Sharing the Gift of Yoga and Growing Through Grief with Niki Leondakis, CEO of CorePower Yoga

Stairway to CEO

Description:

Sometimes not getting what you want paves the way to a better story. Niki Leondakis is the CEO of the largest yoga studio brand in the US, and her journey has been characterized by learning from challenges time and time again. She joins us to share how she has found opportunity in adversity, honed her listening skills as a leader, and leveraged the incredible power of yoga to overcome grief before finding a new purpose in sharing its power with the world. Tune in to hear more.

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In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

• [02:19] Niki’s ethnocentric childhood as the artistic child of one of five children of Greek immigrants.
• [05:04] What Niki learned by not getting what she wanted in jobs and leadership roles in high school and hospitality.
• [15:43] Working in leadership at Kempton during an innovative time in their hospitality.
• [19:20] Overseeing hotels and the listening tour that facilitated her goal to put people first.
• [28:01] Being recruited for a San Francisco boutique hotel company and continuing Bill’s legacy.
• [32:47] How her passion for fitness and wellness led to being recruited by Equinox.
• [37:56] Landing her dream job as CEO of CorePower Yoga and leading with purpose.
• [42:20] Starting a role in yoga at the start of the pandemic and where she found the courage to power through.
• [48:36] Future projections for Core Power Yoga, including geographic growth and beyond.

To Find Out More:

Niki Leondakis on LinkedIn

Niki Leondakis on X

CorePower Yoga

Corporate Athlete

Equinox

Just Keep Livin Foundation

Awesome CX

Lee Greene on LinkedIn

Stairway to CEO

Stairway to CEO on Instagram

Quotes:

“No matter how good you are, you have to prepare.” [0:06:12]

“I learned to see opportunities and how I could impact them and make a difference, and I got rewarded for that.” [0:07:49]

“If you don’t get what you want, keep trying.” [0:13:05]

“I learned [so much] along the way about the importance of how you treat people, how you care for people, how you inspire, motivate, and lead them. And that was my way of getting the business results that I was tasked with.” [0:17:19]

“If you’re going to alienate people along the way you’re going to look behind you and you won’t have any followers.” s [0:25:56]

“To be our best self, we have to be healthy.” [0:33:25]

“When I found myself without my career, my husband, or my home, what got me through that transition was getting on my yoga mat every day.” [0:39:36]

“You can’t shortstep or expedite your way through grief. You have to feel it. You have to go through it. You can’t move around it.” [0:40:10]

“Part of the way that I have always remained highly motivated and energized and passionate about my work is finding the purpose in the work.” [0:41:08]

“For me, listening has been one of the incredible keys to my success.” [0:49:48]

“We were ahead of the curve. It simply came from being there to listen.” [0:51:28]

“Our higher purpose is to power love from the inside out, putting more love in the world and helping people access that love.” [0:52:47]

“When you face adversity, don’t let it get you down and don’t wallow in it. Within that adversity lies opportunity” [0:54:51]