The Catastrophe Café

What started as Friday morning coffee conversations during our executive coaching education at IMD has evolved into a podcast for leaders, coaches, and anyone navigating the complexities of modern life. Fabio Duma and I pour meaning into the beautiful mess of work, life and everything in between.

Real dialogues. Honest conversations. The permission to be human in our work and lives.

This season we explore: Balance · The Art of Slow Living · Navigating Change · Trust Issues & Tissues · Choosing your Reality · Habits: Stability or Stagnation? · Navigating Relationships · In Praise of Curiosity & Courage

Episode 8: In Praise of Curiosity and Courage

Curiosity asks the question. Courage acts on the answer. Fabio and I explore why these two forces are incomplete without each other — from the childhood sense of wonder we forget to carry into adulthood, to philosopher Laurie Ann Paul's invitation to choose not the safest path, but the one we're most interested in discovering.

Episode 7: Navigating Relationships

Relationships aren't accidents — they are actively and consciously built. Fabio and I explore how to build, sustain and repair the relationships that shape our lives, from social fitness and the hidden cost of resentment to relationship audits and the power of kindness.

Episode 6: Habits — Stability or Stagnation?

Habits run 70% of our decisions on autopilot — that's both a superpower and a trap. Fabio and I explore how habits and identity shape each other, why childhood patterns quietly follow us into our professional lives, and how self-awareness and courage are often the real keys to change. Because breaking a habit isn't just a behavioural challenge — sometimes it's a choice about who we want to become.

Episode 5: Choosing your Reality

What if the reality you're living in is one you've chosen — and can choose differently? Fabio and I explore how becoming aware of our lenses helps us shift from "what is happening to me" to "how can this shape my future." We also draw on Kierkegaard's insight: life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.

Episode 4: Trust Issues & Tissues

"Do you trust me?" Fabio asks at the start of this episode. The answer reveals everything about what makes trust possible: authenticity, openness, and vulnerability. We explore trust as both a warm feeling and a hard skill — the kind that makes organisations faster and stronger. When leaders trust their people and ask powerful questions instead of having all the answers, they unlock expertise and avoid costly mistakes.

Episode 3: Navigating Change

Picture a beautifully wrapped gift somewhere in the middle of your change process. You can't see it yet — maybe don't even believe it exists when you're in the thick of resistance or grief. But it's there. Fabio and I explore the natural phases of change and what matters most: our attitude in facing it. When we find meaning in what's happening, we can navigate change with dignity and discover unexpected opportunities.

Episode 2: The Art of Slow Living

We explore living at a pace closer to our natural rhythm — not as a retreat from ambition, but as a deliberate act of resistance against the constant rush that defines modern life. We talk about the courage it takes to step off the highway when everyone around you is speeding past. About the German concept of Innehalten — consciously pausing to turn your attention inward. And why strength really does lie in composure.

Episode 1: Balance

We explore what balance really means — not as an achievement, but as the art of surfing the wave between opposites. The courage it takes to step away from what's expected, how to sense when you're running on empty before burnout hits, and practical tools to find your centre in a world obsessed with productivity.

This is a heart project — honest conversations, practical insights, and the permission to be human.

Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.