If this conversation sparked something – a nudge, a curiosity or a quiet knowing – trust it…

Email katy@centredexcellenceteam.com if you’d like to learn more about Beyond Beliefs or the deeper work we do.

 

Episode Highlights:

  • Discover why working harder and doing more doesn’t fix the patterns quietly running your recruitment business

  • Learn how stepping away from day-to-day operations and engaging in deep reflection revealed unconscious thinking shaping every decision

  • Understand the difference between reacting from past experiences versus leading with clear awareness and intentional choice

 

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Katy Green shares a reflective conversation with Rob Lenaghan, a recruitment business owner who attended Beyond Beliefs – our immersive retreat designed to help leaders deconstruct the unconscious biases and mental blocks holding them back. 

What emerged wasn’t a new strategy or framework, it was awareness. 

Like many busy recruitment leaders, Rob arrived feeling mentally overloaded, caught in familiar patterns and unsure why certain challenges kept repeating. Stepping away from the day-to-day of running a recruitment business created the space to recognise how unconscious thinking patterns and past experiences were quietly influencing his leadership. 

This episode explores why real change doesn’t start with doing more – it starts with seeing more clearly. 

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If this conversation sparked something – a nudge, a curiosity or a quiet knowing – trust it…

Email katy@centredexcellenceteam.com if you’d like to learn more about Beyond Beliefs or the deeper work we do.

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You Can’t Lead Differently Until You See Yourself Clearly: A Recruitment CEO’s Journey from Overwhelm to Awareness-Driven Leadership

You’ve built the business. You’re running deals, leading teams, and pushing forward every day. But somewhere deep down, you feel like things are always a little too much. If that sounds familiar, Robbie’s story from the Beyond Beliefs retreat might be exactly what you need to hear right now.

Robbie runs a recruitment business in the space sector and, like many busy business owners, arrived at the retreat feeling mentally overloaded and caught in familiar patterns. He was successful, but he noticed the same struggles repeating – decisions driven by habit, reactions shaped by past experiences and a persistent sense of carrying the weight of everything himself. Stepping away from the day-to-day gave him space to see what had been invisible: the unconscious patterns quietly running his business and shaping his leadership.

This episode explores why real change doesn’t start with doing more – it starts with seeing yourself clearly.

 

Seeing the Patterns You Can’t Notice in the Daily “Grind”

Before the retreat, Robbie describes feeling like he was constantly in reactive mode. The business was growing, deals were coming in and the team was performing, yet he noticed he was defaulting to old habits: overthinking, over-controlling and letting past experiences shape how he responded to challenges.

Like many leaders, he was working hard and achieving results but the mental and emotional load was taking a toll. The retreat gave him the rare opportunity to pause, reflect and observe what he had been missing – the internal patterns that were driving his behaviours without him even realising.

 

Stepping Away to See Clearly

The Beyond Beliefs retreat is a three-day, immersive experience designed for high-performing business leaders. Participants engage in guided inner work, ceremonial practices and intentional reflection designed to surface what’s hidden beneath the daily “grind”.

For Robbie, the retreat wasn’t just about relaxation. It was about observing himself without distraction: noticing his mental loops, seeing where past experiences influenced present decisions and recognising the habitual patterns that had kept him stuck.

He shares that some of the most profound moments weren’t the structured exercises themselves but the quiet time and the presence of like-minded participants. The environment allowed him to simply be and observe, giving him clarity on how he had been showing up in both business and life.

 

Awareness Before Change

One of the biggest insights Robbie took away is simple but powerful: you can’t lead differently until you see yourself clearly.

He realised that many of his actions – micromanaging, overthinking, taking responsibility for outcomes beyond his control – weren’t driven by logic or strategy. They were patterns formed long ago, repeated without awareness.

The retreat helped him notice these patterns and gave him tools to interrupt them. For example, a simple grounding technique allowed him to catch habitual worry and overthinking before it escalated, giving him more presence and choice in how he responded.

 

The Shift From Reaction to Intentional Leadership

Robbie describes a change in how he approaches his business and his team. Previously, he felt he needed to manage everything himself to ensure it was done correctly. Now, he’s learning to step back and trust that his team can execute – to move from reactionary, brain-driven leadership to more intentional, awareness-driven leadership.

This shift might sound small but it represents a fundamental change: moving from letting the past dictate responses to making choices rooted in clarity and observation.

 

The Lasting Impact

For Robbie, the retreat wasn’t just a weekend away, it was a catalyst for long-term transformation. He’s now far more aware of his habitual patterns, more intentional in how he shows up and better able to notice when he’s falling into old habits.

