Navigating Midlife Transitions Thru Mindfulness with Meggi Rombach

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Add Roll (0:47): Welcome to the go slow to go fast lifestyle podcast, where we explore what it truly means to live with intention, calm, and clarity in a fast paced world. In a culture that celebrates constant momentum, speed, and relentless productivity, we don't often talk about the power of pauses, about the transitions, the in between seasons that feel uncomfortable, uncertain, and sometimes even scary. But they're often the spaces where clarity, creativity, and real growth are born. So today's conversation invites us into that space. I'm joined by Maggie Brombach, a leader, a coach, and a guide who brings a rare depth of experience and wisdom on the topic of transitions and intentional pauses in leadership.

Add Roll (1:37): Meggy has spent over twenty years leading teams and driving change across both the private and humanitarian sector from global organizations like Procter and Gamble to UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Her career has been defined by high performance, responsibility, and impact. But as so many leaders discover, consistent high performance comes at a cost. Burnout and health challenges forced Meggie to pause, and that moment changed everything. What emerged from that pause was not a step backwards, but a profound reorientation.

Add Roll (2:21): Meggie coaches leaders, teams to navigate transitions with presence, depth, and courage, helping them find clarity and purpose in times of change without sacrificing their well-being. In this episode, we explore what it truly means to redefine success, not as doing less, but as doing what matters with intention.

Unknown Speaker (2:48): Well, Maggie, I just want to say thank you for coming on the go slow to go fast lifestyle podcast and welcome.

Unknown Speaker (2:56): Thank you. It's such a pleasure to be here today.

Maggie Brombach (2:59): Yes, absolutely. Before we dive into your background and all information that you're going to be sharing with our listeners and viewers today, I'd love to start with a question for you about when you hear the phrase go slow to go fast, what does that actually mean to you personally and professionally?

Maggie Brombach (3:20): It triggers so many things. Just immediately resonate with the sentence because I learned how important is to recharge our batteries, so to go slow to then be able to go much faster. But also immediately, I love sports analogies. So when I hear that, I immediately think things like marathon training. You know, like also in sports often, it's such an important concept to go slow, to build up strength slowly, to then be able to go fast.

Unknown Speaker (3:52): So yeah, I think it's just a fantastic line.

Maggie Brombach (3:57): Yes. And I think you embody that with the work that you do for busy professionals. Can you kind of walk us through where you were in your life and how you've come to this point where you're working with other busy professionals out there?

Maggie Brombach (4:15): Sure. So like many people in midlife, I've went through a few transitions and changes. So I started out in marketing and brand management and about fifteen years ago I had a burnout, my first burnout. And then took first break, I went actually back to university and then I went into the humanitarian field. So I've been with the Red Cross for the last fifteen years.

Unknown Speaker (4:41): And two years ago I had another burnout. And you know, once you say okay, one time is no time, but then if it happens again you really start looking deeper. And that's what I did. So I worked with a psychologist. I did a lot of self reflection.

Maggie Brombach (4:57): I went into mindfulness. And I think I identified a moment in my youth that got me into a habit to when things get going and they get tough and I want to prove myself, I tend to over deliver and deliver and deliver just to hope to eventually to be seen. And I really struggled to put my boundaries firmer and stand my ground. So it really took me going back to that experience and releasing that to claiming my space. So I launched two years ago also a podcast which initially was called Leadership Insights, but I rebranded it last year to Played by Your Rules, which also is coming from this whole idea that in order to play it by our rules, we first need to understand our rules, and that's actually not so easy, and then to find our boundaries, claim our boundaries, and then we can really live more authentically.

Maggie Brombach (5:53): And I did notice that also with colleagues and really high level leaders that we all have our insecurities and even when you look really accomplished on paper, many people are struggling with that. So that's why now I'm working with midlife leaders to share most of all, and mostly through the podcast, but also through my coaching, really share my experience and also some practical tools to also find their boundaries and claim them better so that they can find a more peaceful place, if you will.

Maggie Brombach (6:33): Yeah. I love that you're working with midlife leaders. I'm 50. I've been a leader for twenty five plus years. But even though we can, and I'm saying we out there to listeners and viewers who have also been in this space where you've, you know, you've been in middle management, maybe you've been a specialist or coordinator, whatever that's called in your corner of the world, But then when you get a promotion, it doesn't mean all of a sudden you download all of these skills that help you to lead others.

