Lifting Leaders Podcast

It’s our 100th Episode!!! Who do we thank for 100 amazing episodes over the past two years? You, our wonderful listeners. We just love you. Of course, it truly aligns with our Opening Your Heart series, because wonderful things happen, when you Open Your Heart. With this in mind, we bring you Glodean Champion’s episode, from May of 2023. Do you know what LOVE looks like? In this episode we are gifted, once again, with gems from Glodean Champion, TEDx and keynote speaker, author, and champion of LOVE, as she reveals her formula to narrowing gaps between people’s perceptions and deep-seeded beliefs and misunderstandings of others. Listen in as Glodean shares stories of encounters she has had, over the past several months, that give her (and us) hope about honoring our differences and celebrating things we have in common. We Hope you enjoy this encore episode. Don’t forget, we are still accepting entries to our Hope survey. You will find it on our website (www.liftingleaderspodcast.com).

WOW! As we are planning for our 100th episode, next week, we are spending our 99th episode celebrating the second anniversary of Lifting Leaders Podcast, and we invite you to listen in! Do you know how many on-air hours we put in during our second year? Learn some of the steps necessary to get an episode ready to share with you our listeners. Have you any idea the number of guests we interviewed? We are truly grateful for the amazing leaders who have shared time with us and you! Do you know the number of downloads that took place during this second year? Listen in and hear just a few of the guest quotes that stood out for us, this year. We are feeling great about our accomplishments, and we want to celebrate with you, our listeners, who made everything possible. We are soaring with gratitude. Finally, we are getting close to completing our Hope survey and we invite you to complete it, if you haven’t already done so.

As we continue with our series, Opening Your Heart, we thought we would spend this Coaches Corner unpacking the Forbes article, The Compassionate Leader-Who Leads With The Heart – Is it Good for Business? Although the article leans toward leading with compassion, in business, we see a strong connection to our personal lives as well, which makes sense, as we believe that everyone leads. Listen in and learn how Forbes describes traits of compassionate leadership. Hear about the impact a compassionate leader can have on employee engagement, innovation, and trust. If you feel challenged around bringing compassion into your leadership, we Hope this Coaches Corner will be insightful and engaging. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

Continuing our series of Opening Your Heart, we found a foundational theme in our last two episodes that we wanted to unpack a bit. Taking cues from Episode 95, with the mother/daughter duo, Kirsten Carpentier and Regina Winkle-Bryan, and Episode 96, with G. Victoria Campbell and Andrew Coopman, we thought it would be interesting to use their stories that make Heart connections. Listen in and learn about how following their dreams led each of these amazing adventurers to where they are, today. Learn about the five elements of following your dream, and what each step means for them, as well as how you might employ them, as you follow your own dreams. Finally, if you have not already done so, please take a few moments and complete our Hope survey. We would love to include your responses in our research.

Earth Day finally arrived, and we found ourselves just off Broadway, meeting, once again, with TREESON creator and co-writers, G. Victoria Campbell, and Andrew Coopman. Talk about nervous excitement!! Vicki and Andrew gifted us some of their time, just hours before their eco-musical, TREESON, was to premiere, off Broadway, at 54 Below, a charming dinner club and theatre. Listen in and learn more about some of the final details they collaborated on, as they prepared for the big night. Hear them open their hearts and share true love and respect for the journey they’ve been on, over the past year. Listen in and learn about a new project that Andrew is working on and hear him talk about his role in the upcoming Drama League Awards (older than the Tonys!). Also, listen in, as Vicki shares an exciting potential new opportunity for Treeson. There is so much “heart” in this interview…a true “feel good” episode. Finally, we are still hoping to increase responses to our Hope survey. We would love to include your responses in our research.

This week we continue our special series, Opening Your Heart, with guests Kirsten Carpentier and Regina Winkle-Bryan, a truly creative mother/daughter team, with a World of adventures behind and in front of them! More than an artist, Kirsten Carpentier has crafted her colorful life story by facing her fears and bravely taking bold steps in wildly creative directions. In a similar vein, Regina Winkle-Bryan has used her passion for travel and adventure to engage women in building their confidence and resilience through World-wide travel experiences. While this may sound like two very different tales (and it is), these amazing women enjoy heart connections as colleagues, partners, creative collaborators, friends and so much more. Check out the episode…we think you will find it inspiring.

Finding connection between our new series’ focus, Opening Your Heart, and something we gleaned from our recent guest, Dr. Lindsey Godwin, we return to two trusted resources for more information about the topic of Curiosity. It turns out that there are some true benefits of curiosity, for individuals, leaders, teams, and organizations. It’s a critical element in organizational change and innovation. Listen in and learn what all of this has to do with the heart and gain insights into steps you can take to build curiosity, as a leader or high performer. Interested in learning more? Check out this episode and your curiosity will surely lead you to some insightful answers! Finally, if you have not already done so, please take a few moments and complete our Hope survey. We would love to include your responses in our research.

