Hakim: Welcome back to Level Up. I'm your host Hakim. And quick question before we start: when is the last time you actually took a time off and actually felt reset by it? Not just tired in a different location? My guest today spends her days helping executives navigate the biggest professional transitions in their career, layoffs, promotions, reinventions, retirement, and in her second act, which is really interesting. She also helps those same people to plan their trips, their personal trips, that they never have actual time to do it. So welcome to the show, Kanku, human capital strategist, executive coach and founder of Dilworth Travel. Welcome to the show.
Kanku Michelsen: Thank you for having me.
Hakim: It's really nice to have you. Really excited to talk actually for the first time about this angle in my show, which I'm really excited for and really unpack what you do. And always in the beginning of the show I I give a couple of moments to my guests elevate the pitch. So a little bit for the audience to know who you are and what are you actually working on.
Kanku Michelsen: Well, thank you. Yes, I am Kanku Michelsen I live here in the US in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have a portfolio career, as you mentioned. I am a senior career coach. I work with executives who have been displaced to find their next career pivot or opportunity. And I also am a luxury travel advisor, and that means I help people plan trips that are important to them.
Hakim: nice. I'm really looking forward to unpacking more about the travel piece and actually how you connect the two worlds which which I believe it's a a a good starting point for the conversation. was there a moment like you said, okay, I I work here and I love travel, let's make this connection. or there was a need? How did you start up with your business?
Kanku Michelsen: So I have it starts with my children. I have two children, a daughter Vydia, who is 18, and my son Devdin, who's 16. And about six years ago, when they were 10 and 12, I noticed as most preteen parents do that they are growing up, I could sense that they were more curious about life, becoming independent, becoming young adults. And I I guess I had kind of an identity. crisis, if you will. I I just spent some time thinking, who am I now? I noticed that they don't need me as much in the way that I normally am used to as a mother. And I was working as a career coach still at that time. And I started to imagine my life when they were out of the house, which felt like it was around the corner. And that was honestly what the trigger was. Once I thought about that, I said, you know, I have table travel as being an important part of my life. Because I've been raising them. And now I want to do that. I think it will keep me busy. I enjoy the opportunity to have new experiences, meet new people, see new things, all the while giving them the freedom, if you will, to do the same in their own life. And it gave me permission to explore. And as a lot of my friends said, I career coached myself, which I did. I said, what do I want to be when I grow up? I literally asked myself. And that from there I decided to follow the career path of a travel advisor.
Hakim: That's really interesting. I love the story. And we definitely like the show called Level Up. So we level up together and we go into levels in the show. And the first level is about your story. I'm really glad you mentioned it. But also, you have built what a lot of people call a portfolio career, human capital strategy, executive coaching, and now founder of a luxury travel company, which absolutely great connection. But for the audience for me, How did you do that?
Kanku Michelsen: Well, I I'm a big believer in going into this with your eyes wide open. It was it would be something I would tell a a client of mine in coaching, and I did that myself. I did an enormous amount of research. I wanna say I spent at least three years learning the business, understanding the financials. I networked a tremendous amount in my community, nationally and globally. I really wanted to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly, if you will, of the industry before I decided that this may be something I want to do, because it is a big investment on many levels. And from all of the research I did, that was when I realized this definitely is the right step for me. And I started to put all the pieces together logistically, as well as, you know, creating my own business strategy and so forth.
Hakim: which I think is really interesting. Dilworth travel didn't come out of nowhere, like you said, and it came out of watching your coaching, I think clients, maybe you had some cases, maybe you had some experiences with them. What did you notice about your executives? Client treated their own time off, you know, when they tried to have have a reset and have a break. What did you learn from this process?
Kanku Michelsen: Yes. You know, there's two parts to that answer. One is on a personal level, I realize as as you have been thinking as well, that it is much more similar than not. Of course I'm thinking about someone's career and then a travel, you know, trip, but that planning process has a layer of ambiguity to it that for me professionally I'm very comfortable in. I've always been comfortable working with people and figuring out getting clarity out of that uncertainty so they can figure out what to do next. Once I learned that about myself, I said, you know, even though travel on some levels is focusing about a different industry, thinking about trips as opposed to a person's career, I also realized that it was much more similar foundationally than what I was really giving it credit for. And that really is what gave me comfort to pursue it more seriously personally. Now, as it relates to to executives and leaders, they approach travel very intentionally. These are individuals, as I can speak for a lot of us, that are very busy in their lives. They have pro things going on professionally, personally. Taking time off is very important to them. They take
Hakim: Yeah.
Kanku Michelsen: it very, very seriously, especially as they gain more experience in their career and they have more responsibility. They think it, they think about it in terms of what will I get out of this trip? It has to be meaningful. If I'm going to invest X amount of dollars, what am I going to get out of it? What's the so what? At the same time, when someone decides to plan it, if they do that themselves, they can plan it in a very pragmatic way without really thinking about the why. And I think sometimes that's what people miss when they plan trips. But the the time that they set aside for it is. very serious, it's very intentional, and they know intuitively what they want to get out of it. Sometimes they're just not sure how to make that come to fruition. Because if you think about us at work, we have an assignment. We have tasks to do, we have a project to plan. A lot of times they look at their time off in the same way. it's just a project. I want to go to Paris. I'm just going to book a hotel and plan a flight. But it's a lot more complicated than that. And I think I'll come into it really allowing them the freedom to dream and to share with me their desires around their trip without having to worry about how to make it happen, which is the overwhelming part. And sometimes there's misses because if they just look at it like they look at their job at work, just planning a project, they will, I don't feel like they'll their trip will be as fulfilling as it possibly could have been had they not really sat and thought about it. What do I really want to get out of this experience?
Hakim: And do you like sit with your clients before, you know, the travel and understand really what what is their purpose or what how do you actually build a a travel plan for them?
Kanku Michelsen: So I I think about it in a I don't want to say unique way, but my approach is thinking about it on an inside out framework rather than outside in. So let's say we're planning a trip to Paris. Normally we would say, let's great, what's what are the flights of when I want to go and let me book the hotel room and then everything else will fall into place. I think about it the opposite. I think I think what do you want to accomplish in this trip? Is it a family trip? Is it generational? Is it just with a spouse? Is it with friends? What experiences do you want to have? Is it around perhaps sports? Is it around something artistic? Is it around food?
