Welcome to a soul-stirring episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times with your host, Chris Schembra. Set against the festive backdrop of New York City during the holiday season, this conversation is an inspiring reminder of the power of gratitude, connection, and intentional living. Joining Chris is Felipe Gómez, a world-renowned thought leader, virtuoso pianist, and keynote speaker who has captivated audiences across 33 countries with his unique blend of music and leadership insights. Felipe’s jo...
Dec 22, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 254
In this captivating episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra welcomes innovation expert, entrepreneur, and jazz musician Josh Linkner to explore the profound connection between creativity, gratitude, and success. Josh, a New York Times bestselling author and founder of five tech companies, shares how his diverse experiences—from navigating high-stakes business ventures to performing over 1,000 jazz concerts—have shaped his unique philosophy on unlocking human potential. Josh...
Dec 08, 2024•46 min•Ep. 253
In this inspiring episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra sits down with David Landman, a former senior HR executive at Goldman Sachs, to explore his transformative journey from corporate success to living a life centered on joy, gratitude, and purpose. David, who is passionate about making work more sustainable, fulfilling, and inclusive for everyone, shares how his career transition was sparked by a desire to escape stagnation and create a more meaningful life. After 20 y...
Nov 21, 2024•55 min•Ep. 252
In this insightful episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra welcomes Mitch Warner, Managing Partner at The Arbinger Institute and co-author of Leadership and Self-Deception . Mitch guides us through the core principles of Arbinger’s groundbreaking work, exploring the central idea of self-deception —a psychological barrier that prevents individuals from seeing others clearly and, ultimately, impedes personal and organizational growth. Mitch introduces the concept of self-dece...
Oct 23, 2024•55 min•Ep. 251
In this deeply moving and insightful episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra engages in a heartfelt conversation with Sandeep Angra , Chief Information and Technology Officer (CIO/CTO) of the 40,000 person strong company, Unifi, the largest airport ground-handling company in North America and Europe. With over three decades of IT leadership experience spanning various industries, Sandeep’s professional achievements are significant, but today’s conversation takes us beyond h...
Oct 10, 2024•57 min•Ep. 250
In this insightful episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra sits down with Michael J. O'Brien, founder of The BluePrint Toolset®, Inc. , to explore how leaders can ignite the joy of work and foster positive cultural transformation within organizations. With over 35 years of experience coaching executives and consulting across diverse industries, Michael shares his journey from finance to becoming a leader in behavioral economics and corporate culture. Michael explains the si...
Sep 13, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 249
In this powerful episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra engages in a deep and insightful conversation with Dr. Tony Nader, a leading neuroscientist, global head of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement, and author of the groundbreaking book Consciousness Is All There Is . Together, they explore the profound impact of understanding and expanding consciousness on personal well-being and collective transformation. Dr. Nader shares his journey from his early life in Leba...
Aug 27, 2024•59 min•Ep. 248
In this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , host Chris Schembra sits down with Ash Shehata, Chief Information Officer of AHMC Healthcare System, to explore the intersection of leadership, adaptability, and human connection. Ash shares the story of a life-changing health crisis that transformed his perspective on healthcare and leadership, leading him to adopt a philosophy inspired by the adaptability and humility of water. Chris and Ash dive into the importance of human connection in leade...
Aug 23, 2024•41 min•Ep. 247
In this episode of "Gratitude Through Hard Times," host Chris Schembra welcomes Francesco Pastore, the Chief Marketing & Sales Officer and Corporate Communication Director of the global paper leader, Sofidel. Francesco discusses the concept of a "portfolio career," emphasizing the importance of diverse experiences, continuous learning, and adaptability. He shares his strategy for balancing short-term business results with long-term personal and professional growth, using a blend of strategic...
Jul 05, 2024•43 min•Ep. 246
In this episode of "Gratitude Through Hard Times," host Chris Schembra welcomes Steve Tcherchian, Chief Product Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at XY Pro, to discuss the profound impact of gratitude, resilience, and vulnerability in leadership. The conversation begins with Steve’s journey through the competitive cybersecurity industry, where he transitioned from a high-pressure, success-driven mindset to a gratitude-centered approach that transformed his personal and professional ...
