On Leading - Restorative Leadership Institute: Recent Episodes
Dr. Seana Lowe Steffen, Restorative Leadership Institute
On Leading by Dr. Seana Lowe Steffen explores the 21st Century’s big question: How do we bring out the best of our diverse humanity to ensure a sustainable future? Discover restorative leadership in action through interviews with high impact global citizens. During the podcasts, we invite you to listen for your wisdom being echoed and for your leadership being called to new levels of inspired engagement.
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Photo Credit: COP19
“Let injustice disappear from this world”
— Lorena Aguilar Revelo
Born and raised in San José, Costa Rica, Lorena Aguilar is a vibrant woman who is determined to ensure that gender issues are kept at the forefront of the dialogue as we move toward planetary wellbeing. As the Global Senior Gender Advisor for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Lorena helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.
With over 25 years of experience evolving public policy and building institutions for the responsible use and conservation of natural resources, Lorena engages international organizations, governments and universities around issues in social and gender policy, sustainable and equitable human development, water, environmental health, gender and community participation, and public policy development.
Lorena has created and is part of some of the most influential international gender networks, including the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders of the Environment and the Global Gender and Climate Alliance. Over the years, thousands of people have been trained using methodologies that she has developed.
Valuing Diversity Holds The World Together
IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges.
The organization's work focuses on valuing and conserving nature, ensuring effective and equitable governance of its use, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food and development. IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice.
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Movimientos sociales y feminismo; metodologia; los resultados: una comparación regional. Estudios de caso: Un Movimiento de mujeres embrionario (Guatemala); Un Movimiento de mujeres naciente (Honduras); Pensándose a sí mismas (El Salvador); Un Movimiento de mujeres en auge (Nicaragua); Un Movimiento de mujeres en desarrollo (Costa Rica).
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“Everyday, human beings have potential for solving problems. ”
— Dr. Elinor Ostrom
Dr. Elinor Ostrom (August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an embodiment of restorative leadership with her belief in the power of community, her practice of listening first, and her unassuming yet tireless resolve. Light-hearted and no-nonsense, she charted new territories as the first non-economist and woman to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, the first woman to be elected president of the American Political Science Association, and the first woman to chair the political science department at Indiana University, to name a few.
Lin was a political economist who was known for producing globally relevant research on common pool resource management that shed light on how to bring out the best of diverse humanity for long-term sustainable yields. With systems nuance she revealed that, when given the opportunity to communicate, human beings tend toward protecting the commons and serving the common good. Her perspective was significant in that it challenged the very popular common notion of “Tragedy of the Commons”, which holds that private property is the only effective method to prevent finite resources from being ruined or depleted. Although Lin recognized that the world's grazing lands, forests, irrigation waters and fisheries are all certainly finite, her unique perspective was that it is possible for communities to share and care for these resources equitably and sustainably.
Having been born to immigrant parents who had received very little education, and herself being faced with a society that did not value educated women, Lin had to find belief in herself and her academic from within. With her sharp mind and cheery laugh, Lin moved boldly and unapologetically through her life and career. For her courage and willingness to think outside the box, Lin was honored in Time 100 for 2012, Time magazine’s annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people.
On Leading TranscriptSeana Lowe Steffen, host: Lin, what compels you to do the work that you do?
Elinor Ostrom, guest: I don’t know. I haven’t had any long–run goal as ‘the goal.’ I’ve been interested and fascinated with what I’ve done. And as soon as I started doing studies of one kind or another, other things kind of popped up. And then ‘Oh that’d be interesting! That’s interesting!’ At some levels, I’ve responded to opportunities rather than going out trying to make new ones that don’t have to do with the ongoing thrust of what we’re doing. While I had a lot of blocks at a young level, having gotten over those, there have been a lot of interesting questions. Pursuing those has been my goal – not having to make fancy money or any of those sorts of things – I’m not interested. [laughter]
Seana: So from mass adoption of economies of scale to the Tragedy of The Commons, you have consistently shattered inappropriate, inaccurate presumptions. What’s your next frontier?
