Empowering Employees Through Soul Health Innovations With Pam Buchanan
Soul health innovations are transforming workplaces by tapping into the often-overlooked aspect of sensory experiences, and in this enlightening episode, we welcome Pam Buchanan, the visionary founder of Quantum Sense. Pam is dedicated to simplifying complex concepts and bringing "soul health" to the masses. She collaborates with experts across various fields to deliver sensory solutions that empower employees by reducing anxiety, increasing energy, enhancing focus, boosting creativity, and improving overall satisfaction. Pam's journey began with deep introspection in Silicon Valley, leading to over a decade of research into self-examination that defines soul health. She brings a wealth of experience, including introducing mutual funds to banking in the '80s, identifying unicorn startups, and serving as a managing partner at NASDAQ for 15 years, where she connected with innovators like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Join us as we explore Pam's innovative approach and her commitment to making soul health a vital part of personal and professional well-being.
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Empowering Employees Through Soul Health Innovations With Pam Buchanan
It is my honor to introduce you to my guest, Pam Buchanan. Pam is the founder of Quantum Sense. Pam combines her expertise and ability to simplify complex concepts to bring soul health to the masses. We're going to dig into that for sure. Her programs empower employees by reducing anxiety, increasing energy, enhancing focus, boosting creativity, and improving overall satisfaction.
A tall order for sure, but it's possible. She collaborates with experts from various fields to deliver these sensory solutions. Quantum Sense is pioneering soul health innovations, and Pam's journey began with a deep introspection into her career in Silicon Valley, leading to over a decade of research and self-examination that defined soul health. Pam has a long history of being at the forefront of innovation.
Her career highlights include introducing mutual funds to the banking industry in the ‘80s, identifying unicorn startups for public markets, and serving as a managing partner at Nasdaq for fifteen years. At Nasdaq, she built relationships with pre-IPO companies and top innovators like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Prior to that, she spent nearly twenty years at Deutsche Bank managing mutual fund transactions.
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It is truly an honor and a pleasure to welcome you to the show, Pam.
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here, Tony.
I'm just reading through your bio and sharing some of the amazing things you've accomplished. You've been on a wonderful journey, but I think at this point, your journey has brought you to some amazing, really innovative work that I cannot wait to see what we're going to dive into and how you're going to really see this work come to its full maturation.
It's a journey for sure.
It is. I'm excited. We're going to have fun. We're going to explore some of the flashpoints, as I call them, on your journey. It's just been wonderful to get to know you.
It’s been wonderful to get to know you. Again, I'm excited to talk to your readers and have this conversation.
Revealing Personal Gifts: Pam's Journey Begins
Wonderful. With the flashpoint as a background, I want you to share some of the moments that have revealed your gifts along the way. These moments could be any time in your journey. You could be more recent, or it could be things that have happened way back in the day. Talk about some of the big points that have revealed your gifts. Take it away, Pam.
I love that question. As you know, as an entrepreneur, you do a lot of reflection through your journey because it really is purpose-driven. You're getting to the depth of what you're being is here to do. There are so many flashpoints, if you will, along your journey. Sometimes you just miss them. You're like, “That's nothing.”
I finally realized, no, you're unique in what you bring to the table. Whether that is like you're a Starbucks barista, you're unique in your approach and your being, and just from your look to your voice, to just the presence and the day that it's happening. My flashpoints include one, being born a twin. I'm an identical twin. That was unique back in the 1960s. In fact, in our small town, there were three sets of identical twins born, which we all grew up together. Our families knew each other. I think something was in the water.
I'll say that's amazing.
It was in the water back then because that never happened again. Why I say being a twin and an identical twin is that you're physically the same body and look like another person. People automatically say, “You're the same.” All throughout my life, you get compared and then some, sometimes they notice little nuances, but it's always on the physical, and then you must think alike, you act alike. I realize, “No, there's more to that. I'm a different soul.”
Regardless, each individual, whether it's a sibling, a parent, a friend, we're all unique because of that soul, and that's my first entry into soul health. I realized I've been embodying that all my life, and trying to get to know what makes me different because I was born into being compared to another individual. People automatically do it. I mean, I even do it when I see identical twins. “You're identical twins. Let me look at you.”
