How do you keep growing in your career without changing jobs?
Nathalie Kempf shares the one question she asks herself every year: is there still something she can learn in the next twelve months? She explains why a career that lasts decades doesn’t need to accelerate every single year. The conversation covers the pressure to always do more, how curiosity and raising your hand for new projects can open doors inside a large company, and an underrated way to grow: learning outside your job. Nathalie also talks about what to do when you feel stuck at work, and why it’s better to leave for an exciting opportunity than out of frustration.

Nathalie Kempf is team lead global corporate communications at Zalando. Together with her team, she is responsible for driving the global corporate communications strategy across Zalando’s innovation ecosystem – from new technologies and AI driven innovation to Zalando’s onsite and partner experience, as well as its global marketing efforts. She joined Zalando in 2018 as a fresh graduate from the Berlin School of Economics and Law and has since served in different positions within Zalando’s Corporate Affairs department, advancing her career from a junior manager position to leading a small team of experts today. She holds a Master of Science from Humboldt University Berlin, a certification in Usability and UX and is currently training to become a fitness instructor on the side.

References:

Nathalie Kempf LinkedIn profile

Energy management at work matters just as much as time management, and decision fatigue is one of the biggest drains on it. Most people know that some parts of work give them energy and others take it away, but few ever think about managing it.
In this episode, Peter Sorgenfrei, author of The Whole Human Leader, explains the difference between energy that comes from within and energy that comes from other people, and shares a simple exercise for tracking your energy throughout the day.
He talks about how leaders can read the energy of their team and shift it when needed, and why being open about a bad day helps more than hiding it. He also walks through his Decision Protection Protocol (batching, delegation, elimination and timing) and explains why delegating is the hardest step for founders.

Peter Sorgenfrei founded and led six companies across three continents, including Europe’s largest operator of autonomous vehicles, until February 2020, when he burned out so completely his body shut down. He rebuilt, and today he coaches over 40 Founders and CEOs and their teams per year across 13 countries, working with leaders from Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Nestle to VC-backed startups. His book, The Whole Human Leader, is out now with Wiley.

References:

Peter Sorgenfrei LinkedIn profile

www.petersorgenfrei.com

What happens to knowledge work when AI can do the knowing?
In this episode, James Meaden looks at the future of knowledge work: how the idea of the expert professional took shape, why the knowledge people are trained on is going out of date faster than ever, and why work may be shifting from knowledge toward judgment.
The conversation also explores what it means to come out of an era of certainty, when the predictable path of degree, job and career no longer holds. James argues that navigating uncertainty is one of the oldest human skills, even though workplaces have rarely trained or rewarded it. The episode closes on leadership: what leaders can offer their teams when they don’t have all the answers, and why honesty and trust matter more than projecting confidence.

James Meaden is an Industrial/Organizational psychologist and founder of The Alive Institute. His work explores what it means to be human in an age of AI, and how leaders can develop the human intelligence needed to navigate change and uncertainty. Through research, assessment, and coach certification, he helps people lead human again.

References:

James Meaden LinkedIn profile

www.thealive.institute