Elinor: I’m working very hard on a broad language that will cross the social and ecological. How do we get concepts that are general? …. I’m trying to create a common language that we can slowly evolve and I don’t think that can get done overnight. Right now, biology and resource economics and resource environmental they have different languages and they don’t know how to talk about people and vice versa. We really have to solve this problem slowly but surely and it has to be by the contribution of a lot of people—it can’t just be me saying, ‘Do it this way.’
Seana: That sounds like a bold frontier.
Elinor: Yeah, it is. [laugh] It’s kind of scary!
Seana: What does sustainability mean to you?
Elinor: It’s one of these words that is used a lot and not well defined…. I think we have to deal with the globe and the ecosystems of the globe, and then the humans who are using it, as two really important aspects of that…. [O]ne of the reasons ecosystems are so important is that humans are dependent upon a vast variety of ecosystems, from oceans and pastures to agricultural fields in Ohio. Particularly, biodiversity is one of the things in need of being sustained from the perspective that people are taking lots of actions that limit biodiversity and yet it is rather crucial for the long run. What we know from the ecologists is that, in many complex ecologies, there are seven to ten species that combine to make it a viable system productive over time. Sometimes you can lose one or two, but if you lose four or five, the other ones are just not able to sustain it. You need a vast variety of individual organisms and communities of organisms to make viable ecological systems that produce an immense amount of the services that we all depend on.
In terms of humans, it’s a puzzle. I am very worried about overpopulation…. What is encouraging is that as people get wealthier they are likelier to have one or two children rather than ten. But if they become wealthier and consumer-oriented rather than sustainability-oriented, then the wealth may generate more harm for the rest of the world than the production of having all the kids. So there is a tradeoff, and many people in the West don’t take it seriously that what they do makes a difference because the world is so big and they don’t have an image that what they do makes a difference.
Seana: Given your vast experience and exposure, what is it really going to take to overcome the barriers to living sustainability?
Elinor: Slowly but surely getting people to be aware of the consequences of their own actions and to start thinking about complex systems rather than simple little nice and neat systems…. If I could change the rhetoric of, ‘Oh this is a global problem that needs a global solution,’ to ‘Ah, this is a very complex problem of multiple layers and having a global policy is one of very many things we can be doing.’
Seana: If you could change one thing about the world with a snap of your fingers, what would you change and why?
Elinor: The slowness with which we are moving toward a global pact on climate change…. I’ve given up at one level, and am encouraging all sorts of local action and a polycentric approach to global change. But we do need a global treaty. So if there is one thing it would be a good global treaty.
Seana: What are you most proud of accomplishing or contributing through your work so far?
Elinor: Showing that everyday, human beings have potential for solving problems. A lot was missed for a while: we mere humans were not able to do much and we had to wait for the leaders up there. I don’t think that’s a very productive way to think….
Seana: What are keys to your success with what you have accomplished?
Elinor: Perseverance. [Laughter]
Seana: And what do those working for global sustainability and planetary wellbeing need to be successful?
Elinor: Each other! [Laughs] And to get more of us.
Engage to Sustain the Commons
After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons.
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The Ostrom Workshop focuses on the study of governance as it relates to a variety of research areas. As of August 2016, we have established, or are in the process of establishing, three research programs: Cybersecurity and Internet Governance; Natural Resource Governance; and Political, Economic, and Legal Institutions and Organizations. Over the next three years, we plan to add other programs, including governance of data; financial organizations; international organizations; public health; and education.
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Credited by many for building the green jobs movement in America, Green For All is driven by a mission to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. An organization within Dream Corps, which was founded by Van Jones to support campaigns and initiatives that empower the most vulnerable, Green For All is led by a powerful trio of women. Vien Truong - one of the country’s foremost policy innovators and strategists at the intersection of equity, economic development, and climate justice - is the Director of Green For All and the deputy CEO of Dream Corps. She is joined by talented organizer and advocate Michelle Romero as the Deputy Director of Green for All, and seasoned coalition-builder Kim Noble as the Director of National Partnerships. Together, Vien, Michelle, and Kim reveal what is possible when we unleash and uplift the genius that is unheard and often overlooked within society’s systemically silenced populations. They demonstrate restorative leadership by empowering and advocating for the transformative impact that each of us can have within our own communities. In this interview, Vien, Michelle, and Kim discuss key restorative leadership practices that are participatory and bridging. They channel the intelligence that exists within communities of color and low-income neighborhoods as they work to ensure that those most impacted by fossil-fuel pollution and the cascading impacts of climate change have their needs and voices heard. Reflecting a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of life, Green For All catalyzes innovative solutions to the issues that emerge where social and environmental challenges meet. Let’s listen in as The Green For All leadership team reveals how returning to our shared humanity as an act of love bridges divides among unusual allies and yields breakthrough progress for All.