We are all unique because of the soul.
Silicon Valley Visionaries: Inspiration For Soul Health
We're more than just the physical. That was my first flash point. I think working with entrepreneurs out in Silicon Valley, I tell people we live in a bubble. Everything was happening so fast. These individuals were so committed to their idea and to learn it from almost the initiation of the concept. They had a widget or an idea, and then they brought it to life. That is amazing. People can talk about let's call it Elon, just because people would recognize that name, and more than one now. To take a vision of an electric car and make it mainstream took commitment.
Let's get to the depth and the commitment of what our beings are here to bring to the world. That is different, but we need that depth of commitment. That was the inspiration that keeps me going every day is working with all of those visionaries out in Silicon Valley and living and breathing it every day. That definitely was a flash point for me. Being a twin and working with visionaries, flash points.
Two words that come to mind around what you just shared are, first of all, this idea of like, same, and different. Those two words, obviously they're opposites, but the idea that like trying to break out of the sameness that people think of when they are looking at twins and they're expecting that you're going to be the same, but that deep down, you got to look below the surface and know that there's a difference. Also, this is really connected to the work you're doing now, is this idea of trying to get out of the contrarian view that you have something different that you want to pursue, but it's hard to change the view that people have of what is expected.
I think when you're so far ahead, and can see the future. As I say, I lived in the future because I came back, my family is in the Midwest, and now I am back in the Midwest, and they would be, “We don't know what you're talking about.” Out there, it was a more common language if you were talking about this specific widget that was going to change the world. In other parts of the country, it wasn't mainstream yet.
You realize, “That is the future.” It used to take maybe twenty years, let's say, to integrate into mainstream society. As we know, the iPhone was the fastest adoption of any product ever in the world. I think that took, and don't quote me on this, because now I've forgotten, but maybe less than five years to adapt. Where it was broadly used. I think things are expediting now, and people are opening their minds.
I know you talk about curiosity, I talk about curiosity. It's so important to have that curious, open mind and really lean into learning. I think people automatically have been taught, don't show your “weakness” if you don't know something about a topic. Again, I learned that in Silicon Valley, talking to various CEOs, like even Elon, like, “Tell me about the markets.” I don't know how the markets work.
Again, all of these people are highly intelligent. You cannot know everything about everything. Dig into your specialty and then open your mind to how it can contribute to the overall society, but learn what other people are doing and what they specialize in. I found that also like a flash point. We cannot all know everything about, regardless of the high intellect you may have. I found that fascinating.
Maybe these high intellect, if I described how to do heart surgery and I'm a surgeon, maybe they could replicate it the next day. I couldn't, but maybe they could. Again, each of us has that special gift, as you described in your intro. It's a gift. We all have these unique gifts. I think it's taken me a long time to realize that each individual, even including myself, has a gift, because I would always say, “Everybody thinks that way. Everybody knows that I'm not special.”
They don't. Above yourself so that you learn and interact with these higher vibrating, open-minded, curious individuals. That's also the second thing I talk about is environment. That's where the senses come in. Where you put yourself is so important, whether that's your home environment, your work environment, your lifestyle environment, the city, the state, or the country. Where do you want to put yourself so that you truly thrive?
The Power Of Sensory Experiences: Unlocking Soul Health
It brings out all your gifts. Let's start at home. Let's start with the senses because, again, each of us has individual senses. We all smell, we all see, hear, touch, and feel. We're born with those innate skills, if you will, but guess what? They're all unique, also. The colors that resonate with you may not resonate with the other person. The smells, again, my twin sister will come into my home and say, “What's that smell? I don't like it.”
“I don't smell anything.”
It's bergamot and eucalyptus. Isn't that unique? That's why I start with the senses, because what we have to do to get to know our soul is take the invisible and make it visible. That's why, again, I talk a lot about let's look outside and then go in, which is contrary to what a lot of people talk about. “It's all from the inside.” Yes, it is, but how do we get there? We're human beings interacting. We have to interact in this environment.
