15: Claude Silver: Everyone and Everything Is A Teacher

Claude silver is the worlds first chief heart officer for Vayner Media which has an ethos of “people first”. Claude’s only JD is to touch the hearts of everyone at the company - she is an intuitive, a feeler, and a spiritual being who gets to translator all of that magic into the workplace. 

I think you’ll find joy, solace and lots of love in this episode as we cover emotions in the workplace, building psychological safety and how soft skills like kindness and patience are the real superstars of company culture. Brew some tea, get your pen and paper out and enjoy this special episode. 

In this episode, you will learn: 

• How Claude’s childhood growing up in NYC and Santa Fe 
• How a game called, “Lead my people” with her Dad influenced her leadership style and worldview 
• Claude’s most influential people growing up 
• How Claude’s childhood and struggles in academics early on shape her emotional capacity and intelligence 
• How Outward Bound helped shape Claude into a leader
• What two core learnings remain with Claude to this day: 1. “It’s really not about being right, it’s about being better, about giving, about creating places where people feel loved.” and 2. “We all have this reservoir of untapped potential inside of us. What are we going to do about it?” 
• The power of our internal narrative for mental health and how it shapes the way we show up in the world. 
• Anything that I do that is not in love, that’s fear.
• How Claude always finds a way to see the light within darkness
• What spiritual practices resonate work for Claude 
• David Whyte’s work in corporations, and his book, “The Heart Aroused: The Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America” 
• The word culture comes from the word cul-ture, which means “cultivate of the soul”. 
• On being a human: “It’s the biggest gift of all, and every single day, every single hour is a surprise. It’s the biggest gift of all.” 
• How there is no business success without the people. 
• How emotional regulation, gratitude and patience are the soft skills that need more press and attention. 
• How self-compassion is a core unlearning and relearning for Claude
• “If companies could unlearn priorities, where they put their time and energy and heart, they would unlock the people.

Check out Claude’s podcast, “Emotional Optimism” on Apple and Spotify podcasts and follow her on LinedIn here. 

To learn more about Elisa and The School of Unlearning podcast, follow her on Instagram. 

Elisa's Instagram account

The School of Unlearning podcast on Instagram

To schedule a discovery call with Elisa on Conscious Living and Leadership Coaching, please click here. 

Elisa Haggarty is a Conscious Leadership Coach and host of The School of Unlearning Podcast. Elisa has been a coach for over 18 years- from college basketball to nutrition to more recently helping leaders bring more consciousness and play into their personal and work lives. Her work is influenced by a philosophy and belief that, "life happens for you" which has been a through line for Elisa her entire life. Believing life happens for you begs the question, "how can I learn and grow from whatever is happening?". She has sought to find and create meaning from every chapter of her life and empowers her clients and teams to do the same. From her first heartbreak, first job loss, divorce and enduring the grief that comes with slowly losing her Dad to a rare form of Dementia, Elisa's rich life experience and humble curiosity is what allows others to connect with her, and ultimately themselves in a deeper way. She finds joy in making her friends homemade chocolate and can most often be found hiking or spending time in nature and has two adorable cats, Josie and Lou.

Become a Patron! The School of Unlearning podcast is and always will be a labor of love and community. I will not be using ads for my podcast to keep our conversations and time together focused and intentional. Thank you for contributing to keep The School of Unlearning ad free. Our learning and unlearning never ends, so let's do this together.

Become a patron here!