Leading from Being

What exactly is power? If we're not playing “power games” or King of the Hill, then how do we perceive power? Work with power? Be people of power?Marti and Todd explore power in the negative, and then move into a conversation about how we can shift our perception and experience of power to participate in something much larger than ourselves.From the Edge: Tribute to Christopher Alexander (Todd)Conscious Rant: Frothing (Marti)

We spend so much time analyzing and choosing governance models. What if there is a different approach? Marti and Todd get into the dynamics of organizations that move beyond rigid structures and become negotiable in the experience of working together. They also introduce a new segment at the end of today's episode:Takeaways.From the Edge: Being a Person of Power (Marti)Conscious Rant: Stop Managing Your Time (Todd)

Marti and Todd welcome guest Ted Wallach, founder of the Quantum Warrior program, to explore the principle of masculinity in the context of new beginnings.  They discuss the principles of the feminine and masculine as complementarities that are needed for creation—energies not attributes. The conversation moves from our obsession with defining, to how we can discuss, interact, and weave with these principles.From the Edge: Appreciative Inquiry (Todd)Conscious Rant: Why are We Still Ranting (Marti)

Are we in “late stage capitalism?” Can capitalism be reformed, restored, or redeemed? Marti and Todd cover why these are not the most important questions to consider. Rather, we need cycles of action at all scales that create the frameworks of the future. This is the first episode in the series "New Beginnings" -- Marti and Todd's exploration of what may be coming to completion, and what may be emerging simultaneously.From the Edge: Cosmology (Marti)Conscious Rant: Simplistic Platitudes (Todd) 

Marti and Todd welcome guest Melanie Goodchild, founder of the Turtle Island Institute, to discuss systems change that centers on relationships for mutual benefit. Melanie shares her experiences and wisdom on complexity, resilience, balance, and what we all need to move forward together, carrying centuries of indigenous wisdom and her Anishinaabe perspective alongside her Western academic education.The conversation flows from identity to language to our ways of being and relating that can impact the systems we live and work within.Special Segment: Excerpt from Relational Systems Thinking (Melanie), co-authored with Dan Longboat, Diane Longboat, Rick Hill, Kevin Deer, Peter Senge, and Otto Scharmer.

We have change agents, change-makers, turnaround specialists, and the field of change management, but do we understand what actually brings about change? Can we trust what worked in the past to work in the future?Marti and Todd explore how leaders can become stewards of change without trying to control people and situations. Stewards of change move with negotiability, flow, passion, and compassion, understanding the timings that exist within the nature of change.From the Edge: The Wonders of Slime Mold (Todd)Conscious Rant: The Problem with our Worldview (Marti)

Marti and Todd welcome guest Josie Gibson, co-founder of the Catalyst Network, to discuss “Decent Work”—re-imagining our notions of work, contributions, and devoting our energies in a system that leads to wellbeing rather than inequity.From the Edge: How We Know Shapes How We Lead (Marti)Conscious Rant: Freedom & Constraints (Todd)

How can we make sense of and respond as leaders to an event like the global spread of COVID-19?Marti and Todd explore addressing our rising emotions, the power of awareness, and the power of the heart in helping bring new creativity to a world that is being reshaped.From the Edge: Being a Cartographer (Todd)Conscious Rant: Staying Connected While We’re Apart (Marti)This episode was recorded on May 26, 2020.

Marti & Todd welcome guest Giles Hutchins. As the co-author of Regenerative Leadership, Giles is an edge-walker between living systems and the business world.Giles Hutchins is a pioneering practitioner and senior adviser at the forefront of the [r]evolution in organizational and leadership consciousness, and developmental approaches that enhance personal, organizational and systemic agility and vitality. He is the Chair of The Future Fit Leadership Academy, Founder of Leadership Immersions, co-founder of Biomimicry for Creative Innovation, and he runs a 60 acre leadership centre at Springwood Farm, an area of outstanding natural beauty near London, UK. Previously held corporate roles include Head of Practice for KPMG, and Global Head of Sustainability for AtosMarti, Todd, and Giles discuss approaches and the impact of bringing principles of the natural world into organizational leadership. The title of this episode is derived from seven principles in Regenerative Leadership, written with Laura Storm. From the Edge: Coming Together without Losing our Way (Marti)Conscious Rant: Enough with the Debate! (Todd)

