angle: Liminal governance of physiology  Ritual ↔ molecule reciprocity: Anthropology shows ritual governs liminal thresholds, biochemistry shows oscillatory states govern cellular thresholds (catabolism/anabolism, scarcity/abundance). Ceremonial nutrition becomes a governance system harmonizing metabolism with meaning.  Molecules as myth, ritual as biochemistry  Ceremonial nutrition reframes food practices as thresholds where anthropology and molecular science converge. Fasting invokes autophagy and ketone signaling as purification. Feasting elevates serotonin and dopamine as communal joy and repair. Sacred herbs modulate receptors and microbiota as divine communion. Across individual and group scales, ritual scripts and biochemical cascades co-author resilience, identity, and transcendence. The sacred is metabolized, metabolism is made sacred. Follow me on Instagram ,   LinkedIn , and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Toren Ylfa Toren Ylfa, Tattooed Alkhemist Toren Ylfa is a mythic advocate, ex-martial artist, and trauma-informed practitioner known for transforming lived experience into fierce, poetic scholarship. After surviving complex trauma, Toren forged a path through biochemistry, psychology, and energy work, becoming a Traditional Japanese Reiki Master Teacher and expert in CBT, DBT, REBT, EFT, and NLP. Their work blends Celtic and Viking motifs with survivor-led critique, dismantling stigma through academic rigor and ancestral fire. Toren is the author of Sigil of the Mind (title forthcoming) and creator of Sigil of the Unquiet, a podcast that weaves global statistics, legal analysis, and mythic cadence into transformative advocacy. Their mission: Reclaim the narrative. Burn the silence.

Written by Cedric Drake, Educational Psychologist and Technologist Cedric Drake is an expert in educational psychology. He dissects learning and brings innovative ideas. He contributes to educational think tanks and writes articles for academic institutions in the US and Asia. Currently, he is building a publishing company to connect students to companies in different fields and expand education. When we lower expectations, we do not create equity, we create erosion. Education was never meant to be easy. It was intended to be transformative. Yet across classrooms, curricula, and policy decisions, we are witnessing a quiet but devastating shift, the systematic dumbing down of education. Under the guise of accessibility, efficiency, and standardization, intellectual rigor is being replaced with simplification, depth with shortcuts, and curiosity with compliance. The consequences are not abstract. They are human, cultural, and generational. Below are six profound outcomes of this erosion, each one weakening not only students, but society itself. 1. The death of critical thinking When education is simplified to memorization and test preparation, thinking becomes optional. Students are trained to recognize answers, not to question assumptions. Complex problems are avoided rather than explored, ambiguity, where real learning lives, is treated as a threat. Critical thinking requires struggle, debate, and uncertainty. Dumbing down education removes these experiences, producing learners who can follow instructions but cannot evaluate truth, detect misinformation, or challenge flawed systems. A society that cannot think critically becomes dangerously easy to manipulate. 2. The illusion of achievement without mastery Lower standards create the appearance of success while masking intellectual fragility. Grades rise. Graduation rates improve. But beneath the surface, foundational skills erode. Students advance without mastering reading, writing, mathematics, or reasoning. This false sense of accomplishment does not empower students, it betrays them. When they encounter college, careers, or civic responsibilities, they discover they are never truly prepared. The result is frustration, disengagement, and a deep mistrust in the very system that promised opportunity. 3. The silencing of intellectual curiosity When learning is reduced to pre-packaged answers and simplified tasks, curiosity suffocates. Students stop asking “why” because the system rewards speed, not depth. Creativity becomes inefficient. Exploration becomes inconvenient. Dumbing down education teaches students that learning is about completion, not discovery. Over time, they internalize the belief that thinking deeply is unnecessary, or worse, unwelcome. A culture without curiosity stops innovating, imagining, and progressing. 4. The widening of educational inequality Ironically, lowering standards in the name of equity often deepens inequality. Affluent students continue to receive rigorous instruction, enriched curricula, and high expectations. Marginalized students are offered “simplified” learning, stripped of challenge and intellectual respect. This creates a two-tier system, one that prepares students to lead, and another that prepares them to comply. Accurate equity does not mean less rigor, it means access to excellence. Dumbing down education denies access to those who need it most. 5. The erosion of teacher professionalism When curricula are oversimplified, teachers are reduced to script-followers rather than intellectual leaders. Their expertise is undervalued. Their autonomy is stripped away. Teaching becomes delivery, not dialogue. This not only demoralizes educators but also drives passionate, skilled teachers out of the profession. A system that does not trust teachers to challenge students ultimately loses the very people capable of inspiring deep learning. 