Leading Conversations

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Martin Rutte, co-author of the New York Times business bestseller, Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work. An international speaker and consultant on spirituality in the workplace, Martin works with leaders around the world to reconnect business with its natural source of creativity, innovation and genius. His newest book, The Work of Humanity: Project Heaven on Earth is in development and explores the desire and longing people have for a world that works. In Martin’s words: “It empowers the new story of what it means to be a human and what it means to be humanity.” Join the conversation!

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Dr. Lyly Rojas, a university professor, international humanitarian, and co-founder of the European Institute of Collaborative Law. She specializes in the teaching the culture of Peace (inner and outer) and Corporate Social Responsibility, and Multicultural Intelligence. Lyly was born in Nicaragua, a country of conflict with a long history of turmoil, and ultimately her family had to flee because of their political beliefs. She has worked with and consulted to the United Nations; as an advisor to the Vatican in the trafficking of human beings; in war zones training diplomats, human rights workers, the military, and tortured women & children. The unifying theme for her work: compassion and dignity for self and others. Lyly says that we cannot begin to help others heal if we cannot heal ourselves. “How can you teach peace if you are not peaceful within yourself?” Her current book project is titled: From Inner Peace to Outer Peace and All the Pieces In Between.

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D., poet, editor, educator, business consultant and Director of the LBJ Presidential Library. She is co-author of the book Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society. As opportunity goes global, is a new story of leadership emerging? Can we shape the future by shaping the story? Betty Sue challenges leaders to sense and help actualize emerging futures in part by using spiritual disciplines as tools. Be part of this important conversation as we explore the new story of leadership.

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Alan Lurie, author of Five Minutes on Mondays. Alan’s path leading to this new book is in itself a good story. Following a 25-year career as an architect, he is now a Managing Director at Grubb & Ellis, a national real estate investment firm. He is also a non-denominational ordained Rabbi, leading prayer services, and writing on issues of faith and religion. Upon joining his new firm, he was asked to open the weekly Monday morning meetings (of roughly 100 RE professionals) by delivering a short message. “Something about business and ethics. Something inspirational and informative,” his boss said. And so, Five Minutes on Mondays was born. Today many are asking, “How can I keep going and maintain optimism in the face of challenges and setbacks?” Alan believes you can. Join the conversation as we explore how to unify work with personal life, access new currents of creativity, develop persistence and face our fears.

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Shailja Patel, an award-winning Kenyan poet, artist & political activist. Growing up in Kenya Shailja experienced the impact of war on the lives and spirit of the people. Her path took her on a journey from working on Wall Street to living a monastic life, running non-profits, eventually finding her voice in poetry. Today she is a performance artist bringing her work to people around the world. Her one-woman show, Migritude, unfolds hidden histories of women's lives in the bootprint of Empire, from India to East Africa. Shailja’s powerful performances bring her audiences to an introspective space of connection with the raw emotion and impact of war and oppression. The irresistible passion and eloquence of her words touches people at a core level and inspires them to take action. Shailja recently performed at Bioneers and said, “The fifteen-second pindrop silence after I finished my performance was worth three standing ovations.” Words shape us. They inspire. Join the conversation.

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Justine Toms, co-founder of New Dimensions World Broadcasting Network and New Dimensions Radio and author of Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World and co-author of True Work: Doing What You Love and Loving What You Do. Justine’s achievements include producing and hosting many award-winning radio series including “In Her Company: Deep Dialogues with Women of Wisdom” and “Deep Ecology for the 21st Century”. Throughout her career Justine has helped people to live life on purpose and find joy in the everyday. Now she shares with us her most important insights that, she says, have “firmly supported me like stepping stones as I've crossed the ever changing, chaotic stream of my life.” Step out of the chaos of the world for an hour and join the conversation as we explore living everyday life with joy and passion!

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Jason McLennan, CEO of the Cascadia Green Building Council, the Pacific Northwest’s leading organization in the field of green building and sustainable development. He is author of The Philosophy of Sustainable Design, and author/co-creator of the Living Building Challenge, an international green building program. Jason is a leader in the global green architecture movement and challenges us to imagine and demand buildings that operate as elegantly and efficiently as the living structures nature creates. He says we need to see our building structures as our habitat. Nature can be our teacher, help us re-vision our environment, and the way it gets created. The ecosystem can inspire buildings that support life and all the beauty it holds. Are you up for the challenge? Join us as this visionary takes us on a journey to create our future.

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Stewart Emery, entrepreneur, executive coach & corporate culture consultant; he is considered a father of the Human Potential Movement & served as the first CEO of est. A bestselling author, his books include Success Built to Last: Creating A Life That Matters, and his latest with Robert Brunner: Do You Matter? How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company. If you think design is only what gets created on paper or in the look of a logo or product or service, you’d be wrong according to Stewart Emery. It is so much more than that. Leadership drives a company’s culture which in turn speaks loud and clear to customers: your products and services are talking to people. Are they saying the right thing? What is your brand and who says so? (hint: it’s not you and it doesn’t live at your corporate headquarters…). How do your brand and the client experience intersect? And what does that have to do with design? Join the conversation for that and more!

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Mari Margil, the Associate Director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Her background includes a Master’s degree in Public Policy & Urban Planning from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and previous experience as Director of Corporate Transformation for Corporate Ethics International. Mari and CELDF are doing inspiring, groundbreaking work to recognize the Rights of Nature in law in both the U.S. and Ecuador. In 2008, Mari traveled to Ecuador where she assisted the country’s Constitutional Assembly on the re-writing of their Constitution thus becoming the world’s first nation to enshrine Rights of Nature in its constitution. Mari challenges us with a simple question: Who speaks for the trees? How would you answer that question? Join us as we explore the nature of our future.

Cheryl Esposito welcomes Karen Tse, Founder & CEO of International Bridges to Justice. An international human rights attorney and ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Karen Tse has been pioneering Rule of Law initiatives in Asia and Africa since 1994. As a United Nations Judicial Mentor, she trained judges and prosecutors and established the first arraignment court in Cambodia. IBJ has trained hundreds of defense lawyers in the 31 provinces of China, as well as in Cambodia and Vietnam. Karen says: “We envision a world without torture or unjust legal proceedings, and we work every day to achieve this end.” Thanks to Tse's efforts, posters in Chinese police stations that used to say, Resist punishment: confess [for] better treatment, now read: You have a right not to be tortured. This work is not for the faint of heart. Where does she find the courage to engage in this human rights mission in the face of potential personal danger? Karen’s advice: “You have to start from your center. It's from that place of stillness where you'll know how to move forward.”