A CykoMetrix Spotlight Production

Every week, the Spotlight shines on an amazing professional with a story to tell and lessons to teach. Welcome to the CykoMetrix Spotlight.

The following is an adapted transcript of the exchange between Sylvain Rochon, CMO at CykoMetrix as host, and Dr. Pylin Chuapetcharasopon, Life and Human Potential Coach

www.drpylin.com

Sylvain Rochon: Hello, welcome to the CykoMetrix Spotlight. My name is Sylvain Rochon, Chief marketing officer at CykoMetrix, a leading-edge combinatorial psychometric and human data analytics company that brings the employee assessment industry to the cloud with instant assessments, in-depth analysis, trait measurements, and team-based reporting features that simplify informed decision-making around recruiting, training, and managing today’s modern workplace.

Today in the Spotlight, we have Dr. Pylin Chuapetcharasopon. She is a life and human potential coach. She helps high-achieving unfulfilled corporate humans break free from her straight reconnect with their purpose and master the skills to create the extraordinary and fulfilling life that they are meant to live. She received her Ph.D. and Master’s in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor in Psychology and Bachelor of Science in Ecology from the University of British Columbia.

Pylin spends her free time learning, reading, rock climbing, skiing, and learning about tea. We did talk about the tea thing a couple of minutes ago because I was very intrigued. However, today we’re going to be focusing on her professional aspects. We wanted to talk about how we can maximize human potential because that’s really what Pylin is an expert at. So why don’t you tell us Pylin about what that means?

Pylin Chuapetcharasopon: Thanks again for inviting me to come to share about this. I want to start with this quote by Maslow because I think it highlights this maximizing human potential. So, the quote is “We try to make a rose into a good rose rather than seek to change roses into lilies”. So, when you hear that, each flower has its own unique qualities like the different scents, and different purposes and you want to know what it is and nourished that versus trying to change something or someone.

For me, in the corporate side of things, I felt like I thought I was a lily trying to be a rose to fit into certain ways of being and it wasn’t helping me personally, and I felt very trapped. So then, at one point, I had my own transformation story and I felt like, hey, more people can feel this way, so I should have more people in it. So, then that’s why I’m in this business to help people feel their potential.

Sylvain: Excellent. So why don’t you tell us about your own journey? I think that’s going to illustrate how you maximize your own potential and therefore how you help others do the same.

Pylin: Yeah, sure. I was reflecting on this story because I feel like I come from a place of privilege and I want people to understand. Like if somebody’s like, oh I can’t, I’m not there so while do you share the story. I think they all have different cards that were dealt with and how you play with those cards you’ve already been dealt. So now, you want to move forward.

So I want to share the story with that in mind. I’m aware of how proud I am to be in this position. My grandparents were immigrants from China to Thailand. So then, they had to work their way up to make a living in Thailand. Then my parents were raised in that first generation-immigrant family. So, it’s all about work ethic. Work hard, get A’s. My parents, my mom, and for sure a tiger mom. Then I grew up where everything was kind of provided for and ready.

I didn’t have to struggle to eat or anything. That’s kind of the baseline of where I was. Yesterday, I went to a Nature Conservancy of Canada Talk and the president asked me, what inspired me to donate to Nature. I had no idea because my family is very workaholic and they never talk about saving the environment, saving nature, or loving animals, but I have that. I really cannot find a moment to explain where that came from. So, it’s something that is just me somehow. I came to the world, loving nature and loving animals. That was kind of my learning. I love art, love music, but my family is very like, go to school, get good grades, get a good job.

So then as a kid, you’re going to listen to your family, that’s okay. I need to complete a degree that will give me a good job, a good career. Then, it’s like follow that path for a while. I think at one point, you hit a wall where you say, “this is not me, this is not letting me be me so I can just shut it all down, pretend to be something, and just live on a surface of life, but that’s not who I am.”  I went      to eventually — “no I can’t live this way anymore.” It was not a matter of, “oh I’m going to go do something I love,” it was more almost like if I live in that environment, my soul would die. That’s how it felt. So, I had to change drastically, so that’s part of the high-level story of how it came to be that way.