Hakim: I
Kanku Michelsen: or seeing a museum, or anything in between. That's what I want to understand. And from there the trip gets planned. So it's kind of an inside out philosophy. I think about it, an analogy I always think about is putting a puzzle together. If you imagine planning a trip like you would putting a puzzle together, the end result sometimes we don't know what that is. We it's a feeling. And we just focus on all the little pieces and we just kind of end up with what we end up. I like to think about it like understanding what do you want this vision to be? What do you want the puzzle to look like? And then let me take care of the rest. I'll put all the pieces together so you can have the experience that you want.
Hakim: I like that. And also it shows the care that you have for your clients also, you know, to help them achieve while you're traveling. Because like I mentioned in the beginning I I think a lot of us and a lot of people traveling during their breaks holiday, they just get tired somewhere else. They don't really have, you know, okay, let's let's have a goal from this holiday to reset or to, you know, switch off. I think we we sh we all, even myself, go into this sometimes of course when we travel and I I really like that because it helps for me it helps to have a goal from the trip and be really conscious about it that okay we're going there, we're gonna do that. And the fact that you are getting involved in this that's really personal and I think that's most one of the most important things in the human in the travel is the human connection and how you personalize a trip. So happy to hear that and nicely to go to The next level, which is industry problem. I think at LHH, your company, you're seeing this up close, especially when it comes to the layoffs, to the re restructuring a company or AI reshaping entire functions nowadays. What is the biggest misconception leaders have about what a career transition actually requires from them?
Kanku Michelsen: The biggest misconception is most of the time they go into it with a knee-jerk reaction. And I and I understand where that comf comes from because they most of the time they've lost their job suddenly, it was not their choice. So all of a sudden they're working with me and they're worried as as I understand about money, they're worried about how they're going to support their family, they're worried about what they're going to do next. And that weighs on them. We're talking about very serious issues that have a very important side to them. At the same time, The most effective and happiest and most fulfilling career transitions that I've witnessed in my career have been when individuals do three things. The first is that they mourn and grieve, if you will, their previous job. That means their identity within that position. That means the job itself, the company,
Hakim: Mm.
Kanku Michelsen: and who they who they associated themselves to be within that organization. A lot of times we say, I I'm an People say, who are you? I work at this company. That identity part has to be detached in order for them to get clarity. Now the clarity is the second phase, and that really comes into asking themselves one of the most important questions I feel like we have to ask ourselves at every point in our life, which is who am I now? That goes back to when you said what made me want to go into travel. That was what I asked myself. Who who am I now that my children are are older? And going to be young adults and figuring out their own life. There's a lot of emotions around that. And I really feel it's very important for an executive and a leader to think through that. But that involves a very complex layer of thinking. One is thinking what's important to me monetarily, non-monetarily? What are my what's my top five? It could be I want to work hybrid, I want to travel, I want I need to earn X amount of dollars. I want to spend more time with my grandchildren. It could be anything like that. And then secondly, it is understanding what do I want my next step to be? Do I want to stay where I was in the same type of field? Do I want to do something different? And, you know, with the advent of AI and technology, it has really, in some ways, we may perceive it as limiting, but I see it as opening up many doors because it has allowed us to. Create and craft careers in many unique and powerful ways. And that's where I come in. I help them, I listen to what they share with me and I synthesize it. Again, I'm very comfortable in that ambiguity. And I help them put the pieces together to say, this is what I'm hearing, let's talk about your next step and create a path that feels clear, that has steps to it. And let's from there is where you start working on their LinkedIn profile, their resume, their elevator speech, and anything in between. But that part comes late later. It's really a little bit of this process work. And I think a lot of executives don't anticipate and they don't plan for this and they just jump right in.
Hakim: Yeah, nobody plans for that and when it happens I don't think also a lot of people really take the time to actually follow these steps normally. You you will have to have, you know, an inspiration to think about your clarity, what do you want, who you are. So it's really interesting and I think it's really helpful for a lot of people. And when it comes to the practical playbook, this is like the next level where we're going in the show, maybe for me to understand also for the audience the actual playbook and when I mean that like when when executive walks into a situation like this or transition planned or forced what are the very first few things that you have them work through before they actually touch nju resume or even a post or reaching out to somebody.
Kanku Michelsen: Encourage them to do some of the perspective seeking and you know introspection that I mentioned. And a lot of times they'll push back on me and say, Well, this takes too much time. And to me, it's not a question of time. It really doesn't have to take a lot of time. I said, set aside a weekend, a day in the weekend where you think about this, journal it, talk about it with your spouse, talk about it with your friends. It's really processing through those emotions and They will continue to process all of these emotions for many months to come, but it's getting them to start that process. From there, the answer starts to come. I always tell them, think about what excites you every day. What do people tell you that you're good at? And a lot of times I they ex they express to me that they stayed in their jobs out of Just because they had to, because they never got laid off or anything. So they just stayed, but it really was no longer a fit. And I said to them, ask yourself, who am I now? You you know, as in my case, spent a lot of time raising children. So I was my role main mainly perhaps was as a mother. But then it evolved to really me being at the forefront of my own life now that my kids are older. And I asked them that. I was like, You had this job where it fulfilled many parts of your needs. Over many years. And now you're here. You didn't ask to be here, but let's see who you are right now, what's important. And I have to say that part of the work can be very emotional. I've had people cry in my sessions. It's very, very impactful because they've never stopped to think about what they want and what's important. They have had important conversations with their family members. They have gone to look at their finances. They have considered, can I retire? Can I travel the world? What do I want? And then from there we create the path. I said, okay, this is who you are. This is what you want right now. Let's take the first step and always give an analogy where we're standing in the middle of a ladder in terms of our career. We look up and we see, we can't see the top of the ladder. We know it's there, but we obviously don't know what's at the very, very top. But so the only thing I ask of them is to let's figure out where you put your hand next. Just that one little step. Let's I want us to figure out that step and I want you to put some moves in that step, whether that's networking, applying for a job, you know, working on your resume, updating your LinkedIn, and let's see what happens. And if you if you don't like what you find out. Then you go back and try again, try something different. Being able to break it down into very practical level, practical steps based on what they want today is a model that seems to be very effective.
Hakim: I I fully agree and you you mentioned the emotional part and I fully understand that that can can be not so easy but also that strategy or plan to build also is not easy. So how do you help them or from your experience to make this balance you know? 'Cause also I believe that the the emotional part is is important to process as well and important to you know, accept and and let it let it go, but at the same time also maybe it's not the right moment also to have this strategy of okay what to do next or how can I build that. So how do you help them make this balance?