What we have to do to get to know our soul is take the invisible and make it visible.
We have to interact with people. We have to interact with buildings and homes and the earth itself. How do we interact with that and get to know ourselves from that perspective? It's not superficial when I say outside in, it truly is sitting and looking and thinking, “My home is so relaxing because I painted it this beautiful, creamy white color. I added a pop of turquoise, and that makes me energized when I walk into the room in the morning.”It sits with that. What makes you come to life?
What you're tapping into, and to me, it makes a lot of sense, no pun intended. It makes a lot of sense that it's almost like to communicate with our soul, we have to almost put in the right elements that weaken it up. It's almost like it's already meant to come into being because we're communicating with our soul through the things that are in our environment. When things aren't quite aligned with it, we know that it's not aligned.
We do know. Not to dismiss that inner knowing, that intuition. I call it a knowing, but it is let's get to know that. I wrote an article, Thinking versus Knowing. When you say, I think you're using your intellectual mind. I know you're using your soul essence. Try again, look at the words that you were saying, and be more consistent with that, like, “What did I just say, I think, huh?” That means I'm analyzing it in my brain. If you say, “I know this to be true,” maybe there aren't a lot of facts and numbers around it, but you have this inner knowing, go with that, is your soul talking to you.
I love this. I can talk about this all day, and I want to get back into more about your story. Before I do that, I'm going to fast forward into something really powerful because I just feel called to it.
I love it.
Integrating Senses Into Strategy: Decisions Beyond Intellect
The idea of bringing your senses and your soul into the boardroom, into strategy in general. I think there's a sense that we, I keep on using that word.
I know, it's a popular word once you start thinking about it. I do the same thing.
I think in theory, we can use our senses to make better decisions about strategy in the business world. There is a place for that. Would you agree?
I agree. I think that when you first start talking about it, the sense people are like, “That's so basic.” It is basic because we all have it, and it all runs on “automatic pilot.” They're working without you doing much, but are you paying attention to that? Part of the strategy in business should be to uplift your employees so that they are producing, and I don't like to use that word, but I haven't found a new word for it, but producing output that helps the better good of the company.
Part of that starts with the environment and know your employees at a deeper level. Yes, we all know Susie is married with two kids and her husband does this work, but let's go a little bit deeper. What colors does she like? What makes her light up during the day? What music does she like? Get to know a person at a different level than the typical strategies that you used in the past. Companies focus on the physical being, like they offer exercise programs.
They offer nutrition programs. That's all to have your physical, or I like to call it organ health. Your organs are working to keep your physical body upright and functioning. “We've checked that box. We can all go to the doctor tomorrow.” If I had a heart condition, I think we could get the heart taken care of. I like to say would you leave your heart with the doctor and say, “Here, doctor, I'll be back next week to pick it up?”
No. Why do we leave the soul with, let's say, our religious practice and do it once a week and say, “That's religion.” It's not. It's a part of your being, just like your heart is part of your being. We're made up of mind, body, and soul, but we don't talk about the soul. You and I, let's say we run into each other, “Tony, how's it going?”
We're made up of mind, body, and soul, but we don't talk about the soul.
“I'm feeling great. My leg, I twisted it while I was skiing, so I've just been to physical therapy.” We all are comfortable saying that. I'd say, “What part of the knee?” You'd tell me what part of the knee. Why can't we have that conversation with our soul? What livens our soul? It's part of you. It should be a natural part of the conversation and incorporate the whole being into your company strategy.
What you're tapping into here is this idea of like, people often say, “Bring your whole person to work.” When we think about that, it's often thinking, who you are outside of work, and your interests and things like that. That's all fine and great. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm thinking about it from the perspective of your mind, your body, and your soul are not things that you check at the door. It's all three of those things that have to be in concert all the time.
Mind, Body, And Soul: Bringing Your Whole Being To Work
Walk in the door with you. Again, as I said, take out the heart and leave it. “My heart's being fixed over here while I'm working.” No, that doesn't happen. You're mine. We're learning more and more about the nervous system, more and more about the neurodiverse community, more and more about how your brain really works. That's great.