Sylvain: So, give me an example of a struggle that kept you from the moment, a particular struggle you had to go through to go from being the lily, and being told you should be a rose, to being the best lily you could be or the best rose you could be.

Pylin: Yeah, there were two main moments where I was pursuing a Ph.D. in my field because I do love learning in itself but I chose that field almost like an instrumental reason. This field should make money for me. I was not      with that mindset of, “oh this field is going to make me grow and be fulfilled”, than care more about making money. So, I’m told myself,  “I will do this” and be “okay, how do I make money?” Okay, get the degree. Go get a job, and climb      a corporate ladder. I don’t know      where that story came from me, society?           my family? I don’t know where, but that was a story where I wanted to be successful,                eed to get a high degree, get a high-level job, and get money, that’s what success means.

But then, the first bit came from…     pursuing a Ph.D.,      it was really hard. It’s all…               you have to really like it and care for it or else       it’s      really hard to finish.     And I pushed through it and finished. But that last year was so stressful and I just kept pounding myself harder. It’s kind of my personality, if something’s not working, go harder at it.      It’s      not just reflect, but just keep going.

Then this is where I live in my head a lot, I don’t listen to my body. So, my body’s probably stressed that there are things happening, and I don’t care. Just keep focused. So, my digestive system went crazy and I was having stomach problems all the time. I’m just, “what is this?” It’s pretty much you’re not living in alignment with who you are and how you should be versus you just trying to be stressed and trying to get something else.

So, I had like health       wake up call, but I didn’t heed it      yet. “Don’t care, I will finish my Ph.D., despite blood, sweat, and tears.” But then, I didn’t feel happy when I got it. I felt just relief. I thought I’d be, “yeah, this is amazing, I made it.” It was just like when I recall, people congratulating me and I was like, “finally, this is over.” I was like, that’s weird, I spent five years doing this, and I feel I should be happier but I was just relieved that this thing’s finally done. Now, I can go on with my life finally. So that was the first one.

The second one was “okay, now, well, I finally live my life in the      corporate world and I’ve climbed the ladder.” I realized the way politics and certain kind of business environment isn’t who I am. I kind of make jokes. I like to speak my mind. I swear sometimes and those are not things that are promoted or valued as much in a corporate environment. So, I was really feeling it     , and then the way they talk, people were like, “oh, what you said was good, but you need to change how you talk.” It is things like that when you’re just, “if I can just be myself, I’m here to have fun, enjoy life, and do good work.”

But I can’t even do the other part and just do the good work. Then, I feel like a lot of that      was starting to push me down more and more. There’s kind of a personal story that happened where it just kind of changed my worldview of what you have to do to be successful in that environment. I’m like a lily trying to grow in a desert and I’m not going to grow there and I kept trying and trying and slowly dying. I changed environment to go somewhere else.

So that was the two pieces. A: achieving something and there’s no fulfillment inside. Then you can keep going, you’re never going to get it. Then the environment in which I realized I needed to grow and be my full self wasn’t there in that context. So, I needed to do a massive shift to feel that I can become somebody.

Sylvain: Excellent. So, how do you apply your own experiences and your Ph.D. in Psychology and Industrial and Organizational Psychology? How do you apply this to maximize other people’s potential because you have a personal perspective in the process? How does that translate?

Pylin: The thing is, for a lot of people, it’s almost like they feel like this is the only way to work.

It’s like going from job to job but they look for the same exact thing. I was here and I was stressed out, I’ll just change to another company with the exact same job and they don’t ask the real question of what will make them happy. It is a basic question you know well, “     What’s your vision and mission for the company?” in general. They      ask that and that’s not what’s going to make them thrive. For example, some have kids and they are really in the space like they really have to be there for their kids, and in the last company, they could not take time off for their kids. They found out the company was very, “we don’t care about personal life, you’d better be here and work all the time.”

They just kept saying, “okay, I need to be a good worker and do this.” Eventually, they’re burning out because their kids meet them there too and they get sick and then all these things happen. They choose to leave and don’t see if another company can provide that or don’t ask for it.  They go to the next company interview and ask, “what are your benefits? What’s your mission, and vision?” But they don’t ask, “hey, what’s your work-life balance for people here? Hey, when somebody is sick here, what happens? What about help from the leadership here?” They don’t ask the question that matters to them as a human, they just ask for always corporate stuff.