Maggie Brombach (7:07): Know? So you have to It's a process. And so leadership, unless you have those supports built into your career, in infrastructure of your business, or whatever company group you're a part of, it's really learning by experience. And I think we also, obviously, we learn from our own personal experience of health related issues, stress management, all of those things. So, you know, it's great when I hear that there are others in this profession, in this space, helping, you know, the leaders out there now.

Unknown Speaker (7:43): And, you know, if I could have had somebody like us, right, to learn from in my twenties, I think I may have, you know, maybe not all of the things, but I think I may have been able to listen to the signs and figure them out a little quicker than ending up in the hospital or other situations

Unknown Speaker (8:05): It's that I've had to deal so interesting you say that because I've been reflecting about that a lot. Because I think there's two parts of skills that I think are useful for leaders. So one are really the hard leadership skills, and there's a whole set of things to be said about that and skills to be learned. But then what I'm talking about more is kind of I've adjusted the famous line by Simon Sinek, It's not about what we do, but why we do it. I'm saying it's not about what we do, but how we do it.

Maggie Brombach (8:34): So I'm really focusing on that space. And the higher you go, the thinner the air gets and the more pressure is on you. So I think many leaders really struggle with that. But then, I mean, I wished also I would have known earlier. I would love to inspire younger people, but there is a part of me that wonders when people are ready to listen.

Maggie Brombach (8:56): Because just to give you a very concrete example, over eight years ago, we had an amazing management and leadership training at work. And during that training, I first came across mindfulness. We did a few sessions. I thought like, wow, this is awesome. I should do that more often.

Maggie Brombach (9:13): And that never happened until I hit my head full speed the second time against the wall. So I think there's also that, that there is a moment, you know, we can, of course, share and inspire. But then I think that the receptiveness comes with life experience and life experience sometimes is hard. And sometimes we need to learn it the hard way to start really open up and listen and be open to find solutions, right?

Unknown Speaker (9:43): Right, yeah, because I don't really think my 20 self would have listened. It's like, really have to, you have to hit the wall. You have to be hit over the head before you're really gonna listen because you just think you can persevere and get through it.

Unknown Speaker (10:01): Yeah. Or you're just busy doing other things, you know? You're like, yeah, yeah, I should do that. But right now I'm just busy doing climbing the ladder, doing the exciting stuff I'm excited about, you know? So many reasons to do other things.

Maggie Brombach (10:13): Right, right. And we could live on so much less sleep and when we're young and not eat the best foods and all the things and, you know. So, you know, life catches up to you. You're in your mid life moments now as a leader. What would be your advice to somebody out there right now who's questioning, you know, like, what do I need to do differently?

Unknown Speaker (10:39): Because obviously this is not working, whatever it is that I'm doing.

Maggie Brombach (10:43): So what I noticed that I trilled it down to three things that I think many people are lacking. And then there's also a few things that people aspire to, which of course is different. But I focus in my work on three specific ones that I believe, I mean, they're super important to me. And I like to work with people that can relate to those three. So I give you the two sets of three.

Maggie Brombach (11:09): So I noticed often leaders or anybody, not just leaders, like clarity, confidence and courage. And what I mean by that is, you know, actually I've seen surveys by that Gallup and other studies that say it was like sixty five percent or even more of employees are unhappy with their job, but many don't know what else they want. And that's a problem. So if you just know you're not happy, but you don't know what would make you happier, you know, there is a saying by Seneca, if you don't know where you're going, you cannot have good trade wins to get you there. So I really believe first people need to pause and that's why go slow to go fast is such a great line.

Maggie Brombach (11:54): So people need to slow down, get out of the hamster wheel and just really sincerely reflect honestly with themselves. So what would I actually like? What would be a perfect life or a nice or better life for me? So that's the first step. And then once you figure that out, especially at midlife when you already build a career, then you might figure out, actually, I'd much rather be a gardener or maybe not extreme, but I'd rather work in a different field.

Maggie Brombach (12:22): Then the whole lack of confidence and courage comes in because, of course, it's scary. And then you go like, Yeah, but I don't want to start from scratch. What if I don't have the skills? You know, you have the whole inner critic that kicks in. So that's where you where we all need to build courage and confidence to take the leap and to go.