While corrupted external systems compromise our health and safety, it is corrupted internal systems that prevent us from doing anything about it. Informed by traditions both ancient and modern, with personal experience ranging from national climate policy to intimate ritual, Nikki Silvestri’s leadership supports individuals and groups to practice the art of shifting internal circumstances as a first step to external systemic change.
Greensburg, Kansas is in the middle of nowhere or everywhere, depending on whom you ask. It’s a red town in a red state that became the greenest town in America as a result of rural residents like Ruth Wedel engaging in restorative leadership following a natural disaster. On the evening of May 4, 2007, the town of nearly 1,400 was hit by what was at the time the largest tornado in recorded history. Nearly two miles wide with winds over 200 MPH, the EF-5 tornado took twelve lives and reduced Greensburg to over 388,000 tons of rubble. The community of Greensburg chose to transform the devastation to opportunity with a vision that turned the town into a model for the nation and the world. Motivated to create a more prosperous future for generations to come, Greensburg rebuilt as a sustainable community from the ground up, literally. The historic transformation was profiled in a series produced by Leonardo DiCaprio for the Planet Green network. Ruth Ann Wedel, a longtime resident called by some the “unofficial mayor” of Greensburg, was at ground zero of the town’s renewal. Playing a grassroots leadership role with Greensburg GreenTown, the not-for-profit founded to help facilitate the rebuilding, Ruth Ann assisted community organizing and developing a chain of eco-homes to demonstrate sustainable designs. Through GreenTown, Ruth Ann also hosted visitors from around the world interested in learning from Greensburg’s story and touring the innovative LEED platinum buildings. In this interview, a decade since the disaster, Ruth Ann reflects on the community’s sustainability journey of doing the right thing for the future. With grounded insight, humble fortitude, and lighthearted determination, she helps us understand what it takes to engage in restorative leadership to be of highest benefit during the most challenging of times.
On the evening of May 4, 2007, the residents of Greensburg, Kansas were hit with a historic crisis that they transformed to extraordinary possibility when the first recorded EF5 tornado - estimated at 1.7 miles wide traveling at 205 mph - left near total destruction in its wake. Sparking a vision that would turn the town into a model for the nation and the world, community members mobilized to create a more prosperous future for generations to come by rebuilding the devastated town as a sustainable city. Among the visionary locals who initiated the plan is Daniel Wallach. Daniel, whose background includes founding and running the Colorado Association of Nonprofit Organizations, founded Greensburg, GreenTown to facilitate various green initiatives in partnership with the city and community.
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Christine Ahn is a passionate voice for peace who has focused her life’s work on ending the Korean War, reuniting Korean families, and ensuring the leadership of women in the peace-building process. Inspired by a vision of women uniting across diverse boundaries, Christine led thirty women peacemakers from 15 countries on a walk for peace across the two-mile wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) from North to South Korea in 2015. Because international forces separated this ancient country over 70 years ago, the walk for peace sought to help stitch it back together by connecting with Korean women in both north and south and crossing the heavily fortified border that keeps them and their families separated. For her historic accomplishment, Christine has been inducted into the OMB Watch Public Interest Hall of Fame and recognized as a Rising Peacemaker. A lifelong learner well versed in history, Christine advocates for citizen diplomacy in response to the threat of nuclear war and reminds us that heart-based engagement is one of the most powerful tools we have for shaping the course of history. With unwavering belief in possibility, she illustrates how to bridge divides through deep understanding and faith in the potential for change.
Malini Mehra is an award-winning civil society leader, entrepreneur, campaigner, writer, and broadcaster who has over 30 years experience inspiring dialogue around human rights and sustainability at the highest level of diverse international organizations. She is the first woman and first Indian to serve in her current role as Chief Executive of GLOBE International, a non-party political organization that supports parliamentarians to develop legislative responses to the challenges posed by sustainable development. Malini is a deeply compassionate advocate for the whole of life who leads an ambitious movement toward positive change from a heartfelt sense of personal responsibility. In this interview, she shares how she lives restorative leadership by listening deeply and authorizing her own voice to speak up for decency and sustainability for all, no matter how seemingly big or small the challenge.