Again, this is for            people who needs it right?     . Some people, they’re fine living at home by themselves. They want to be a super-duper worker. They don’t need all that stuff so it’s okay for them to change jobs and just ask for the job thing.

But there are so many people who don’t want to ask for it and bring the other pieces together because they shy away from it, then they end up in an environment where it’s the same thing again, and they’re just, “why does this keep      happening to me?” But then, to realize, what they need to do is call in or not and speak up for what they need?

Because the right manager and the right hiring is going to see the value in you and respect your needs as a full human right now. I know another person that experienced the same thing where he had a five-year-old in the pandemic. He could barely do work from home and he asked his boss, “hey, can I go pick my kid up at 3:00, in and out,” and they’re like, “nope.” He’s like, okay, well, I’ve been here 15 years, you don’t care about me?” He went to a different company, and they’re like, “whatever you need with your kid, no problem, we know if you’re a good worker, you’re going to work at night, daytime, whatever you need, but you’ll make that happen and we understand that.”

And this becomes so easy. But since so many people don’t realize this and it’s just kind of like helping them break that mindset like, there’s something different out there. You have to know what you need and what you want and be confident      to speak up for that. People are so scared to show who they are and what they need. And then they are, “oh, it’s okay.” They join in to suffer again, but they need to speak up. Anyway, so that’s kind of one thing I do with people out of the many things I do.

Sylvain: So, if I understand correctly, one of the first things you do is what you did for yourself. You help them affirm themselves in what they actually need as a human being versus only as a worker, what’s expected of them and that kind of thing so they can express themselves and who they are. Is that correct?

Pylin: Yeah, and to be confident speaking up. So many people, especially women, I don’t know about men as much, but women around 40-ish age, if they’ve had a stressful life, they tend to develop a chronic health issue. So, just living is a chronic health thing, but they just keep pushing harder. I know one person, who just ignored her health issues, kept pushing, and ended up in the ER. That was her wake-up call, to be in an ER, and feel like she was going to die before she said I should listen to my body. It’s like you’re human, you’re not just one thing.

Some people can push through that. Cool and great for them by genetics, weight, or whatever. But we happen to be in a world where stress causes health issues. You need to recognize that because this is like a long game you’re playing.  You’re not playing just to make the money and then die. You want to hopefully be here to a hundred years and now, there are people who are looking for longevity. They want to live to 120 or 150 that’s probably not in the possibilities these days. So, I feel like people need to think bigger and larger and longer for themselves and their families because it’s going to impact who they are, and how they show up is going to ripple out to affect their team, the company, and obviously the world also.

Sylvain: Okay cool. So that’s the starting point, that kind of realization with your clients. What’s the next step after you’ve crossed that bridge?

Pylin: Yeah, so this is kind of like it’s not read it. I don’t think it’s like ABC because I always get continual feedback. The main thing I see is that when people come to me, they’re usually in a stressed anxious burnout stage. They’re trying to problem-solve in that mindset, and we know from brain science, that you’re not going to be imaginatively creative and come up with solutions when you’re stressed. When you’re stressed, your brain is going to narrow down, focus to get this piece done, you can’t see the possibilities, you can’t envision, and you’re not going to come up with this creative idea for yourself.

So, the first thing I do with people is to help them realize that the first thing we need to do is, don’t try to brainstorm in this mindset, you have to find a way to relax. We want to get relaxed and then hopefully activate curiosity because there are kind of three different, what we call emotional systems; anger, anxiety, and disgust. A very threat-focused, constricting, safety-seeking density. And then there’s a content, safe, connected state, when thinking about meditation. It’s calmer but you don’t want to do anything, really. You just want to lie there and be soothed. You don’t want to stay there either. Then there’s a driven, excited, vitality state, to just go get something, ambition.

So, you can’t be all three at one time. So, if you’re in this anger, disgust, intense mode, you need to shift to either the content-calm first, okay, then you’ll get, cortisol out of your system etcetera. Sleep is the better exercise. Okay, now that you calmed down, now, let’s envision what’s possible for you. I think for them to understand that you can’t be in the same mode at the same time. You have to learn to shift and then because you’re stuck in this gear, you have to learn to shift. Without that, you can’t even say what you want in your life because you’re so headed down just trying to survive here.

