Burnout: A Warning Sign, Not a Weakness. Episode 15 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. This is a special focus episode on Burnout. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks with burnout coach Shannon Royden-Turner about the causes, prevention, and recovery from burnout. Shannon explains that burnout isn’t just stress — it’s…

Burnout: Recognise, Recover and Rebalance. Episode 14 of s series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. This is a special focus episode on Burnout. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to fellow-coaches Laura-Jean Evens and Lurinda Maree. Laura-Jean, an executive coach with an industrial psychology background, and Lurinda, an industr…

Thriving Through Breaks: Balance & Success Episode 13 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Omri van Zyl (CEO of RussellStone Capital) about taking career breaks and sabbaticals for adventure and self-reflection. Omri discusses how these breaks helped him reset, gain new perspective…

Lessons from a longer-than-intended break. Episode 12 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani interviews Mike Stopforth, a serial entrepreneur and seasoned marketing and communications professional, who took an extended break after selling his digital marketing business in 2018. Mike shares his…

Burnout as a catalyst: Pamela's journey to a career pivot. Episode 11 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Pamela Naidoo-Amegio, an executive leader and geoscientist. Pamela shares her journey of taking a sabbatical in 2015 after nearly burning out. Pamela reflects on her reasons f…

Moving from a fear mindset to a world of opportunity. Episode 10 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Sas Wessels, a seasoned mechanical engineer and business improvement professional in the mining industry, about his recent sabbatical from corporate life. After years of facing num…

First Love Yourself. Episode 9 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to career and leadership coach Briony Liber about her sabbatical after 25 years in the corporate world. She took a sabbatical after experiencing burnout due to a lifetime of not managing boundaries, overworking, and p…

From Doing to Being. Episode 8 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks with Dr Zaheera Soomar about her transformative sabbatical after 20 years in the corporate world. Zaheera shares her journey of overcoming self-doubt, regaining a sense of purpose, and finding balance through reflecti…

A story of personal healing, self-discovery, and a bold new way of being. Episode 7 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, freelance writer and editor Louise Rapley opens up about her transformative sabbatical. During this time, Louise transitioned from a textbook editor to writing her memoir, confronting her…

From overwork to self-care and career pivots. Episode 6 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Dr Gargi Mishra about taking career breaks or sabbaticals. Gargi shares her experience of taking an intentional break during the COVID-19 pandemic when she realized she was overworking and …

Pausing with Purpose: Giving back, Parenthood, and Resilience. Episode 5 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Thea Weeks who shares her transformative journey of taking three significant career breaks. In her breaks, Thea worked for an NGO for 5 years, focused on her new baby, and …

Health First: The Power of taking a Career Break for Self-Care. Episode 4 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Ntseiseng Lephole about her experience of taking a career break to focus on health issues and to further her studies. Ntseiseng highlights the importance of self-care, ref…

The transformative power of a sabbatical. Episode 3 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from work. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Hermien Uys, a corporate lawyer in the mining industry. Hermien took a sabbatical in 2017-2018. She discusses her motivations for taking the break which include a desire for travel and personal…

Self-care, adventure, and realignment to purpose. Episode 2 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from the rat-race. In this episode, Dr. Lizette Spangenberg shares her experiences of taking two sabbaticals from work. The first sabbatical was for a month in 2017 to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and travel through Kenya and Tanzania. The seco…

Rediscovering balance between meaningful work and personal fulfilment. Episode 1 of a series of podcasts on taking conscious breaks from the rat-race. Fatima Collins, Women in Mining Project Manager (Sibanye-Stillwater), shares her experiences of taking four different breaks throughout her career for different reasons, including travel, self-discov…

Three innovators talk about their experiences in mining innovation. In this episode, host Petro du Pisani speaks to Elaine Hattingh (Exxaro Resources) and Sandiso Sibisi (COOi Studios) about innovation and technology in the mining industry. This conversation follows on from a panel discussion at the 2023 Mining Indaba in Cape Town which explored mo…

A lesson on how to navigate in a male-dominated mining work environment. In this episode, Petro du Pisani speaks to Dr. Patience Mpofu, who is a multi-award winner as one of the most influential women in Mining, and a former Vice President of an Australian listed company. She is a global mining sustainability thought leader (ESG) an IWF fellow alum…

A learning journey conversation with a fellow EMBA student. I recently completed an Executive MBA through the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business. With classes moving on-line (in 2020 and 2021) due to the covid-19 pandemic there wasn't enough time (for me) to connect with fellow students and hear about their research projects. In …

A learning journey conversation with a fellow EMBA student. I recently completed an Executive MBA through the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business. With classes moving on-line (in 2020 and 2021) due to the covid-19 pandemic there wasn't enough time (for me) to connect with fellow students and hear about their research projects. I d…

A learning journey conversation with a fellow EMBA student. I recently completed an Executive MBA through the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business. With classes moving on-line (in 2020 and 2021) due to the covid-19 pandemic there wasn't enough time (for me) to connect with fellow students and hear about their research projects. I d…

A learning journey conversation with a fellow EMBA student. Over the past two years (2020-2021) we have been working towards our Executive MBAs through the University of Cape Town's Graduate Business School. With classes moving on-line due to the covid-19 pandemic there wasn't enough time (for me) to connect with fellow students and hear about thei…

A learning journey conversation with a fellow EMBA student In this episode Petro speaks to fellow UCT EMBA student, Chris Smith (Freelance Consultant in Project and Business Management). Over the past two years (2020-2021) we have been working towards our Executive MBAs through the University of Cape Town's Graduate Business School. With classes mo…

A learning journey conversation with a fellow EMBA student. In this episode Petro speaks to fellow UCT EMBA student, Gordon Wilson (Achievement Awards Group) Over the past two years we have been working towards our Executive MBAs through the University of Cape Town's Graduate Business School. With classes moving on-line due to the covid-19 pandemic…

A learning journey conversation Sean Lewis (UCT GSB | Lecturer) This episode is part of a series of learning journey conversations Petro du Pisani is having, as a result of meeting inspiring people as part of doing her EMBA through UCT's Graduate School of Business. In this episode Petro speaks to Sean Lewis who is a part-time lecturer for the UCT …

A learning journey conversation Chris Breen (UCT GSB) In this episode host, Petro du Pisani, speaks to Emeritus Professor Chris Breen (UCT GSB) about his life, the transformations he has seen in others and himself, and some of the concepts he teaches in his course on Personal Leadership in Complex times. Chris has a carefully crafted teaching style…