Kanku Michelsen: So I I separate it into tactical steps. I say give yourself time where all I want you to do is think about your previous job. That's it. I want you to reflect on that. I want you to tie up loose ends if you need to need to say goodbye to someone or say I've enjoyed working with you or just sit and think about reflection. It's almost like a loss or grief work. Think of if you lose someone, God forbid, someone you care about, you think about that as well. And it's an element of that type of work that I incorporate. that allows them to put a bow around that experience and to move forward and move out of that, if that makes sense. They don't carry it with them. And for different people, it's it's a different amount of time. I had a client who is my age but was in one job 28 years, and the We worked together for six months and during that time all we talked about was this because she she it was her first job out of university and she she just could not understand who she was. She couldn't detach from it. She's like, all I know is this company. And it it has taken her a year to really process that. But she was there 28 years. Others that are only in a company two or three months, maybe or a different place in their life, it takes less. That's my job to figure out, assess that, and to kind of give them the guidance on how to make that happen. Is it a little bit of weekend work or is it several months? I instructed her to take a couple of months. And not only that, it's actually taken her almost a year. I told her six months, but it's taken her really a year to cope with that. But she's gonna come out of it stronger and more focused on what she wants to do next. And also I believe she will come out of that being more successful. in all levels because she will understand here's who I am, here's where my passion is now. And from that, when you express that very naturally in your job, a success comes as well.
Hakim: That's great. that you
Kanku Michelsen: I
Hakim: combine this with travel and my question actually is do you suggest that as as a way out normally to your clients and then you can combine your travel company to help them go into that process. Maybe sometimes they don't they're not even planning to to travel, but why travel especially is something that you use to to make that connection
Kanku Michelsen: Having been in that life myself as a corporate executive, in fact, I used to travel full time in my career. I flew out on a Sunday and flew home Thursday nights for four years. Having lived that, I understand their my a lot of their mindsets. And I can relate to that. So I I say, I know it's important, I get it. If it's if you're telling me you're taking you want to take a safari trip in October with your family, and I take that very seriously. And I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure it's as deeply meaningful as you expect. In other words, I kind of think about it in terms of a business standpoint, the ROI. I think about it that way. I want the ROI of your trip to be as meaningful as you feel in your job in terms of making an impact if with whatever you're responsible for. and that that comes from my background. I understand the corporate world, I've lived it myself, I understand how important. it has been and how rare it is to be able to take restorative travel. Life gets in the way, our family commitments get important and everything else in between. So when someone comes to me, I I want them to know that I understand it on a much deeper level. And I I can I can communicate with them in that ambiguity when they say we want to take a family trip, we just don't know where, I'm okay with that. I can sit down with them. And help them figure it out based on the experience I have as a career coach.
Hakim: That nice. Thank you for sharing. And
Kanku Michelsen: we're
Hakim: the fact that you use also your other part of a company to make that connection I think is really unique. I didn't see anybody doing that before, so big shout out to you for doing that definitely.
Kanku Michelsen: Thank you.
Hakim: And maybe something f for us to learn as well because obviously you've been into a lot of conversations and a lot of experience. What is the most common mistakes you see executives make in their first thirty days of a career transition?
Kanku Michelsen: The most common mistake is rushing into a next opportunity without really pausing to reflect on some of the things I already talked about. You know, like what did this job mean to me? Who am I now? Is really the most important question that I like to start with. they get worried right away because they lost their job and they said, I have children at home, I have to pay for this and that. I need health insurance or whatever it may be, and I empathize with that because we're not speaking about someone doing volunteer work. We're talking about someone that needs doing going back to work to earn an income to support their lives. I also see the the enormous value of pausing and reflecting and processing where they are today. That clarity is really what I what I aim for. I do get resistance. sometimes. But once they start doing the work and really sitting and thinking, it really is enlightening for them and they move forward with a lot more positively positivity and hopefulness and clarity. And that's the part that I want them to feel. One of the more challenging situations I encounter is when someone comes to me and they say, I just want to go back to my old company or I'm just going to look for what I have been doing, which I think is fine if they if I can sense that they genuinely want that. But sometimes I don't want them to make decisions out of fear. I try to really work on the courage piece. To live be able to live in this ambiguity until they can get clarity is probably one of the hardest parts of the work that I do.
Hakim: great advice I think also in the same time. So you definitely work on that. But it's absolutely good to hear. And I'm thinking all the time myself like okay, I need to make a use of this definitely. We spoke a little bit about AI and I think obviously I was gonna bring this in our conversation of course and how AI is already reshaping everything, but in terms of your experience and your kind of career path, that's recruiting, coaching, platforms, and how companies handle all of these. maybe in short, ha because I like also that you like the positive part of it, then it's really something nice. But what actually some of the good examples you see from the use of AI in your own experience and what are the negatives?
Kanku Michelsen: So some of the good examples is using it to do some of the practical things that we want to get done in our day. Things like agentic AI, I think is super important, can help us create a project plan or flush through an idea. I saw an example where it was helping a sales company create a sales delivery model to share with their team. I think the stuff that normally would take us a long time, if you feed it the most important information, it can give you back something deeply helpful. The challenge for me, whether it's in career coaching or it's in travel or it's with my clients, is really the balance. I think the human side is what's extremely important that I focus on with them. I was like, use it as a data point only. Be smart with it, realize it can make mistakes, it can hallucinate, review it. If I'm a career coach, I say, read let's review this information together as a team. If it's just me working on something on my own, I always put that human side to it. For example, with travel, the the lens that I take on planning a trip is much more important to me than what AI may tell me because I understand my client. AI will never understand my client like I will. Nor if they were to plan it by themselves. It's not going to understand. the dynamics of their family that they're traveling with, temperaments, food allergies, travel schedule, and what they really want to get out of their trip. That's my job. And so I really sort of realize the the place, if you will, that it has in each of the types of work that I do. And I communicate that to my clients. And I said if you want to research the weather in a city, absolutely. Think about that, but remember take it with a grain of salt because sometimes AI can miss the nuances of the fine detail that something where I would catch it. Likewise in career coaching, it may not notice an error on a resume that I would be able to pick up on, or really the being able to coach my client on how to have a conversation with the CEO based on their personality and temperament, AI will not be able to provide that context. So it's really giving it that pause and discernment is one of the most important words I relate to that is take what it take what it gives you, use some discernment and add your human touch to the outcome and then only then present your information.