If I ask you what you want in that stressful state, you’d say I take this job. You don’t have a real enlightening answer. Okay, you know what, go take a walk in nature, go meditate, go do some rowing, okay, now come back. Those answers are going to come. So, I think the main piece is helping them if you ask them what they want, that we might know what they want, help them calm down, then ask them again. To me, those things are always in flux. You can’t just be, “yep, this is fixed now.” We’re going to just work on this because you’re human, you might grow. As you relax more and become more creative, you might have more ideas.

I think possibility can be iterative. Once you see one possibility and you are, “oh, I didn’t know I could do this!” Then you explore that. You may think, “oh I can do even more”. So, then their life envisioning can actually become bigger and bigger. So, to me, it’s like you can’t just do one. Okay, it’s done, step one, step two. So, I think both things go together like your stress again. You’re going to forget that vision and go back to, “I can’t even complain though because that does it.” Okay, who’s talking right now? Your stressed self or your      best possible self? “Oh, right my stressed self.” Okay, go become your best possible self. Now, come back. What do you want really? Right, I want to stay. Okay, so, I think it continues working on those two pieces.

Sylvain: Yeah, I really like the analogy and the imagery of this, expressed via mountain, like you’re climbing a mountain, and you see a peak. Then you get to that peak and then you look up, it’s there’s more mountain and there’s another peak further. Because you can only where you are at that moment, you can see how you can change but not completely. I really like that.      I enjoy hiking myself. I know you are a rock climber and a hiker. I really resonate with that because that’s true with what you’re describing. There’s always another peak basically. But you have to be in a position to see it.

Pylin: Yeah.

Sylvain: Then you can climb and then there’s always another one that you can see from that new perspective, from that new state of being. That’s lovely. Now, my next question would be what kind of tools or processes do you use when you work with someone? Is there any that you use to help people go through that iterative process?

Pylin: Yeah, so there are many tools obviously, I’m always learning and gathering new tools. But the two keys I can share today that I really love that worked for me, is the first one from the Positive Intelligence realm by Shirzad Chamine. It’s about identifying your saboteurs. So, it’s kind of basic like we have our best self and that stressful protective self. We have a negative bias brain in our evolution. If you’re too optimistic, you might say, “it’s okay, we’ll go on outside” but,      you might get killed by something.” But you’re a bit very cautious, “are you sure we should go out there?” You’re going to probably survive     . Obviously, you need both in a population, might just be a person who’s going to go hunt, and find new things to eat.

And there are people who think, “are we going to be safe?” Then who survives and passes your genes down? Our environment is the same today for our brain and still hasn’t caught up as much. So, he’s [Chamine] done coaching and studies for a lot of people and he found 10 broad themes of what he calls saboteurs. So, they are themes of what negative voices comes up in your brain to stop you from doing what you want to do, but trying to keep you safe. However, it might not be as helpful anymore or serve you anymore and your environment. So, there’s a free test online you can do and you can see which is your saboteur voice.

So, to me, the reason for seeking that saboteur voice is to identify it, so you can name it when it comes. Because one of the key pieces to note is that your brain has thoughts. You don’t have to believe it. People think that’s just reality, but it’s actually just yourself making these up. These are synapses going off in your head and making a sound that you interpret as something. But actually, you as an independent entity from your brain, can actually make choices of what thoughts you can choose.

Now, one of the key things, sometimes that’s a bit like people ask, “what does that mean?” But then, when you start to name that voice that keeps coming up, what’s the personality of that voice, and they can be like, “oh right, okay.”

Mine is a stickler. Things have to be precise, and the schedule to be this way. Then I start to identify, is this helpful for what I want to happen in my life right now?     Or is      my default stickler coming in. Because in the past, maybe if I didn’t follow the rules, I get scolded by my mom. So, for me to survive as a kid, I needed to follow the rules. But now as an adult, nobody’s going to come to scold me, for example. But that voice kept me safe long when I was a kid. Now I’m like, “wait a minute, is this something helpful I need to have, and you follow a rule? Or, what do I actually want in my life?”