6. The weakening of democracy itself Democracy depends on an educated population capable of analysis, empathy, and informed decision-making. When education is dumbed down, civic understanding declines. Slogans replace nuanced debates. Complex issues are reduced to sound bites. An undereducated society becomes reactive rather than reflective, divided rather than discerning. The cost is not just academic, it is democratic. A nation that cannot think deeply cannot govern itself wisely. A call to restore intellectual courage Rigor is not cruelty. Challenge is not exclusion. High expectations are not oppression, they are an act of belief. To dumb down education is to assume students cannot rise. To demand depth is to declare that they can. We must reject the false comfort of simplification and reclaim education as a space of struggle, wonder, and transformation. Our students deserve more than easy answers. They deserve the chance to think, to wrestle with ideas, and to become fully human in a complex world.  The future does not need less intelligence.  It needs braver education. Follow me on Instagram and visit my website for more info! Read more from Cedric Drake Cedric Drake, Educational Psychologist and Technologist Cedric Drake is an educational psychologist and technologist in the learning field. His ten years as an educator left him with the psychological understanding to innovate classrooms and learning centers for all ages. He has since gone on to be an educator at Los Angeles Opera, do doctoral studies in educational psychology, publish scholarly literature reviews and papers, and work at the American Psychological Association as an APA Proposal Reviewer for the APA Conference.

Matthew V. Blackwell has spent his career building things. Sometimes inside established companies. Sometimes from scratch. His path has not been linear, but it has been consistent in one way. He keeps moving forward, guided by family, discipline, and a willingness to learn from experience. “I’ve learned that success isn’t one-dimensional,” Blackwell says. “It changes over time, and you have to adapt to it.” Early life and influences that shaped his mindset Blackwell was born and raised in Fairfield and Monroe, Connecticut. He grew up in a close-knit family as the oldest of four siblings. His mother played a major role in shaping his view of work and responsibility. With a background in chemistry and business, she built and later scaled what became Aurora Products. “Watching my mom build companies showed me that hard work and attention to detail really matter,” he says. “It wasn’t abstract. It was real life.” Outside the classroom, Blackwell balanced creativity and discipline. He played guitar and trumpet, rowed crew in college, and developed a lifelong love of football. These early experiences shaped how he approached teamwork and long-term effort. Education and early career foundations Blackwell graduated from high school with honors and went on to Union College, where he earned a degree in Industrial Engineering, graduating cum laude. The program gave him a structured way to think about systems, efficiency, and problem-solving. After college, he joined ACNielsen BASES, where he worked for two years. The role exposed him to data-driven decision-making and large-scale business operations. “It taught me how much planning happens behind the scenes,” he explains. “Good outcomes don’t happen by accident.” Rising through the ranks at a family business In 2005, Blackwell joined Aurora Products, the family company he had grown up around. Over the next 11 years, he moved steadily from Assistant to the General Manager to Vice President of Operations. Those years gave him hands-on experience managing people, supply chains, and day-to-day execution. “You learn fast when you’re responsible for outcomes,” he says. “Titles don’t matter if things aren’t working.” His time at Aurora helped him understand both the pressure and responsibility that come with leadership roles. Taking the leap into entrepreneurship In 2016, Blackwell left Aurora to start CyclElectric, an electric bike company focused on conversion kits and pre-built bikes. The idea was timely, but the execution came with challenges. Market pressure and global competition made consistency difficult. “That experience taught me a lot about timing and scale,” he says. “Not every good idea works when you want it to.” Rather than viewing it as a failure, Blackwell treated it as a learning phase. He later joined Industrial Flow Solutions, where he served as Director of Operations until 2022. A new chapter with Woodbridge Farms and real estate In 2023, Blackwell launched two new ventures. The first was Woodbridge Farms, an e-commerce business built around quality products and careful operations. The second was SeaSide Properties, which manages his family’s real estate portfolio. “These businesses reflect where I am now,” he explains. “More focused. More intentional.” Woodbridge Farms allows him to combine operational discipline with creativity. SeaSide Properties keeps him connected to long-term planning and asset management. Family, perspective, and personal standards Today,   Matthew V. Blackwell  lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut, and is a father of three, with one stepchild. Much of his time outside work revolves around family life, school schedules, and activities. “Success for me is family,” he says. “Career success is important, but it’s a means to an end.” He also volunteers as a Duty Officer with the American Red Cross, devoting time each week as scheduling allows. He supports his local church and has donated his time to organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and United Way. When asked how he pushes through uncertainty, his answer is direct. “The world doesn’t stop just because I’m feeling doubtful,” Blackwell says. “You keep moving forward.” A career defined by forward motion Matthew V. Blackwell’s story is not about perfection. It is about momentum. He has worked inside large organizations, led operations, started businesses, and adjusted when conditions changed. “I set my own standards,” he says. “That’s what keeps me grounded.” His career reflects a steady belief that progress comes from effort, patience, and learning. Each chapter builds on the last, shaped by experience rather than shortcuts.