Hakim: I think also i it
Kanku Michelsen: right.
Hakim: makes the human element in coaching, career coaching or whatever actually more valuable. Because like you said, for example now with your clients, yeah, you're connected to them, you understand exactly what they go through, what they need, and maybe you can use AI to structure that or to help, you know, make things going like on on steps, but the human connection I think is always more important for me, I hope stays like this always. But in since we're talking about technology and AI, do you think career transition as life stages is gonna become more frequent because of AI? I hope not, or it's just maybe a path that we're going through.
Kanku Michelsen: So do you mean because of AI, I feel like more people will be looking for new opportunities?
Hakim: Probably. I hope not.
Kanku Michelsen: I actually my personal belief is I think it's going to level out. AI cannot replace our human touch, if you will. It can do it can process a lot of practical things for us, but it cannot replace how we think and how we connect with each other. That is the most value and valuable piece. And actually, from the the research I have found in in career coaching recently in 2026, is that it actually strengthens these skills that you and I may not intuitively think are important. Skills around storytelling and being able to connect with others. That's what companies are looking for now in terms of leaders, CEOs, COOs, CTOs. They want individuals that have that human connectedness, if you will, skillset, because that's something, no matter how robust and refined AI gets, it cannot do that part of the work. So they want someone that is very skilled at being able to interpret AI data, reconfigure it for the end result, whether it's a client or an output. And that Part of the model is only only going to strengthen over time. So I don't think AI is replacing us or is going to make the job market more, people get laid off more, but what it will do is have each of us re rethink, if you will, how we do our jobs. Certain skills may be more important than they weren't, and they weren't maybe five years ago. For example, a CTO who mainly Focuses on a specific technology. Maybe AI does that now, like coding or something like that. But that CTO's role is still even more important, but with different skills that need to be refined. I don't think it's going to eliminate all of our jobs.
Hakim: trips, planners. Why do you think highly personalized human touch travel related advisory like yourself for example, is actually growing instead of decreasing?
Kanku Michelsen: The human side of travel in terms of like partnering with a travel advisor or someone that helps you is that they they take that approach that I mentioned earlier, it's the inside out approach. to really get to know you, what do you want to get out of your trip? Is it a slow restorative trip? Is it a busy, let's visit a bunch of cities? Is it a trip I want to see through the eyes of my children? Is it a generational trip with my parents that I want to have that moment with them? Or is it just to enjoy some sunshine in the winter? That kind of customization, thinking, and planning really can make a trip go from being ordinary to extraordinary. Because once someone is able to express that to me, which AI really is not able to fine-tune it at that level of detail, I am able to sit and think, well, they want the trip to feel this way and to have this sort of experience. Now, as I put the pieces of the puzzle together for their itinerary, I need to think through that. AI, for example, can tell you how to get from Florence to Milan, for example, but it may not give you all the train schedules and it may not take into consideration you have a newborn with you, or you have someone with that uses a cane, or you have a large party or anything in between. That kind of fine detail is what an advisor brings and also is the human touch partnerships that someone in my shoes brings to the table as as well. I'm always in their corner thinking about how can I make this exceptional, whether it's partnerships I have. And an advisor is with them from through the beginning to the end of the trip to help them every step of the way, to make sure there's no hiccups or obstacles. And if there are. The advisor such as myself is there to help them solve the problem right away. And again, that's not something an AI can do. but AI is great about doing the the research. If you want to get some ideas or wanderlust and explore, I think it's fantastic. But if you rely on AI from a travel perspective to do that final planning, I think you may walk away from your trip feeling that something perhaps was missing or it wasn't as extraordinary. as it possibly could have been, because there may have been some pieces along the way that didn't go as seamlessly as you would have hoped.
Hakim: Of course a lot of people are scared and like you said, it is not gonna take let's say a lot of jobs out. It will take maybe some jobs out when it comes to technical part, when it comes to a lot of automation and stuff like that but I also believe like you with the human connection part that's gonna stay and gonna be even more stronger I believe and also will help us as human to to level up. You have spent your career helping people move through the biggest transitions I think in their lives, with losing a job also professionally and also personally. if someone listening now what you're saying and maybe going through that transition or maybe somebody in their life going to that transition, what's the first real step they should take?
Kanku Michelsen: I think the first thing is an emotional one, which is the first thing I do is encourage them to have courage. I think that it's a very uncertain time. Like I said, the analogy of climbing the ladder, you don't know what tomorrow will bring. You you you're worried, a lot of times are worried and concerned. And I don't I can't take that away, but I say we have to find a way for you to think through things in the midst of that uncertainty with courage. And that's really what I focus on. I was like, how I I think to myself, how can I give them instill courage in them to be able to get up tomorrow and then think about that? I like to focus on saying goodbye to the past, mourning their previous opportunity, whatever it meant to them and their identity, and respecting it and putting a bow on it. This was a great time in my life. It meant a lot to me. It gave me these things. Now it's time for me to move forward and And then ask one of the most important questions I think we're we each ask ourselves for the rest of our lives. Something my kids are asking themselves now as teenagers, which is who am I? And I I have never realized how powerful that question is until I became a coach. And I like to share it with my clients because it gives them pause. It allows them to sit and think, what do I want today? Not what did I did I want. and not what did that other job give me, but what do I want right now? And and from there they can the courage comes to find a step forward.
Hakim: It is a very powerful question.
Kanku Michelsen: Yes, yeah.
Hakim: Absolutely. Who am I today? I think it's really deep and yeah, you can maybe hear it and it sounds powerful, but when you really l look at the mirror and ask yourself, it really will open up a lot of other questions and a lot of other answers. And I'm really glad you bring this to the show. And before we close, this is the the show question is what does level up mean to you?
Kanku Michelsen: It means being able to be your true self and be honest about what experiences mean to me, mean to you or to me. And I think that's the core of coaching and that's what the travel advisory means. It's not just it's not the practical pieces which do work itself out, but it's the vision behind that. And that's extremely personal. And I think a l for each of us, I would love for us to each know to to To honor what we want in our lives, who we want to be, and most importantly, what's important to each one of us. And know that what's important today in 2026 at where we are now may not be in 2030. And to respect that, but to be in the present, this is what I want today, this is what I want to accomplish, this is how I want to live, and to have that clarity and from there gain the courage to live and make decisions, whether it's around travel or your job. or anything personal or what have you to use those values as your foundation in the choices that you make.