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Blake Jones is the visionary co-founder and recent President/CEO of Namasté Solar, a Colorado-based renewable energy company that has been the recipient of numerous national awards including Inc. Magazine’s Top Small Company Workplace and Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Brilliant Companies. Also a top-rated certified B Corp recognized for their innovative businesses practices, Namasté Solar made headlines in 2011 when they officially converted to a worker-owned cooperative, which means that each worker owns an equal voting share in the company. With 160 workers, they are now one of the larger worker-owned cooperatives in the United States. For his work with Namasté Solar, Blake was named Entrepreneur of the Year for the Rocky Mountain Region by Ernst & Young and one of Denver’s 50 Most Influential People. In this podcast, Blake reflects on his experience in the oil and gas industry and the role of empathy in bridging divides for a sustainable future of clean energy. He also explains how Namasté Solar practices restorative leadership to advance prosperity for all.
Karin Ryan is the Senior Policy Adviser on Human Rights and Special Representative on Women and Girls for the The Carter Center, a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, to advance peace and health worldwide. Karin’s dedication has proven invaluable to the Center’s work resolving conflicts and supporting democracy and human rights in over 80 countries worldwide. She has coordinated the Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum for many years, and has represented the Carter Center in many international negotiations including the establishment of a U.N. Human Rights Council. An insightful and pioneering thought leader, Karin provides a unique voice in the global conversation as she stresses the importance of advancing women’s rights within the broader context of human rights. She illustrates restorative leadership in practice by bridging divides through deep listening as she unites progress for collective wellbeing.
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Hazel Henderson is a futurist and an economic iconoclast tireless in her efforts to inspire a better future. As a young immigrant mother in New York City’s soot-cloaked air, Hazel founded Citizens for Clean Air and catalyzed momentum for the Clean Air Act (1970). Astounded by the harm done by business, she authorized herself to speak for an alternative future of ethical markets as an original voice for corporate responsibility and the “love economy.”
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As the pioneering CEO of the Skoll Foundation and Founder of the Skoll World Forum, Sally Osberg works together with Jeff Skoll and their teams to foster a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Investing nearly $400M in social entrepreneurs and innovators for scaling impact, Sally is a master at catalyzing positive systemic change. Co-author of Getting Beyond Better: How Social Entrepreneurship Works, Sally offers genius insight on what it really takes to solve the world’s most pressing problems on the ground. In this interview, Sally speaks to the restorative leadership practice of deep understanding for transformative results, and sheds light on the power of proximity.
Molly Melching is the founder and CEO of Tostan, a Senegal-based NGO with a mission to empower African communities for sustainable development and social transformation with respect for human rights. Tostan and Molly have gained international recognition for their Community Empowerment Program that has resulted in over 7,500 communities across eight African countries voluntarily abandoning female genital cutting and marriage under 18. Tostan is a recipient of the Skoll Award For Social Entrepreneurship and the world's largest humanitarian prize, the Hilton Humanitarian Award. Molly, on behalf of Tostan, also received the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights.
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Janine Benyus is the natural sciences writer and innovation consultant best known as the author of Biomimicry. For the positive impact of her sustainable design work - and her role teaching others how to do the same - Time Magazine named her Hero for the Planet and BusinessWeek named her one of the World’s Most Influential Designers. Janine transports us with her sense of wonder about the genius and magic of the natural world and what’s possible when we relate to nature as our mentor. In this interview, she offers an evolutionary definition of success and inspires a shift in how we view and value nature to get there. She also models how to listen deeply to the oldest organisms on Earth. With invigorating insight, Janine guides us in the restorative leadership practice of being highly intentional with our life choices as designers of the future of Life itself.
