Fully Integrated Leadership

Notice how many of our actions stem from the beliefs that happiness will happen at some future state and it is dependent on some object. In this episode, I talk about the journey to our self and the activity I am doing now to try to "fast" from objects that my mind tells me it needs in order to be fulfilled and happy. 

Our experience tells us that we live in a duality: there is us, the subject, and there are objects that are separate from us. This belief in daulity leads us to place happiness in objects that are "outside of us." In this episode, I offer a quick exercise to show you that reality is non-dual.

Living by the beliefs, 1) I am happy, whole, complete, and 2) everyone and everything is connected, is difficult. Why? In this episode, I offer three hypotheses about why being human is difficult and why we are constantly forgetting these two beliefs, living our life in pursuit of our individual happiness.

When we orient to the world as mind and body, we struggle to recognize our inherent wholeness, happiness and peacefulness. In today's episode, I provide two practices to help you recognize the "I" that you truly are, the one that is whole, happy and peaceful.

What would it be like to wake up tomorrow and unconsciously hold the following beliefs:

1. I am happy, whole, peaceful, limitless and free. There is nothing I need in order to be whole and happy.

2. Everyone and everything is connected

What is it like to live with these two beliefs in a world, in a system, that makes us believe the exact opposite to be true?

Julia Storberg-Walker is Chair of the Human and Organizational Learning Department, Program Director of the Organizational Leadership and Learning Program, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Learning in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

After serving in various leadership capacities at Deloitte & Touche and Deloitte Consulting (1985-1999), she shifted to the non-profit sector and received her PhD in Work, Community, and Family Education from the University of Minnesota in 2004. She has been recognized for her critically-informed teaching, research, and activism/service as the recipient of multiple awards including the R. Wayne Pace Book of the Year Award by the Academy of Human Resource Development (2019), the Laura Bierema Critical HRD Award (also from the Academy of Human Resource Development) in 2017; and the Outstanding Research Award from the International Leadership Association (2015).

Julia was inducted into the Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension by North Carolina State University—during her tenure there, she was the recipient of over $1.2 million dollars in grants, and submitted almost $7 million dollars in grant proposals. She is a former Vice President and Board member of the Academy of Human Resource Development, former Editor-in-Chief of JCI and SCOPUS-ranked Human Resource Development Review, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Management, Spirituality and Religion Interest Group of the Academy of Management.

Currently, Julia’s activist/scholar work is generative and aims to develop equitable and compassionate frameworks, models, and processes for the purpose of catalyzing whole planet interdependence and flourishing. This work is transdisciplinary and grounded in contemporary philosophical perspectives including posthumanism, new materialism, quantum field theory, and wisdom traditions spanning diverse cultures and historical moments.

As one of the originators of the concept of sustainable value, Chris Laszlo, PhD, reframes sustainability as a business opportunity, turning environmental and social risks into drivers of innovation, greater employee engagement, and a new, inimitable source of competitive advantage. Laszlo is the author of six books, including Quantum Leadership: New Consciousness in Business (2019), Flourishing Enterprise: The New Spirit of Business (2014), Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage (2011), and Sustainable Value: How the World's Leading Companies are Doing Well by Doing Good (2008), all from Stanford University Press. An earlier book, The Sustainable Company (2003, paperback 2005), was published by Island Press. He has numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and is the general editor of The Business of Sustainability, the second volume of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability (2010). Professionally, Laszlo was elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Management. His book Flourishing Enterprise was chosen as one of the top sustainability books by Sustainable Brands. In 2012 he was selected by his peers to be a “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America™. In 2018 he was elected incoming chair of the AOM MSR Interest Group executive committee. As a co-founder and managing partner of Sustainable Value Partners LLC, he provides advisory services to senior leaders in some of the world’s largest companies. Laszlo has led hundreds of seminars and spoken widely on sustainability for strategic advantage both at companies and at leading business schools such as INSEAD, Darden School of Business, Cornell University, and Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition to his academic experience and consulting work, Laszlo spent nearly 10 years as an executive at Lafarge, a world leader in building materials; he held positions as head of strategy, general manager of a manufacturing subsidiary, and vice president of business development. Prior to that, he spent five years with Deloitte Touche, where he consulted on strategy to global industry leaders. Laszlo received his doctorate with distinction in economics and management science from the University of Paris. He holds a MPhil in economics and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, and a BA with honors from Swarthmore College.

In this episode, Marion and David move from VCoL (Virtuous Cycles of Learning) to VLoL (VUCA Loop of Learning), and we specifically talk about how productive conflict is a necessary and important part of leading and working in a VUCA world.  We then offer suggestions for how to come to alignment within a team or organization about people's concerns, values and goals.  Mapping team dynamics can be a critical practice for unearthing assumptions and biases within a team and can move you towards a set of shared values to resolve conflict. 

In this episode, we explore how the body and mind work together to help us make sense of the world around us, and in particular how we can use the body to help us in decision-making situations.  This is another VCol episode where we give you an action you can take in a VUCA world to help you lead and live more effectively.  

This VUCA Cycle of Learning explores the role of intuition when you make decisions. Most often we - just like our clients - when looking for answers resort exclusively to our rational thinking. This is what seems safest, perhaps. Yet it is very limited. Leaders need to discover their intuition, because it is much faster and more circumspect than just the analytical mind. In this episode we demonstrate a powerful way to connect your thoughts with your gut feeling with the wisdom of the heart.

As we continue to explore decision-making as a VUCA skill, we navigate some important questions. What's the distinction between what we need and what we value? How do needs and values interact with one another as we make choices and decisions? What happens when needs and values aren't aligned? What becomes possible when they are? Discover the practical application of values for alignment and needs for courage and authenticity.