Hakim: was inside. So people can reach out to you. But really, thank you for your time today and the advice and I wish you all the best and in what are you building. I think it's absolutely unique combining both the travel part of your career and also the career coaching and and helping all of these individuals so Well done with that, keep her up and thank you for the time today.
Kanku Michelsen: And thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.
Kanku Michelsen: Thank you for having me.
Hakim: It's really nice to have you. Really excited to talk actually for the first time about this angle in my show, which I'm really excited for and really unpack what you do. And always in the beginning of the show I I give a couple of moments to my guests elevate the pitch. So a little bit for the audience to know who you are and what are you actually working on.
Kanku Michelsen: Well, thank you. Yes, I am Kanku Michelsen I live here in the US in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have a portfolio career, as you mentioned. I am a senior career coach. I work with executives who have been displaced to find their next career pivot or opportunity. And I also am a luxury travel advisor, and that means I help people plan trips that are important to them.
Hakim: nice. I'm really looking forward to unpacking more about the travel piece and actually how you connect the two worlds which which I believe it's a a a good starting point for the conversation. was there a moment like you said, okay, I I work here and I love travel, let's make this connection. or there was a need? How did you start up with your business?
Kanku Michelsen: So I have it starts with my children. I have two children, a daughter Vydia, who is 18, and my son Devdin, who's 16. And about six years ago, when they were 10 and 12, I noticed as most preteen parents do that they are growing up, I could sense that they were more curious about life, becoming independent, becoming young adults. And I I guess I had kind of an identity. crisis, if you will. I I just spent some time thinking, who am I now? I noticed that they don't need me as much in the way that I normally am used to as a mother. And I was working as a career coach still at that time. And I started to imagine my life when they were out of the house, which felt like it was around the corner. And that was honestly what the trigger was. Once I thought about that, I said, you know, I have table travel as being an important part of my life. Because I've been raising them. And now I want to do that. I think it will keep me busy. I enjoy the opportunity to have new experiences, meet new people, see new things, all the while giving them the freedom, if you will, to do the same in their own life. And it gave me permission to explore. And as a lot of my friends said, I career coached myself, which I did. I said, what do I want to be when I grow up? I literally asked myself. And that from there I decided to follow the career path of a travel advisor.
Hakim: That's really interesting. I love the story. And we definitely like the show called Level Up. So we level up together and we go into levels in the show. And the first level is about your story. I'm really glad you mentioned it. But also, you have built what a lot of people call a portfolio career, human capital strategy, executive coaching, and now founder of a luxury travel company, which absolutely great connection. But for the audience for me, How did you do that?
Kanku Michelsen: Well, I I'm a big believer in going into this with your eyes wide open. It was it would be something I would tell a a client of mine in coaching, and I did that myself. I did an enormous amount of research. I wanna say I spent at least three years learning the business, understanding the financials. I networked a tremendous amount in my community, nationally and globally. I really wanted to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly, if you will, of the industry before I decided that this may be something I want to do, because it is a big investment on many levels. And from all of the research I did, that was when I realized this definitely is the right step for me. And I started to put all the pieces together logistically, as well as, you know, creating my own business strategy and so forth.
Hakim: which I think is really interesting. Dilworth travel didn't come out of nowhere, like you said, and it came out of watching your coaching, I think clients, maybe you had some cases, maybe you had some experiences with them. What did you notice about your executives? Client treated their own time off, you know, when they tried to have have a reset and have a break. What did you learn from this process?
Kanku Michelsen: Yes. You know, there's two parts to that answer. One is on a personal level, I realize as as you have been thinking as well, that it is much more similar than not. Of course I'm thinking about someone's career and then a travel, you know, trip, but that planning process has a layer of ambiguity to it that for me professionally I'm very comfortable in. I've always been comfortable working with people and figuring out getting clarity out of that uncertainty so they can figure out what to do next. Once I learned that about myself, I said, you know, even though travel on some levels is focusing about a different industry, thinking about trips as opposed to a person's career, I also realized that it was much more similar foundationally than what I was really giving it credit for. And that really is what gave me comfort to pursue it more seriously personally. Now, as it relates to to executives and leaders, they approach travel very intentionally. These are individuals, as I can speak for a lot of us, that are very busy in their lives. They have pro things going on professionally, personally. Taking time off is very important to them. They take
Hakim: Yeah.
Kanku Michelsen: it very, very seriously, especially as they gain more experience in their career and they have more responsibility. They think it, they think about it in terms of what will I get out of this trip? It has to be meaningful. If I'm going to invest X amount of dollars, what am I going to get out of it? What's the so what? At the same time, when someone decides to plan it, if they do that themselves, they can plan it in a very pragmatic way without really thinking about the why. And I think sometimes that's what people miss when they plan trips. But the the time that they set aside for it is. very serious, it's very intentional, and they know intuitively what they want to get out of it. Sometimes they're just not sure how to make that come to fruition. Because if you think about us at work, we have an assignment. We have tasks to do, we have a project to plan. A lot of times they look at their time off in the same way. it's just a project. I want to go to Paris. I'm just going to book a hotel and plan a flight. But it's a lot more complicated than that. And I think I'll come into it really allowing them the freedom to dream and to share with me their desires around their trip without having to worry about how to make it happen, which is the overwhelming part. And sometimes there's misses because if they just look at it like they look at their job at work, just planning a project, they will, I don't feel like they'll their trip will be as fulfilling as it possibly could have been had they not really sat and thought about it. What do I really want to get out of this experience?
Hakim: And do you like sit with your clients before, you know, the travel and understand really what what is their purpose or what how do you actually build a a travel plan for them?
Kanku Michelsen: So I I think about it in a I don't want to say unique way, but my approach is thinking about it on an inside out framework rather than outside in. So let's say we're planning a trip to Paris. Normally we would say, let's great, what's what are the flights of when I want to go and let me book the hotel room and then everything else will fall into place. I think about it the opposite. I think I think what do you want to accomplish in this trip? Is it a family trip? Is it generational? Is it just with a spouse? Is it with friends? What experiences do you want to have? Is it around perhaps sports? Is it around something artistic? Is it around food?
Hakim: I
Kanku Michelsen: or seeing a museum, or anything in between. That's what I want to understand. And from there the trip gets planned. So it's kind of an inside out philosophy. I think about it, an analogy I always think about is putting a puzzle together. If you imagine planning a trip like you would putting a puzzle together, the end result sometimes we don't know what that is. We it's a feeling. And we just focus on all the little pieces and we just kind of end up with what we end up. I like to think about it like understanding what do you want this vision to be? What do you want the puzzle to look like? And then let me take care of the rest. I'll put all the pieces together so you can have the experience that you want.
