In our first episode of 2026, Spencer Waldron, CEO of Cenrox, shares a deeply personal story that led him to uncover ways of managing difficult situations with new behaviors and choices. He walks through many elements that contributed to creating his Resilience Roadmap. From understanding neuroscience and the power of our eight emotions to identifying new habits that offer self care that we need in challenging situations, Spencer offers ways to navigate these situations, i.e. driving our boat while not focusing on the river. He also reinforces the fact that resiliency is not about having it all together. It’s about moving forward anyways and making a daily impact. As he says, ‘we are capable of handling more than we think we can’.

Highlights

• Neuroscience and Emotions
  • Thousands of ‘Feelings’, only 8 ‘Emotions’ which are physical
  • 5 are negative, 2 are attachments: Love/Trust and Joy/Excitement
  • Only 1 other emotion can flip negative to positive
  • Offer ‘Surprise’ early in presentation to establish emotional attachment
  • Aristotle: Emotion + Trust = Persuasion
• Think of presenting as a gift = ‘a present’
• Resiliency from Spencer’s son’s accident
  • Buddhist book: ‘Living a Life With Heart’
    • The river: cannot control where it goes
    • The boat: control what you do
    • In each situation, ask yourself, “Is it the River or Boat?”
• The Resilience Roadmap
  • Resilience is a choice
  • Steps taken to get through - not about perfection, self care and daily impact
  • Put yourself in challenging situations
• PTSD & Psychological Safety
  • Remove from the trauma (i.e. at work: operationalize, relationships, self care)
• Comedy Improv Example
  • Challenging, humor and a form of therapy

Resources

• Resilience Keynote
• Speaking of Success Podcast

Guest Thought Leader

Spencer Waldron, CEO, Cenrox

As the founder of Cenrox, Spencer helps people show up as the best version of themselves when it matters most. He’s best known for his work in Conversational Presenting, helping leaders and teams move away from one-way slide decks and toward clearer, more engaging, audience-led conversations.

Spencer’s work isn’t just based on theory or technique. In the past year, his perspective on communication and leadership has been shaped by navigating a serious family crisis, which led him to explore what resilience really looks like under pressure.

Today, he brings those lessons into his work with organisations, combining clarity, presence, and human connection in high-stakes moments. He’s also a LinkedIn Learning instructor, a TEDx speaker, and a student of improv comedy.

In our final episode of 2025, Liat Scheffer Ben Yakov, Founder of Masters Academy and the CEO of Masters Creation Group LTD, shares the key elements of her Masters of Creation Method including examining the 4 realms, addressing our life purpose, embracing our core values and setting daily intentions that allow us to live our life as the Masters that we are. The perfect guide for evaluating our current path while looking ahead to the New Year!

Highlights

• The body / mind connection - Masters of Creation Method for manifestation
• Importance of duality - positive vs negative gives us choice
• Evaluate our life, what is working, choose to continue to not
• Manifestation - 4 realms:
  • Physical - habits, rewiring our nervous system
  • Emotional - from fear to happiness, influences changes we can make
  • Mental - beliefs, paradigms, what is possible
  • Spiritual - energy, the method starts here
• Get started:
  • Life purpose: Who am I? Why am I here?
  • Core values: What is important to me?
  • Letting go: Trust yourself
• Managing our day to day lives:
  • Know your purpose and what you bring to the room
  • Prioritize your core values, nurture yourself with daily anchors (i.e. morning coffee, breathing, meditation, afternoon break, gym, etc.)
  • Set your intention:
    • For connection but know it has “nothing to do with me”
    • What you want others you interact with to feel
• Embracing AI
  • Shifting to the next era of being paid for our energy / vibration
  • Will not take over, will allow us to decide what we do to be fulfilled
• ‘Live your life as the Master that you are’

Guest Thought Leader

Liat Scheffer Ben Yakov, Founder of Masters Academy and, CEO of Masters Creation Group LTD.

Liat holds an MBA and a BA in Economics, alongside advanced studies in holistic psychotherapy, and brings more than 20 years of experience consulting with CEOs, senior executives, and entrepreneurs around the world - including leaders in Silicon Valley. She’s a best-selling author, an international speaker, and the host of a long-running podcast now in its fifth year. Throughout her career, Liat has helped thousands of people break through limitations, achieve their goals, and create the life they truly want.

She is also the creator of the Masters of Creation Method, a 12-step framework for conscious reality creation which has grown into a global movement. What began as Masters Academy is now expanding into a larger, bolder, international group with a clear mission: to empower millions with the knowledge, tools, and practical pathways to become the leaders and masters of their own lives. Liat’s work is dedicated to deep personal transformation, global impact, and elevating human potential.

In this episode, Michael Herren, Director, Global Customer Engagement Program at Illumina, shares strategies to deepen partnerships with sales teams and create strong evangelists. He advises to understand sales structures, motivations and pain points, then prioritize the desired outcomes of the partnership. Whether it’s the guidance you provide, tools you offer or ‘rules-of-engagement’ you define, make working with your team as frictionless as possible. Sales engagement must be earned!

Highlights

• Embrace Challenges to Achieve Measurable Successes
• Define Clear Sales Engagement Outcomes
• Understand Sales Structure, Motivations and Pain Points
• 7 Key Sales Engagement Strategies
• Share Key Tools and Collateral
• Develop an Effective Communication Plan
• Define Clear Rules of Engagement

Resources

• 7 Engagement Strategies & Rules of Engagement
• “The Power of Moments” by Chip & Dan Heath
• “The Art of Gathering” by Priya Parker
• A Bit of Optimism - Simon Sinek
• A Good Hang - Amy Poehler

Guest Thought Leader

Michael Herren, Director, Global Customer Engagement Program, Illumina

Michael leads a world-class team dedicated to delivering strategic, story-driven experiences that strengthen partnerships and drive business growth. With over 18 years of experience in the biotechnology, life science, and diagnostics industries, Michael brings a unique combination of technical expertise, operational excellence, and customer engagement strategy to his leadership role.