Modern Idealist

Modern Idealist

By Valerie Leung and Meryn WillettsBusinessCareers
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Modern Idealist episodes

  • EP 18: Pioneering a New Vision on The Future Global Workforce

    Welcome to Episode 18 on 'Reimagining the global workforce through diversity.'  A couple of episodes ago, we dropped a hint about Meryn’s new venture, Umbrella, so we decided to bring in the founding team, Jyoti Sohal-David and Sabrina Zeng, to share what they’re doing, the dent they want to put in the world and how they’re tackling the challenges and opportunities when it comes to empowering a truly diverse and innovative workforce.  We talk about how they got started, how they met, where the future of work should go from a human-centred perspective and how important it is to tap into diverse talent to move towards a better future.   Together we explore short-term vs long-term good for business when it comes to making an impact, discuss why the way we work is broken and ask ourselves whether it’s actually possible to create a fair and equitable, democratised business landscape.

    55 min
  • EP 17: A World View of Hope with Daniel Roth on Centered Wellbeing, Healthy Masculinity, and Ancestral Healing in a Traumatized Society

    Today we sit down for a heartfelt and unfeigned talk with Daniel Roth, founder of JumpScale, a company that focuses on sustainably scaling companies through the lens of well-being and mental health. Daniel shares his rich experience working with founders, his work as former Director for Sustainability at Cornell University and how Somatic Movement Therapy and reconnecting with the body has become a guiding force through his life's work. Daniel is also the producer of the storytelling podcast, Heal Story where people share stories about ancestral healing.   We hope you find this episode as enriching and healing as we do.  


    *REACH DANIEL HERE!*

    👉 Daniel's Services via JumpScale

    👉 JumpScale Website

    👉 Daniel's Linkedin


    *RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE*

    📚 Dr. Gabor Mate: https://drgabormate.com/book/ 

    📚 Tim Ferriss Podcast - Dr. Gabor Maté — The Myth of Normal, Metabolizing Anger, Processing Trauma, and More


    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!*

    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast

    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast

    ✅ Linkedin: Modern Idealist Podcast


    *CONNECT  WITH  US!*

    Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more about!

    ✨ Email: [email protected]

    ✨ SHARE WITH A FRIEND

    1 hr 3 min
  • EP 16: ESG vs Sustainability and Our Own Positive Impact Levers
    It’s been a wild ride for us in the past couple of months so we’re bringing you a  double episode special over a glass of wine or two to give you the down low on all that's ensued.
    We’ve had the Diversify Nordics Summit, performed at The Annual Gala, ran events and spoke at Oslo Innovation Week on diversity, ESG and social impact. We both bought apartments, Meryn founded a new company and kicked off a collaboration with HerTech accelerator program, and Valerie spoke on a sustainability podcast which you can check out here ...Join us as we unpack some of the topics and key highlights discussed at our recent events such as the paradox of the Nordics, the importance of systemic change for true inclusion, attracting and retaining international talent in the workplace, tokenism, stereotypes and breaking out of the mould.
    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!* 
    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast 
    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast 
    ✅ Linkedin: Modern Idealist Podcast *CONNECT  WITH  US!* 
    Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more on! 
    ✨ Email: [email protected] 
    ✨ SHARE WITH A FRIEND 
    *RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE EPISODE
    ESG Insider -A Podcast from S&P GLobal: How human rights are moving up the agenda for businesses and investors 
    Valerie on Arthan's Conversation of Change
    52 min
  • Ep 15: Diversity Talks, Social Impact, and Life Updates

    It’s been a wild ride for us in the past couple of months so we’re bringing you a  double episode special over a glass of wine or two to give you the down low on all that's ensued.

    We’ve had the Diversify Nordics Summit, performed at The Annual Gala, ran events and spoke at Oslo Innovation Week on diversity, ESG and social impact. We both bought apartments, Meryn founded a new company and kicked off a collaboration with HerTech accelerator program and Valerie spoke on a sustainability podcast. In this episode, we unpack some of the topics and key highlights discussed at our recent events such as the paradox of the Nordics, the importance of systemic change for true inclusion, attracting and retaining international talent in the workplace, tokenism, stereotypes and breaking out of the mould.