Dr. Phyllis Pobee did everything she was taught. She followed the rules. She ate “right.” She exercised. And yet, her body did not respond the way the textbooks promised. “I was a physician doing everything by the book,” she has said. “And still, nothing worked the way it was supposed to.” That disconnect between conventional medical advice and real-world outcomes became the turning point of her career. Instead of pushing harder, Dr. Pobee began asking better questions. Why do some women struggle despite doing everything “right”? Why does the same advice work for one body but fail another? Those questions ultimately led her to create GeneLean360°, a precision health platform now discussed in GeneLean360 reviews for its genetics-based approach to midlife metabolic health. Medical training and early practice Dr. Pobee is a triple board-certified physician in Family Medicine, Aesthetic Medicine, and Obesity Medicine. Her training gave her a broad perspective on patient care, from primary health to metabolic conditions and long-term wellness. In clinical practice, she noticed a recurring pattern. Many of her female patients, particularly those in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, felt stuck. They reported sudden changes in energy, cravings, sleep quality, and inflammation. Standard guidance often fell short. “I kept seeing smart, disciplined women blaming themselves,” she has said. “But the issue wasn’t effort. It was biology.” That realization pushed her beyond traditional frameworks and into genetic science. Discovering the role of genetics Dr. Pobee’s breakthrough came when she explored her own genetic data. The results explained why certain foods, stress patterns, and exercise styles worked against her metabolism rather than supporting it. “Once I understood my genetics, I stopped guessing,” she has said. “Everything finally made sense.” That clarity reshaped how she approached health, both personally and professionally. Accountability shifted from willpower to understanding how the body is biologically wired. Her personal transformation became proof of concept, but not a template for a one-size-fits-all solution. Founding GeneLean360° GeneLean360° was founded in the United States and now supports women across North America through a virtual wellness platform. The name reflects its philosophy, “Gene” represents genetic science, “Lean” signals balance rather than extremes, and “360°” points to a whole-person approach. Dr. Pobee describes the program as a system, not a shortcut. “This is about working with your biology, not fighting it,” she has said. The platform integrates genetics, metabolic patterns, cravings biology, hormones, stress physiology, and longevity science. Over time, the program evolved to remove elements that didn’t align with its evidence-based focus. Creating a new framework for metabolic health One of Dr. Pobee’s most notable contributions is the development of the 12 Genetic Avatars™, a framework that explains why people respond differently to food, stress, and exercise. “Two women can eat the same meals and do the same workouts,” she has said. “And get completely different results. Genetics explains why.” This framework reframes common struggles. Cravings are not framed as lack of discipline. Energy crashes are not framed as laziness. They are understood as biological signals. Her work explores genes related to dopamine regulation, inflammation, detoxification pathways, and metabolic signaling, enabling a more precise and compassionate conversation about health. Shifting the industry conversation Dr. Pobee has become a recognized voice in conversations about longevity, midlife metabolic wellness, and precision health. Her work examines how estrogen, cortisol, insulin, and genetics interact over time. “Midlife is not a failure point,” she has said. “It’s a data point.” By positioning metabolic health as the foundation of healthy aging, she moves the conversation beyond trends and quick fixes. The emphasis remains on education and long-term resilience. Her audience often includes high-achieving women navigating demanding careers and chronic stress. “You can’t separate biology from lifestyle,” she has said. “They’re always talking to each other.” Leading with education and integrity At the core of Dr. Pobee’s work is a commitment to education. She believes that understanding biology empowers women to make confident decisions without guilt or shame. “Knowledge changes how you treat yourself,” she has said. Her leadership style blends scientific rigor with compassion, emphasizing sustainability over extremes and clarity over noise. The goal is not perfection, it is alignment. Today, GeneLean360° by Dr. Phyllis Pobee reflects that philosophy. It is structured, data-informed, and centered on helping women understand their bodies more deeply. Dr. Pobee’s career shows what can happen when expertise meets curiosity. Rather than accepting limitations, she built a new model, one that continues to shape how midlife metabolic health is understood and supported.

