Frank Schaeffer In Conversation with Mindful Chef, Life Coach, and Mystic Turn Founder, Samir Selmanović, exploring his work helping leaders thrive both personally and professionally by embracing the experience of human life.
Refresh Page for Podcast
“I have come to believe that the humanization of work and the full embrace of the muck and glory of the human experience is the defining challenge of our time. I hold a safe, challenging, and supportive space for my clients where they can practice being present, get to the crux of the matter, and work with their stories. In the process, they experience their belonging, discover their courage, and use their particular artistry to make lasting contributions to people, organizations, and the world.”
Samir Selmanović, Ph.D. helps leaders thrive both personally and professionally by embracing the experience of human life. Samir consults, coaches, speaks, and facilitates retreats, helping people belong to their own life, befriend the unknown and cross their personal and professional thresholds.
After slugging through a B.Sc. in Structural Engineering in Europe, Samir crossed the Atlantic to complete an M.A. in Developmental Psychology, a Master of Divinity, and a Ph.D. in Human Development. He is also a graduate of Georgetown University’s Transformational Leadership Coaching Program and a Professional Certified Coach accredited by the International Coaching Federation.
Samir has been learning something from each of his personal and organizational clients including Gallup Europe, Florida Hospital, Harvard University, Intel, the New York Foundation for the Arts, World Vision, Storied, Agile Boston, Toyota University, and Goldman Sachs.
Samir is also a mindful chef and a mystic guide. When the going gets tough, he goes into his kitchen and cooks up kindness for family, friends, and strangers. He loves his home country of Croatia, the people on the streets of New York City, and the changing seasons in Central Park, next to which he lives with his wife and two daughters.
“Samir offers us the fruits of his rich experience. We need more Samirs on the planet—people of conviction and humility.”
“Samir Selmanovic is asking the right questions at the right time.”
Samir’s New Project: Mystic Turn
Sometimes I wake up at night thinking, “What would be possible if we learned to live a life greater than the one we can control?”
Helping people change over the last 20 years, I could see that for each one of us, our relationship with the unknown is the most honest relationship we humans can have. It is also the most empowering and rewarding relationship we can ever establish. This is where our fears live, this is where every love and joy begins, this is where anything is possible. This is the axis of all professional and personal growth.
That’s why I’m bringing together people interested in practical mysticism to establish a proper relationship with reality, find joy and freedom in ordinary life, and practice their own natural habits of transformation, so that we can each navigate through our personal lives and professional transitions with more presence, imagination, and courage.
I am a believer that, together, we can find answers that we can’t Google, religion doesn’t have, and LinkedIn wouldn’t know how to talk about. So, I have decided I don’t have to have more information. I don’t need to have more time. I don’t have to have more money. I am enough and the world is enough. What I need is a community of people whose insanity makes sense to me.
“Obvious truth must be made even more obvious, and this is what Samir is doing for all of us.”