Oct. 17, 2025

🌴291. From Chef to Chief Education Officer feat. Martin Probst (Weekend Rewind)

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Show Notes

On the Weekend Rewind I’m joined by Martin Probst from Profound Leadership—author, career coach, professional mentor, and (brilliantly cheeky) Chief Education Officer. We first connected at the Institute for Learning Professionals Awards Night in Brisbane, where he was a finalist for Learning Professional of the Year. If not for those awards, our paths might not have crossed—and I’m so glad they did.

In this conversation, we explore Martin’s fascinating journey from chef → trainer → facilitator → business owner, and what he calls the shift from consumption to creation. We get into practical facilitation mindsets, how to reduce fear in the room, why curiosity beats ego, and yes—how he helps clients bust phobias and even experience unexpected health side-effects (one client ditched their inhaler after clearing an emotional “millstone”—wild).

In this episode, we cover

Consumption → Creation: Why teaching “what to think” keeps people dependent, while facilitation teaches “how to think.”
Two facilitator mindsets: Ego vs. service—and how flipping this switch melts nerves fast.
Death by PowerPoint: Why fewer words and more listening creates better outcomes.
Find the real problem: Stop fixing the symptom; go deeper (Martin’s “window frames” story that wasn’t about windows at all 👀).
Learn → Implement → Teach (LIT): Martin’s simple loop to embed learning for life.
Phobia busting & mindset resets: The tools he draws on (NLP, hypnotherapy, coaching) and the surprising ripple effects.
Starting a business with meaning: Becoming your own Chief Meaning Officer—why service precedes revenue.
Fail fast, improve faster: Rotary talks, messy reps, and learning in public.

My favourite moments

“Change doesn’t happen by chance; it happens by choice.”
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
“Be comfortable being uncomfortable—ask the question your room actually needs.”
“If they truly knew the problem, they would’ve solved it already.”

Try this in your next session

Open with an agreement frame: align on outcomes, stay flexible on methods.
Ask a laser question that feels slightly uncomfortable. (That’s usually the one.)
Swap three PowerPoint slides for one image + one prompt. Then listen.
Close with LIT: get participants to name 1 thing they’ll learn, implement, and teach this week.

Connect with Martin

Website: Profound Leadership (searchable)
LinkedIn: Martin Probst
(I’ll pop his links in the episode page.)

If you enjoyed this

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Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

P.S. Ready to take things up a level? Here are some ways I can help: