Listen to Restorative Leadership in Action
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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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.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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