Hakim: I like that. And also it shows the care that you have for your clients also, you know, to help them achieve while you're traveling. Because like I mentioned in the beginning I I think a lot of us and a lot of people traveling during their breaks holiday, they just get tired somewhere else. They don't really have, you know, okay, let's let's have a goal from this holiday to reset or to, you know, switch off. I think we we sh we all, even myself, go into this sometimes of course when we travel and I I really like that because it helps for me it helps to have a goal from the trip and be really conscious about it that okay we're going there, we're gonna do that. And the fact that you are getting involved in this that's really personal and I think that's most one of the most important things in the human in the travel is the human connection and how you personalize a trip. So happy to hear that and nicely to go to The next level, which is industry problem. I think at LHH, your company, you're seeing this up close, especially when it comes to the layoffs, to the re restructuring a company or AI reshaping entire functions nowadays. What is the biggest misconception leaders have about what a career transition actually requires from them?
Kanku Michelsen: The biggest misconception is most of the time they go into it with a knee-jerk reaction. And I and I understand where that comf comes from because they most of the time they've lost their job suddenly, it was not their choice. So all of a sudden they're working with me and they're worried as as I understand about money, they're worried about how they're going to support their family, they're worried about what they're going to do next. And that weighs on them. We're talking about very serious issues that have a very important side to them. At the same time, The most effective and happiest and most fulfilling career transitions that I've witnessed in my career have been when individuals do three things. The first is that they mourn and grieve, if you will, their previous job. That means their identity within that position. That means the job itself, the company,
Hakim: Mm.
Kanku Michelsen: and who they who they associated themselves to be within that organization. A lot of times we say, I I'm an People say, who are you? I work at this company. That identity part has to be detached in order for them to get clarity. Now the clarity is the second phase, and that really comes into asking themselves one of the most important questions I feel like we have to ask ourselves at every point in our life, which is who am I now? That goes back to when you said what made me want to go into travel. That was what I asked myself. Who who am I now that my children are are older? And going to be young adults and figuring out their own life. There's a lot of emotions around that. And I really feel it's very important for an executive and a leader to think through that. But that involves a very complex layer of thinking. One is thinking what's important to me monetarily, non-monetarily? What are my what's my top five? It could be I want to work hybrid, I want to travel, I want I need to earn X amount of dollars. I want to spend more time with my grandchildren. It could be anything like that. And then secondly, it is understanding what do I want my next step to be? Do I want to stay where I was in the same type of field? Do I want to do something different? And, you know, with the advent of AI and technology, it has really, in some ways, we may perceive it as limiting, but I see it as opening up many doors because it has allowed us to. Create and craft careers in many unique and powerful ways. And that's where I come in. I help them, I listen to what they share with me and I synthesize it. Again, I'm very comfortable in that ambiguity. And I help them put the pieces together to say, this is what I'm hearing, let's talk about your next step and create a path that feels clear, that has steps to it. And let's from there is where you start working on their LinkedIn profile, their resume, their elevator speech, and anything in between. But that part comes late later. It's really a little bit of this process work. And I think a lot of executives don't anticipate and they don't plan for this and they just jump right in.
Hakim: Yeah, nobody plans for that and when it happens I don't think also a lot of people really take the time to actually follow these steps normally. You you will have to have, you know, an inspiration to think about your clarity, what do you want, who you are. So it's really interesting and I think it's really helpful for a lot of people. And when it comes to the practical playbook, this is like the next level where we're going in the show, maybe for me to understand also for the audience the actual playbook and when I mean that like when when executive walks into a situation like this or transition planned or forced what are the very first few things that you have them work through before they actually touch nju resume or even a post or reaching out to somebody.
Kanku Michelsen: Encourage them to do some of the perspective seeking and you know introspection that I mentioned. And a lot of times they'll push back on me and say, Well, this takes too much time. And to me, it's not a question of time. It really doesn't have to take a lot of time. I said, set aside a weekend, a day in the weekend where you think about this, journal it, talk about it with your spouse, talk about it with your friends. It's really processing through those emotions and They will continue to process all of these emotions for many months to come, but it's getting them to start that process. From there, the answer starts to come. I always tell them, think about what excites you every day. What do people tell you that you're good at? And a lot of times I they ex they express to me that they stayed in their jobs out of Just because they had to, because they never got laid off or anything. So they just stayed, but it really was no longer a fit. And I said to them, ask yourself, who am I now? You you know, as in my case, spent a lot of time raising children. So I was my role main mainly perhaps was as a mother. But then it evolved to really me being at the forefront of my own life now that my kids are older. And I asked them that. I was like, You had this job where it fulfilled many parts of your needs. Over many years. And now you're here. You didn't ask to be here, but let's see who you are right now, what's important. And I have to say that part of the work can be very emotional. I've had people cry in my sessions. It's very, very impactful because they've never stopped to think about what they want and what's important. They have had important conversations with their family members. They have gone to look at their finances. They have considered, can I retire? Can I travel the world? What do I want? And then from there we create the path. I said, okay, this is who you are. This is what you want right now. Let's take the first step and always give an analogy where we're standing in the middle of a ladder in terms of our career. We look up and we see, we can't see the top of the ladder. We know it's there, but we obviously don't know what's at the very, very top. But so the only thing I ask of them is to let's figure out where you put your hand next. Just that one little step. Let's I want us to figure out that step and I want you to put some moves in that step, whether that's networking, applying for a job, you know, working on your resume, updating your LinkedIn, and let's see what happens. And if you if you don't like what you find out. Then you go back and try again, try something different. Being able to break it down into very practical level, practical steps based on what they want today is a model that seems to be very effective.
Hakim: I I fully agree and you you mentioned the emotional part and I fully understand that that can can be not so easy but also that strategy or plan to build also is not easy. So how do you help them or from your experience to make this balance you know? 'Cause also I believe that the the emotional part is is important to process as well and important to you know, accept and and let it let it go, but at the same time also maybe it's not the right moment also to have this strategy of okay what to do next or how can I build that. So how do you help them make this balance?