Continuing our Opening Your Heart series, we were thrilled to welcome back Dr. Lindsey Godwin, professor, practitioner, and possibilitizer, who you may remember, from last year’s Episode 76, on the topic of Net Positive OD Leadership. In this episode, we lean into Lindsey’s new children’s book, “How Do You Love A Question?" While the book may be classified as a children’s book, it invites readers of all ages to tap into their inner child and rediscover the pure joy and adventure of asking questions. This is not a template but, rather, an enticing invitation to explore your own curiosity. Leaders (and we are all leaders), learn about staying open-hearted and building inquiry muscles. Ready to adopt a stance of radical curiosity and awe? Finally, if you have not already done so, please take a few moments and complete our Hope survey. We would love to include your responses in our research.

After a great launch of our Opening Your Heart series, featuring Peter Block, we do a bit of mining, into a few gems, roughly translated from Peter’s latest book, Activating the Common Good – Reclaiming Control of Our Collective Well-Being. Listen in and learn some of the key points that stood out from Kristal’s conversation with Peter. Learn about two Common Good Protocols – Open Space (who decides what matters) and World Café (wiser together) and how they serve toward greater outcomes. Learn about connection through Relational Activism and how that impacts nature. Are you ready to explore what a purpose that is greater than ourselves looks like? Finally, if you have not already done so, please take a few moments and complete our Hope survey. We would love to include your responses in our research.

This week we launch our special series, Opening Your Heart, with guest Peter Block, who challenges us to shift our mental framework from scarcity to abundance and enough. He shares a new organizing principle and paradigm for our culture, the Common Good which relies on all of us opening our hearts to connect and create relationships in our communities to have a positive impact on the world (it starts with you!). Find out the 7 key areas that every community universally cares about and new ways to measure our well-being. In this powerful and vulnerable interview, Peter shares his own perspectives on story, place, impact and why he still asks himself, have I done enough? We invite you to grab a warm cup of tea or coffee, sit back and enjoy the unique pace of this episode that invites you to pause, slow down and soak it all in. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

Some of the best gems appear when you least expect it. We actually found a red thread that linked our previous two episodes, featuring G. Victoria Campbell and her partner, Andrew Coopman (Treeson, the eco-musical), and Carla Ondrasik (powerful speaker, writer, and leader of “Don’t Try…DO! initiative). Banking off what we heard from these dynamic guests, we unpack the Huffington Post article, “Don’t Overthink – Just Do." We Hope you will listen in, for this short but powerfully rich episode. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

It’s a question that is surfacing, more and more, these days. Do you want to try to make a positive difference, or will we make a difference? Please join us as our delightful guest, self-proclaimed natural-born motivator, Carla Ondrasik, challenges our thinking on this topic. Listen in as Carla shares her story, beginning with her childhood, where independence and doing was encouraged, through a career of “doing” fascinating jobs that tested her skills and fortitude and ultimately helped her find the love of her life, musician John Ondrasik, known to many as Five For Fighting. Carla walks us through her philosophy around not trying but rather, doing, which is something that more and more parents and leaders may be looking at. Hear how our learning and experience shifted our focus toward experimentation over trying and how this discussion has prompted us to rethink that, a bit. Interested in how to begin shifting from trying to doing? Learn about a few fun ways in which leaders and parents can help others unlearn the habit of talking about and promoting trying over just doing. We had such a fun time with Carla Ondrasik and we hope you’ll listen in and learn more!

What a delightfully fun episode we recorded this week! We were so excited to welcome back our guest from one year ago (Episode 43), G. Victoria (Vicki) Campbell, who was joined by her co-book writer, Andrew Coopman, who is a director, choreographer, and playwright of various theater projects, nationwide. Together, this dynamic duo shared some of the joys and more than a few of the challenges associated with creating an eco-musical, while they were both on different continents. Join us as we learn more about what inspired them to write/develop this eco-musical, called Treeson and how the project has evolved over the past year, as they prepare for their one-night premiere, on April 22, 2024 (Earth Day). Gain insights into some of the tiny details that keep them awake at night as they continue to power through, towards the big premiere. There are more than a few laughs in this episode, as well as an update on available tickets. If you want to be a part of this spectacular event, please check out the link for the theater club, 54 Below to purchase your tickets. We will be there and hope to see you there as well. Finally, have you completed the HOPE survey yet? Please check out the link below. There are only four questions (plus the demographics) and,

It seems like life just keeps getting more and more busy and, we don’t know about you but, we sometimes feel the tug between home life and work life. How do we keep our home priorities and challenges out of sight and out of mind, as we navigate work? How do we leave work behind so we can enjoy our personal spaces? These challenges have existed for years and, while we used to hear, “leave your personal life at the door, when you enter work,” we all know that this is just not possible, most of the time. After all, we are humans, with all the wonder, baggage, challenges, joys, and sadness, that make us who we are. In this episode, we depart from our usual approach, by NOT referencing articles from our favorite business resources. Instead, we offer, from our own experiences, some gems to consider, as you work through all the things in life, that sometimes get in the way. This Coaches Corner is full of food for thought, around things like Sacrifice vs Service, the importance of prioritizing, setting boundaries and delegating. Looking for new insights on this topic? We hope you’ll listen in. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

