We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristin Panek a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kristin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

I recently supported Patrick, a young professional, through a transitional time when he was confused and making impulsive decisions that were creating havoc in his life. He needed a job quickly and wanted to move from Chicago to Arizona. In a place of fear, he was accepting jobs in Arizona that weren’t the best fit for him and then regretting his decision and backing out of them. After several rounds of this, he started doubting himself with even simple, everyday decisions, he was experiencing a tremendous amount of pain and guilt from accepting and then rejecting multiple jobs. He was stuck and in deep despair.

We worked with his Human Design chart which shows how he best makes decisions. He learned that he needed to work with yes/no questions and then to take the time to wait out his emotional wave, to come to a place of neutrality. Still, he felt the pressure to act. Once Patrick understood that he was also dealing with an Open Root Center and a Triple Split Definition, which were both intensifying his need to do something quickly, he relaxed somewhat. In his design there are eight Defined Centers and one Open Center – the Root. This Center operates like an ignition switch. It turns on the engine so that the Sacral Yes/ No motor can run. As the Root Center pulsed on and off, Patrick kept feeling intense pressure to do something. However, doing something just to relieve pressure didn’t work, and he became very anxious. He had to learn to allow the pressure and use his Strategy and Authority to decide.

His Triple Split Definition magnified the problem for him. A Triple Split means that his Defined Centers are in three groupings. He’s looking at the issue first with his Head and Ajna Centers; then with his Spleen, Will Center, G Center, and Emotional Solar Plexus; and finally with the Sacral and Throat Centers. It takes time to integrate the information from these various Center groupings, and people with this Definition tend toward impulsiveness. The pressure to decide in the moment was unusually intense for Patrick. Once he understood where this pressure was coming from and why he felt pushed into action, he was finally able to stop and commit to aligning with his design. With support he slowed down the whole process, eventually came to a solid decision, and moved to Arizona. This was a huge turning point in his life. Now that he sees the power of following his Human Design, he is navigating life in a much more productive and joyful way.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m an ordained interfaith minister, a mentor, teacher, and a voice that resonates across borders. I create a safe space in which people can tap into their truest selves. My calling? To empower others to realize their dreams, transform limitations and become sovereign leaders.

The longer term practices that inform my approach include The Work of Byron Katie, Avatar, Sonia Choquette’s teachings on intuition, Meditation, Oneness teachings, and other Mystery school teachings. But when I stumbled upon Human Design, it was like discovering a secret map that could help navigate life’s journey with more clarity and joy. For me, it brings together the Spiritual and worldly realms with specific guidance for decision-making and communicating effectively. I love working with clients to align with their design, reconnect with their soul’s longing and navigate life’s twists and turns.

When I’m not mentoring, speaking or on pilgrimage – walking the El Caminos through Spain and Portugal, you’ll find me writing. I’m the author of “Lead by Design: Applying Human Design Principles to Leadership Strategies,” “Authentic Leadership: The Guide to be a Spiritual Leader in Your Community” and “My Family Needs My Spiritual Leadership Now,”

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I empower others to effectively lead their lives toward their dream goals despite any perceived limitations. Resilience and courage are pre-requisites, and they were part of my learning over the years. My leap out of a very successful corporate career into building Spiritual communities was one such example. At the time I didn’t even realize it was a dream of mine. I simply knew that I was not fulfilled in my current career. More recently I came face –to-face with a dream that had been buried deep inside me and I had a choice to make.

A friend of mine, Dawn, turned to me at her 60th birthday party and said, “Walk the El Camino with me for my birthday present.” “Yes!” flew out of my mouth before I had time to pull it back inside. It’s not that I didn’t want to do this. I was hindered by chronic knee problems, unable to walk even two miles without tremendous pain. I had buried that dream so deep that no one else had a clue it existed. I had forgotten it. Imagine my surprise when Dawn asked me. And, when that Yes escaped my lips, I knew that the dream was very much alive. Inside, I told Spirit – “it’s up to you to get me over those mountains!” I had no idea how this would be accomplished, but somehow I trusted.

The list of miracles that allowed me to walk 15 miles a day for 30 days across rugged terrain is too long to enumerate. For example – within a week of saying “Yes”, a healer arrived at our Flowering Heart Center. He did surgery with his hands and pulled out some calcified material from behind my knees. I had an internal meltdown watching this extraordinary process. I had heard of this type of healing but had never seen it done before. Afterwards, I was able to walk longer distances. The other, more chronic knee issues were tolerable.

On the trail, after walking over the Pyrenees and down a long steep path, I was curled up in pain. At 1am I finally pulled out my cell phone and messaged a Spiritual Master in Southern India. “Please help. I’m on the El Camino and my knees are in Pain.” As soon as I put my cell phone away, a wave of peace washed over me, and I fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, I was unsure if I could walk 15 miles. I pulled out my phone and read his reply ,“Sent Healing. You will walk.” Yikes! I had to walk or refuse that healing. I did. I made it that night and then all the way to Santiago, with the help of other amazing beings on the way. It changed my life.

Two years later, even my chronic knee issues had mostly healed. I walked from Lisbon, Portugal to Santiago, Spain. This year, I’m walking through Italy.

I know the dreams that live inside us are just waiting for us to say “Yes.” If we can take even one step on that path, the Universe conspires to make it happen. It takes courage and a willingness to face our deepest fears, but it’s worth it. I love seeing the dreams unfold for my clients.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are plenty of books and essays but the best advice I ever received was over a glass of wine with my dad after dinner. My first job out of college was Assistant Manager of Econometrics at Illinois Bell. During my first two years there I was still living at home and my dad would ask me about my day. Where did I struggle? How could I have more impact? How could I bring all of me to that job? While I loved hearing his advice, I was also tired and ready for bed. This job was a stretch for me. But his advice was solid and not your typical business school education. He had been in the trenches of business. He was President of Amphenol and then left to start his own company which was very successful.

I wish I had recordings of those conversations but there are 2 pieces of advice that I have never forgotten, and these became my guidelines:
1. Treat your job like a hobby or you won’t take the risks you are actually paid to take.
2. Push credit down in your organization and take the blame for whatever happens within it.

Point number one was a touchstone for me as I reached out to provide an innovative solution for a group in different Division from me. Their boss was old school and didn’t yet use computers to track the requests they received from the Illinois Commerce Commission. This was 1988 and computers were not widely used. However, I saw how hard his team was already working and I new the workload was about to increase. My fear was that my managers would get pulled in to help and then I would not be able to get my work done.

My intuition told me that time was running out, so I asked a friend in another Division if I could borrow their programmer to build a database over the weekend. Database technology was very new at this point and few programmers had the skills to create them. Fortunately, he was willing and available. We spent the entire weekend with the help of one of the employees in that Regulatory Division creating the database and loading in the current stack of requests.
On Monday morning I walked by that Manager’s office, and he was distraught. Hundreds of requests had landed in his inbox, and he knew his team could not handle that amount of work. I calmly walked in and showed him the mechanized system we had created for his group that weekend. He was completely shocked and grateful. It literally saved his job.

I took many other risks early in my career that paid off handsomely, in a company where the culture was more traditional. And, because I always gave credit to the people within my organization for our successes, people loved working for me. I built a strong successful team and advanced through the organization quickly.
Later, I finished my MBA at the top business school in the country – University of Chicago. However, those first years with my dad, debriefing at the kitchen table, were my best learnings.

Contact Info:

• Website: LeadbyDesignwithKristin.com and FloweringHeartCenter.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floweringheartcenter
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinpanek-floweringheart/