Maggie Brombach (12:45): And then, of course, with that, you need a whole set of other skills and the more the technical things. I mean, you know, the typical career in transition coaching. I mean, there's, of course, a whole field and a whole army of coaches out there that offer that service where you really go down into what are your skill sets, how you can transfer it. But even knowing that won't make you move unless you build up your confidence and courage, because else you might just get stuck in not moving. And then the bit I'm driving towards is my tagline is freedom, fun and flow.

Maggie Brombach (13:23): No, freedom, flow and fun. But anyway, the three of them, I find them so important. And I also it doesn't necessarily mean to change your job. If you manage to bring that back into your job, even better.

Unknown Speaker (13:39): Yeah. And do you would you connect the dots to purpose or values to kind of come to that understanding of that freedom and the flow and the fun?

Maggie Brombach (13:52): I think it's very different what for instance, starting with freedom, what freedom means for each of us. For some, freedom is flexibility of work arrangements. For others, freedom is the freedom of how you use your time. For others, maybe freedom of speech. So I think it's also to really dissect what is it that you're after.

Maggie Brombach (14:15): So I think that's the first point where to start. And also some people, they might not care about freedom, flow and fun. I mean, that's just what, you know, what I'm driving after. So for people it might be status or social security and there is no better or worse thing we want. We just need to get clear what is that we want and then we can start going after it.

Unknown Speaker (14:39): So once people figure out that driver, whatever they're looking for, you know, I think in the pandemic a lot of people had that forced pause, and so they may have something in the back of their mind if they haven't spent time thinking about it since. So do you have any strategies or, you know, processes that you work through with people to kind of figure out what that is?

Maggie Brombach (15:05): Yeah. So I invented a framework like most coaches do, and then come with fancy names. So I'm fine tuning them right now. So the overall process I call my mindful rebellion approach. Kiss, and when I say rebellion, it's not a rebellion against the employer or whatever.

Maggie Brombach (15:25): It's actually rebellion against the old script, like this old stories that have been running us. So to break free from that. That's the overall method. And then I zoom in on a framework that I call G. F.

Unknown Speaker (15:37): T. And G. I. T. Stands for the G.

Unknown Speaker (15:42): E. But the C wasn't so good, so I made it a G. I. Clear. But the first step is really about clarity.

Maggie Brombach (15:48): Then the second step is imagine. And that's where techniques from visualization are extremely important. And I've really gotten myself into the neuroscience of it, softrology, a bit of neuro linguistic programming. I'm not certified on any of that, but I read up a lot of the stuff and it all comes down to the power of visualization and not because magically the universe sends you something. Maybe it does, but you know even if you don't believe in that, there's neuroscience behind it.

Maggie Brombach (16:19): Because the more you visualize with all your senses and you get really clear of the image of what you want, it's almost like an instruction to your subconscious that you look out for it more. You know the old story that when you're pregnant, for instance, suddenly you see pregnant women everywhere. I mean, were there before. It's just because it wasn't relevant to you, you didn't see them. So similarly, that's why visualization is so powerful.

Maggie Brombach (16:45): Then the next step is follow through. The F is follow through. So once you basically I mean, one exercise I do, I do for instance a three year perfect day from now in three years time visualization. So I let my clients really imagine with all their senses how would this perfect ordinary day look like three years from now. And then I break it back to end of this year or maybe like into smaller chunks.

Maggie Brombach (17:08): And then you can work on a strategy of follow-up, like little steps that they can start taking today to get towards that longer goal. And then the T is trust, because at one point you just got to surrender and trust that things that you'll get there because the path might change, you might go on a detour, but just kind of keeping the faith that you'll get there is such an important thing. And it's not easy. The more we get discouraged, the more we maybe stop too early. So building that trust, that's really an important element as well.

Maggie Brombach (17:49): Yeah, thank you for walking us through that because I think, some people might think, I definitely need to do something different. Whatever I'm doing is not working. And I don't really have time to go find a self help book and read and figure out whatever. But I think, you know, listening to podcasts these days seem to be the place to go where, you know, lots of people can, you know, listen for an hour and get a strategy and run with it. But, you know, then there's human nature.

Maggie Brombach (18:20): And we, you know, we try something and maybe it doesn't work the first time. So what would you say is the benefit of working with a coach to kind of walk through a process like you've just shared?

