Things Go Sideways copertina

Things Go Sideways

Things Go Sideways

Di: KiKi L'Italien
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 When life, leadership, or the world go sideways, certainty doesn't show up on schedule. Things Go Sideways is a podcast for the middle of it — the part where the plan has cracked, but nothing new has fully formed yet. Each episode is a slow, honest conversation with someone living through change: a career ending, an identity shifting, a sense that what used to work no longer fits. We don't rush to lessons or tidy conclusions. We stay with what's real long enough to notice what's true. Hosted by KiKi L'Italien, Things Go Sideways is not pitching you advice, motivation, or transformation content. This podcast is bringing you orientation. A place to make sense of uncertainty without pretending you already know what comes next. (Because most of the time, we don't — and that's not a failure.) This podcast exists to help people stay present long enough to learn when certainty is gone.2026 Economia Ricerca del lavoro Scienze sociali Successo personale
Episodi
  • He Built a Company Inside the Limits His Body Set

    He Built a Company Inside the Limits His Body Set
    Apr 22 2026
    Justin Brown was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at 12, and for years he found ways to keep going anyway — ski life in Utah, cooking professionally, staying physically active. Then around 2005 his body stopped cooperating in ways that couldn't be pushed through. A bowel resection changed the baseline. Some of what he'd assumed about himself didn't come back. In this conversation, Justin talks about the slow process of understanding what his body could and couldn't do — not as a limitation on who he was, but as information he had to work with. He's the founder and CEO of Rhino Skin Solutions, a company built around durability and staying in the game longer. It's hard not to notice how directly that philosophy tracks back to his own story. The conversation covers: the year things broke down before surgery; what "identity" actually means when it's not tethered to a condition or a sport; the craftsman approach to illness, work, and incremental improvement; how Jiu Jitsu gave him a kind of community that cooking never quite did; and what he says when someone asks if it's going to get better. Join the Things Go Sideways Substack! HIGHLIGHTS 00:04 — KiKi sets the episode premise and introduces Justin 01:15 — Justin describes the body breaking down: two good hours a day 03:58 — Self-discovery before surgery; the physical paths that closed off 06:17 — Being diagnosed at 12 and what it did to his sense of self 08:32 — Justin explains what Crohn's disease is and how it works 10:24 — The cultural story about strength, and when it stopped fitting 11:04 — The craftsman philosophy: illness, cooking, Rhino, all one approach 13:25 — Why identity shouldn't be tethered to a condition or an object 15:37 — Wondering if disability was the path; what pointed him toward Rhino 22:09 — Two pieces of family wisdom he still carries 24:07 — His annual resolution: no complaining without a solution 25:30 — Jiu Jitsu and the kind of community that earns your trust 29:53 — The honest answer: it's not going to get better for everybody 31:26 — What passion looks like today: family, Rhino, incremental improvement Resources Rhino Skin Solutions: https://rhinoskinsolutions.com/ Podcast Starter Pack — Rhino Skin Solutions: https://rhinoskinsolutions.com/products/podcast-starter-pack Justin Brown on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-brown-772717105/ Things Go Sideways Podcast Libsyn RSS Feed: https://feeds.libsyn.com/597715/rss Libsyn Podcast Page: https://sites.libsyn.com/597715/site LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/things-go-sideways/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1150721167011215 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585524425304 Book Club: https://bookclubs.com/clubs/6100919/join/4db79195 YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRiPZ_HubKQpcbMaCYtlJN9D6qTv4tOrb&si=85aYxvab0LAD8LKj Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0AToVdda4omlLpG9KpQ0Hj?si=6f32814b56004eab Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-go-sideways/id1849510232 Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/87fc90ea-455c-443d-a24f-bd3bccc2e764/things-go-sideways Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/Things-Go-Sideways/B0G59XM2XY?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp Share Your Sideways Story (Guest Intake Form): https://forms.gle/UcccE9eJBSfEc9UN9 Schedule Your Sideways Story Interview: https://calendly.com/kiki-interview/podcast-interview About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.
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    35 min
  • He Renamed His Disease "Constant State of Adaptation." Then He Got Back to Work.