    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!* 

    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast 

    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast 

    ✅ Linkedin: Modern Idealist Podcast 


    *CONNECT  WITH  US!*

     Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more on!

     ✨ Email: [email protected]

     ✨ SHARE WITH A FRIEND 


    *RESOURCES MENTIONED ON THE EPISODE* 

    7-Eleven | Land of Chlamydia Campaign 

    Bloomberg Law | Asian Women are the Losers in Big Law  

    Valerie on Arthan's Conversation of Change

    27 min
  • Ep 14: Deep Self-Care as a Secret Weapon for Changemakers and Entrepreneurs with Bonnie Coberly

    Today's episode starts with a Mindful Arrival, facilitated by our wonderful guest speaker, Bonnie Coberly. The perfect start for those who are back in the daily grind after the holiday period. If you're still feeling overwhelmed or that your break was a band-aid approach to a general feeling of being overworked, riding burnout or simply feeling uninspired, then you might get a lot out of this one. And you're definitely not alone. We discuss Bonnie's accidental journey in social entrepreneurship, born out of her own healing journey, how she overcame challenges after discovering her business profits were being stolen, and the way she pushed through the anxiety, burnout and depression to pay back the debt and how she rebuilt and found her way back to herself. She shares tips on how to prioritise and change your relationship to yourself to create a non-negotiable time for self-care and equips us with tools around habit formation (including a personal recovery kit). Based in Denver, Colorado and working with social entrepreneurs, Bonnie helps founders overcome limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome and works with their inner dialogues to step into the work they're inspired to do. ‘You will not make a change until you have a big enough reason why.' - quotable quote

    We hope you enjoy this episode and are as enriched by Bonnie's story and wisdom as much as we are.


    *REACH BONNIE HERE!*

    🌻 Bonnie's Website

    🌻 Bonnie's Executive Health Coach Services

    🌻 Bonnie's Linkedin


     *RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE*

    📥 Book: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking The Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA

    📥 The Desire Map Framework by Danielle LaPorte

    📥  "True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life where you don't need to regularly escape from" - Brianna Wiest


    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!*

    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast

    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast

    ✅ Linkedin: Modern Idealist Podcast


    *CONNECT  WITH  US!*

    Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more about!

    ✨ Email: [email protected]

    ✨ SHARE WITH A FRIEND

    55 min
  • Ep 13: Aligning Personal And Organizational Values With Eivind Fliflet

    This week's guest Eivind Fliflet took a break from parental leave (when we recorded this episode in May 2022) to talk with us about what it's like working for the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management. Owning 1.3% of the globe's listed companies, you need only take a quick look at their website to see the oil fund's market value going up by hundreds of millions of Norwegian krone before your very eyes. Eivind, who considers himself an idealistic pragmatist, heads up the Environmental Initiatives team within Corporate Governance at the fund and is responsible for weighing in on big topics such as climate change, biodiversity and ethics, and providing recommendations to the companies in which the Fund. We learn from Eivind how the Fund develops views and expectations on climate change and environmental, social and governance (ESG) guidelines to influence the global market and how sustainability needs to be embedded in an organisation's core. We explore oxymorons, career shifts, CEO salaries and the point when Eivind personally discovered the complexities of solving wicked sustainability problems and the paradox that exists between strategy vs action. He shares his views on internal activism and burnout, company value alignment, and that you can be impactful whilst having a balanced approach (something we both struggle with!). For change makers listening to this episode, Eivind leaves us with some words of insight to propel you into your own impact journey.