I mean, when I started work in the ’80s, you didn't talk about mental health. Now we're talking about mental health. Now we take mental health days. The work has progressed to talking about, again, subjects that it might not have talked about. Maybe my dad, in his ‘90s, wouldn't be comfortable talking about mental health, but today people are. “How's your mental health doing?”
It’s not a taboo topic. I want to envision a world where, as you just said, we bring in all three parts of our being and it's fully integrated. How can we do that? The first step is talking about the soul in a common language that we're not just talking about, “Our soul's purpose or our soulmate earn.” What does that mean? It's part of you. That means there's a depth, there's a deepness to your being. I think that's the missing link because people are still unhappy in the workplace. They're still looking for meaning, but we're evolving, and I'm excited about where things are going in the world in general.
That may be a lot of people don't see it that way, but I'm very excited that we're evolving, and we have to take a step back from all the noise that is happening in today's world, and not get caught up in it and do our part. I think one of the pieces of that is, “Why don't I get to know my soul a little bit while in this chaos, if you will. What do I bring to the table? What is my soul's essence?” Your soul's essence is pure love.
This is what was on my mind. You were saying this, and I'm saying like another taboo word that we often don't talk about because we're afraid to talk about it, and work is love. The idea is love is at the center of really powerful leadership is this idea that when we love our employees, we bring love into our work. What happens is that it changes how we show up for others. That's a wonderful thing.
It's hard to do, right? It's funny how the positive can sometimes be harder than the negative. That the negative has been so accepted. Maybe that's because we were born into a survival-based world where the structures were built around survival. Negative positive, good or bad, again, your being can only focus on one of those things at a time.
You cannot do both at a time. Now you can fluctuate throughout the day. You cannot, when you're focused on fear, that's where your brain, mind, being is going to be. That's not a good place to be. I also talk about how many times during the day are you in fear mode versus love mode? Two emotions in this world, and they all fall under fear and love. That's it. Whether let's say fear is the negative, fear is anger, fear is the ugliness of the world, versus love is the beauty and the positivity and the warmth and the softness.
Why can't we live in that love-based world? Again, we're human beings, so we're going to fluctuate, but don't you want to be 80/20 versus 20? Also, I don't think people realize that's why I say the environment is so important, because the negative molecule is heavier than the positive molecule. Let's say you walk into a room and there's negativity all around, and you're the positive, happy person, and you're going to lift up the room. That doesn't happen. Even if you can keep it up for a day or two, it still will drag you down with it.
That's why I say it's so important that you create an environment where you're uplifted and that the individuals around you, in particular, are committed to that depth of soul knowing and essence. As you just said, love and let's normalize the word love. It's not love. It's love as a form of positivity and beauty, caring for others, and passion. Where do you bring that in? You bring it in with beautiful items. Walk into a restaurant that has a great smell and visually. That's what I'll say, the newer generation with the Instagram photo moments, beauty is about, right?
They’re on to something, yes.
They're onto something. It’s something to that, but let's embody that. Not just a moment where I went to a restaurant, and there was beauty. I can surround myself with beauty 24/7. What does my home look like? Let's start there.
We don't have to be fake about it. We can be it can be real, honest beauty, and whatever that looks like for us. Little movements and little touches that will create elements of what we care about and what makes us feel that sense of soul enrichment, as we'll call it for now.
Say you personalize your office space, let's talk about, “I see that you have a picture of your family. Tell me more about your family. You have a picture, or it seems like your room is a turquoise, a beautiful turquoise. Is that a color that you've always been drawn to?” Let's start talking about those things.
I'm loving this. You said earlier that we should evolve to this. It's almost like not a choice. We as a society need to evolve to a better place. I think this is the pathway. It's almost like our natural tendency is to find a path that's going to help us. This seems to me like the natural path of evolution for us is to make sure that our soul is at the center of how we create that.
Yes. I say, “Is it soul-driven or ego-driven?”
It's a great question, but I think honestly, if it's not soul-driven, eventually it's going to fall flat.
If it's not soul-driven, eventually it will fall flat.