He emphasises the power of observing yourself: noticing when you’re reacting, overthinking or taking unnecessary responsibility and giving yourself the space to choose differently. Awareness, he realised, is the first step to true change.

 

Key Takeaways

  • Awareness comes before change: you can’t transform patterns you haven’t noticed.

  • Past experiences shape present behaviour: understanding your history helps you lead more consciously.

  • Stepping away creates perspective: space from daily operations uncovers insights you can’t access in the flow of business.

  • Trust your team and yourself: moving from control to observation allows both you and your team to thrive.

  • Inner work has lasting impact: retreats like Beyond Beliefs provide tools and practices to integrate awareness into your everyday leadership.

 

If you’re a recruitment business owner, CEO or leader who feels mentally stretched, stuck in habitual patterns or curious about what’s quietly shaping your leadership, this episode will give you both clarity and inspiration to see yourself – and your business – in a new way.

To learn more about the Beyond Beliefs retreat or upcoming experiences, reach out directly for details.

Katy Green (00:01.662)

Hello everybody and welcome to this conversation from our Beyond Beliefs retreat. So I’m Katy Green and I’m sitting here with the fabulous Robbie who has just completed the Beyond Beliefs retreat with us. So these conversations are a way of sharing some of the stories and real experiences that come out from our times together at the retreat. So.

those moments of insights and transformation and joy that happen when we step out of our businesses and our busy lives and give ourselves time to reflect and also to work on ourselves. And that’s what it was about. So Robbie, thank you for being here and thank you for being willing to share about your journey with us. To start off, would you mind just telling our listeners a little bit about what you do?

And also what was life or work? What did that look like for you before you came on the retreat?

Rob Lenaghan (01:05.053)

Well, thanks for the introduction, Katy. So it’s wonderful to spend that week with yourself, and Nicky. So I very much appreciate being invited to go and do that with yourselves. Yeah, well, I’ve got a recruitment business in the inner, it’s actually we work in a space sector, is our niche. And apart from that, life is very hectic as well as business.

I think before the retreat I very much felt like there was a lot going on in business, it was hard to get some clarity and also there was a lot going on just personally and trying to find that balance of work, life-work balance which I don’t know really what the right thing is to do or the wrong thing to do there sometimes. So yeah, I was just sort of open to sort of explore going on a retreat and giving myself some time really for me.

Katy Green (02:02.204)

Yeah, great. so many, you know, so many of us, particularly when we’re entrepreneurs or running very successful and busy recruitment businesses or any business for that matter, you know, taking that time out is seen as a luxury, isn’t it? It’s the one thing that we tend to put on the back burner rather than put it as a focus. So what was it that drew you to say yes to that retreat?

Rob Lenaghan (02:12.493)

Mm.

Rob Lenaghan (02:27.797)

Well, I would definitely describe myself as a very open minded person. And I do have the ability to meditate if that’s what it is. Meditation, mindfulness, those sorts of things. And I was, and I know the benefits from doing that myself. And that’s very much been in my own environment at home. And I thought when I was keen to explore that at a deeper level to see

what impact that could have on every aspect of my life.

Katy Green (03:03.87)

Yeah, great. And for you, what was the most meaningful or maybe memorable part of the retreat?

Rob Lenaghan (03:05.346)

Hmm.

Rob Lenaghan (03:19.225)

Well, yeah, a few things spring to mind. So I think one of them I would probably say, I think I had some unexpected things with I think some sort of childhood trauma things that brought to the surface that I didn’t expect. So that was quite a surprise to deal with, but in a good way, in a good way, something I didn’t know was there. But also meeting, it was so pleasant, like-minded people.

Katy Green (03:19.662)

model.

Rob Lenaghan (03:48.754)

and feeling reassured that I’m not alone and that everyone’s on the same journey in one form or another. And it was just so great to invest in myself for a change. It’s very different to, well would say sometimes when you’re things outside of work, whether it’s with a family or personally, this really gives you much clearer headspace because I’m not focusing on exercise down the gym or I’m

Katy Green (04:04.508)

Mm.

Rob Lenaghan (04:18.187)

focusing on work or doing stuff with the family, I’ve got this created this space just for me and it doesn’t enable you to switch off on me personally it did.

Katy Green (04:25.373)

you

Katy Green (04:29.533)

Yeah, absolutely. And because, like you say, some of those, some of the exercises that we did or experiences that we had on that retreat were really quite different, weren’t they, in comparison to maybe, you know, like you’re saying, whether you’re going on a type of retreat, which is even yoga and meditation. You know, we were working with some very powerful ancestral ceremonies.