Lama Tsultrim Allione, author and international teacher, is the founder and spiritual director of Tara Mandala, which hosts one of the world’s rare temples constructed to honor the feminine Buddha. Lama Tsultrim was one of the first western women ordained a Tibetan nun, and is believed to be an emanation of Machig Labdrön. Lama Tsultrim’s teachings arise from the blessings of her 40-year dedication to the Buddhist teachings and her experience as a woman and a mother. Through her restorative leadership, she has re-introduced the practice of “feeding your demons” and is facilitating “wisdom rising." An enlightened presence radiating essential teachings, Lama Tsultrim speaks to wholeness and guides us to restore balance to the sacredness of Life.
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Meg Wheatley is a true warrior for the human spirit, recognized for her decades of work in organizational leadership and community development. Meg’s impact has been felt from the Fortune 100 level to the National Park Service to aboriginal villages in Australia. She has dedicated herself to empowering communities on every inhabitable continent to cope effectively with the changes of our times. Meg has published eight award-winning books, each of them an invitation to explore worldviews and ways of being our best selves in order to ensure a sustainable future. In this interview, Meg teaches us about inner and outer dimensions of restorative leadership.
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Dr. Dayna Baumeister is the co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8. With a devotion to applied natural history and a passion for sharing the genius of nature, Dayna has worked in the field of biomimicry with business partner Janine Benyus since 1998, traveling the world as a biomimicry thought-leader, business consultant, and professor. Together they founded the Biomimicry Guild consulting practice, The Biomimicry Institute, and most recently, Biomimicry 3.8, which is a B Corp social enterprise that helps clients find innovation inspired by nature and offers the highest level of biomimicry training to professionals worldwide.
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An empowering voice for balance, Osprey Orielle Lake works nationally and internationally to promote resilient communities and foster a post-carbon energy future that reflects women's and indigenous wisdom. As the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN), Osprey is active in facilitating the annual "Women Act for Climate Justice" campaign to activate diverse women and girls around the world as advocates for climate progress in advance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP). In this interview, Osprey reflects the holistic understanding of restorative leadership and explains why it is particularly important for women to self-authorize with resolve at this planet-critical time.
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A visionary voice of possibility, Van Jones has been at the forefront of grassroots to national initiatives equalizing the field of opportunity for all. As founder and President of The Dream Corps, he works to create 21st century jobs through initiatives such as Green For All and Yes We Code. A CNN political contributor and former White House Special Advisor, Van wrote the New York Times bestsellers The Green Collar Economy and Rebuild The Dream. Whether advocating for our country’s founding vision of justice as a human rights lawyer or invoking civility during news coverage, Van Jones champions the highest good. In this interview, Van reveals restorative leadership in action as he makes choices for collective benefit and bridges divides to bring out the best of our diverse humanity. He offers meaningful insight on how to live and lead in soulful and solution-oriented ways.
Darcy Winslow is a high-powered, heart-centered woman who understands big business and the impact it has on the world. As former Director for Advanced Research and Development at Nike, she launched the company’s 2020 goals for sustainable growth and consumption which committed Nike to zero waste, zero toxics, and 100% closed loop systems. Darcy is a wildly intelligent presence with a big heart who shows us how to work on a scale that matters in a timeframe that matters. A master at collaborating across networks, her voice inspires us to stand at the edge and claim our restorative leadership role making the difference that we uniquely have the responsibility and opportunity to make. In this interview, Darcy reveals how to inject possibility into a large system to leverage visionary progress for a sustainable future.
Dr. Kellie McElhaney founded the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business within the University of California at Berkeley, which solidified corporate responsibility as one of the core competencies and competitive advantages of Berkeley-Haas. Named a Faculty Pioneer by the Aspen Institute in 2005 for her leadership influence on business for the public good, she has served on the boards for Foundation Île à Vache, NetImpact and VolunteerMatch. Kellie teaches and consults on integrated CSR strategy. She is now developing an initiative around the economic and business value of investing in women within the new Institute for Business and Social Impact. In this interview, Kellie issues a restorative leadership call to courageously engage.
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Frances Moore Lappé is the author and co-author of 18 books including the breakthrough Diet for a Small Planet, which sold millions and is considered by the Associate Press as “the blueprint for eating with a small carbon footprint since long before the term was coined.” Named along with Thomas Jefferson, Upton Sinclair and Julia Child by Gourmet Magazine as one of the 25 people that have changed the way America eats, Frankie has received as many honorary doctorates for her leadership as she has published books. A prolific voice of possibility, Frankie is a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award for her vanguard leadership on ending world hunger and living democracy. With her rare ability to connect global to local dots, she demonstrates restorative leadership by inspiring us to reclaim our best selves and reframe circumstances for aligned progress. In this interview, Frankie talks about her perspective on ending hunger by 2030 and her participation in the historic civil disobedience of Democracy Spring, urging us to leverage the power of our own participation in the interconnected web of life.