    45 min
  • Ep 12: Responsible Travelling Dilemmas In Our Modern Globalized Society - Dominate English Language, Disneysation of Towns, and Fly Shame
    Are you travelling this summer? Now that many countries have implemented workable solutions for tackling covid in all its variants, international travel has burst open again. It has given rise to an influx of tourism in certain countries across the globe, to the point where the airline industry has shaken under the weight of it all. So we thought it a timely occasion to take a closer look at the way we travel and its broader global impact for better and/or worse.
    This episode focuses on our social responsibilities as travellers;
    What does it mean for environmental sustainability when we consider the effects of our carbon footprint both en route and during our time spent at the destination?
    How is cultural preservation affected in places inundated with tourists, where the disneysation of towns and cities begins to undermine the social fabric?
    And what about those of us who are native (or practically native) English speakers? We discuss the privileges of having our mother tongue as the universal (second) language with which to connect to the world. But how much does that diminish our cultural sensitivity to other languages?
    As we scratch the surface of each of these pressing topics, we seek you, friends and listeners, to reflect and share your thoughts with us on how to create better, more sustainable travel experiences that enrich the lives of everyone in the value chain.
    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!*
    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast
    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast
    ✅ Linkedin: Modern Idealist Podcast
    *CONNECT  WITH  US!*
    Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more of!
    ✨ Email: [email protected]
    ✨ SHARE WITH A FRIEND
    46 min
  • Ep 11: Emotions in the Workplace, Global Remote Work, and Work-Life Balance - Too Good To Be True?

    In this episode of MI, we take a look at some of the current trends, that some call idealistic, driving the future of work. A part of being a modern idealist is the balance between our ambition to create an impact in society whilst improving our own quality of life. Sometimes, that refers to financial security, but this time, it's about improving our quality of life. 

    We challenge ourselves to use the LinkedIn Daily Rundown, one of our regular sources of news, to pick our top three up for discussion.

    1. Emotions in the workplace - should we be showing up to work as our full selves? What kind of emotional diversity should we expect from our workplaces?


    2. Working remote from anywhere - Airbnb is pioneering a 'work from anywhere' policy with employees so they never have to have rigid office structures again. We discuss what it could mean to be truly global citizens who are free to move about the world in this digitally-connected knowledge economy.


    3. Work-life balance - we explore the top and bottom three countries, why they work or don't work, and what it could take for other markets to follow suit.


    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!*

    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast

    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast

    ✅ Linkedin: Modern Idealist Podcast


    *CONNECT  WITH  US!* 

    Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more of!

    ✨ Email: [email protected]

    ✨ SHARE WITH A FRIEND


    LINKS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT:

    💡 Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Mental Health

    💡 Emotions in the workplace, Linkedin News

    💡 Why we need 'emotional diversity' in the workplace right now, FastCompany

    💡 Airbnb's UnMatched WFH Policy, Linkedin News

    💡 Top cities for work-life balance, Linkedin News

     

    34 min
  • Ep 10: What does it take to transition from a steady job into the world of environmental impact? Our guest, Gala Anania, did just that.

    On today’s episode of Modern Idealist, we have a conversation with climate evangelist Gala Anania. After a successful career as a translator and interpreter, Gala took a leap into sustainability consulting, embarked on a zero-waste life, and found her own way of balancing the ever-present trade-offs between how she makes a difference in her personal life and through her work where she helps companies decarbonize. 

    Gala is currently working at The Carbon Trust, a global sustainability consultancy, and previously she was at myFootprint, a carbon accounting start-up bringing climate action to SMEs. She holds a Master's in Sustainability Management and Innovation from Westminster Business School. In her past career life, she was a conference interpreter working mainly in finance and sustainability, where she attended COP22.  She has now espoused the Zero Waste lifestyle for a few years, has lived in 6 countries, and speaks 4 languages.


    *SUBSCRIBE  TO  US!*


    ✅ @Modern Idealist on Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast

    ✅  Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast


    *CONNECT  WITH  US!* Tell us what you enjoyed and what you want to hear more of! 


    ✨ Email: [email protected]

    ✨ Guest: Gala's Linkedin

    ✨ Meryn's Linkedin

    ✨ Valerie's Linkedin

    49 min

About Modern Idealist

From the publisher's feed

Join us on a journey of discovery as we delve into the experiences of career-driven professionals striving to make an impact in today's fast-paced professional world. Hosted by Valerie Leung and Meryn Zumbo Willetts, we share personal stories and explore topics such as impact in the workplace, trade-offs in doing good, life conundrums, work-life balance, entrepreneurship, and riding the larger social and climate impact movement. Hear from like-minded individuals who share a passion for creating change and join the conversation.