It won't sustain itself. How do you build that foundation? It is putting thought into that every day and like developing that habit, if you will, whatever rituals and routines you build into your day, build that into, say, “What is my soul looking for today? Where am I going to find the beauty? What am I blessed with today?” Again, it's simple, but then it's complex too, but I don't want people to overthink it. I want people to take it to heart. Say, “You know what? That's true. It may be simple, but it's so important.”
Building Quantum Sense: Overcoming Branding Challenges
I want to get you back into your journey because I think there's an element of this, which is to say what you're into is what you're driving towards is not an easy path, much like the people you worked with driving new technology, and trying to convince people of something that they don't quite understand. Tell me about the challenges of building Quantum Sense, which is the name of your company. What have been the biggest issues you've run into as you've gotten out there and tried to build this?
I think it is when I say soul health or quantum or the senses, they dismiss it to a certain extent because that's simple, or when you say five senses, that's kindergarten. We all learned that. We did, and it's automatic, but you're not living it with intent. I'm trying to make the invisible visible. The second item with the branding, if you will. Soul, they say that's religion, and we cannot go there. I want to say, “No, it's not religion at all. You talk about the body, you talk about the mind, and the soul is a part of the being. Why reframe that?”
Yes, one of the resources, if a person wants to use religion as a resource to support his or her soul, that's great. You don't have to go to that resource. I'm not going to talk about that as a resource because that is personal, but we can say it out loud that you go to your synagogue or your church, your mosque to support your soul, but other items can support your soul on a daily basis. I think really the branding, and I've not repurposed it purposely.
I want to keep true to what my essence is trying to do, which is make soul a common language that we talk about just as we do. “You went to the health club, and which muscles are you flexing?” I'm sure a lot of guys could say, “My quads and my biceps.” Let's make it common about your soul because it's invisible or uncomfortable talking about it, but we're going into the invisible. Energetic beings, and so we need to get to know our energetic vibration, if you will.
That's the next step I talk about, which is difficult to take into the corporate world, but just like we are using technology, and we know that there's a pathway up in the skies that makes this call happen. There are pathways within us that make us who we are, and why can't we talk about that even though it's “invisible.” Our energetic being is very important and just as essential as our organ health.
Our energetic being is very important, just as essential as our organs.
One of the things that I'm hearing or feeling about this conversation is a sense of, like, first of all, you have to be committed to this work. This is not something you just like, “I'm going to follow this path and see what happens.” You're committed to it. I think that is one thing that is also clear. When you're committed to something like this, you'll do whatever you can to make this happen.
Number two, it's a movement is not just a company. I think that's where getting other people to see and be part of the movement of seeing this, the invisible making it visible in terms of at least knowing that this is something that's out there and available to us, is what's going to make this really take hold. Much like a lot of the things that the Silicon Valley bubble had to be bursted, and become bigger because more people had to become believers in what it was.
Absolutely. I like the word movement when you use that because it is a movement, and let's say I get rejected every day. Let's say that I don't get the business or I don't get monetary rewards, if you will, but that matter to me. I'm talking to people, the more people, and the more I can get my message out, that's the importance is getting that message out. I like, and we need to have monetary rewards so that we can support ourselves.
If you're in a position where you don't need a lot of that yet, it is more of a movement, and I'm committed to that movement. I'm 100% committed to that movement. From my family to my friends, I built a community like with yourself. It's nice to talk with like-minded people because I'm not surrounded by like-minded people. Again, it's not saying that they are deficient and not accepting the idea.
It's just too new to open their mind. I hope that if they hear it again, then they'll say, “ I heard that before.” They see it again. “Yeah, it is a movement. Maybe I should get to know.” I'll pick up this book on Soul Health, if you will. That's why I named it health, because it's important to your overall health. That is a common phrase we use, and we're all familiar with your physical health, your mental health, and your soul health.
Again, Quantum is about the new paradigm. Quantum, we're living in a new energetic paradigm. Let's elevate our being to that paradigm. Part of that is grounding into our soul's essence, elevating into the quantum, taking that soul's essence into the quantum, where it is easier to embrace your soul if you live at that energetic level, and then you've evolved into your knowing.