Dr. Gina Acosta Potter did not set out to chase titles. She set out to serve students. Over more than 30 years in public education, that steady focus has shaped a career defined by compassion, clarity, action, and results. From the classroom to the superintendent’s office, Potter has built a reputation as a leader who brings big ideas to life – carefully, collaboratively, and with students at the center. “I’ve always believed education is how hope becomes real,” she says. “If systems work well, students can focus on learning and dreaming.” Early roots in education and service Potter grew up in San Diego in a family where education was a way of life. She is a third-generation educator. Her grandfather taught high school in Sweetwater Union High School District. Her parents were educators as well, with her mother teaching elementary school for 36 years and later serving as a college professor. Her father honorably served in the Marines and later became a teacher and principal. “I didn’t just grow up around schools,” Potter reflects. “I grew up understanding how deeply schools bring hope to generations and shape communities.” She earned her bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. Soon after, she was accepted into UCLA’s highly selective accelerated teaching credential and master’s program. In 1995, she joined Santa Monica - Malibu Unified School District as one of only two graduates offered a teaching contract. Learning the system from the inside Potter’s early years in the classroom shaped her leadership style. She worked directly with students learning English, students experiencing poverty, and families navigating complex systems. “You can’t lead schools well if you don’t understand what happens in them every day,” she says. Over time, she took on new roles. She became an associate principal, then a principal. She later served as an assistant superintendent of business services and chief business official, roles she held for more than 13 years. That experience gave her a rare blend of instructional and financial expertise. “Equity is not just a moral imperative,” Potter explains. “It’s also about lifting whole communities out of generational poverty and making dreams a reality.” Leading with stability and trust In 2018, Potter became Superintendent of San Ysidro School District. The district serves one of the most diverse student populations in California, with families speaking more than 30 languages. Her first priority was stability. “We needed peace before progress,” she says. “Trust had to come first.” She focused on uniting the governance team, staff, and families. Working closely with district leaders, she restored fiscal stability and helped the community pass five general obligation bonds. These funds modernized schools and have been earmarked to launch the initial stage of construction of a new campus. Student outcomes followed. English learner reclassification rates doubled. Academic gains increased year after year. The district earned two California School Boards Association Golden Bell Awards for innovative programs. Leading through crisis During the COVID-19 pandemic, Potter’s leadership was tested in new ways. San Ysidro School District became a lifeline for families. “Our role went beyond academics,” she says. “We became a team of compassionate leaders who took care of the whole community.” The district served more than one million meals per year. Staff implemented virtual learning platforms quickly. Partnerships with city, county, state, and federal agencies expanded to meet urgent needs. Potter describes this period as one of collective courage. “People showed up for each other,” she says. “That’s what compassionate leadership really looks like.” Influence beyond one district Potter’s work extends beyond local leadership. Since 2019, she has served on the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence Advisory Council. She has also played a key role in shaping California’s Local Control Funding Formula and Local Control Accountability Plan. She served as State Vice President for Legislative Action for the Association of California School Administrators and chaired its Legislative Policy Committee. “Educational policy has the power to elevate California’s schools and transform the lives of 6 million students,” she explains. “When it’s done right, it makes magic happen in our classrooms for our students!” Her expertise in school finance and governance has made her a trusted voice at both the state and national levels. A career built on purpose As the first female Filipina, biracial superintendent in California, Potter carries her heritage with pride. She speaks often about representation and pride in our beautifully diverse state. “I want students to see diverse leaders who can serve as role models that pave the path for generations to come,” she says. “And I want them to know leadership is about humanitarian service.” Now more than three decades into her career, Potter remains focused on the same goal she started with: creating systems where students can thrive. “Success isn’t a single moment,” she says. “It’s what you build over time, together.” Through steady leadership, practical vision, and deep care for communities, Dr. Gina Potter has shown how thoughtful ideas – when put into action – can create lasting, impactful change for whole communities