Anna Lappé is a widely respected author and educator, known for her work as an expert on food systems and as a sustainable food advocate. The co-author or author of three books and the contributing author to ten others, Anna’s work has been widely translated internationally and featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, Oprah Magazine, among many other outlets. Named one of Time magazine’s “eco” Who’s-Who, Anna is a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute and the Small Planet Fund. She is currently the head of the Real Food Media Project, a new initiative to spread the story of the power of sustainable food using creative movies, an online action center, and grassroots events.
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Joanna Macy is a scholar of deep ecology, Buddhism, and general systems theory. A respected voice in the movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with five decades of activism. As the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, she has created a ground-breaking framework for personal and social change, as well as a powerful workshop methodology for its application. Her work helps people transform despair and apathy, in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, into constructive collaborative action.
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Sister Simone Campbell is a tireless champion for democracy as she advocates for the wellbeing of all citizens in public policy. Her work promoting the welfare of the poor, both nationally and internationally, earned her the “Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award” and "Defender of Democracy Award" among others. Sister Simone’s path has led to some big surprises for a nun like being a guest on 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and the O’Reilly Factor. With disarming humor and a rebellious twinkle in her eyes, Sister Simone has become a woman of remarkable influence. Known for her Nuns On The Bus tours inspiring citizen engagement and hope, Sister Simone bridges divides by giving voice to a vision that serves “the 100%.” In this interview, she offers new insight into the restorative leadership practice of valuing and empowering community.
Andrew Kassoy is a recipient of the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and co-founder of B Lab, a nonprofit organization that harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit. Prior to co-founding the B Corp movement, Andrew worked in the private equity business including as Managing Director in Credit Suisse First Boston's Private Equity Department in London and as founding partner and President of international business of DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners. He is a Board Member of Echoing Green, a Henry Crown Fellow of The Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. In this interview Andrew reveals how the B Corp movement creates eddies of possibility by example.
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The B Corp movement may be the most important movement of the 21st century given the widespread impacts of business on the planet and the vast potential for business to be a force for good. Jay Gilbert is a co-founder of B Lab, the social enterprise behind the B Corp movement. “B” is for “benefit,” and together with B Lab’s other founders, Jay is a recipient of the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. As founder of AND1, Jay left his role as CEO of the $250 million company to pursue his vision of a shared and durable prosperity for all. He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a Board member of Investors' Circle. In this interview we discover how the B Corp movement has scaled across countries and continents by embodying restorative leadership and learn what it takes to be the best for the world.
Named by Forbes Magazine one of the “Seven Most Powerful Women on the Globe,” physicist, feminist and environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva is a catalyst for the global sustainability movement. Demonstrating restorative leadership by standing up in the current of harmful norms to be a voice for possibility, Vandana inspires us to claim our unique leadership contribution in service to the Earth’s miraculous balance.
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With radical compassion and strategic savvy, Atossa Soltani does the seemingly impossible by leading international campaigns to protect the world’s tropical rainforests from extractive industries and large-scale energy projects. As the founder, former Executive Director, and now board president of Amazon Watch, Atossa has been advocating for indigenous rights and rainforest preservation for decades. Her success at convincing oil companies and international financial institutions to adopt stronger environmental and social standards earned Atossa the prestigious Hillary Laureate Award for Leadership in Climate Equity. In this interview, Atossa reveals the power of restorative leadership in action by listening deeply to herself and to the lived expertise and collective wisdom of community. Discover what Atossa heard in her dreams and how that translated to one of the world’s foremost advocacy organizations that is preserving the heart and lungs of the planet and protecting life’s biodiversity on behalf of all.