Kanku Michelsen: So I I separate it into tactical steps. I say give yourself time where all I want you to do is think about your previous job. That's it. I want you to reflect on that. I want you to tie up loose ends if you need to need to say goodbye to someone or say I've enjoyed working with you or just sit and think about reflection. It's almost like a loss or grief work. Think of if you lose someone, God forbid, someone you care about, you think about that as well. And it's an element of that type of work that I incorporate. that allows them to put a bow around that experience and to move forward and move out of that, if that makes sense. They don't carry it with them. And for different people, it's it's a different amount of time. I had a client who is my age but was in one job 28 years, and the We worked together for six months and during that time all we talked about was this because she she it was her first job out of university and she she just could not understand who she was. She couldn't detach from it. She's like, all I know is this company. And it it has taken her a year to really process that. But she was there 28 years. Others that are only in a company two or three months, maybe or a different place in their life, it takes less. That's my job to figure out, assess that, and to kind of give them the guidance on how to make that happen. Is it a little bit of weekend work or is it several months? I instructed her to take a couple of months. And not only that, it's actually taken her almost a year. I told her six months, but it's taken her really a year to cope with that. But she's gonna come out of it stronger and more focused on what she wants to do next. And also I believe she will come out of that being more successful. in all levels because she will understand here's who I am, here's where my passion is now. And from that, when you express that very naturally in your job, a success comes as well.
Hakim: That's great. that you
Kanku Michelsen: I
Hakim: combine this with travel and my question actually is do you suggest that as as a way out normally to your clients and then you can combine your travel company to help them go into that process. Maybe sometimes they don't they're not even planning to to travel, but why travel especially is something that you use to to make that connection
Kanku Michelsen: Having been in that life myself as a corporate executive, in fact, I used to travel full time in my career. I flew out on a Sunday and flew home Thursday nights for four years. Having lived that, I understand their my a lot of their mindsets. And I can relate to that. So I I say, I know it's important, I get it. If it's if you're telling me you're taking you want to take a safari trip in October with your family, and I take that very seriously. And I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure it's as deeply meaningful as you expect. In other words, I kind of think about it in terms of a business standpoint, the ROI. I think about it that way. I want the ROI of your trip to be as meaningful as you feel in your job in terms of making an impact if with whatever you're responsible for. and that that comes from my background. I understand the corporate world, I've lived it myself, I understand how important. it has been and how rare it is to be able to take restorative travel. Life gets in the way, our family commitments get important and everything else in between. So when someone comes to me, I I want them to know that I understand it on a much deeper level. And I I can I can communicate with them in that ambiguity when they say we want to take a family trip, we just don't know where, I'm okay with that. I can sit down with them. And help them figure it out based on the experience I have as a career coach.
Hakim: That nice. Thank you for sharing. And
Kanku Michelsen: we're
Hakim: the fact that you use also your other part of a company to make that connection I think is really unique. I didn't see anybody doing that before, so big shout out to you for doing that definitely.
Kanku Michelsen: Thank you.
Hakim: And maybe something f for us to learn as well because obviously you've been into a lot of conversations and a lot of experience. What is the most common mistakes you see executives make in their first thirty days of a career transition?
Kanku Michelsen: The most common mistake is rushing into a next opportunity without really pausing to reflect on some of the things I already talked about. You know, like what did this job mean to me? Who am I now? Is really the most important question that I like to start with. they get worried right away because they lost their job and they said, I have children at home, I have to pay for this and that. I need health insurance or whatever it may be, and I empathize with that because we're not speaking about someone doing volunteer work. We're talking about someone that needs doing going back to work to earn an income to support their lives. I also see the the enormous value of pausing and reflecting and processing where they are today. That clarity is really what I what I aim for. I do get resistance. sometimes. But once they start doing the work and really sitting and thinking, it really is enlightening for them and they move forward with a lot more positively positivity and hopefulness and clarity. And that's the part that I want them to feel. One of the more challenging situations I encounter is when someone comes to me and they say, I just want to go back to my old company or I'm just going to look for what I have been doing, which I think is fine if they if I can sense that they genuinely want that. But sometimes I don't want them to make decisions out of fear. I try to really work on the courage piece. To live be able to live in this ambiguity until they can get clarity is probably one of the hardest parts of the work that I do.
Hakim: great advice I think also in the same time. So you definitely work on that. But it's absolutely good to hear. And I'm thinking all the time myself like okay, I need to make a use of this definitely. We spoke a little bit about AI and I think obviously I was gonna bring this in our conversation of course and how AI is already reshaping everything, but in terms of your experience and your kind of career path, that's recruiting, coaching, platforms, and how companies handle all of these. maybe in short, ha because I like also that you like the positive part of it, then it's really something nice. But what actually some of the good examples you see from the use of AI in your own experience and what are the negatives?
Kanku Michelsen: So some of the good examples is using it to do some of the practical things that we want to get done in our day. Things like agentic AI, I think is super important, can help us create a project plan or flush through an idea. I saw an example where it was helping a sales company create a sales delivery model to share with their team. I think the stuff that normally would take us a long time, if you feed it the most important information, it can give you back something deeply helpful. The challenge for me, whether it's in career coaching or it's in travel or it's with my clients, is really the balance. I think the human side is what's extremely important that I focus on with them. I was like, use it as a data point only. Be smart with it, realize it can make mistakes, it can hallucinate, review it. If I'm a career coach, I say, read let's review this information together as a team. If it's just me working on something on my own, I always put that human side to it. For example, with travel, the the lens that I take on planning a trip is much more important to me than what AI may tell me because I understand my client. AI will never understand my client like I will. Nor if they were to plan it by themselves. It's not going to understand. the dynamics of their family that they're traveling with, temperaments, food allergies, travel schedule, and what they really want to get out of their trip. That's my job. And so I really sort of realize the the place, if you will, that it has in each of the types of work that I do. And I communicate that to my clients. And I said if you want to research the weather in a city, absolutely. Think about that, but remember take it with a grain of salt because sometimes AI can miss the nuances of the fine detail that something where I would catch it. Likewise in career coaching, it may not notice an error on a resume that I would be able to pick up on, or really the being able to coach my client on how to have a conversation with the CEO based on their personality and temperament, AI will not be able to provide that context. So it's really giving it that pause and discernment is one of the most important words I relate to that is take what it take what it gives you, use some discernment and add your human touch to the outcome and then only then present your information.
Hakim: I think also i it
Kanku Michelsen: right.
