Deniz Kayadelen: Get out of your comfort zone!
The likeable extreme swimmer and business psychologist Deniz Kayadelen has no fear to to leave her cozy comfort zone as often as possible. Born in Frankfurt Main, Germany, with Turkish roots, she has been following her great passion swimming for more than 20 years.
At first glance, the petite woman does not appear to have swum the English Channel, among other things. Behind the facade apparently hides a fearless person with a lot of courage and the will to move the world. At the same time, she has analytical talent and the gift to put herself in people’s shoes. In her professional career, she was drawn to consulting. She currently works for Ernst & Young as a management consultant and is primarily involved in change management.
Deniz Kayadelen – Change as a life motto
Deniz Kayadelen knows change well. When she was eleven years old, her parents separated and her mother decided to take her back to Istanbul with her. From Frankfurt am Main to Istanbul. “That was already a big change,” Deniz Kayadelen recounts. “A culture that was foreign to me at that age, new school, new language, new friends – I felt like someone was pulling the rug out from under me at first.” At that time, swimming gave her the support she needed. Swimming made her feel strong physically and helped her to act stronger in real life, too. “I forget everything in the water,” she says.
Living in times of pandemic
Today, she lives back in her old base Frankfurt, the place where she grew up and which feels to her like home. During the Covid period, however, she spent time in South Africa on business. She tells us openly that this phase in her life was hard for her. Alone in Johannesburg, under difficult conditions. Like when she went to Istanbul with her mother, swimming gave her physical and mental support during a difficult time.
Out of the comfort zone!
In her latest book, “Out of Comfort Zone: Cutting Edge Business Lessons Based on Sports Psychology from the Experience of an Extreme Swimmer,” she shares strategies that helped her deal with the difficult situation in South Africa. In summary, the book is about “resilience, self-control, meditation and time management.” Deniz Kayadelen asked herself questions like: What am I afraid of when I step out of my comfort zone? How do I deal with the fear of making mistakes and failing? What is my potential? What do I want to change, try out, what do I want to do that is new? What prevents me from being brave and breaking through my limits?
In her lectures she talks about these very topics and gives her answers to the questions that probably everyone asks themselves when it comes to change and potentials that we don’t allow ourselves because of fear. She talks about resilience, mindfulness and the future of talent management, change management and change experience, new work and leadership of the future.