Vickie DeHart is a respected leader in the construction and real estate industry, known for her steady approach to business and long-term thinking. Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, she grew up in a close-knit family that valued responsibility and hard work. These early lessons shaped the way she leads today. After graduating from Western High School in Las Vegas in 1979, Vickie built a career in construction at a time when few women held senior roles. She later became Principal and Vice President of Powerhouse Construction, a company focused on apartment framing, renovations, and commercial tenant improvements. During this period, she earned and carried the general contractor’s licence, becoming one of the first women in Nevada to do so. Vickie DeHart  went on to co-found EHB with Yohan Lowie and her husband, Paul DeHart. At EHB, she works closely with the CEO on strategy and execution. Her responsibilities include financial oversight, insurance, escrow coordination, and daily operations. She also manages leasing and rental properties and works directly with clients on interiors and home closings. Known for her attention to detail and calm decision-making, Vickie leads through consistency rather than noise. She believes trust is built through follow-through and clear communication. Outside of work, she prioritises wellness and community involvement, supporting organisations such as the Israeli-American Council and the American Heart Association. Her career reflects a practical, disciplined approach to leadership, focused on results, relationships, and building work that lasts. An interview with Vickie DeHart: Building leadership in construction Vickie, let’s start at the beginning. What first shaped your work ethic and interest in business? I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, with two brothers in a family where responsibility mattered. Everyone pulled their weight. That environment teaches you early that if something needs doing, you step in and do it properly. Those values stayed with me. Later, after moving to Las Vegas and graduating from Western High School in 1979, I carried that same mindset into work. I didn’t set out to be in construction, but I was drawn to environments where results mattered, and effort was visible. How did your early career in construction take shape? My real foundation was built at Powerhouse Construction, where I served as Principal and Vice President for five years. The company specialised in framing apartments and condominiums, along with renovations and tenant improvements for commercial retail spaces. I was involved in everything from project coordination to problem-solving on-site. Carrying the general contractor’s licence was a turning point. At the time, very few women in Nevada held one. It wasn’t about breaking records, but about responsibility. Once you hold the licence, the outcome sits with you. What lessons did that period teach you? Construction teaches clarity very quickly. If instructions are vague, something goes wrong. One early project ran behind schedule due to a breakdown between suppliers and the site team. Instead of reacting emotionally, I changed the way we communicated. We introduced daily briefings, even for smaller jobs. That experience taught me that most issues come from poor communication, not lack of effort. What led to the creation of EHB? EHB was formed with Yohan Lowie and my husband, Paul DeHart, after we saw a gap between planning and execution in development projects. Too often, design, finance, and operations were treated as separate pieces. We wanted a more integrated approach. At EHB, I work closely with the CEO on strategy and execution, ensuring those parts stay connected from start to finish. What does your role at EHB involve day-to-day? My role covers financial oversight, insurance, escrow coordination, and daily operations. I also manage leasing and rental properties and work directly with clients during interior selections and home closings. One moment I may be reviewing numbers, the next I’m coordinating with architects or city departments. That range keeps me grounded in both detail and direction. How would you describe your leadership style today? I lead quietly. I don’t believe in overcomplicating decisions or managing through pressure. Consistency matters more. People need to know that when something is agreed, it will be followed through. I also believe in being present. Walking a site, meeting people face to face, and understanding challenges first-hand makes better decisions than managing from a desk. How has being a woman in construction shaped your career?   It made me very focused on competence. Early on, I learned that preparation speaks louder than opinions. There were rooms where I had to earn credibility more than once. Over time, results took care of that. I think the industry benefits from more varied perspectives, especially in leadership roles. How do you maintain balance in such a demanding field? Wellness is essential. I hike, walk, and stay active. Some of my clearest thinking happens outdoors. Construction and real estate carry constant pressure, and physical activity helps reset that. I also make time to disconnect. When you step back, decisions feel less urgent and more accurate. What keeps you motivated after decades in the industry? Building something that lasts. Whether it’s a property, a process, or a team, the goal is durability. I enjoy seeing projects move from concept to completion and knowing that people rely on what we’ve built. Looking back, what has mattered most in your career? Trust. Titles change, projects end, and markets shift. What remains is whether people trust you to do what you say. That principle has guided every role I’ve held and continues to shape how I work today.