Hakim: makes the human element in coaching, career coaching or whatever actually more valuable. Because like you said, for example now with your clients, yeah, you're connected to them, you understand exactly what they go through, what they need, and maybe you can use AI to structure that or to help, you know, make things going like on on steps, but the human connection I think is always more important for me, I hope stays like this always. But in since we're talking about technology and AI, do you think career transition as life stages is gonna become more frequent because of AI? I hope not, or it's just maybe a path that we're going through.
Kanku Michelsen: So do you mean because of AI, I feel like more people will be looking for new opportunities?
Hakim: Probably. I hope not.
Kanku Michelsen: I actually my personal belief is I think it's going to level out. AI cannot replace our human touch, if you will. It can do it can process a lot of practical things for us, but it cannot replace how we think and how we connect with each other. That is the most value and valuable piece. And actually, from the the research I have found in in career coaching recently in 2026, is that it actually strengthens these skills that you and I may not intuitively think are important. Skills around storytelling and being able to connect with others. That's what companies are looking for now in terms of leaders, CEOs, COOs, CTOs. They want individuals that have that human connectedness, if you will, skillset, because that's something, no matter how robust and refined AI gets, it cannot do that part of the work. So they want someone that is very skilled at being able to interpret AI data, reconfigure it for the end result, whether it's a client or an output. And that Part of the model is only only going to strengthen over time. So I don't think AI is replacing us or is going to make the job market more, people get laid off more, but what it will do is have each of us re rethink, if you will, how we do our jobs. Certain skills may be more important than they weren't, and they weren't maybe five years ago. For example, a CTO who mainly Focuses on a specific technology. Maybe AI does that now, like coding or something like that. But that CTO's role is still even more important, but with different skills that need to be refined. I don't think it's going to eliminate all of our jobs.
Hakim: trips, planners. Why do you think highly personalized human touch travel related advisory like yourself for example, is actually growing instead of decreasing?
Kanku Michelsen: The human side of travel in terms of like partnering with a travel advisor or someone that helps you is that they they take that approach that I mentioned earlier, it's the inside out approach. to really get to know you, what do you want to get out of your trip? Is it a slow restorative trip? Is it a busy, let's visit a bunch of cities? Is it a trip I want to see through the eyes of my children? Is it a generational trip with my parents that I want to have that moment with them? Or is it just to enjoy some sunshine in the winter? That kind of customization, thinking, and planning really can make a trip go from being ordinary to extraordinary. Because once someone is able to express that to me, which AI really is not able to fine-tune it at that level of detail, I am able to sit and think, well, they want the trip to feel this way and to have this sort of experience. Now, as I put the pieces of the puzzle together for their itinerary, I need to think through that. AI, for example, can tell you how to get from Florence to Milan, for example, but it may not give you all the train schedules and it may not take into consideration you have a newborn with you, or you have someone with that uses a cane, or you have a large party or anything in between. That kind of fine detail is what an advisor brings and also is the human touch partnerships that someone in my shoes brings to the table as as well. I'm always in their corner thinking about how can I make this exceptional, whether it's partnerships I have. And an advisor is with them from through the beginning to the end of the trip to help them every step of the way, to make sure there's no hiccups or obstacles. And if there are. The advisor such as myself is there to help them solve the problem right away. And again, that's not something an AI can do. but AI is great about doing the the research. If you want to get some ideas or wanderlust and explore, I think it's fantastic. But if you rely on AI from a travel perspective to do that final planning, I think you may walk away from your trip feeling that something perhaps was missing or it wasn't as extraordinary. as it possibly could have been, because there may have been some pieces along the way that didn't go as seamlessly as you would have hoped.
Hakim: Of course a lot of people are scared and like you said, it is not gonna take let's say a lot of jobs out. It will take maybe some jobs out when it comes to technical part, when it comes to a lot of automation and stuff like that but I also believe like you with the human connection part that's gonna stay and gonna be even more stronger I believe and also will help us as human to to level up. You have spent your career helping people move through the biggest transitions I think in their lives, with losing a job also professionally and also personally. if someone listening now what you're saying and maybe going through that transition or maybe somebody in their life going to that transition, what's the first real step they should take?
Kanku Michelsen: I think the first thing is an emotional one, which is the first thing I do is encourage them to have courage. I think that it's a very uncertain time. Like I said, the analogy of climbing the ladder, you don't know what tomorrow will bring. You you you're worried, a lot of times are worried and concerned. And I don't I can't take that away, but I say we have to find a way for you to think through things in the midst of that uncertainty with courage. And that's really what I focus on. I was like, how I I think to myself, how can I give them instill courage in them to be able to get up tomorrow and then think about that? I like to focus on saying goodbye to the past, mourning their previous opportunity, whatever it meant to them and their identity, and respecting it and putting a bow on it. This was a great time in my life. It meant a lot to me. It gave me these things. Now it's time for me to move forward and And then ask one of the most important questions I think we're we each ask ourselves for the rest of our lives. Something my kids are asking themselves now as teenagers, which is who am I? And I I have never realized how powerful that question is until I became a coach. And I like to share it with my clients because it gives them pause. It allows them to sit and think, what do I want today? Not what did I did I want. and not what did that other job give me, but what do I want right now? And and from there they can the courage comes to find a step forward.
Hakim: It is a very powerful question.
Kanku Michelsen: Yes, yeah.
Hakim: Absolutely. Who am I today? I think it's really deep and yeah, you can maybe hear it and it sounds powerful, but when you really l look at the mirror and ask yourself, it really will open up a lot of other questions and a lot of other answers. And I'm really glad you bring this to the show. And before we close, this is the the show question is what does level up mean to you?
Kanku Michelsen: It means being able to be your true self and be honest about what experiences mean to me, mean to you or to me. And I think that's the core of coaching and that's what the travel advisory means. It's not just it's not the practical pieces which do work itself out, but it's the vision behind that. And that's extremely personal. And I think a l for each of us, I would love for us to each know to to To honor what we want in our lives, who we want to be, and most importantly, what's important to each one of us. And know that what's important today in 2026 at where we are now may not be in 2030. And to respect that, but to be in the present, this is what I want today, this is what I want to accomplish, this is how I want to live, and to have that clarity and from there gain the courage to live and make decisions, whether it's around travel or your job. or anything personal or what have you to use those values as your foundation in the choices that you make.
Hakim: was inside. So people can reach out to you. But really, thank you for your time today and the advice and I wish you all the best and in what are you building. I think it's absolutely unique combining both the travel part of your career and also the career coaching and and helping all of these individuals so Well done with that, keep her up and thank you for the time today.
Kanku Michelsen: And thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.
