Feminine Leadership, Intuition, and Learning to Say No (with Tal Shavit)

 In this profound conversation, leadership and intuition expert Tal Shavit joins Chedva to explore the intersection of spirituality and business, feminine leadership models, and the courage to follow inner guidance. Tal shares her journey from McKinsey consultant to co-leading Double You retreat with 11 women, her transformative year prioritizing spiritual practice, and the pivotal moment she said no to a 60-day meditation retreat because her inner voice told her she wanted "to be in the world with friends." Together, they discuss how jealousy can be a powerful pointer to our desires, the difference between productive rest and rest as productivity, and what it means to bring intuition into real-world leadership decisions. The conversation touches on hustle culture recovery, the vulnerability required for creativity, and how our backgrounds affect our relationship with safety and risk-taking.

Key Topics:

• Co-leading an organization with 11 women and exploring feminine leadership models
• Using jealousy as a compass for understanding what we truly want
• The intersection of spiritual practice and business leadership
• Learning to prioritize rest as part of the work, not separate from it
• How hustle culture affects millennial women even when we consciously reject it
• The relationship between safety, vulnerability, and creativity
• Bringing intuition and inner guidance into practical decision-making
• How personal background affects our relationship with risk and failure
• The relationship between perseverance and avoiding difficult questions
• Creating space for playfulness and curiosity in professional settings

Notable Quotes:

• "If there's jealousy that's coming up, this is a pointer that there is something that's important for me."
• "Top athletes spend between 20 to 40% of their time in complete rest... A huge part of the build is through the rest periods."
• "The way that I see intuition or inner guidance is not just Tal or Chedva's personal thing - is the ability to connect to that which is wider from within ourselves."
• "There's no way I will play and be silly, truly, if I'm not feeling safe, but this is also a huge catalyzer for creativity and innovation."
• "Our bodies remember these things... our experience of failure and safety, depending on our background, is completely different."

Tal's Powerful Question: "In a world of no failure, like there's no way for you to fail, and no cost... What is the most exuberant, beautiful, enlivening, energizing vision you have for your life?"

Resources Mentioned:

• Tal on Linkedin
• Double You retreat - women's leadership retreat organization with 1,000+ active members
• Stephie Knopel on Looks Like Work
• "Growing on the Job" - book about adult development theory in workplace settings
• Brené Brown's work on vulnerability and organizational safety
• Gateway questions and cohabitating with big questions