Leading Voices: Kat Niewiadomska

I sat down with Kat Niewiadomska, PhD, PCC (EFRI creator and CEO of Audacity Activated) to chat about life and entrepreneurship.

Kat is the brilliant mind behind the Entrepreneurial Failure Risk Index (EFRI), a powerful tool designed to help founders, investors, and startup organizations predict and prevent failure before it happens.

EFRI uses a data-driven approach to assess entrepreneurial failure risk, with a combination of self-reported surveys, established psychological scales (e.g., the OCEAN Personality Framework and General Self-Efficacy Scale), and domain-specific assessments of risk factors.

Andrea: Tell us a bit about your work, and what you're most excited about.

Kat: It’s going to sound so cliche, but I am super excited about the transformation of an individual into a leader. I was just at a coaching session where I'm working with a very difficult leader, and in our conversation today, there was the crack. And as a coach, you know what I mean by the crack. It's that moment where the light bulb goes off, and there's a different way of showing up, and I am so energized by that, because the impact of transforming one leader is going to affect their families, their spouses, their children, their employees, their peers – it's just that ripple effect. Seeing that crack, that beginning of awareness? Whew! I'm so excited. Making an impact, a human impact, is super energizing for me.

What guiding light or core value helps you make decisions?

I'm so connected to my core values that I tattooed them on my body. Literally. So I have my three: freedom, heart, and earth. Freedom is a big one that guides my decisions. Heart is one that guides how I show up with other people, and the creativity piece, or the earth piece, is very much what I need to energize myself.

How do you move through barriers or challenges?

I love this question, and I've been thinking a lot about it, because I have some close friends who are very much struggling with life at the moment. Joy is something that I definitely search for, and when I see barriers or challenges – I'm very acutely aware of the fleeting nature of life. And I don't want to spend time in a place where I'm stuck, where I'm down, where I'm negative, where I'm depressed, where I feel helpless. Because freedom is such an important core value, I'm always asking myself, Okay, I have agency in this situation. What can I do? What can I control? Where do I have power to either change my situation, learn something in order to show up differently, or learn a different mindset so I can be okay with what exists right now?

What advice would you give your younger self, just starting out?

I have such compassion for my younger self, because I was so ignorant and naive. I started out my career in science and engineering, and I was so oblivious to who I was. I was disconnected from my body, I was disconnected from myself, I was disconnected from what lit me up inside, what I was passionate about, what I cared about, and all I was focusing on was, What's the right career that's going to make me relevant and bring me money?

And so, I did electrical engineering because my brothers and my dad were engineers, and I wanted to prove myself, and I really did not enjoy it, but I committed. I then did a master's in ocean engineering, I went to the best university, but I was so miserable. I worked for a couple years, and then I went and did a PhD in engineering. I kept going. Talk about loss aversion.

When I finally was awarded my PhD diploma, I burst into tears, because I was on this goal-oriented path, but reaching the goal made me feel so empty. It was a true moment of awakening for me. I've been on this 10-year trajectory, and it's all been meaningless. It has no heart in it, it doesn't make me feel alive.

I caved in, I imploded. And that's where I started thinking, What is it that lights me up? And I realized that I had been blogging all throughout my PhD, and I was a creative writer, and I wanted to write.

In that moment that I started introspecting, and connecting with my body and recognizing what gives me joy, what lights me up, what gives me a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.

I discovered a whole different pathway. I was going north, and then I started going east once I started discovering these things.

I completely pivoted into a creative space, into a people space, and in one of my first coach training sessions, I saw that moment of transformation in one of the students who I was training with. I felt like the universe had shone a light.

To go back to your question, what advice would I give my younger self just starting out? I would say slow down. I would say: Stop looking at what other people are accomplishing, and ask yourself what is meaningful to you, what do you truly value, what lights you up. Then look for how it intersects with what the world needs – that Ikigai space – but it has to start with the self, and self-awareness. I’d just say: Oh, slow the F down, Kat.

What do you think your 90-year-old self would tell you today?

I'm so glad you slowed the fuck down, Kat. Ever since those moments of awareness, I've been living my life very intentionally, always asking myself: If I die tomorrow, how will I feel about my life? And ever since I made that pivot, I am living a good life! I always want to feel like I have lived life to the fullest, that I have eaten it up, that my life was completely spent like a worn-out shoe, rather than kept safe and protected.

What's one ritual, habit, or practice that keeps you grounded?

I'm not a ritual person because I love change, but I do have habits and practices. I have a weekly habit of reading my core values, reading my one-year vision, reading what I want my life to be about, and then planning my week and my life accordingly.

And then the other one is getting outside. I have to be outside every day, but I will anchor that by saying it's not just getting outside, it's really about being present. Looking at the colors, the shape of the leaves, the patterns on the leaf, the shape of a petal, of a flower, the vibrancy of the colour. And I always imagine that I'm drawing – because I draw and paint ever since I made that shift – so I imagine drawing and use the power of observation to anchor me in the present moment. Observing nature is so grounding, because I feel like I am part of nature, that I belong, like I'm home.

Who has been an important influence or mentor in your journey?

I think an important influence has been my grandmother, for many reasons. I always felt she wanted to live a different life. Same with my mom. They're both influences by who they wanted to be and couldn't. And one of my best friends lives in Spain, and is the embodiment of everything I want to be. She's a business owner, she's an artist, she's this beautiful gypsy soul, where she's always curious and exploring and wondering, and just shows up with the most love and care for everybody around her. She's a huge inspiration.

Where do you find joy outside of work?

Everywhere, everywhere. I love the creative act, whatever it might be, so I find joy in cooking, making sourdough, sketching, painting, going outside in nature, walking. I'm very embodied ever since my moments of transformation, so I love to move my body, I love to run, I love to dance, I love to bike. Movement is a huge source of joy for me. My kids – and learning or discovering new places and things, new information, any kind of exploration or discovery is a huge source of joy.

If someone wants to reach out to you, what's the best way to connect?

I can be reached on LinkedIn. I’d also like to invite people to take the Entrepreneurial Failure Risk Index (EFRI) assessment, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Sign up for Leadership Learnings to receive the next Leading Voices interview direct to your inbox!