     Here’s an example. So, I like to plan ahead, and I don’t like to like                    when someone’s like      “hey, today let’s hang out.” I hate that. I’m like, excuse me     , can you see my calendar? You need      to tell me a week ahead of time so I can slot you in.

But then I have a new friend I’m making and I’m still getting to know him. He’s like “hey, you’re free today?” At first, I’m like, today I’m so free and just sitting around waiting to have people come to me, but my answer was, “how rude, you don’t care about my time. You need to ask me to go a week ahead to show me that you respect my time.” So, all this story is going on and I’m like, “wait, okay. Is this a particular voice and what do I want?” I want to make this new friend. I actually like this person, and I’m free.

So, if you want to create connections with people and you’re free, why do you follow this rule that you made up for whatever reason, and to see that when the voice comes up, I don’t have to follow it. Naming it, can help you separate yourself from that more so that you can choose what you want to do. So that’s one of the pieces of the puzzle that I help people with.

Sylvain: Well, I’ve heard about Positive Intelligence before. I was referred to it many times.  So, it is an emerging tool I think within the space. It’s pretty interesting. That seems to be book tools: ideologies, processes, also there’s an assessment in this case to identify the voices. Then you apply that to the people you work with. It helps them move forward. Sounds good.

Pylin: The other tool related to it is from ACT, Acceptance Commitment Therapy. But we don’t actually say that to our clients. They would be like, “what is this?” I just use tools that help them. So, in traditional CBT, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, when you have an unwanted thought, you want to change it. So, it’s very active, this is true. When does this happen? What evidence for it? What is the work involved? It’s like changing a bot which is helpful for some people.

But the ACT method is more about recognizing that is just noise that’s made in your head, and you can do whatever you want, independent from that thought. So, then you have to learn ways which are called diffusion techniques. When you hear, let’s say, I’m trying to think of an example, something like a negative, like don’t do this. There comes up and you get all stressed out, blah, blah, blah. Wait a minute, but I want to do this other thing. But then some people get stuck in this thought. So, what do you do? You have to defuse a thought.

So, techniques on how to notice these thoughts that are separate from what you want, that’s number one, which is already a practice on its own. Number two is diffuse its power over you. One example I gave recently was, you can make it into a song and sing it out loud. So, then whatever the sentiment that is stopping you, then you can just use that, let’s say sing Happy Birthday. You were just singing. It can be, “I’m not a good public speaker. I’m not a good public speaker. I’m not a good public speaker. I’m not a good public speaker.” [singing to tune of Happy Birthday]. If you just keep doing that, eventually, you’re going to be like that’s just noise and sound and doesn’t have to mean anything.

So you can do that with images that come to mind, you can do that with words that come to mind.  It’s a sort of different technique depending on what      problem they have. It could be, “okay, let’s do it.” It was a diffusion technique for you to separate yourself from that. “Okay, now that you feel like that does not have power over you. Now, what do you want to do based on what you told us from your best self-exercise. This voice says like you’re not good enough, so don’t do it. Screw that voice, you just made that up in your head.” Nobody said it. Who cares? Go do your thing. So that’s another tool too.

Sylvain: That sounds amazing. It sounds like the interactions you have with your clients, are similar to a therapist who would have listened to the type of interaction on how you describe it with a patient, but though, I don’t think you’re not describing actual therapy, which I think falls into all sorts of regulations. The rules are different depending on the jurisdiction you’re in. So just helping people becoming getting unhooked from their own thoughts so that they can be free to be their own selves, which is what you’re doing, making people get to their best potential.

Pylin: Yeah. And then, just a little piece on that. Some people get confused between the need for counseling therapy versus coaches versus      consulting. So, there’s a gradient. The very high level is therapy, going back to past trauma, very strong emotional things, and let’s say something might assess you, do a clinical psychology test to say you might be diagnosed with a certain thing. Then, like some people don’t like to be labeled, but sometimes it’s helpful if you need actual help in that area.

