My guest today asked herself a question a lot of us are afraid to ask: was she building a life that was truly hers, or one designed to prove she had overcome her past?

She grew up below the poverty line, in a home without running water and shaped by instability, and she put herself through school as a single parent. On top of that, she built a career of more than twenty-five years in the financial industry, leading strategy for multinational corporations, global risk management teams, and large-scale technology programs. She holds an MBA in Leadership and a Master of Arts in Humanities, holds numerous coaching accreditations, teaches leadership and risk management at two universities, and is completing her training as a Student Therapist in supervision through the Ontario Psychotherapy and Counselling College. Today she is the founder of Percepta Leadership, which provides psychotherapy for leaders and executives, and the Center for Applied Psychodynamics, which provides specialized coach training.

She left the corner office to help other high achievers understand what is really driving them. Join me as we think outside the lines with Tanna Brodbar.

In this episode, we explore:

Achievement as a survival strategy, and the shame that can quietly power a whole career

The difference between "it's not enough" and "I'm not enough," and why success can't fix the second one

Growing up below the poverty line and building an executive life on top of it

The moment she realized she was genuinely good, that she had enough

Why most people don't lack ambition, they lack support and self-permission

The one mentor who treated her like a human being, and the difference it made

Leadership versus management: people as human beings, not human capital

How the pandemic cracked open bigger ques

tions about the human cost of success

Severance as an uncomfortably familiar picture of leaving your whole self at the office door

Building an internalized sense of security that no title, salary, or status can take away

Retraining as a psychotherapist mid-career, and letting two worlds collide

Resources & Links:

Connect with Tanna and learn more about her work → perceptaleadership.com and centerforappliedpsychodynamics.com

Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearly

Explore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.com

Follow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelines

Enjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.

You’ve left something that no longer fit, but what comes next hasn’t taken shape. The clarity you hoped for hasn’t arrived. There’s no clear plan. And some mornings, you wonder whether making a change was a massive mistake.

We hear plenty of stories about the before and the after. The life that felt wrong, followed by the freedom of finding something better. But the space between those chapters can feel lonely, confusing, and difficult to explain while you’re living it.

In this short solo episode, I explore the messy middle of change: the uncertainty of outgrowing an old identity before a new one feels familiar, the pressure to figure everything out, and what it means to lead yourself through a transition you can’t neatly plan.

This is an invitation to give yourself room to be in between. To notice what’s emerging without demanding an immediate answer. And to consider whether the part you’re trying to rush through might have something important to teach you.

In this episode, I explore:

• Why the middle of a transition can feel more like free fall than growth

• The discomfort of no longer being who you were, while still discovering who you’re becoming

• How the pressure to have a plan can make uncertainty feel like personal failure

• The difference between managing yourself toward an answer and leading yourself through the unknown

• Making space to listen for what comes next instead of rushing to fill the gap

• Giving yourself permission to move at a pace that allows something meaningful to take shape

Resources & Links:

• Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearly

• Explore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.com

• Follow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelines

Enjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s coming next.

After eighteen years with the same company, David Nassief walked to his car carrying a cardboard box. Inside was a crayon drawing from his son with the words, “My dad, an important man.” At sixty-three, newly fired and worried about how he would support his family, David felt anything but important.

What followed forced him to rethink more than his career. He had to confront how much of his identity belonged to a job title, how fear had kept him in a role he had outgrown, and why decades of earning good money had left him without the security he thought he was building.

In this conversation, David shares the ordinary grocery-store moment that became a turning point, the lessons he carried forward from two failed businesses, and the experience of starting again when the world seemed to expect him to wind down. We also explore the difference between earning money and building wealth, the relationship between simplicity and peace, and the thinking behind his book, The One-Page Wealth Compass.

At the heart of it all is a different definition of an important life: showing up for your family, contributing to others, and knowing who you are even when the title disappears.

For anyone facing an unexpected ending or wondering whether it is too late to choose a different direction, this conversation offers an honest look at fear, identity, and finding a next chapter you want to live.

In this episode, we explore:

• The parking-lot moment after eighteen years with one company, and the fear of starting over at sixty-three
• How a job title can become an identity, and what remains when it is taken away
• The grocery-store experience that pushed David to rethink who he was and what came next
• Why he stayed in a role he had outgrown, even when he knew it was time for a change
• What two failed businesses taught him about building his next one
• The difference between earning a good income and building lasting financial security
• The thinking behind The One-Page Wealth Compass, and his search for a simpler approach to money
• How financial independence changed his relationship with work, choice, and stress
• Why he sees this stage of life as an opportunity for a new adventure
• Redefining importance through family, contribution, and helping other people
• Why clear direction can matter more than moving faster

Resources & Links:

• Connect with David, learn about his book, and sign up for the free One-Page Wealth Compass PDF → onepagewealthcompass.com
• Ready to step off autopilot? Visit thinkoutsidethelines.com to access free worksheets designed to help you cut through the noise, ask the right questions, and finally hear yourself clearly
• Explore 1:1 coaching and other resources at thinkoutsidethelines.com
• Follow along on all platforms → @thinkoutsidethelines

Enjoyed the episode? Please share it with someone who might need to hear it, and subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next.