We spend so much time at work, involved in relationships with co-workers and dealing with pressure in our personal lives and at work. So much of life’s navigation happens from this place, and the environment we spend all this time in influences everything else in our world. In 2020, I realised that changing my life had to include changing the environment in which I worked. That was when I called Trevor Waller to help me do exactly that.
My main thought was simple: We expect our staff to walk in here and give their best, yet many do not have the basic coping skills to get through their own lives. They cannot manage their thoughts or make sense of what is happening, and this naturally brings stress and chaos into the workplace.
You can read the transformation story in Trevor’s article below. What I can say is that taking an active step to support your staff and giving them tools for life has a profound impact on what management and strategic teams can achieve.
A calm, emotionally mature team holds the fort while leadership grows the business. We have achieved incredible things in the last five years, including opening MAMI at Melrose Arch, our dedicated breast centre of excellence where patients consistently praise the staff, service and care they receive.
Another area needing real change is recruitment. Many of the issues we face come from hiring the wrong person or hiring the right person - but not orientating them properly or giving them the tools they need to succeed. Luminate is doing this differently through conscious recruitment. After a combined 50 years in the recruitment space, Nikki and Leigh have built a method that is proven, effective and aligned with the times.
A conscious work culture does not mean that everyone is best friends and that stress and conflict do not arise. It means that when the shit hits the fan, each person in the workplace has enough tools at their disposal to regulate, distil the noise and come back to centre. It means accountability, responsibility and ownership thereof. It means that less time and energy is spent on fallout and more time is spent on solving business problems. That is how we strengthen focus and accelerate growth.
Bringing humanity into the workplace may be exactly what you need to reach your business goals and dreams. Read the articles below if you want to do things differently in the workplace and in your life next year.
Conscious Work Culture
From permacrisis to possibility:
the PLR and MAMI story
Trevor Waller
When I first walked into Park Lane Radiology in 2020, the world was frozen. We were masked, distanced, tired and wired. Nobody used the word “permacrisis” yet, although Collins Dictionary would later name it Word of the Year. It describes a long stretch of instability where disruption becomes continuous. That is exactly what we were living inside.
In the middle of that, Sam pulled me aside. “Help me with my people. Help them learn what you taught me: life is not coming at us. It is coming through us.”
That request shaped the next five years.
Starting with people
What began as support became a sustained investment in personal mastery. We built I Matter, (later rebranded to Show Up!) a course designed to help every person reclaim clarity in an unpredictable world. The aim was simple. When events are chaotic, your inner world does not need to be.
We trained everyone. Doctors, mammographers, front-of-house, cleaners, drivers and porters. We focused on meaning, emotional regulation, communication, responsibility and the principle that in every moment you can react or respond.
Reacting is automatic. It comes from fear and habit. Responding is different. Viktor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy, described it as the space between stimulus and response. That space is where freedom lives. In logotherapy we strengthen that space so people think clearly, lead calmly and handle pressure without slipping into blame or defensiveness. That shift strengthens businesses.
From one practice to two
When we began this work, MAMI did not exist. It is now a thriving women’s imaging practice built on clarity, responsibility, emotional maturity and meaning-centered work. The culture moved from coping to contributing. From “what is happening to us” to “what can we create with what is happening”.
Over time we:
- Developed personal mastery across the entire team.
- Built leadership structures based on clarity, not hierarchy.
- Used logotherapy to help people find meaning in fatigue and uncertainty.
- Coached individuals through personal challenges that shape performance.
- Designed interventions that kept the business growing and thriving.
- Stabilised teams through emotional maturity and accountability.
- Built a culture where ownership is expected and developed.
Why it matters in healthcare
Radiology is not only about images. It is about people who arrive scared, who need clarity, and who sense the emotional tone of the person who greets them.
A team cannot give what they do not have. If staff are reactive or depleted, patients feel it. If staff are grounded and steady, patients feel that instead. Personal mastery is not a soft skill. It is an operational advantage.
The real infrastructure is not machinery or software. It is people who know how to manage themselves, manage each other and stay steady under uncertainty. This kind of growth is quiet. It shows in tone, timing, teamwork and the way new staff enter a culture that already knows itself.
The next phase: Wellness Within
Five years ago we were in masks, and that moment reminds us how this journey began. Since then the work has deepened, the culture has matured, and the foundation has strengthened. The next phase grows from that progress and moves MAMI into a women’s health offering that unites screening, prevention and emotional wellbeing.
Wellness Within positions MAMI as more than a mammography practice. It expands the idea of women’s imaging. Medical care does not start and end with a scan. It begins with how a woman feels when she walks in and how she feels when she walks out.
What the journey shows
The story of PLR and MAMI is not about surviving a crisis. It is about using a crisis to build something better. It shows what happens when a business invests in people before systems, meaning before metrics and responsibility before rank.
In an age of increasing automation, the organisations that thrive are the ones that build inner strength, not just external structure.
Transformation does not come from management theories. It comes from human beings who understand their agency, their emotional world and the meaning behind their work.
This is the work we do through Two Ways. Practical logotherapy and the lived principles of 22 Lessons for Now, developing people so the business thrives because its people do.
