Leading Consciously

After George Floyd’s murder, nonprofits across the country realized they needed to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Some actually meant it. Ronald McDonald House Houston was determined to make a difference, not just for their staff but for their families across the world who needed a safe space. What does it mean to truly commit to DEI practices? What are the alternatives? How does a nonprofit organization find the will to take the long view? On November 26, 2022, three members...

Today Jean speaks with Helen Stagg, CEO of Change Happens in Houston. Helen’s well-honed yet intuitive leadership style is to lead with love and connection. What is the leadership style of your team? How can you improve on it? How have your childhood and experience shaped the leader that you are? #leadingconsciously #leadership #leaders --------------------------------------------------------- Conversations with forward-thinking leaders about patterns that keep us stuck and how the...

Danger and upheaval are all in the news, in conversations, at work. People are grappling with how to keep their balance in a rowboat on a raging ocean. We are hearing people talking about shutting down all mass media news, moving out of the country, quitting their jobs (or partners), or deciding to not believe anything hopeful. We are living in turbulent times. What to do? How to cope? How are each of us in Leading Consciously coping? There’s a reason we call our process "guided learning"...

By guest blogger Elizabeth Rubio (they/them) What does it mean to be queer? nonbinary? transgender? And why are there so many different terms? Today’s guest blogger explores the meaning – both literally and emotionally – of finding your way through the profusion of labels and why they matter. They also walk us through the process of questioning one’s true self.

"If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten." This often-quoted truism has been variously attributed to Henry Ford, Tony Robbins, or Moms Mabley. (See Quote Investigator). It’s true no matter who said it. I’m Carole Marmell, content editor of Leading Consciously, and I’m the originator of the quote, "I don’t want to change, I should be good enough by now." Yet an exploration of how much I didn’t change in the past three years proved that I did,...

Is the board game Monopoly a good metaphor for the "success to the successful" scenario? Jean writes about the phenomenon of people with advantages thinking they’ve made it on their own, otherwise known as "people born on third base who think they’ve hit a triple." Jean cites an episode of the TV show The Flight Attendant to illustrate her point. Where do you see yourself on the spectrum of advantage?

By guest blogger, Carol Stewart MSc, FInstLM, reprinted with permission, How to Feel Confident When You’ve Been Made to Feel Like You are Not Good Enough, for Introverted Women Leaders "I am really confident at work and am an expert in my field but outside of work, I am the total opposite. What can I do about it?" Carol Stewart names the self-limiting beliefs plaguing many successful women. What are they? How do they limit us? Why are they more common among women? And what should we do...

What is the drama triangle? Stephen B. Karpman’s drama triangle represents a pattern of dysfunctional relationships. In one corner is the oppressor; in another, the victim; and in the third, the rescuer. But the roles change, just like that. And each person believes they have a valid reason for being where they are. The dynamics of the drama triangle may apply to both personal and workplace situations, where they can drag down the whole system. How do we understand the various roles,...

Our guest blogger this week is Gig Mensah, a South Africa-based journalist. She writes about Afrophobia, fear of Africans, and expresses her regret that many African Americans do not more closely align themselves with Africa. How did Afrophobia get started, what are the signs it actually exists, and, especially, what can we do about it? Gig offers her thought-provoking answers to these questions. Gig Mensah is a social justice and environmental journalist.

This week’s guest blogger, Francine Derby, writes about her personal journey away from the culture of overwork. The presence of both a strong work ethic and a limiting psychiatric diagnosis add to the mix. What is the effect of overwork on workers’ well-being? Think about your own life. Are you consumed by work? Do you postpone time for yourself and family? Are you able to detach from work when on vacation? And how can you produce excellence without burning out? Francine has a lot to say...

What would you do if someone described you with the R-word: racist, racially insensitive, racially naïve, exclusionary, oblivious? How do you imagine you would react? How would you want to react? This week’s blog follows the honest and difficult journey begun by Amy Porterfield, an online course marketing guru and top ranked podcaster, designated one of the “top 50 social media power influencers” by Forbes. According to her website, Amy has a following of 250,000+ people and a seven-figure...

What do people think about critical race theory, and why was there such anger about it on The View? What does it mean to move on? What has to be done before that can happen? Jean’s blog is about the interplay between victims and perpetrators, whether they be descendants of those who owned slaves or were slaves, Germans or Israelis after the Holocaust, or oppressors or descendants of indigenous people. Why is it so difficult to be accountable or to hold others accountable? And why is it so...

What happens to people when they accrue power? Do they believe they now have the right to roll over their staff? Think about a time when you were marginalized by a superior… or worse, when you did the marginalizing. You’re a good person. How does this happen? And what can you do to change it? The workplace provides many opportunities for power imbalances. Listen to Jean’s blog to learn what happens to people in power and how to address it.

What did it take to make ordinary Germans into killers? Were there unusual circumstances, or could this still happen? The need to answer this question has occupied some of the best minds in the world for over 75 years. Understanding it is crucial to forestalling a repeat. Part of this answer requires us to look within; how might we be persuaded to commit atrocities? This panel discussion, How Did Ordinary Citizens Become Murderers?, from the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum provides...

You’re living a good life: working at a meaningful job, paying your bills, contributing to your community. When disaster strikes – as it inevitably does – what is your response? Do you wait for someone to fix it? Do you dwell on the unfairness of it all? What do you need to move ahead? Angela Blanchard is an expert in disaster recovery, having cut her teeth on the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She thrives in chaotic situations that would daunt most of us. How did she learn this and...

Growing up with ADHD, what you hear are: “you lost your keys again?” “where’s the project I assigned you last week?” “How could you forget to feed the dog?” Rarely do you hear: “wow, that was a genius presentation!” or “I knew I could count on you to come up with a creative solution.” Being neurodivergent in an organization can be stressful when administrators see only the challenges, not the gifts. Listen to one young lawyer’s struggle to be accepted for who she is, why the diagnosis of...

Racism isn’t always obvious. How do you respond to subtle, perhaps unintentional slights? On one hand, calling out all offensive actions as racist (even if they might be) dilutes the power of the word and turns off the people you’re trying to reach. On the other hand, silence could be interpreted as acceptance or letting people off the hook. It’s not a straightforward decision. How might you determine what to do each time you’re confronted with the choice? Jean wrote this blog to clarify...

This week Jean interviews Peter Michaelson, whose most recent book is "Our Deadly Flaw: Healing the Inner Conflict that Cripples Us and Subverts Society." His website is WhyWeSuffer.com. What if you had no inner critic telling you you’re just not good enough? What if you learned to silence your inner critic? What if your inner passivity didn’t allow your inner critic to rule? What could you accomplish? Hear Peter's answers to these...

jean interviews Alison Taylor and Brian Harward of the NYU Stern School of Business on the viability of operating ethically in business. Ethical behavior in corporations goes beyond compliance with laws to include anticorruption, sustainability, human rights, culture and behavior, and employee and stakeholder engagement. Can businesses thrive while operating ethically? Will shareholders accept reduced profits to increase ethical decisions in support of equitable practices? If incentives...

What is the relationship of Indigenous peoples to the land, and how does it differ from the Europeans who settled it? What really happened in the boarding schools? What would be lost if Indigenous people were completely assimilated into White society? And would they ever be accepted even then? In this week’s vlog, Jean gains answers to these questions from Dina Gilio-Whitaker, a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos and an independent educator in...