Jun 25, 2024•37 min•Ep. 245
In this episode of "Gratitude Through Hard Times," Chris Schembra welcomes Elaine Knight, the Chief People Officer at Behavioral Health Link. Elaine shares her journey and insights on creating a positive and supportive work culture in the behavioral health sector. The conversation delves into the importance of gratitude, mindfulness, and empathy in leadership, and how these values can transform workplace dynamics. Elaine also discusses the challenges and rewards of crisis work, the significance ...
Jun 19, 2024•39 min•Ep. 244
In this conversation, Chris Schembra interviews Enrico Galasso, the CEO of Peroni, an iconic Italian beer brand. They discuss Enrico's new book, “Per I Prossimi 175 Anni”, the importance of empathy and meaningful connections in leadership, and the challenges and opportunities of managing a brand with a long history. Enrico emphasizes the need for leaders to be adaptable, to learn from both successes and failures, and to create a culture of connection and psychological safety. They also explore t...
Apr 19, 2024•49 min•Ep. 243
In this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times , we're thrilled to welcome Lisa Besserman, a luminary in both the technology and venture capital worlds. Lisa, the Founder of Startup Buenos Aires—which was successfully acquired—has made remarkable strides in the tech industry, earning her a spot among Business Insider's "Top 100 Most Influential Women in Tech," alongside notable figures like Sheryl Sandberg and Arianna Huffington. It's worth noting, with a humble chuckle, that she ranked #94 on ...
Feb 14, 2024•48 min•Ep. 242
We’ve all experienced it: that feeling of being stuck on an endless treadmill. It can be soul-crushing, but our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times is a peak performance coach is here to help us change the narrative heading into 2024. Erin Stafford, author of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life," explains to Host Chris Schembra the underpinnings for her five mindset shifts. Each of her valuable techniques is designed to check and challe...
Feb 01, 2024•46 min•Ep. 241
Nothing creates team buy-in more effectively than the “ownership mindset” espoused by our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. What’s the secret sauce? Kerry Siggins, CEO at StoneAge Inc., shares with Host Chris Schembra her powerful building blocks for cultivating workplace cultures rooted in accountability. It’s about caring – for colleagues, customers and ourselves – and ensuring that everyone feels seen and heard as well as empowered to act. She explains how StoneAge, an em...
Nov 06, 2023•43 min•Ep. 240
Seek the stress. Scale with soul. Embrace your uniqueness. These are just a few of the pearls of wisdom flying fast and furious when Christina Luconi, Chief People Officer at Rapid7 , visits with Host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. Her self-awareness, strength and positive vision have not only been central to building out staff for some amazing startup companies (from inception through IPO). These are also the traits that have defined her full and fascinating lif...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 239
Core values take center stage on this heartfelt episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, featuring a highly successful entrepreneur whose accomplishments reflect his commitment to creating human connection. Rich Balot, CEO at Victra (the largest authorized retailer of Verizon products in the nation), is all about fostering innovation, collaboration and integrity – at home, on the job and in his community. That passion for doing the right thing infuses the ethic you’ll encounter at any of his 1,7...
Sep 05, 2023•47 min•Ep. 238
Are you all in? Our guest, Valeria Torres, wants to know! As Director of Operations & Strategic Consulting at 8 Figure Firm – a fast-growing Atlanta-based provider of professional services for law firms – she is sharing with Host Chris Schembra the key ingredients for leadership success on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. A research maven, Valeria explains the value in personality assessments and has stats to back up her approach to increasing workplace flow (and life flow, too,...
Sep 01, 2023•42 min•Ep. 237
We’re shining a light on the difference between luck and blessings when Patty Arvielo, co-founder & CEO of New American Funding, joins host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. Running the largest Latina-owned mortgage company in the U.S. while nurturing a network of younger women coming up behind her, Patty is all about leaning into humanness. She shares the many ways in which gratitude and empathy have served as beacons professionally, as a parent and throughout ...
Aug 22, 2023•43 min•Ep. 236
Are you ready to awaken your greatness? On this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times we learn why Darleen Santore – known affectionately as “Coach Dar” – is all about cultivating self-awareness and clarity – not tomorrow, but today! A bestselling author, she mentors professional athletes at the peak of their careers as well as C-suite leaders across a spectrum of Fortune 500 companies. Host Chris Schembra invites Coach Dar to share insights into the 9 Principles that form the basis for her po...
