116 Rob Kalwarowsky: When A Toxic Workplace Culture Leads To Severe Depression, An Inspiring Story Of Recovery And Empowerment

The Unlock Moment: find your purpose for leadership and life

Sometimes I have conversations with people on this platform who can speak to subjects that others might be thinking about but have never expressed openly. I met today’s guest recently and it is my huge privilege to bring his story to the podcast.

Rob Kalwarowsky is an impactful leader whose quiet realisations give his community loud transformations. Through his work and his podcast The Leadership Launchpad Project, Rob shares wise insights about toxic leadership, mental health and finding purpose in life. He gives people an intimate and caring space regardless of the size of the room, while bringing humour and research into his coaching.

Before transitioning into leadership coaching and speaking, Rob spent over 10 years at the opposite end of the sensitivity spectrum, honing his skills as an engineer within mining, oil pipelines, and consulting in heavy industry. Rob has a foundation of high-performance as he graduated from MIT with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Management. He was also a 3-time Academic All-American in NCAA Water Polo and played on the under 18 Canadian National Water Polo team.

But the fast track to success is rarely a straight road and Rob suffered significant mental health challenges. His journey of recovery led him to leadership coaching, podcasting, the TEDx stage and a complete life transformation. I’m deeply grateful to Rob for coming on today to talk about his experiences, and of course I’m curious to learn about the Unlock Moments of remarkable clarity that helped him find the path ahead.

--

Rob Kalwarowsky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kalwarowsky/

Elite High Performance: https://www.elitehighperformance.com/

--

Content note: this episode discusses in part the experiences of a person in North America treated for depression and acute suicidality with ketamine. In the UK, where this podcast is recorded, NICE does not currently reference ketamine in its guidelines for the treatment of depression, although there is an ongoing debate based on emerging evidence. The Unlock Moment does not take a view on the effectiveness of a particular medical intervention and I would always advise listeners to seek the advice of a qualified medical professional.

--

The Unlock Moment podcast is brought to you by Dr Gary Crotaz, PhD. Downloaded in over 115 countries. Sign up to The Unlock Moment newsletter at https://tinyurl.com/ywhdaazp Find out more at https://garycrotaz.com and https://theunlockmoment.com