I really want to help. The one thing I comes out from my coaching is that some people feel stigma about going to get help from a clinical psychologist or therapist. So, they get a coach. But a coaches’ skillset only goes a certain way. A good coach should say, “okay, this is beyond my domain. You need to go get this and not have that stigma.” If you’re internally bleeding and you’re like “hey, can you help?” My muscles get stronger. I can help you with your muscle but you’re still internally bleeding.

That’s a different specialty. Go get that help and try not to have a stigma. It used to be more like a very strong core deep emotional response and traumatic going back to the past a lot. Coaching tends to go into past a little bit, but it goes about where you are up today and goes forth. It is more action-based. For some therapist, it just always overlap. It’s never clear-cut and a consultant can be more, “do this.” I don’t really care as much what you are like, but do this, versus coaching is more like a co-creation, “I might know stuff, but you know yourself the best.”

So how do we make sure that you can achieve your best self versus me just telling you what you should do? I may be, “here’s a tool. How’s that land?” You don’t have to do anything. Because unless you are bought into it, change is not going to happen.      As a consultant, I’m going to come in, “you have to launch this thing, and launch across the company.” “Okay, done, and you leave.” So, there’s a gradient there between that. That’s what I’d like to point out.

If some people go to a coach and therapist, you may be able to go and talk to them about what they do or not, and just know that for certain areas a coach can’t help. You need to go to a therapist and there’s no stigma in that because you need that support. You’re internally bleeding emotionally. Go get that help. Don’t just keep working your muscle, it doesn’t matter, can keep working, but you’re still bleeding.

Sylvain: Well yeah, I mean the example that comes to me is like if you have some kind of issue related to you about food, and then you can go to a consultant that will help you with the diet, some help to balance your food intake, lose weight, whatever it may be. But if your problem is, in fact, you don’t produce enough insulin, well, maybe you need a doctor to look at it.

Sometimes a psychological issue can be resolved just by having a coach and you work through things. Sometimes you knew it could be diagnosed, and sometimes you need pills, to help you through things because there’s something physiology wrong with your brain, for example. There’s a lot of stigma surrounding therapy. But there is no stigma to improving yourself, self-improvement, development, that’s all very positive at least in the current culture.

So, there is hesitancy I suppose to some people to actually reach out to therapy but somebody like yourself that has the experience to know if it’s something that requires therapy, they can start with you. Then if there is a need to go there, you can suggest that path. If there’s no need, well, they can just continue working with you exclusively and get to their best potential because it is a gray area. Where’s the need? But you can make a determination. So that’s another value you bring to the table because you do have that knowledge to understand the gray area, so you can direct your customers in the right way to what they need.

That’s amazing. Thank you so much for participating in the Spotlight, Pylin. That was very interesting. I love your approach, love the very positive tools and mindset, and am also inspired by your own experience. It’s not theoretical, it’s something that you know inside you that works like, how you can transform another person or help transform another person into their best self. It’s something you went through yourself on your own.

If you want to leave this interview with one thought to the general audience, what would you say to them?

Pylin: I think it’s in my bio somewhere about the cliché quote like what do you want to do with this one wild and precious life. Like I’m the weirdo who reflects on that quite often. But not in a way that I’m scared of it, it’s more by it’s going to happen. You have limited time. We want to do something about it. I’m the kind of person who wants to squeeze all the juice out of life, and experience everything and all the things. If you’re not the kind of person, and you don’t care you’re there, you don’t have time to waste.

For me, my story was, “oh, I’ll wait for the perfect thing to happen before I go do this thing I love.” I was going to go travel the world and I kept waiting and waiting.

Would this job come up or should I have some more job experience in it? All these excuses keep happening and finally, I was going to travel. Finally, I had a health scare. I thought I was going to not quite die, but I was really at my worst and maybe I can’t travel anymore because I have a health problem now. Then finally, I wanted to go and Covid happened. Then that’s then I’m reacted like, “oh my God.”

For me, I want to be a cautionary tale for people. Yes, there is some practical consideration you may have, but you keep being stuck in that. Or wait until, and wait until and wait until, you’re never going to get there. It is the now that you need to work on. If you’re feeling stuck, and you feel like they’re all these restraints you are aware that are not true, but you can’t feel and get unstuck from it. Like my mom used to say, what did my parents think, what did my friend think, my colleagues, think, what does      society think?

If you know that’s you and you have more in you that you want to do with and you’re feeling stuck, you should go get a coach because they can really help. Not just me, we’re here try to help save humanity from themselves.

And with that, you’re going to help save the environment also. That’s also what I believe in. So, for me, I really love my profession because we’re here to help people. Need help, no stigma, just go get help. I have a coach, I have a therapist too.  I love them. They’re helping me to be the best person. I want to keep sharing that and keep giving. I want anybody to hear this who’s like, “maybe I need something, I don’t know.” Take action. Talk to somebody right now and see what possibilities open up for you.

Sylvain: Excellent advice. We say the same thing in the startup world. If you don’t try to go on a difficult path by yourself, find somebody that’s already gone through it. I usually say, “find some grayer-haired person,” which means more experienced, that’s all. Then, get advice, and then it makes things easier to have somebody that has the knowledge and experience that they can support you. Great advice. Thank you, so much, Pylin, for participating in the Spotlight. It was amazing.

Pylin: My pleasure.


About Dr. Pylin Chuapetcharasoponwww.drpylin.com

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

This quote, by Mary Oliver, is one inspiration for Dr. Pylin Chuapetcharasopon’s Life & Human Potential Coaching practice, helping high-achieving, unfulfilled corporate humans break free from restraint, reconnect with their purpose, and master the skills to create the extraordinary and fulfilling life that they are meant to live. So on their deathbed, they can look back at their life and say that they are dying with a full heart and without any regrets.

She is an award-winning practitioner of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, receiving her PhD and MA from the University of Waterloo, and BA (Psychology) and BSc (Ecology) from the University of British Columbia. Before starting her own coaching practice, Pylin has worked in both the private and public sectors in leadership assessment and development, people analytics, talent management, and organizational development. Born and raised in Thailand, she has lived and/or worked in France and the US, and now calls Canada home. With her international background, Pylin has a deep interest in promoting cultural diversity; she is a published author on multicultural work teams, and has presented her research internationally. As an outdoor enthusiast who rock climbs, skis, and hikes, she is a climate and conservation advocate, donating her income to land and ocean conservation, and advocating for policy solutions to climate change. She is also an avid reader and aspiring tea sommelier.

About CykoMetrix – www.CykoMetrix.com

CykoMetrix is a leading edge combinatorial psychometric and human data analytics company that brings the employee assessment industry to the cloud, with instant assessments, in-depth analysis, trait measurements, and team-based reporting features that simplify informed decision-making around recruiting, training, and managing today’s modern workplace.

Other Spotlights

Dr. Shaneka Parham – Working to Ensure Fairness in Employment Practices

Dr. Shaneka Parham – Working to Ensure Fairness in Employment Practices

Dr. Shaneka Parham is an industrial and organizational psychologist. She taught me what that meant recently, which is great. She is in Baltimore, Maryland. She has over 10 years of experience in the field, working primarily in pre-employment assessments. Her passion is in helping to ensure person-to-organization fit by use of procedures rooted in and backed by science. I really like that. Being a scientist, I really like when there’s scientific backing.

Dr. Tommy Thomas – Maximizing Your Personal Success Using Opposite Strengths

Dr. Tommy Thomas – Maximizing Your Personal Success Using Opposite Strengths

Dr. Tommy Thomas is the CEO of Opposite Strengths Incorporated. Thomas is a standard bearer of the Opposite Strength system, a way of understanding people and relationships through strengths. He currently serves as CEO of Thomas Concept, the leader in healthcare culture transformation. Over the past forty years, Thomas’s concept clients have included organizations from a variety of industries.

Scott Filgo – Selecting the Right Psychometric Assessment

Scott Filgo – Selecting the Right Psychometric Assessment

Scott Filgo has 20 years of assessment development experience with many product families from several test publishers. Consulting in both agile, entrepreneurial and methodical academic test publishing organizations, big and small. Past experiences are as a consultant, specialized in psychometric assessment, includes contracts with Deloitte and Pearson’s Talent Assessment Group. Some of the big boys in the field. Nice to see you here in the spotlight Scott.