Aug 17, 2023•36 min•Ep. 235
Welcome to another insightful episode of 'Gratitude Through Hard Times,' where we explore the profound impact of emotional intelligence in leadership and its role in fostering meaningful connections within the workplace. I'm thrilled to introduce our esteemed guest today, Cinzia Beretta, a true trailblazer in the world of global communications and people operations. With over two decades of experience, Cinzia has not only honed her expertise in culture, employee engagement, talent growth, and le...
Aug 16, 2023•40 min•Ep. 234
Welcome Back to Gratitude Through Hard Times! You’ll learn on this episode how one of the nation’s insurance leaders is fueled by authenticity and vulnerability, superpowers available to all of us if we’re brave enough to go there. In the case of our guest, Heath Ritenour, a bout with cancer proved an opportunity to drop the corporate mask in favor of prioritizing human connection among the 1,500 employees and 72,000 customers affiliated with Insurance of America (IOAUSA), among the nation’s lar...
Aug 04, 2023•47 min•Ep. 233
If you haven’t been part of the conversation about Human Resources and its impacts on workplace cultures and society at large, then you need to check out Hacking HR , a global community of 350k+ members invested in transforming the way we live. Founder Enrique Rubio joins Host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times for a blunt exploration of what it means to demonstrate human-centered core values and how that translates into critical business ROI in the form of retention,...
Jun 27, 2023•45 min•Ep. 232
Are you tired of constantly comparing yourself to others? Do you feel like you're not measuring up to society's standards of success? In this episode of "Gratitude Through Hard Times," host Chris Schembra interviews Shauna Schwartz, author of "How to Stop Caring What Others Think for Real," about the concept of internal success. Shauna explains how internal success differs from external success factors such as grades, money, and career achievement, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing in...
Jun 22, 2023•36 min•Ep. 231
In the world of marketing, customer advocacy has moved in recent years from a piecemeal hit-or-miss effort to a scalable discipline and Ari Hoffman is at the forefront. Vice President of Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Influitive, he shares his powerful framework on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times with Host Chris Schembra. It’s all about building authentic community and loyalty to your brand, product or service not by soliciting the same customer testimony over and over again b...
May 19, 2023•40 min•Ep. 230
Get ready for fascinating and relevant insights on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, featuring Jim Harter, PhD, Gallup’s Chief Scientist of Workplace Management and Wellbeing. He’s sharing with Host Chris Schembra all the eye-opening research and analysis behind his latest book (co-authored with Jim Clifton of the Clifton Strengths Assessment), "Culture Shock: An unstoppable force has changed how we work and live. Gallup's solution to the biggest leadership issue of our time." The ke...
May 19, 2023•45 min•Ep. 229
On this very special episode Gratitude Through Hard Times, Host Chris Schembra and his guest, Drahomíra Mandikova, celebrate meaningful connection and its power to generate profitable solutions not just for shareholders but the world at large. Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Asahi Europe & International, “Drahus” (as she is known to friends) shares with us the unique North Star principles that drive one of the world’s largest alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer companies, with 19 breweries e...
May 01, 2023•44 min•Ep. 228
You’ve got the business, the car, the boat, the house. You’re blessed with a great family, friends, access to more than your wildest dreams. But something is missing. Something is gnawing at you. If this sounds familiar, you may be in need of “soul fulfillment,” which is what Host Chris Schembra’s guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times has provided thousands of people. At his Rythmia Life Advancement Center in Costa Rica, Founder & CEO Gerry Powell offers comprehensive plant-b...
Apr 17, 2023•39 min•Ep. 227
These are bumpy times economically and for many of us it’s a period of professional redefinition. What path are we on and is it the career we truly desire? How can we best showcase our skill sets and the value-add we bring? Host Chris Schembra’s guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times has a methodology that focuses on these questions and much more. Loren Greiff, Founder & President at PortfolioRocket, has developed a framework that’s applicable across industry sectors as well a...
Apr 17, 2023•48 min•Ep. 226
This episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times issues an unmistakable call to action: Join the crusade for workplace openness and compassion! Host Chris Schembra’s guest, Geoff McDonald, is explaining the business and moral case for making mental health integral to our corporate cultures. Why? Because beyond fostering top performance and competitive advantage, it saves lives. As a keynote speaker and business transformation consultant with decades of HR leadership at Unilever, Geoff is uniquely po...
Apr 03, 2023•34 min•Ep. 225