The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers is an international alliance of indigenous elders that focuses on issues such as the environment and human rights. This community of women of prayer reflects diverse humanity bringing its best insights together in service to global sustainability and collective well-being. In this interview, we hear from Grandmother Maria Alice Campos Freire, who has led a spiritual community in the deepest parts of Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest reservation as a master healer, and Agnes Baker Pilgrim, who is a Takelma Indian Elder working to keep tradition alive by returning the Sacred Salmon Ceremony to her homeland in the Rogue River Valley of North America after 140 years. The two teach us about about the restorative leadership practice of recognizing the interconnectedness of all life.
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Yola Carlough is a radiant voice for sustainability through her work activating the power of business for positive social and environmental change. As senior leadership with the Benefit Corporation movement, former Director of Sustainability at Burt’s Bees and Director of Social Mission at Ben & Jerry's, Yola has been a pioneer of possibility working to redefine business as a force for good. In this interview Yola explains how business is the missing link to address the root causes of our greatest social and environmental problems. With inspired clarity, Yola articulates the restorative leadership principle of scaling across shared values as she invites us to consider how the government, not-for-profit and business sectors can create meaningful collaboration around the world, sparking global celebration and a sustainable future.
Wanjira Mathai is a resonant voice of the New Africa. As the Director of Partnerships for Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (wPOWER) and the Wangari Maathai Institute (WMI), Wanjira is working to unlock the potential of women and women's groups to elevate grassroots clean energy and land restoration movements. Having previously directed International Affairs at the Green Belt Movement (GBM), which was founded by her mother - the late Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai - Wanjira has worked for much of her life to help empower some of the largest and most successful ecological and progressive social models of possibility in Africa.
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Dr. Sylvia Earle is a literal “living legend,” according to the Library of Congress. She is a woman of firsts, including the first female chief scientist of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the first Time Magazine Hero for the Planet, and the first - and still only - human being to dive solo to a depth of over half a mile. In this interview, Sylvia teaches us about the restorative leadership principle of taking the long view by encouraging us to realize that we have the power to do what no other creature on Earth can: look far into the past and anticipate the future with what we now know. Surprisingly, she offers what may be the most important accounting lesson of our time as she inspires us to leverage our collective intelligence to protect the real world bank and ensure that life on Earth goes on.
As one of the world’s leading climate scientists and a star expert in the Emmy Award winning series Years Of Living Dangerously, Katharine Hayhoe understands why the choices we make today have a radical impact on the path we travel in the future. As an evangelical Christian, Dr. Hayhoe does not take climate change on faith. Rather, she integrates science and religion to communicate an urgent message for all: climate change is real, and we must act now. Recognized as one of Time Magazine’s most influential people for her restorative leadership that bridges the conservative climate divide, Katharine teaches us how scaling across shared values by having faith in people - and in faith itself - can help us look to the future with hope.
Acclaimed yoga and meditation teacher Sarah Powers is known and loved for her unique approach—Insight Yoga—which combines traditional yoga with the meridians of Chinese medicine, as well as Buddhist meditation. She is the co-founder of the Insight Yoga Institute and author of Insight Yoga, which interweaves Yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, and Transpersonal Psychology into an integral practice to discover and enliven the body, heart and mind. Sarah feels that enlivening the physical and pranic bodies, as well as learning to meet our psychological reactivity is paramount for preparing one to deepen and nourish insights into one’s essential nature – a natural state of awareness.
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Movement Is Life For Shiva Rea, M.A, Global Prana Vinyasa Teacher, Activist, And Innovator In The Evolution Of Vinyasa Yoga Around The World From Large-Scale Festivals And Conferences To Unplugged Retreats. She Has Taught Thousands Of Students, Teachers, And Movers And Shakers How To Integrate Yoga As A Way Of Life.
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Barrister Polly Higgins was in court when she had an epiphany that the Earth was in need of a good lawyer. In this interview, we learn how Polly is changing the rules of the global game to tip in favor of a thriving balance for life on Earth through international Ecocide law. We also witness restorative leadership in action as she translates the circumstance of our global ecological emergency to aligned momentum for addressing the climate crisis at its source.
Jensine Larsen, founder and CEO of World Pulse, turned her vision of blue lights traversing the globe into a digital media network capable of crowd sourcing the feminine intelligence of the planet. In this interview, we learn how Jensine is amplifying women’s grassroots voices from every continent, and hear her perspective on the restorative leadership principle of scaling across shared values for resonant impact.