Some leaders build companies. Others build ideas. Irwin Brar , CEO of Apex Construction and COO of Ridge Apartments, has spent his career doing both, turning concepts into real projects that shape communities across Western Canada. His story is not flashy. It’s grounded, steady, and shaped by years of learning through work, family, and experience. “I never thought of myself as a visionary,” Brar says. “I just learned to look at a problem and ask, ‘How do we build something better?’” That simple approach has guided him from his early years in an immigrant family to leading one of the region’s most active affordable housing builders. Early life: Lessons from two worlds Brar was born in Vancouver, BC, but his early childhood was split between Canada and India. After his family moved to Alberta when he was three to start the hotel business, he spent many of his younger years attending boarding school in India. “It teaches you independence very fast,” he says. “You learn discipline. You learn to adjust. Those skills helped me later more than I realized at the time.” Growing up in an immigrant household brought another layer of education. He watched his parents navigate risk, long hours, and constant change. “My parents taught me what work really looks like,” he recalls. “They didn’t have shortcuts. That stays with you.” How the construction trade became a calling Construction wasn’t handed to Brar, it absorbed him over time. His father began building homes in 2005 and later expanded to hotels in 2007. As a teenager and young adult, Brar watched the process up close. “My dad didn’t explain everything,” he says. “He just showed you. If you paid attention, you learned.” He later earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, giving him the tools to combine hands-on trade skills with management and strategic thinking. By 2018, he felt ready to build something on his own. That year, he founded Apex Construction, starting with modest projects and a small team. There were no guarantees. But there was a clear idea, build quality homes that people could actually afford. “It wasn’t a grand plan,” Brar says. “It was just a simple idea that made sense for real people.” Bringing big ideas to life through practical thinking Today, Brar leads projects that total 400+ affordable housing units each year. He didn’t get there by dreaming big in an abstract way. Instead, he focused on practical ideas that solved real needs. “Big ideas don’t start big,” he explains. “They start small. They come from paying attention on the ground.” For example, he remembers noticing how many families struggled with long timelines for new housing builds. Instead of accepting delays as normal, he looked for ways to simplify processes, tighten schedules, and use smarter planning. “The question I kept asking was, ‘How do we make this easier for families?’” he says. “That question shaped a lot of our systems.” His method is straightforward, take a clear idea, test it, refine it, and don’t overthink it. This approach has helped his teams overcome common industry hurdles without making the work overly complex. Leadership through consistency, not noise Brar’s leadership style mirrors his background, quiet, steady, and grounded in responsibility. “I don’t try to be the loudest person in the room,” he says. “I try to be the one who shows up every day and does the work.” He believes good leadership happens on the job site as much as in the office. He’s known for visiting projects in person, talking with workers, and solving problems directly. “You learn the most when you listen,” he says. “Someone on site always knows something you don’t.” This mentality has helped him guide his teams through challenges like supply shortages, shifting regulations, and rapid housing demand. It has also shaped a culture where people feel trusted to do their work well. A creative outlet: Cars and problem-solving Outside of construction, Brar has a passion for cars, especially modifying and showing them. He says the hobby connects back to the same instincts he uses at work. “With cars, you take something that already exists and make it better,” he says. “That process teaches you patience and attention to detail.” It also gives him a creative outlet that balances the demands of his career. Grounded success and community commitment of Brar One of the biggest ideas Brar continues to push forward is simple, should help others. His family and businesses donate significant amounts each year, support the local youth foundation in Redcliff, and run monthly food bank deliveries. “When you grow up watching your parents give, it becomes part of who you are,” he says. “Helping the community is not a project. It’s a responsibility.” Brar believes success lasts longer when it’s shared. He sees community support as an extension of the same principles that guide his construction work, build things that matter, one step at a time. What’s next for a builder with practical vision As housing needs rise across Western Canada, Brar continues to look for ways to bring strong, simple ideas to the table. He sees opportunity not in radical innovation, but in thoughtful improvement. “You don’t need a huge breakthrough to make a difference,” he says. “You just need to start with a real problem and build from there.” That mindset, steady, practical, and rooted in experience, has shaped his career and continues to guide his path forward. From a childhood lived between continents to leading hundreds of housing builds each year, Irwin Brar shows how big ideas grow when they are grounded in everyday work, consistency, and purpose.

