In this episode, I interview Maggie Roach Black in a live conversation about the partnership Maggie and I have built over 18 years of working together.

We talk about what makes a work partnership not just functional — but dream-level aligned. The kind of partnership that makes better work, deeper impact, and a lot more joy possible.

This is an inside look at how we think, how we collaborate, how we navigate challenges, and how we’ve stayed each other’s primary thought partner and creative partner for almost two decades.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• The traits and values we find make deeply compatible work partners
• How we manage our minds to get the best out of ourselves and each other
• How we navigate challenges without damaging trust or momentum
• Why we’ve been able to sustain a primary work partnership with each other for nearly 20 years
• How meetings on the beach, working dinners and laughing about EVERYTHING keeps us stronger
• Why joy, partnership, and collaboration directly translate into stronger outcomes and better work
• How we create deep organizational impact by helping leaders and teams access their bestest best
• How we help mission-driven organizations build cultures where humans actually thrive
• The next big idea we’re building together — including retreats in Paris

This conversation is really about what becomes possible when you build work relationships rooted in trust, growth, shared values, and hilariousness.

When partnership is aligned, work gets better.
Impact gets bigger.
And the experience of building something meaningful becomes a whole lot more fun.

Maggie Roach Black

Maggie is an executive coach, mom of three wild daughters, holder of multiple degrees from Stanford University, and co-founder of Bloom Leadership. She loves spending her days coaching individuals, training managers and leaders, and helping all kinds of people get unstuck (along with volunteering at her kids’ schools and Girl Scout troops). Her career experience includes leading a scaling business, building processes for staffing and decentralized culture at scale, strategic planning, managing functional teams of managers for people at all levels, and working directly with teachers and kids. She thrives on helping individuals and teams to set the right goals, and believes every work experience can be fun.

How to connect with Marie:

• On the Web | The Local Bloom
• Instagram: @the.bloom.coach
• All Things Marie on LinkTree

JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM!
We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

Today we’re revisiting one of the most powerful frameworks I teach: the Regenerative Thought Model — and then taking it one step further into real-life application inside relationships, leadership, and everyday human interactions.

At its core, the model is simple:

There are factual circumstances in the world.
We observe them (ideally from a compassionate, grounded space).
Our thoughts about those circumstances create our feelings.
Our feelings drive our behavior.
Our behavior creates our results.

And then the sneaky part:
Our results almost always appear to prove our original thought true.
Our brain says, “See? I knew it.”
And confirmation bias strengthens that thought, those neural pathways, and that belief system over time — keeping us locked in familiar patterns.

Here’s the next layer most people don’t realize:

You are always inside a thought model.
All day long.
And so is everyone else.

The problems start when we accidentally jump into someone else’s model without realizing it.

This happens when someone says something, does something, or gives off body language or energy — and suddenly we stop relating to our own thoughts and feelings and start trying to interpret, validate, or live inside their perspective instead.

Then we start asking:
“Is their perspective right?”
“Is my perspective wrong?”
“Should I feel differently?”

But thoughts are not objectively true or false.
They are subjective interpretations.

When we forget that, we create confusion, emotional whiplash, and disconnection from ourselves.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• A clear refresher on the Regenerative Thought Model and how it shapes every result in your life
• Why you are always inside a thought model — and how other people are too
• How and why we accidentally jump into someone else’s model
• The four main reasons this happens:
  • Momentarily forgetting that thoughts are subjective
  • Our deep wiring for belonging and not wanting to be excluded
  • Our brain’s threat detection system over-focusing on potential negatives
  • Mirror neurons making emotional states contagious
• How to recognize when you’ve stepped out of your model (sudden emotional shifts, confusion, disorientation, self-doubt)
• Why staying in your model doesn’t mean ignoring other people — it means staying grounded while gathering data
• A simple 4-step process to:
  • Notice when you may be in someone else’s model
  • Separate their perspective from yours
    Reconnect with your own grounded thinking and emotional state
  • Take in useful information from their experience without abandoning yourself

When you learn to stay in your model, you stop getting emotionally knocked over by other people’s storms. You can be present, empathetic, and connected — while still staying anchored in yourself.

If you want support practicing this in real time:

Bloom Room — foundational thought and emotional skill building
Moxie Mastermind — high-level application while building real-world ideas, leadership, and impact

How to connect with Marie:

• On the Web | The Local Bloom
• Instagram: @the.bloom.coach
• All Things Marie on LinkTree

JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM!
We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!

Relationships are not actually about other people.
They are about the thoughts we think about other people.

And that is incredible news.

Because it means that even when another person doesn’t change, even when circumstances don’t shift, even when history is complicated… you still have agency. You can change the entire emotional climate of a relationship by changing the way you think, feel, and show up inside of it.

In this episode, we explore why it only takes one person in a relationship shifting their inner world to transform the dynamic between two people. And we walk through exactly how that works at the level of thoughts, emotions, nervous system, behavior, and connection.

You’ll learn why:

• Thoughts create our body language, tone, and the emotional safety or distance in our relationships
• How all of that becomes contagious in relationship
• We break down how negative thought loops become self-fulfilling prophecies
• How those thoughts quietly shape our body language and the other person’s subconscious response to us
• How thoughts gather more evidence that looks like them.
• How people who believe they are liked tend to be more likable
• Couples who believe their relationship is special tend to create relationships that actually are
• Take responsibility for your side of the street
• Practical tools for cleaning up our side of the street in relationships, so that we have have more love, connection and joy

Relationships are everything, and you have far more power in them than you were ever taught.

How to connect with Marie:

• On the Web | The Local Bloom
• Instagram: @the.bloom.coach
• All Things Marie on LinkTree

JOIN THE BLOOM ROOM!
We'll take all these ideas and apply them to our lives. Follow me on Instagram at @the.bloom.coach to learn more and snag a spot in my group coaching program!