Maggie Brombach (18:35): Well, the biggest one is to hold yourself accountable. I think that's a really big one. I mean, there are other ways to do that. Like for instance, when started getting into marathon running, it's also like public announcements, to say on social media, I'm going to run a marathon. These things that also put pressure on yourself.

Maggie Brombach (18:54): But I feel like with the more personal things, don't want to put that on social media. At least I don't want to. So I think it's more of a safe, protected space where you're gently held accountable. And also just feeding back your thoughts. You know, if you just keep going yourself or you write it down, it can be so powerful because, I mean, the hardest bit is the famous blind spots, like the parts that we don't know, we don't know.

Unknown Speaker (19:21): And, you know, give you a really funny, stupid little example. When I was leaving my first corporate job after that first burnout and I was kind of checking out, but I thought, let's get a bit of feedback. I was asking a lot of colleagues to give three words that they feel I really stand for. And I knew a few things. I'm a people person, I'm this, I'm that, so I had a few ideas.

Maggie Brombach (19:44): Everybody said passion and I hadn't even thought of it. It wasn't even on my radar. And now looking back, it's just ridiculous that it wasn't on my radar. But sometimes, you know, we don't see the most obvious things And that's something a coach can give because a coach is not going to give you the solution. A coach is helping you with your thinking.

Maggie Brombach (20:09): But still, a coach also can feed you back and kind of mirror back what you're saying in other words, and that alone can sometimes trigger some insights.

Maggie Brombach (20:21): Yeah, and I think, you know, anybody out there listening to a podcast or watching us on YouTube, and if you haven't worked with a coach before, and you're kind of wondering like, well, how does it work? It's exactly what Maggie just shared. We support, you know, coaches support your thinking. And so it's not like we're giving you ideas. We're not giving you the answer.

Maggie Brombach (20:42): Now we can definitely support you with options to consider, like Maggie's, process for, you know, the gift. That is a strategy. So that's an option to consider. But coaching really, when it's done effectively, it's supporting your thinking. You know, the client, you have the answer.

Maggie Brombach (21:02): You just have to see the dots connect. But it's also good to have that accountability partner like you shared. Because, I've seen recently some people are using ChatGPT as their accountability partner, which, you know, I mean, I'm okay with them throwing something in there like what might be my first place to start. But if you really want that human connection and an accountability partner, maybe somebody who doesn't know you, like not a family member, you know, but would be gentle in the way that they guide you, you know, coaching is an option.

Unknown Speaker (21:38): That opens a whole Pandora's box. I'm so biased about I mean, it's great. I'm using it. There's a lot of great uses of it. But in that coaching space, I feel it's so dangerous because there's also a positivity bias.

Maggie Brombach (21:53): And I read also that for teenagers, it can be really hard because it's such a nice friend that never challenges you. And sometimes that's the best gift a coach can give you is to call you out to to spot the things that are purely human, are really between the lines, that it's not even what you say, but it's maybe the incoherence between what you say and what happens in your body. And these things until right now, I think A can do, maybe at one point it will be able to do it, but yes, it's a fine line to walk.

Maggie Brombach (22:26): That's a fair point because, you know, and I've read something recently where ChatGPT is seen as like the positive cheerleader, and Gemini is more of like the analytical, you know, so they each have their own tone, so it depends on what you're looking for. So it's, you know, it's interesting. It's kind of like when you go shop, you know, get a second opinion from a medical professional, you might want different tone, different treatment, but, know, AI, it's definitely not the place where you're gonna get that real accountability.

Maggie Brombach (23:04): Yeah, not think that there's another element to this. A lot of this takes time because most coaches have coaches. So I've just come out of a one year coaching program. And it's taken a year for me to get full clarity. And, you know, sometimes these things require the time.

Maggie Brombach (23:25): And we're in, you know, these days we always want to have answers quickly, but sometimes we have to spend time. There's actually a really good book for listeners, I really recommend reading it, particularly if they're going through a life transition. It's called Transitions and it's written by William Bridges. And what William Bridges talks about is that in each transition you have an ending, a neutral zone, and only then you have a new beginning. So first of all you really have to mark the ending.

Maggie Brombach (23:53): It's really important to close the circle, you have to mark your ending. And then what people tend to do, they rush through the neutral zone because they just want to get out of there and start something new. But actually the neutral zone is where the magic happens and that's where that's again the go slow to go fast. That's where you can reflect, you can unpack. And there's risk these days because we are so fast and we want to have answers fast and CHET GPT is giving us the answers in a split second.