    He Renamed His Disease "Constant State of Adaptation." Then He Got Back to Work.
    Apr 15 2026
    Mark Wallach was diagnosed with ALS in April 2021. By then, he'd already been losing function in his right arm for years — adapting each time, finding workarounds. He's now a quadriplegic and also a working entrepreneur who recently posted about learning to drive his wheelchair with his eyes. That post reached more than 300 people outside his network. An assistive technology company in Germany reached out to send him equipment. (Could this be what happens when someone stops protecting the image and starts telling the truth about their sideways moment?) In this conversation, host of Things Go Sideways podcast, KiKi L'Italien, and Mark cover what it means to keep building when the losses keep coming — and they don't stop. They talk through the grief that doesn't end (he lost use of his right arm, then his left, then both legs), how ALS clarified rather than collapsed his sense of what matters, and what legacy actually looks like when you have a real timeline. They also get into bandwidth, delegation, AI as a genuine equalizer, and why Mark believes vulnerability isn't a soft concept — it's an access point. Mark has a name for his disease that isn't ALS. He calls it "CSA: Constant State of Adaptation." If you were hoping for tidy resolutions, you won't find them here. This episode doesn't end cleanly. It ends with a man still in the thick of it, still building, still figuring out how to receive what other people offer him. And that's where things get interesting! Timestamps 00:04 — KiKi names the premise: stories about reckoning, not highlight reels 01:45 — Mark shares his mission: earn the right to be the first call 04:01 — Mark renames ALS to CSA: constant state of adaptation 06:07 — Going public with vulnerability: unexpected reach and a $8K technology offer 09:49 — What the disease taught him that anyone could use 14:47 — Outsourcing admin, leaning on AI, and working as a quadriplegic 18:21 — Mind shift: from salesperson stigma to connector with purpose 22:34 — Why building for legacy means learning to replace yourself 26:29 — What legacy actually looks like: his wife, his reputation, pizza nights 29:54 — The first sideways moment: August 2018, a weak right arm at Whole Foods 33:28 — The diagnosis, stopping driving, and doing what he'd been putting off 38:51 — Getting out of a funk: goals matter more than self-pity — with permission for rest 40:45 — The hardest thing he's learned: accepting help and letting go of the how 44:33 — The cave question: learning to receive what others offer Resources 🔗 Mark Wallach on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markwallach/ 🌐 Engagement Mobile Strategies: https://www.engagementmobile.com/ 💙 I Am ALS (advocacy organization): https://www.iamals.org/ 💙 The ALS Association: https://www.als.org/ About the Things Go Sideways Podcast When life or leadership goes sideways, the story's just getting interesting. Things Go Sideways with KiKi L'Italien features honest conversations with leaders, creators, and changemakers navigating disruption, uncertainty, and identity shifts. Each episode explores trust, resilience, and what it means to stay human when certainty breaks down. New episodes share real stories about rebuilding agency and meaning without rushing to quick-fixes, spiritual bypassing, or pretending clarity comes easy.
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    46 min
  • He Built Companies for 30 Years. Here's What Almost Broke Him.

    He Built Companies for 30 Years. Here's What Almost Broke Him.
    Apr 8 2026

    Vidar Hokstad has spent more than 30 years building, scaling, and exiting tech companies. He's started price wars he couldn't win, fired people who didn't deserve it, and hit the kind of burnout that doesn't announce itself—it just slowly narrows your field of vision until all you can see is the next task.

    In this conversation, Vidar talks about what it's like when investors override your judgment, when a dot-com crash forces you to cut a team from 50 to 7, and what happens inside you when the company you relocated countries for starts to collapse. He also gets honest about why big corporate jobs felt like a vacation after startup life, why he kept going back to building anyway, and what finally made fractional consulting feel like the right fit—not a fallback.

    This episode is for anyone who's building something that looks successful from the outside but feels quietly unsustainable on the inside. Vidar doesn't offer a clean resolution. He offers what 30 years of sideways moments actually taught him: the sooner you take the break, the shorter it needs to be.
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    30 min
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