Essentially, incrementality testing is a randomized, controlled test that divides consumers into two groups. The first is the treatment group that sees your marketing campaign, and the second is the control group that doesn't. What you'll aim to do with incrementality is understand if the money you're spending on advertising is actually being well spent and is positively impacting consumer behavior and outcomes. In our opinion, the only measurement that can define the impact of advertising is incrementality testing. How does it work? The comparison of consumer behavior between the two groups isolates the impact of the campaign, deciphering if the ad translated into conversions or if the same conversions would have happened organically. You're already getting the picture of why it matters so much for modern marketing measurement, so read on to learn why so many marketing managers are turning to incrementality to measure true causal lift through automated experiments that complement attribution. Measuring the true causal impact The issue is that it isn't always easy to decipher the difference between organic and paid conversions. You don't know if the traffic that converts to customers would have converted anyway. Well, you don't know, unless you're using tech such Appsflyer incrementality testing . With incrementality, you get to measure the true causal impact of ads by identifying the additional life in conversions or revenue that a campaign directly generates. You separate organic and baseline sales, and unlike attribution, which will only show correlation, incrementality establishes causation. That said, incrementality is definitely an excellent supplement for attribution marketing. And remember, the core of incrementality is the test vs. control methodology. By segmenting the audience exposed to the marketing campaign from the control group, sometimes called the holdout, which is a statistically matched segment and purposely not exposed to the campaign, it's so easy to compare outcomes from the two groups, with the difference defined as incremental lift. You eliminate the "would have happened anyway" notion, and from there, you can also gain a deeper understanding of your ROAS by understanding how profitable the campaign was, also known as incrementality ROAS, or iROAS. Waste reduction and efficient budget allocation If the point of incrementality is understanding whether you would have generated the conversions anyway, naturally, incrementality matters for waste reduction and efficient budget allocation . You're not just getting the typical vanity metrics some marketers obsess over, which, in a lot of cases, don't actually correlate to the true impact. It gets to cut through surface-level metrics like high impressions and clicks to see if you're wasting your money or if your budget allocation is on point. What you can then do is understand if you're over-crediting channels and potentially overspending on the high-visibility channels, such as branded search or retargeting, when you don't necessarily need to.  And with Proxima research estimating that up to 60% of marketing budgets are wasted due to blind spending, we'd say understanding waste reduction and budget allocation is essential. A privacy-first focus You're definitely making more privacy-conscious marketing decisions. As the testing is controlled and experimental, you're not interacting with individual-level tracking, user IDs, etc. You're taking aggregate data and turning it into actionable insights by measuring the true impact of advertising. You're not violating any consumer privacy regulations, such as the GDPR or CCPA, and you can still scale experimentation without compromising accuracy.  And now that privacy regulations are becoming so tight, incrementality has never worked so well. For example, Apple's ATT framework , part of iOS14, banned the ability to measure using device matching. The SKAdNetwork now captures around 68% of installs driven by non-organic activity, and incrementality fills the gap. The benefits of incrementality testing The benefits are everything we've been mentioning so far, but to sum it up a bit better, here's why we think everyone should be doing regular incrementality to analyze the effectiveness of their campaigns, including the ROAS and iROAS: Accurate Attribution Budget Optimization Proves Marketing Value Strategic Insights Real-Time Optimization Privacy-Compliant Causal Understanding And some platforms do it better. In our opinion, AppsFlyer is one of the most sophisticated attribution marketing platforms with a focus on incrementality. With the  Appsflyer incrementality measurement feature , you can test user acquisitions and remarketing campaigns simultaneously for a consistent view of incremental lift across every channel. But what's better is the dashboard that you get to see all the data on. It works side-by-side with their attribution feature, so you can easily compare last-touch and casual lift without having to move between platforms. AppsFlyer's incrementality feature AppsFlyer's incrementality feature is the market leader. Having helped thousands of big-name brands understand which campaigns drive incremental growth. With the AppsFlyer sophisticated incrementality feature, you can expect an average of: A 114% increase in CR 50% increase in ROAS 60% reduction in CPI 66% reduction in CPA They've specifically designed this feature for teams measuring real impact, creating a safe space for them to run automated experiments, measure causal lift, and invest confidently. Focusing on last-touch attribution as Appsflyer does, it's so easy to automate incrementality to get the entire picture of performance. What we also love is that testing launch takes minutes—you don't have to manage complicated BI bottlenecks, as the platform automates test design and delivers fast results by launching experiments across all major networks almost instantly. And using the Appsflyer smart algorithms, it creates exposed vs. holdout groups from your first-party data. From that, you can see statistically significant results with built-in validation. Incrementality testing is essential for modern marketing. Not to be confused with A/B testing, it's an excellent tool that helps you measure the true and sometimes hidden return on investment (ROI) that you don't always see with advertising spend.