Maggie Brombach (24:24): That doesn't replace the deep reflection and the sitting on it and that just embracing the questions and just staying there for a few weeks. It's really important to do that too.

Maggie Brombach (24:38): Yeah. I mean, we're kind of in that world where we want to consume and download immediately. I'm one of those people that gets frustrated when I find a series and I can't watch more than one episode at a time. But, know, that's for brainless consumption. But if you're really wanting to work on your growth edges, yeah, I think, you know, like you said, coaches have coaches.

Maggie Brombach (25:05): I definitely have coaches in my space and my accountability partners that are gonna call me on things. And they're gonna say, okay, last time we met, what did we say we were gonna do? And where are we with that? And, you know, it's helpful to have somebody that's checking in and giving back to you what you said you were gonna do.

Unknown Speaker (25:25): Yes. Yeah.

Maggie Brombach (25:28): So thinking about, you know, and you said it's very easy for us to kind of want to transition and move on quickly without processing. So processing is very important for us to do, whether it be a change in our life personally or professionally. So what advice do you have to people out there listening and watching who are going through maybe job loss or a transition that's pretty major in their middle years? What would be some advice that you'd want to share for them to kind of process and sit with it?

Maggie Brombach (26:07): Yeah, so I'm based in Geneva and over the last year or so we've seen a lot of I mean, are many job losses here due to because there's the UN headquarters is here, the European headquarters, so there's a lot of so I see all around me many people who went through some really serious situations where they lost their job overnight. So first of all, there's the emotional side of it. You know, this is hard and it's okay to feel whatever you feel, you know, to feel angry or sad or scared. I think it's very important to embrace and accept those feelings, but don't get stuck there, but, you know, allow them and let them out. But then move on.

Maggie Brombach (26:54): And as scary as it is, because right now the challenge is people in the private sector want to go into the humanitarian development sector, people in the humanitarian development sector want to go into the private sector, but everybody's jobs are cut. So where do you go? And that's a super scary situation. So again, it comes back also to the trust and really it's almost a little bit where mindfulness is so useful in all of this, because, you know, to kind of calm your mind and really then start looking objectively, what are my skills? What are my assets?

Maggie Brombach (27:28): There's another really good book. I'm a book person. It's written by the founders of LinkedIn. It's called Startup of You. And a lot of it is probably common advice that people heard before.

Maggie Brombach (27:40): But what I really like when they talk about your assets, like your skills, they talk about a magic mix. So basically it's not just what you've done in your work before, but also what you've done in your life. So if you're a mother, you're probably a pretty good project manager, even if you don't have a project management certification. Or you're singing a choir and that gives you certain skills, you know, to really look at your whole life and then again go back of what do you actually want to do next, because maybe that is the moment to make a change you wanted to do for many years. And yes, it's scary and depending also on how much pressure there is financially and how much you can keep going without really running into trouble.

Maggie Brombach (28:24): But it can be an opportunity to redirect. Because the other thing I noticed, so when I did my career change fifteen years ago from the private sector and the human hands sector, that was my dream job coming true. I mean, I couldn't have been happier. But now I've been okay moving on because our dreams change over our lifetime. And it doesn't mean I don't deeply appreciate the time I spend with the Red Cross.

Maggie Brombach (28:50): I absolutely appreciate every minute. But it's okay to do something else now. So I would really encourage listeners to embrace the emotions, allow them, but then pause and really take like a midlife assessment, if you will, and look at, okay, this is how far I've gotten. I have another, whatever, fifteen, twenty working years ahead of me. How do I want to use those years?

Maggie Brombach (29:17): Do I want to keep doing what I've been doing before? Because maybe that job loss was a gift in disguise. Maybe it was just sent to us to say like, that's your moment to really look again and see what you wanna do next.

Maggie Brombach (29:35): Yes, I think that's great advice for anybody who's experiencing transition. I mean, it could be job loss. It could be you wanting a career change because you're just not finding your passion in your day to day job that you've been doing for so many years and you want something different and you're afraid to admit it or tell your family or, you know, figure out what you're going to do next. It's okay to explore those changes and sit with it because you may not even realize what it could be like in three to five years from now, how different your life could be.