TESTIMONIAL 1
“After working with Trevor my mindset changed completely. I gained confidence in my leadership, clarity in my goals and my team shifted from problems to solutions. The work reshaped how I think, how I relate to people and how I lead. The change started with me and created a ripple effect in my team and my family.”
Tumi, PLR Practice Manager
TESTIMONIAL 2
“Trevor’s workshop came at a pivotal moment in my life. At a time when I was navigating significant personal challenges, the tools and insights he shared helped me rebuild my confidence, strengthen my personal resilience and improve my performance at work. His guidance made a genuine and lasting impact, ultimately supporting my growth into a management role.”
Robyn, MAMI Ops Manager
Luminate: A conscious approach to hiring
Nikki Sacks and Leigh Swartz
Recruitment changed while we were still inside it. Over years of meeting thousands of people, we watched the industry drift away from what had always mattered most to us.
The real moments were never the deadlines, the pressure or the targets. They were the quiet conversations behind the process where people told the truth about their lives, fears and hopes. Those conversations consistently shaped better decisions than any checklist. Luminate was born from that insight and from the results we saw when people were finally given the space to be understood. It is a human approach that delivers better hiring outcomes because it treats every appointment as a turning point in someone’s life, not a transaction.
Between us, we have spent more than fifty years in recruitment.
We have lived the pace, the pressure and the constant push to deliver. We have also seen what happens when things go wrong.
Misaligned hires. Disappointed leaders. Candidates placed into roles that were never going to let them thrive. These patterns taught us something simple and clear. When speed is the priority, depth disappears. When depth disappears, decisions weaken.
Luminate was created to reverse that pattern. We slowed the process just enough to listen properly. When people had space to speak honestly, leaders began to see things they had previously missed.
Our model blends three recruitment worlds we know well: the depth of executive search, the pace of agency work and the lived context that comes from working inside organisations. This combination means clients get clear insight without losing momentum, and candidates get a process that respects who they are and the life they are stepping into.
Leaders often tell us that the biggest difference is clarity.
Instead of sifting through surface-level information, they receive a fuller picture of each person’s motivations, strengths and risks. They make fewer reactive choices. They feel more confident in their final decisions. Teams benefit, too, because new hires arrive grounded, prepared and aligned with the culture they are entering.
Candidates experience the shift just as strongly.
The conversations we hold with them help them speak openly about their fears, ambitions and timing. This reduces mismatches, strengthens commitment and leads to appointments that last. Many have said that the process itself brought them clarity they did not know they needed.
One of the most visible results of our approach is transition stability. Every person we place receives six months of integration coaching. This support reduces friction in the first ninety days, accelerates the settling-in period and gives both leaders and new hires a partner to navigate challenges that would otherwise slow them down. It turns a placement into a real beginning rather than a stressful adjustment.
We work in partnership with our clients. We refine, recalibrate and adjust as insights emerge. We speak honestly about fit, readiness and alignment. Because the strongest hiring decisions come from a shared understanding of the person, the role and the context.
Today, Luminate is defined by its outcomes. Stronger hires. More grounded decisions. Smoother transitions. Clearer alignment. Leaders who feel supported. Candidates who feel understood. Teams that grow rather than absorb disruption.
Luminate exists because we wanted recruitment to return to what it always should have been: a human process that changes futures. And the organisations we work with feel the difference in every appointment that follows.
TESTIMONIAL 1
As a Human Capital Executive with more than 30 years’ experience in financial services, I’ve worked with many executive search firms and recruitment agencies. What truly sets Leigh and Nikki apart is how they partner.
The way they listen, the way they stay in step with the client, the way they align so closely to what is actually needed is something I haven’t experienced with any other organisation. They’re also not afraid to call out important things when needed, always with clarity and respect.
The addition of integration coaching is, in my view, a complete win. Assimilating into a new organisation at an executive level can be daunting and you often feel you can’t show vulnerability or uncertainty. Having a partner and coach to help you settle, reflect, and address small issues before they become big ones is incredibly innovative and valuable.
I would have absolutely no hesitation recommending Leigh and Nikki to anyone.
Jenny Coetzee, Human Capital Executive, Financial Services
TESTIMONIAL 2
Working with Leigh and Nikki has been a markedly different experience from traditional recruitment. What stood out most was their deep skill in truly matching the right person to the role - not simply placing a candidate. Their approach is flexible, thoughtful, and always anchored to the end goal of securing the best possible fit for the organisation.
Throughout the process, Leigh and Nikki showed an impressive ability to adapt timelines and methods. There was never pressure to close the requisition; instead, there was a clear commitment to getting it right.
I also valued the thorough candidate briefing. It set both us and the candidates up for clarity, alignment, and honest expectations from the outset.
What further differentiates Leigh and Nikki is their investment beyond the placement. Their consistent back-testing by checking in on candidate performance, cultural fit, and early signals, adds significant value. It increases the likelihood of long-term success and gives us confidence that we are not just hiring talent, but integrating it well.
I would confidently recommend Nikki and Leigh to any organisation seeking strategic, intentional, and deeply aligned hiring.
Stephen Linnell, CEO of PayInc
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