Steve Valdiserri has spent his career working in the space between ideas and execution. He is known for making things work. Across healthcare operations, value-based care, and health technology, his focus has stayed the same. Take complex ideas and turn them into systems people can actually use. His path to leadership did not start in healthcare. It started with discipline. Early foundations in leadership and structure Steve grew up in Indianapolis and attended Bishop Chatard High School. Football played a major role in his early life. He was part of two state championship teams and learned how preparation and accountability shape outcomes. “Team sports teach you quickly that effort alone doesn’t win,” Steve says. “You need structure. You need trust. And you need to do your job every day.” He carried those lessons to DePauw University, where he earned a degree in Economics. He was a four-year varsity football letterman and served as team captain his senior year. He also participated in the University Presidential Captain’s Council. “That was my first real exposure to leadership beyond the field,” he says. “You learn how decisions affect people, not just performance.” Entering healthcare and seeing the gaps After college, Steve moved into healthcare operations. First starting out in revenue cycle operations for 5 years, he then shifted to a side of the industry at a time when value-based care was gaining attention but lacked clear execution models. “What stood out right away was how often good ideas stalled,” he says. “Everyone agreed on the goal, but no one owned the details.” In 2015, Steve joined VillageMD. Over the next several years, he grew into senior leadership roles, eventually becoming Vice President of Value-Based Strategies. His work focused on attribution, operations, and scaling care models across complex provider environments. “We were building while flying,” he says. “It was pretty cool because there was no playbook, and it was my first experience at a start-up. With a blank canvas and value-based care not quite mature enough to be considered a stable model, it allowed us to slow down and ask questions about what actually works. We knew it had to fit inside primary care, we just had to figure out how.” Bringing strategy down to the ground level At VillageMD, Steve became known for translating strategy into daily action. He focused on how decisions showed up on Monday mornings, not how they looked in presentations. “How does this affect a clinic manager? A physician? An MA rooming a patient? The front desk checking patients in?” he would ask. “Who owns this process?” “What data proves this is helping?” “There are plenty of good ideas and visions in healthcare. There is no shortage of shiny red objects.” Steve says. “What healthcare lacks is execution on those ideas. It essentially has an operational execution problem.” His work helped align financial performance with clinical workflows. He focused on clarity, ownership, and measurable outcomes rather than surface-level fixes. “Complexity in healthcare will always be present. There are so many factors to consider when forging in a space that has so many stakeholders. It isn’t like a B2C company where you are selling a widget to a consumer. The inputs, throughputs, and outputs are all diverse, complex, and nuanced,” he says. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t solvable. It just takes a lot of time. Time, trust, and determination.” Expanding impact through advisory work After nearly a decade at VillageMD, Steve decided to take his experience and apply it more broadly. He founded Avanti Strategy Group, a healthcare strategy and innovation firm focused on helping organizations solve real operational problems. “My goal was not just to sit around and talk about strategy to death,” he says. “There is a lot of talk, but what I wanted to do was actually help teams execute it.” Through Avanti, Steve partners with healthcare and technology organizations facing growth, scale, or operational strain. His work often starts by simplifying systems before introducing new tools. “You can’t execute the most complex strategies and models before you’re doing the basics really really good. I learned that in my football days. Do the fundamentals every day, consistently, over and over. Then start adding the complexity and enhancements. Too many organizations jump right to the enhancements before any infrastructure or operational discipline is in place to take that on,” he says. AI, data, and practical innovation Steve holds an executive certification in AI in Healthcare from Harvard Medical School. He approaches AI with caution and clarity. “Everyone says AI won’t fix broken processes, which I agree,” he says. “But what it can do is identify the gaps and make recommendations for how to solve them. And on the occasion you have a great process in place that is working, use AI to amplify it. That’s where you start seeing the magic.” He focuses on practical applications such as improving data accuracy, supporting decision-making, and reducing unnecessary administrative work. He avoids chasing trends that lack real-world impact. “What matters in the long run is whether whatever system you put in place works under pressure, through the good times and the bad,” he says. Discipline beyond the office Discipline remains a core theme in Steve’s life. He trains daily as a HYROX competitor and completed his first competition in May 2025. He plans to compete regularly. “Training for these events reminds me that progress is boring, seriously boring and not glamorous,” he says. “But progress is inevitable by doing the basics every day, compounding it, and keeping focused on the daily wins.” He has also become deeply interested in the Food Is Medicine movement. He believes healthcare outcomes will not improve without addressing nutrition and chronic disease at the source. “We treat symptoms very well,” he says. “But we avoid the harder conversation about food, sleep, and movement - but particularly food.” A measured definition of success Today, Steve defines success differently than earlier in his career. Titles matter less. Systems matter more. “Clarity from the top down is a necessity for a team - from the top-down. Clarity creates calm,” he says. “And calm teams make better decisions.” Above all, he prioritizes being a present husband and father to his three children. “My biggest responsibility isn’t my job,” Steve says. “It’s showing up at home.” In an industry known for complexity and noise, Steve Valdiserri has built a reputation for turning big ideas into practical results. Not by moving fast. But by building what lasts.