Maggie Brombach (30:17): And that's actually another advice I often give. I'm a big fan of agile management. I mean, not that I'm trained on agile management as such, but this agile approach. You know, we don't we sometimes feel like we have to take a huge decision, but actually we don't. You know, so if you don't have a you know, you were not impacted by a job cut, you know, so you're actually just considering a change because you want to consider it.

Maggie Brombach (30:40): Well, that's a golden opportunity because you can start trying out things as a side hustle. You know, you can you know, I started coaching almost ten years ago as a side hustle. I mean, not full speed, obviously. But, you know, this has this was in the making for a long time. And, you know, you try it out a little bit, you test it if you like it, and you can do that with so many things.

Maggie Brombach (31:06): Maybe you do it during the weekends, maybe one evening a week, maybe during a holiday. If you have an idea, you think like this is what I want to do, well, just try it out and do it a little bit. And maybe you come to this luxury problem that at one point your side hustle becomes so big and meaningful that it can take over the main job. And also another thing I'm so passionate about these days is the whole concept of portfolio careers, and I think it's much more of a thing in The US than it's that's maybe in Europe already. But, you know, if you're a midlife professional and you're sitting on twenty five years of professional experience, you have so much to offer.

Maggie Brombach (31:45): So you can get really creative. You know, you do maybe a little bit of fractional work here or a little bit of advisory work there. Maybe you keep a 50% of your previous job just to make sure that the bills are paid for now. And then explore. You know, today there's so many opportunities out there, but we need to stop out of our comfort zone and out of our box and try something new.

Maggie Brombach (32:14): Yeah. And I think I've experienced the, you know, your job is gonna change. People are gonna have multiple positions and careers in their lifetime. I think I used to hear about seven different careers in your life, and I'm sure it's more than that now. Just because of, one, people's passions are coming to the forefront now, and people are exploring that, and the pandemic.

Maggie Brombach (32:41): So are you seeing any patterns or changes in that? Are you seeing a lot more people just making that choice before their employers I

Maggie Brombach (32:50): feel like I'm a tiny bit younger than you. So I'm 48. So I'm just heading towards really the official midlife, if you will. But I see that so much with so many of my peers. You know, like people that reached a fairly high level in the organization and then either they're disillusioned, they have a health challenge, they're just fed up with the stress.

Maggie Brombach (33:11): There are many reasons, but I see many people and I really like to think about it as a midlife opportunity and not a crisis. But there are people that just realize, okay, I have so much more to give. Maybe the health challenge also made them realise I won't live forever, so maybe they're like just getting tons of money is not my biggest priority right now anymore. Well then, what is it? And I see that happening a lot around me.

Maggie Brombach (33:36): So it's maybe a midlife thing. I'm not sure if it's like an economically driven thing. Maybe it's a life stage thing. And I've become now really curious in the whole notion of fractal work because I feel like in many ways The UK or The US are a bit ahead in terms of the possibilities that are out there. Fractional work is not really a thing yet in Switzerland.

Unknown Speaker (34:01): But who knows, maybe in a few years' time it will be really established because I think they're more and more qualified people. It's also the generation now, you know, it's the generation of not Millennial, that's probably the Gen X that come to the point where they say, okay, now it's really time to live my passion or my purpose and this is what I have to offer, but this is also what I'm demanding. I'm not ready to come in 100% of my time. So are you ready to take me 40% or you hire somebody else who doesn't have my skills? And I think at some point, hopefully, the job market will start embracing that, to appreciate somebody skilled at 40% rather than You know, it's a mix, you know, I don't want to discredit younger people.

Maggie Brombach (34:48): Of course, there needs to be space for younger people coming up, but that could be a really beautiful mix even for companies where you have senior staff part time giving more of an advisory role perhaps, and you have the youngsters coming up and getting the things going. That could be a beautiful model.

Maggie Brombach (35:08): Yeah. I mean, I could see that working in so many ways. I mean, see that maybe not organically, but it happens when in some spaces where you'll have, you know, somebody go on leave and then somebody who's retired come in and kind of do, we call it a one hundred twenty day contract here in The US, or at least in public schools. I don't know what they call it in other countries or other fields. But you have those people out there who still want to come and provide their knowledge and their calm, you know, guidance, and they have so much experience to give.

Maggie Brombach (35:50): So I would love to see that model in more spaces because it's like the sage on the stage, guide on the side. You can totally, you know, collaborate and learn from the mentors out there that have had those, you know, thirty, forty years of experience in their career.

