https://wernerschmidt.co.za Season 1: The Search (From Burnout to Ever-vescence) Three warnings before the break. A leap that didn’t make sense A search that changed everything. I burned out three times. On the third, just as my daughter’s first cries rang into the world, I jumped. I stepped out. No income. No title. No clear plan. Not because I had it figured out… but because staying was costing more. What followed was not a strategy… yet. It started as a search. Coffee shops. ‘Yes’ to every invitation. Answered strange messages. Walked into conversations I couldn’t explain. Along the way, I met people — mentors, teachers, disruptors… a few I had to unlearn. Some showed me who I was. Some... who I wasn’t. Some sharpened my craft. Some broke my patterns. They helped me find something I hadn’t found yet: my voice… my way… my work. I had jumped the cliff… and discovered my wings on the way down. Most people don’t need to go that far. But something does need to shift. This podcast is not about burnout. It’s about what burnout reveals… and what becomes possible next. Each episode traces steps in that search: how high performers lose alignment how clarity returns how resilient creativity reawakens how people rebuild, inside out. If this is you — capable, committed, but quietly misaligned… And if you lead people like this — sensing something is off… This podcast is for you. Because here’s what I’ve learned, inside organisations and alongside them: You don’t need people to leave to find their way. But you do need to create the conditions where they can: stabilise before they break rediscover their thinking grow within and beyond their roles bring their full, human capacity to their work experience growth and wellbeing. Today, I help leaders, founders, and teams do exactly that. And I help individuals find their voice and shape their path — without needing to disappear to do it. You don’t have to jump the cliff. But you do have to see what it’s costing you not to. Welcome to The StArt Show. Business en Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:52:45 +0200 Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:00:03 +0200 30 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss iono.fm 2.5.2.0 Werner Schmidt no Werner Schmidt Monthly feeds@iono.fm (Feed Manager) https://cdn.iono.fm/files/p4184/logo_9534_20260427_055121_1400.jpeg https://wernerschmidt.co.za Season 1: The Search (From Burnout to Ever-vescence) Three warnings before the break. Werner Schmidt episodic Werner Schmidt info@wernerschmidt.co.za false ZA https://iono.fm/e/1670125 https://iono.fm/e/1670125 He didn’t pitch for it.
He didn’t even know the company existed.
And then—
he was responsible.

A 50-year-old media business in decline.
Three years of losses.
A leadership team buried under meetings, pressure, and fear.
And one question:
Can you fix this?

What follows is not a story of adding more strategy, more control, or more pressure.
It’s the opposite.

In this episode, Werner Schmidt steps into his first true leadership mandate — and makes a move that feels reckless at first:
He deletes every meeting.

What emerges is a radically different approach to leadership and culture:
+ Trust given before it is earned
+ Control replaced by autonomy, clarity
+ Noise and clutter removed to reveal real performance

Along the way, a simple moment at an arts festival — a five-year-old dancing prodigy hidden behind others — becomes a defining insight:
Leadership is not about creating brilliance.
It’s about positioning it.

This episode is for:
High performers who feel blocked, watched, or misaligned
Leaders who sense their systems are moving… but not working
Organisations ready to move from pressure to designed performance
Because the truth is:
Most people don’t need more development.
They need clear space.
You don’t get performance by pushing harder.
You get it by removing what’s in the way.

The StArt Show — Season 1: The Search
From burnout… to ever-vescence. Let's do coffee! · Let's connect on LinkedIn]]> Business Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:22:00 +0200 0 0 The StArt Show — Season 1, Episode 3: The MANDATE 0 0 Werner Schmidt full 12:48 The StArt Show https://iono.fm/e/1670001 https://iono.fm/e/1670001 He jumped…
and then almost went straight back.
Same system.
Different door.
After walking away from burnout, Werner Schmidt re-enters the very environment he left—only to discover something many high performers never admit:
You don’t exit a system overnight.
You exit it layer by layer.

What looked like a step backwards became the proving ground for something far more valuable.
A single referral leads to a struggling rural non-profit. No contract. No pay. No title.
Just real problems—strategy, culture, operations, survival.

And in that pressure cooker, something clicks:
This is the first time the work appears.
Not as a job.
As a way of seeing.

For the high performer:
If you’ve made a move… but still feel pulled back, second-guessing, half-in:
You’re not stuck.
You’re reconfiguring identity.
That discomfort?
That’s growth under construction.

For the leader:
When a high performer seems “off” — not fully engaged, not fully gone — don’t rush to label it.
It’s not always disengagement.
It’s often transition energy.
Force clarity too soon… and you kill it.
Create space… and you unlock it.

Growth doesn’t happen through clean exits.
It happens through messy evolution.
Like the Nautilus:
You don’t leap into the next level.
You outgrow the one you’re in—and build the next chamber yourself.

This is the exact inflection point where:
+ Burnout becomes direction
+ Confusion becomes architecture
+ Potential becomes performance

If this is you — or if you’re leading someone in this space —
you don’t need another push.
You need better design.
This is the work.

You don’t have to jump again.
But you do need to recognise when something deeper is shifting.
Because that shift…
is where everything starts to change. Let's connect on LinkedIn · Book a conversation]]> Business Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:03:00 +0200 0 0 The StArt Show — Season 1, Episode 2: The Return (Too Soon?) 0 0 Werner Schmidt full 7:20 The StArt Show https://iono.fm/e/1669959 https://iono.fm/e/1669959
Just as his daughter took her first breath, he realised he couldn’t take one more.

Fifteen years into a successful corporate career—well-paid, on the rise, with a master’s degree in the mail and a record bonus on the horizon—something no longer fit.

Not the workload.

The misalignment.

Being measured in fragments… instead of being seen in full.

In this opening episode of The StArt Show, Werner Schmidt shares the moment that set everything in motion: walking away from certainty into the unknown, not because he had a plan—but because staying was costing more.

This episode explores:

why high performers burn out in environments that only recognise part of their contribution
how “add-on culture” quietly erodes even the strongest professionals
the hidden cost of misalignment—for individuals and for organisations

IF THIS IS YOU —
capable, committed, but quietly running out of space…
you may not be the problem.

IF YOU ARE LEADING SOMEONE LIKE THIS —
you may not be seeing your strongest people clearly…
not because you don’t care, but because the system doesn’t show you what matters.

This is not a story about burnout.

It’s about what burnout reveals…
and what becomes possible when something finally shifts.

You don’t have to jump the cliff.
But you do have to see what it’s costing you not to.

#BetterPerformance
#BetterWellbeing
#BetterCoffeeConversations Visit my website · Let's connect on LinkedIn · Book a conversation]]> Business Sun, 26 Apr 2026 16:21:00 +0200 0 0 The StArt Show — Season 1, Episode 1: The Jump 0 0 Werner Schmidt full 6:08 The StArt Show