Dylan Cody

Dylan is a Product Lead at Affinity Credit Union and community teacher and supporter of meditation, mindset development, and embracing vulnerability. Dylan struggled with feeling different from others from a young age.  He was born with an oral-lymph-angioma, which distorted his tongue and speech which led to many feelings of self-doubt and a negative internal self-image. Despite these internal struggles he lived a relatively happy, fortunate, and “normal” (for lack of a better term) life. However, it was while pursuing his PhD at Carleton in Ottawa, a subconscious internal storm of worry, doubt, and negativity opened, and he was eventually clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia.

He decided to move back to Saskatoon to be closer to family and friend supports and was able to begin recovery. While medication was beneficial, especially early in recovery, he started exploring the realms of meditation and neuroplasticity, which eventually enabled him to go beyond recovery and directly address past wounds, learn self-acceptance, and essentially rewire his own brain. By western medical standards he is now considered 100% recovered from my clinical diagnosis.

What does this have to do with leadership?

It is Dylan’s assertion that each of us, regardless of how severe it may present, tend to be our own worst enemies and critics, largely creating internal and imaginary barriers in our personal and professional lives. His main message, whether the focus is professional or personal growth, is that through focusing on our ability to grow, build empathy and capacity to be vulnerable, we become more confident in sharing our ideas, challenging the status quo, and improving our influence and our capacity to lead.