We all have at least one thing in common…we all must navigate through change. At work, home, or wherever you spend more than a moment, you experience change. Some changes may be easy to manage but there are changes that feel like huge lifts. But do they have to be? We thought it might be a good idea to visit this ever-present topic, while we are in the middle of our first quarter of the year, when many of us may have already tucked away our New Year’s commitments and plans. Listen in and learn about a few different models that business and change experts map out processes pertaining to the topic. Learn about models and concepts from James Clear, James Prochaska, Doug Silsbee, and Brene Brown. Listen in and hear more about how 360 degree assessments and coaching play a role in change. This Coaches Corner is full of gems and we hope you will find it insightful. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

Yes, it is Valentine’s Day week, once again…a time when people all over the country show their feelings of love and gratitude, toward their loved ones and the sale of flowers and chocolate confections goes through the roof! What about showing our love for the Earth, for nature, for our environment? Join us as we unearth gems from a Psychology Today article on this very topic. Learn about not only the three primary motivational systems but an emerging fourth system that focuses on loving the Earth. Discover the impact of bringing love and joy into the acts of loving and navigating our Earth. Ever heard of the term, Earthing? Listen in and find out more about this. We truly enjoyed recording this episode and we Hope you will enjoy learning from it. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

It has been said that Joy is one of the most vulnerable of human emotions. It can be as brief as a moment, or it can last longer if you practice ways to elongate it. The stars don’t have to align for one to feel joy. It can actually happen during tough times as well. However, we, as humans, often rob ourselves of our joy by foreboding it. Want to know more about that? What does gratitude have to do with joy? What part does joy play in psychological recovery. Listen in and you will learn more about all of this and much more. However you listen, we hope this episode will be insightful for you. Have you taken the opportunity to complete our HOPE survey yet? We Need Your Voice!

Human Flourishing…It has been our topic of choice, over the past few weeks, for good reason. We envision the world being a better place, if leaders will learn about and practice the components that lead to Human Flourishing. Join us as we unpack the PERMA model that we learned about, during our interviews with Judy Oyedele and Sasha Farley. Listen in and learn how simple acts can touch more than one component of the PERMA model. Want to know more about the actions that lead to Human Flourishing? Listen in and then take action!

Kristal Roberts and I hope you had an opportunity to listen in on last week’s episode, with Judy Oyedele and Sasha Farley. That was part one of this two-part mining expedition, on the topic of Human Flourishing and it set the foundation for the deeper dive we take in this episode. These two Organizational Development professionals discuss how the collective power of individual mindset and behaviors, even coming from varying states of mental/emotional wellbeing is what it takes to achieve more systemic Human Flourishing. Want to know more about why Judy sees Human Flourishing as a “big, hairy, amorphous challenge?” Listen in to find out. Knowing that Human Flourishing is seen as not so much of a “nice to have” state of being but, rather, a new imperative for all of us, it seems important for us to learn as much as we can so we can decide how it might fit into our worlds. One of the many takeaways from this rich episode has to do with ways in which leaders can help further and foster Human Flourishing in their organizations. We hope you will listen in on the entire episode. You will find a wealth of information on this important topic, and we believe it will be an insightful mining journey.

While it seems like forever that experts have been concentrating on negative human behaviors, burn out and depression, there is a rising buzz in the world of psychology and organizational development that is shifting much of the focus toward something called Human Flourishing. Join us, as we welcome Judy Oyedele and Sasha Farley, two Organizational Development professionals who bring their expertise to the podcast and share their journeys to this complex world of Human Flourishing. Learn how they define flourishing and how it differs from fixing what’s wrong. Discover the PERMA model and how it’s linked to Human Flourishing. Learn how flourishing differs, in different countries and cultures and why Judy and Sasha say that Human Flourishing is a team sport. This topic is so important, during this time we are living in, and there is so much information to share, that we are bringing Judy and Sasha back, for our next episode, as well. Don’t miss this episode, though, as it sets the foundation upon which our next conversation will be based. We know there are a lot of gems to be found in this episode, and we think you will be glad you spent time mining with us.

Happy 2024! We are back after the holidays that were filled with family, friends, and lots of fun! Want to know what we did over the holidays? Are you interested in learning what’s coming up, for us and the podcast, in 2024? Listen in, as we share a little about our holiday experiences and shift the discussion toward the value of having a plan, for your year, while being open to all the new and unplanned moments that will inevitably grab your attention, when you least expect it. Why is it important to allow yourself to step away from your plan? What’s the best thing that can happen, when you do? Listen in and you’ll find out. OH! We’re continuing to promote our HOPE Survey this year so, if you haven’t taken the opportunity to complete it yet, we Hope you will do it, this year. You will find the link on our website.