My guest today is Dr. Christiane Schroeter. She began her career in academia as a marketing professor, surrounded by well-structured assignments, strong theories, and students who were doing everything right, at least on paper.
But over time, she began to see a gap between performance and real learning, between checking boxes and creating meaningful Growth.
That realization led her beyond the classroom and into entrepreneurship, where she built Petite Practice, a framework focused on personal and professional growth through small, intentional actions.
As with every episode, we’ll break this conversation into two parts. First, we’ll talk about Dr. Schroeter’s entrepreneurial journey, the moment things shifted, the challenges she faced leaving a familiar environment, and the wins that confirmed she was on the right path.
Then, in the second half, we’ll draw on her expertise and talk about how leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals can apply these ideas to create sustainable growth without Burnout.
So if you’ve ever felt successful on the surface but disconnected underneath, this episode will resonate.
Christiane’s Company
Petite Practice
https://doctorchristiane.com
Christiane’s TED-X Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K4cPvQ2zRU
Christiane’s Book:
Petite Practice™ Planner: Small Steps, Big Wins: A Simple System for Daily Momentum
https://tinyurl.com/5n8fb8d7
Mike Konrad entered the electronics manufacturing industry in 1985. Four decades later, he continues to dedicate his career to advancing reliability within the industry. In 1992, he founded Aqueous Technologies, an equipment manufacturer serving the electronics sector. Becoming an entrepreneur was never part of his plan, he simply had a passion for a product he designed. When his employer declined to build it, he realized the only way forward was to create it himself.
Mike entered business with strong technical skills but no business acumen. His early assets were ego, passion, arrogance, ignorance, and above all, a poor assessment of risk. Ironically, those traits proved useful in the beginning, ignorance really was bliss. But as his company grew, Mike recognized that those same traits could lead to its downfall. To survive, he had to transform himself, developing business acumen, adopting sustainable strategies, and evolving from reckless enthusiasm into purposeful leadership.
Today, with 40 years of industry experience, Mike shares both his technical expertise and his entrepreneurial journey, offering lessons from personal and professional growth, the near-misses that almost derailed him, and the strategies that carried him forward. He is also a strong advocate of “conscious marketing”, moving beyond traditional chest-thumping advertising toward education-driven authority building. By offering value through knowledge rather than hype, Mike helps organizations connect with a new generation of decision-makers who prefer independent research over bold claims.