One Step To Soul Health: Look Up And Out For Beauty
I want to maybe just give people one step or either a message or a way for them to just take a move towards better social soul health. If you would be willing to offer that.
I truly think the easiest thing for people is to lift up their head, look out, and see 1 or 2 things of beauty, whether that is a color, whether that is a smell, or whether that is an emotion, but look up and out. We're also focused on our phones and our internet, and we are not looking at the environment around us. Look up and out. If you don't see something that reminds you of beauty or gives you that love-based feeling, then put it into your life.
Beautiful. I love that you said that. This is exactly at your senses or your doorway to your soul. There's an element of if you're not finding it, then you go out and seek it.
Go out and seek it. It's important, just like you would go out and seek nutrition for your body, or movement for your body, or mental health. Why aren't you seeking something for your soul health? We haven't defined it. We haven't talked about it. That's okay but we're definitely I don't want to say it's a skill, but we're definitely going to need it more and more as we enter into this new paradigm, into this new world.
I agree. Pam, I just feel like we could talk for hours, and unfortunately, we have to come to a close.
I appreciate the conversation, and I hope it does resonate with some of your readers. Again, it is a movement, and people like you and I are committed to this, and there's a whole community behind it. We're approaching it maybe at different angles, but it is so important right now. We're entering into a new age. Despite the noise that we're hearing, things are going to get better.
In fact, this could be the very doorway that they need to go through to continue to stay attuned to the soul. That could be the way to get through the hardest times that we're in.
Absolutely. Well said. With your words, Tony, I love what you write and how you approach things. All the work that you've done is just truly amazing. Thank you.
You're the best, Pam. I appreciate that. More to come for us for what we're going to create together. Before I let you go, there are a couple of things I need to ask. First of all, I have one last question. What are 1 or 2 books that have had an impact on you and why? What's coming to mind for you?
I don't know if you've heard, but this is an older book called The Celestine Prophecy by Redfield. I read that at the beginning of my soul's journey into looking for answers and knowing of the soul. It's a parable, as we know. I just found that eye-opening. It really resonated with me, along with The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I can never pronounce his name.
Puello, yeah.
That's another parable, which, again, I think if people hear stories that they can relate to, and even though these are ancient world parables, there is something that you take away from that. Again, making the invisible visible, bringing it into your world. Those are two of my favorite books that really led me to my journey. It's hard to believe that they're over 25 years old. It seems like yesterday. I would encourage your readers to maybe pick up. Those books are easy reads. They're short, and again, I think impactful to start your journey.
I love it. Both amazing books. I haven’t heard the mention of Celestine Prophecy in such a long time. I'm actually intrigued because I may just have to go pick that book up again.
I pick it up every once in a while and reread it. I always say, “Yes.” It brings me back to what I'm dedicated towards. I think what we have to do, too, again, is what I said, putting something in your life, like what's missing, put things back in your life. Let's say you did enjoy a book twenty years ago, pick it up and read it. Just because you read it once, and you need to be reminded, especially if it's a parable or these great authors that I just mentioned. It's wonderful. I'm a big avid book reader and I could go on and on and on about books. I'm sure you and I could have a whole conversation on our library of books. I see those books behind you, and I'm sure you see all my books behind me. I'm a big book reader.
Amazing. I love this conversation. It's wonderful. I'm just so thrilled to be able to share with the listeners. Before I let you go, I want to make sure that I first of all ask where people can find you if they want to know more about you.
They can find me. I have a website, TheQuantumSense.com. Remember to put the in front of Quantum Sense and also on my LinkedIn profile under Pam Buchanan, or I have it the Quantum Sense. Please go to my website, look at what I've been doing, what I've been writing and talking about, and give me a call. I'd love to start the discussion and conversation. I'm always open to talking with individuals and corporations about soul health.
Yes. Absolutely love that. It’s such a pleasure to have you on the show. That is a wrap. Thanks to the readers coming on the show with us. This is where we're going to leave us. Please do go listen, check out Pam's stuff. She's amazing.
Thank you, Tony.
You bet.
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