Rob Lenaghan (04:43.233)

Mmm.

Rob Lenaghan (04:50.23)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (04:58.572)

Yeah.

Katy Green (04:59.697)

How did you find engaging with that type of work?

Rob Lenaghan (05:07.937)

I think, well, that’s a very good question. think, well, I have to be honest with these things. And so I think I really embraced it. I think I definitely went in 100 % and I thought, okay, I’m gonna go with this. I found it quite surprising what I learned about myself by immersing myself in that environment.

Katy Green (05:31.197)

you

Rob Lenaghan (05:37.678)

particularly the Sweat Lodge, think was very, you know, that was quite, I know if I endured it or not, but it was just, think to actually, just, when the door closed and then the chanting, those sort of singing these tribal songs from sort of, I don’t know how old some of those songs may have been, I think it was just so powerful. It was quite a surreal experience to actually,

that I was there and I didn’t expect, I hadn’t thought about the fact it was going to be pitch black either. Yeah.

Katy Green (06:10.94)

Yeah.

Yeah, you sort of enter, it’s like entering a new paradigm, isn’t it? It’s like, somebody’s picked me up and suddenly transported me.

Rob Lenaghan (06:21.983)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, but I think, you know, but again, it’s just, it gives you an, it gives you a platform to be able to express your, you know, yourself and, and, you know, talk about things that you’re grateful for, you know, people that you love, things that you’d like things that you learned about yourself that where you feel like you could, you know, you could improve wishing well upon others, you know, it really is a lovely

time for reflection. And that’s what that’s the environment that creates going you being on that retreat.

Katy Green (06:52.743)

Mmm.

Katy Green (06:59.153)

Yeah, time to reflect and time to really think about, well, what is it that I want to continue doing? And what is it maybe that I want to let go of? And what is it that I want to take forward? What is really serving me right now? It’s that opportunity to release things, isn’t it, that no longer necessarily serve us.

Rob Lenaghan (07:01.75)

Mmm.

Rob Lenaghan (07:13.869)

Mm.

Rob Lenaghan (07:20.845)

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I definitely got rid of a few things that don’t serve me.

Katy Green (07:29.405)

amazing. Well, that probably brings us on quite nicely to talk about how the retreat has impacted you, what you’ve noticed, you know, in your work and in your personal life off the back of it.

Rob Lenaghan (07:43.789)

I’d probably say that the biggest, it’s not letting the past define me. That’s the thing. You there’s a little bit of, I don’t know, blame. can, you can, I can blame sort of, you know, things that happened to me in the past, whether it’s sort of, you know, whether it’s something to do with your parents or just other things that happened in life and that you, you can easily dwell on those things. And it’s

it enabled me to see that that I was doing. I was blaming it for a lot of things. As much as there’s still an element of things that you still have to do, things don’t necessarily completely go away, but it enabled me to see that for what it was. And onto that, it brings me onto about mindset.

Katy Green (08:31.805)

Mmm.

Katy Green (08:40.594)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (08:40.67)

It’s very much a mindset thing that is so important and I can really see how you or I end up going down. Sometimes your thoughts can take you down a certain path and it’s not necessarily, well it isn’t right. It isn’t right. The brain tricks you. It tricks you into these things and I think that’s one of the big things that I, since this, I can actually see where my brain is taking me.

this route and so well actually and it now it says well hang on a minute that’s not the that’s not the truth that’s not necessarily real that’s just you’re thinking it’s real let’s go let’s go this way instead so that’s one of that’s a big thing that’s happened

Katy Green (09:25.382)

Mmm.

Wow, I mean, that’s huge. That’s super powerful. And we understand that, you know, the mental mind is the chaos that keeps us stuck in certain patterns that don’t support us, certainly don’t empower us to move forward in the direction that we want to. But actually, those mental models just keep us stuck, as you say, in the past. And then we keep repeating the same pattern, but we don’t actually even realize we’re doing it because it’s at such an unconscious level.

Rob Lenaghan (09:45.6)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (09:57.453)

Exactly, that’s what the sort of the retreat kind of it highlights these things. suddenly, well you don’t normally, I don’t, so I say you because I think it’s one of the things, but it’s actually me because that’s what I found and I definitely noticed that I was just doing this all the time and it’s not until you go on this you suddenly take a step back and go, hang on a minute, what am I doing? Yeah.

Katy Green (10:22.055)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (10:23.596)

So, there’s another thing actually that one of the someone else on the team actually, I was talking to Jane and she was talking about a grounding technique actually that happened just before we went away actually that I’ve been using. And that was the one when you use your finger and your thumb. So because I tend to overthink and then I worry, but this isn’t actually what she told me. She told me to use, I think which hand it was, but she said.

