This week on On This Walk, we are talking about empowerment and upgrading the human operating system. Accompanying me today is a very special guest who has been working in this field for more than 30 years and has published many books on the subject. 

I have spoken before about the challenge of breaking away from engrained recurring patterns that keep us stuck where we are and referenced the work of Steven Karpman, who proposed the Drama Triangle and its 3 chief roles, the victim, the perpetrator, and the rescuer. 

In this episode, I sit down with David Emerald Womeldorff to talk about the roles in more detail; especially the rescuer role which actually perpetuates these recurring patterns, and together we try to answer the ultimate question: how do we switch to a new and different paradigm in order to upgrade our human operating system?

In This Episode

Notable Quotes

• “Empowerment is not that you are giving power to somebody. It is that you are reminding them they already have the power in the first place. And everybody inside of the empowerment dynamic maintains that as kind of this underlying belief is that each person here that is involved in the dynamic or the situation, there is power that is here and there is power that creates choice. We need to respect that choice and respect the sovereignty of what is involved as well. But the coach is there to support that, not to jump in. Not to solve it for somebody, not to do any of those things, but instead to be part of supporting the container that's been created and with that curiosity, with that openness, with those questions, help people start to connect to the answers that already lie within for themselves.” – Luke (34:27)

• “The outcome orientation is we put our focus on the outcome or outcomes we wanna create in our lives. And if we care about it, it engages our passion, our sense of purpose, our desire for that outcome, which gives us the energy to engage in what I call baby steps, but in whatever next action is that is gonna help me get closer to or clearer about the outcome they wanna create. So the outcome orientation is the upgrade, the outcome operating system is the upgrade that I think is humanity we're being called to step into. What kind of world do we wanna create? What kind of personal lives do we wanna create? And to be clear about that rather than reacting to what is coming at us.” – David (10:15)

Our Guest

David Emerald Womeldorff is the co-founder of the Center for The Empowerment Dynamic. As director of the center's Organizational Leadership and Self Leadership Practice Areas, David's passion is in supporting individuals, teams, and organizations in leading and working from an outcome-focused and passion-powered orientation. His principles and frameworks are based on his 30 years of study, observation, and application of his lessons of collaboration with a wide range of individuals and organizations.

He's the author of the bestselling book The Power of TED, and Three Vital Questions.

Resources & Links

On This Walk