Unknown Speaker (36:10): Absolutely. Yeah. So

Maggie Brombach (36:15): from this point forward, are you thinking that this model, your gift and your freedom, flow and fun, is it going to be something that you're doing in a larger scale?

Maggie Brombach (36:29): Yeah. So I definitely, I mean, I'm really this year for me is the year when I see how far I can go with this and how many people I can reach with this and also how. Because part of what I want to offer, what I'm going to offer and what I'm already tested in a few smaller setups, I want to bring people back to connect with themselves and with nature. So there's a lot of experiential things I want to do. I want to get them in their bodies.

Maggie Brombach (36:56): And the way I'm doing that is through horse assisted coaching and through really adventure style coaching, you know. So one approach is to take them on a climbing wall and let them, you know, so I did that the other day with my kids and it was so scary and it was so insightful. That's why I also want to offer it to leaders. You know, it's one of those climbing walls where you're self secured. And what it means is the second you let go, there's a split second where you feel like you're on a free fall.

Maggie Brombach (37:26): And I'm a pretty good climber. And I swear every time I was up there I had to go in my head three to one goal because I was so scared to let go. And I think that's so powerful analogy because you really feel that fear in your body and you overcome it. And that is a nice insight to then also bring into your professional life. So this is something I'm offering in Switzerland.

Unknown Speaker (37:56): But for my broader coaching, that's a program that is, you know, that can be run online where I want to find the right people that connect with the spirit and they could best anywhere. And then the idea is to run a mix of individual coaching and pod based learning. So, that's the plan. This year is the year to go big on that and let's see how big big is.

Maggie Brombach (38:28): Yes, I love that. Yep, dream big. You just never know where it's gonna go. So I think that's a great resource, especially for leaders in Switzerland and anybody online who's watching and listening. Know, there's I just was kind of, as you were speaking about your plans for this year, I'm thinking how grateful I am that I can connect with you and, you know, across the pond and, you know, in another country.

Maggie Brombach (38:57): And it's just, you know, this is really a neat time that we're living in, where we can really have that online community and connect and collaborate and learn together. So

Maggie Brombach (39:09): yeah. Absolutely. And for that, I feel, as you said, podcasts are such a powerful tool these days. Because, of course, it doesn't replace real one to one coaching session. But it can spark some inspiration, maybe one or two concrete little things people can do right away.

Maggie Brombach (39:29): And that by itself is already really helpful.

Maggie Brombach (39:34): Yes. Because I think besides the, you know, finding the fun and, you know, figuring out your flow, whatever your passion, you know, is, And, you know, I think it leads to that purpose of what, you know, drives you. I think you also need that community and connecting with others and not just AI.

Maggie Brombach (39:56): Yes, and I think that will be even more important going ahead, you know, because of AI and we'll all use it and, you know, it's great, but I think it'll probably, you know, really make us go much more technology and balance that out. We'll connect, we'll put much more intention on also connecting with real people in real life, with real conversations. So I think we have to do both.

Unknown Speaker (40:23): Absolutely. So, Maggie, do you have any final thoughts or words for the listeners and viewers out there before I let

Unknown Speaker (40:30): you go? Maybe just if they got hooked with my idea, my vision, check out my podcast Played by Your Rules, and tune in. And if all of this resonates, reach out to me on LinkedIn and see what's possible or even just connect and have a chat. I just love connecting with people in any case.

Maggie Brombach (40:52): Yes. And I'll make sure all of information is in the show notes so people know where to find you. Thank you, Maggie, for joining us today.

Unknown Speaker (41:00): Thank you very much. It's been such a pleasure being here.

Add Roll (41:08): This conversation is such a powerful reminder that slowing down is not a failure. It's often the most courageous and strategic choice we can make. For those listening out there and watching on YouTube, I hope this episode gave you permission to reflect on where you might need to pause, where a transition might be inviting you to lead differently, and how redefining success could create more space for both impact and well-being. If this conversation hit a chord with you, I encourage you to sit with it. Maybe even take a walk, step outside, or give yourself a few quiet moments to reflect on what's shifting in your life and your leadership.

Add Roll (41:56): You can find more about Maggie and her work in the show notes. And as always, thank you for spending time with me in this space together. And remember, the light in me honors the light in you. And as you head into the rest of your week, make sure to let your light shine through. Go slow to go fast, and thanks for listening.