If you can crack this, it’s like, you can do this, you can do this. And then you put your finger and your thumb together. But actually, I have another side of it where I tend to worry. I’m trying to catch it earlier. So it’s the worrying and the overthinking. So now when I do that, I’m already ahead of the game. And my left hand is the overthinking and worrying thing. I don’t know what you call that.

Katy when you do this but it’s working.

Katy Green (11:21.213)

Yeah, she’s probably helping you to set an anchor. So an anchor is, yeah, like a positive, it’s like a signal to the mind that, okay, I know when this happens, it switches. It’s like a pattern interrupt almost, but you’re anchoring a certain state. So if I want to…

Rob Lenaghan (11:25.525)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (11:31.061)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (11:39.233)

Yeah.

Katy Green (11:44.4)

anchor, like, you know, when I do this, let’s say whatever it might be, whatever your hand gesture, that’s anchoring. I’m in an upbeat state. I’m in a resourceful state. And so it switches you straight away by having that anchor. Yeah. Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (11:54.753)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (11:58.869)

Yeah. Yeah. So I think that’s just something that just happened to be as good timing that she said that because it became quite relevant from the retreat that I was then. OK, now I can see why that strategy might work and all that technique. And that’s why I’ve been doing it. It’s working quite well.

Katy Green (12:05.885)

Hmm?

Hmm?

Katy Green (12:15.165)

Brilliant, Excellent. So if somebody was considering coming on, let’s say, whether it was beyond the belief retreat or another retreat with us, but maybe they weren’t sure whether it was right for them, what would you say to them, Robbie?

Rob Lenaghan (12:33.932)

I’d actually say that it’s actually something for everyone, this is. And the reason I say that is because I spent the week with just the most wonderful group of like-minded people, with quite a diverse, broad range of personality types. But we’re all on the same page. And I think you can probably find that with most people that you might know. There’s always something there that’s like-minded about people.

And I think like with yourselves and I think that, know, and yourself and Nikki, was, you know, just trust everyone trusted in you and we’re in it 100%, 100 % and took something away that will be, you know, I think it’d be with you forever if you go and do it. I think that’s what I would say is you just trust, you trust in it and it’s for everybody. Yeah.

Katy Green (13:30.878)

is as we say, this is, well, I say beyond, I’m using the word, but you know, beyond beliefs, but it’s also beyond perhaps what people would expect and maybe what they would get from, let’s say, just a business retreat or, I don’t know, leadership retreat. How would you say it would compare to something like that? What’s the difference that they would get in that type, in our type of retreat versus, let’s say, a structured business retreat?

Rob Lenaghan (13:46.241)

Yeah.

Rob Lenaghan (14:02.339)

I haven’t really done anything to compare in detail really like that but I

Rob Lenaghan (14:15.144)

I don’t know. I don’t know on that one actually because I don’t think I’ve done enough business things to be able to answer that to my best ability. Yeah.

Katy Green (14:23.695)

Maybe what’s the difference in what you could walk away from or not even the difference, but what would you walk away from over and above, let’s say, strategic ideas?

Rob Lenaghan (14:40.061)

It’s the might I think it just goes it goes a lot deeper. I guess it’s a deeper I think that the the thing with those with something. I mean, I have done training other training courses before but they don’t go they don’t you they only last a certain amount of time and you say in the strategic it doesn’t actually sort of make you look at yourself and actually make changes that are going to have a much bigger impact on your business and your personal life. Yeah.

Katy Green (15:09.563)

Wonderful. And if there was one word or a phrase that captures your experience, what would that be?

Rob Lenaghan (15:16.711)

enlightened and you but you know that already.

Katy Green (15:20.305)

You think? Brilliant. brilliant. Well, look, Robbie, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us, because it’s been really special to hear your reflections. And for anyone who is listening who curious about Beyond Beliefs retreat or any of our other retreats that we are holding, or maybe you’re wondering if this kind of experience could be right for you, then reach out to us. You can find out more at our website.

Rob Lenaghan (15:22.059)

Yeah.

Katy Green (15:50.174)

and we have our next up and coming retreat. yeah, message us and we can send you the details of the next one and when that’s happening. So thank you so much for tuning in and I look forward to seeing you again. So Robbie, thank you so much once more.

Rob Lenaghan (16:10.067)

You’re welcome. Thank you, Katy. Good to talk to you.

Katy Green (16:12.487)

Take care.