Marti & Todd welcome guest Samantha Slade. As the co-founder of Percolab, Sam has been bringing new ways of working, learning, and governing to organizations for two decades. As a social innovator, Samantha supports teams, organizations and ecosystems to work with complexity and grow a conscious innovation mindset, from the European commission to bold start ups.Marti, Todd, and Sam discuss practices and principles that help drive participation, democracy, and shared leadership in organizations. The title of this episode is derived from Samantha’s book, Going Horizontal: Creating a Non-Hierarchical Organization One Practice at a Time.From the Edge: Honoring Esko Kilpi (Todd)Conscious Rant: Igniting Negotiability (Marti)

If we look beyond the seemingly chaotic state of the world today, what is on the horizon? What if the chaos is not actually chaotic, but the ending of a “timing” with a tremendous amount of free, unbound energy available for leaders.Marti and Todd explore what it means to be at a “mythic” level of engagement, imagination and risk, turning off our internal monologues, and what it takes to move forward in these times in a negotiable way with action and receptivity. From the Edge: Dissolving the Edge (Marti)Conscious Rant: Death by Comparison (Todd)

Marti & Todd welcome guest Myra Jackson. As an Electrical Engineer, Organizational Development Professional and Systems Thinker, Myra has found that her studies in electrical theory, music, power generation, the sciences and the natural world deeply informed her spiritual life. Today, she devotes her time in service to communities and organizations focused on bringing forth public policies focused on the wellness of people and planet as a consultant, donor activist and philanthropic legacy builder. In her UN role as a focal point on climate change and the United Nations Expert Platform on Harmony with Nature, Myra links public policy, civic awareness, values of caring and sharing in action from the global to the local amplifying all 17 sustainable development goals.Marti, Todd, and Myra have an extended conversation about awareness and language. They discuss moving beyond being stuck in an individuated state, entrepreneurs as “undertakers,” entropy and centropy, and Myra’s story of advocating with the United Nations for one important capital letter. From the Edge: Shinrin Yoku (Todd)Conscious Rant: Self-Referential Madness (Marti)

Peter Senge persuasively introduced the idea of the "learning organization" that constantly transforms itself. What exactly is required to be in a state where ongoing, quality learning is the norm?Marti and Todd explore conditions for learning, why we need to use our hands and bodies, the underlying principles of apprenticeship, how principles guide us more than facts, and why we need to break our addiction to static knowledge. Learning from experience in a state of open awareness - this is the nature of dynamic learning.From the Edge: From Systems to Ecosystems (Marti)Conscious Rant: 15 Steps to Enlightenment (Todd)

Guest Nathan Walz joins Marti & Todd to discuss energy and wellbeing, both at an individual and organizational level. Nathan brings his knowledge of mitochondria and taking care of your own individual energy levels to the conversation about health that extends beyond the physical body.From the Edge: The Microbiome (Todd)Conscious Rant: “I can’t because . . .” (Marti)

Can organizations heal? What exactly does that mean?Marti & Todd explore the topic of healing in living systems - what it takes to restore connection and flow in teams and across an organization. They draw the distinctions between healing and fixing, and between reactivity and responsiveness.Special segments:From the Edge: What is a Healed State Anyway?Conscious Rant: Healing Starts with You

What is mean to lead within a system, rather than lead with a system? With a tendency for leaders to impose or adopt a system of leadership, it's important to draw the distinctions of what it means to lead as a member of the system that is alive and continually evolving.Marti & Todd discuss what it means to "design" within the system, the necessity of paying attention to the energy of the system, allowing the system to teach us, and the importance of relaxing into a receptive and aware state.From the Edge: Emotional ContagionConscious Rant: Confusing Outcomes & Source

What makes an organization vital, alive? This is the first in a series of episodes about living systems. Marti and Todd talk about evolving a vision, taking an experimental approach, the necessity of growing and adjusting, and why worker disengagement is so high.We learn about zooming in and zooming out, and why acknowledging the value and contributions of others is so essential.Final segments: From the Edge - Pulses in the FieldConscious Rant - Stop Blaming the System!

How can we metaphorically imagine leaders positioned in an organization, if not at the top of a pyramid? What if scarcity were not attached to value? What happens when leaders "embody" meaning, or purpose, within their organization?Marti and Todd address these questions, as well as the connections between generating meaning and value, and why stepping into experience itself is so essential for leaders.