Modern Idealist

A little ‘woohoo’ for us! Perhaps it’s a little preemptive to get excited about reaching our 9th episode, but we’re doing it anyway! After almost a year of plugging away at our passion project, we’re pretty proud of what we’ve achieved so far. We have listeners from 27 different countries and we’re pumped to see how many like-minded people there are across the globe who care about this topic and want to create a positive impact and live responsibility whilst still existing in today’s modern world. We’re additionally proud of making it thus far because, fun fact, only a third of podcasts make it to 10 episodes -hence, the mini-celebration and the need to thank you, our listener, for being on this journey with us. In this episode of the Modern Idealist, we’re going back to the core of why we started this, what it means to be an idealist living in the realities of modern day, and discuss some of the recurring conundrums we constantly reflect on. We share some of the great feedback we have received from our listeners so far and talk about some of the challenges and trade-offs when trying to live out our modern idealist values. *Subscribe and connect with us!* ✅ Follow Modern Idealist on: Spotify / Apple Podcast / Google Podcast ✨ Instagram: ModernIdealistPodcast ✨ Meryn's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merynwilletts/ ✨ Valerie's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-leung/ ✨ Email: [email protected] *Links for relevant content* > Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippet with Jonathan Rowson - Integrating Souls, Systems, and Society > The School of Life Dating Cards: https://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/dating-cards/ > The Human Aspect: https://thehumanaspect.com/ > Be more confident! video: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thefemalelead_tova-leigh-dear-alyne-have-you-ever-heard-activity-6914285032152989696-8QVB?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web

Today marks the 109th International Women’s Day.

During this month, we want to celebrate and highlight women from all walks of life, we will be talking about equality, the progression so far, and the work ahead to do even better to reach full inclusivity and equity. Throughout the last 200 years, we've seen the progression of gender equality and a rise of feminism, but this progress is unfortunately still too far from full gender equality. Research shows the gender gap will take an estimated 135 years to close, and in addition, the road to our goal will not be just for all women. The progression we've seen so far favors some women over others. We need to hear more from people with truly diverse backgrounds and identities to #breakthebias of gender stereotyping and discriminating and our own bias in choosing who should benefit over others in this progression.

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For many of us who've been on the chase of a purpose-driven job or jobs that create a positive impact on our communities and society, we are often met with the dilemmas of finding an interesting job and balancing other needs in our life such as our own financial security, self-growth, and other opportunities to better ourselves while creating impact. It is no news that we once lived in a generation where we were forced to pick sides such as working in for-profit vs non-profit sectors, but we now live in a time when we believe we can create all at the same time. Still, the problems to balance between these are no less big deliberations for many of us.   In this episode of Modern Idealist, we dive into the concept of the career portfolio (and the squiggly career) and what it means to reject the concept of a linear career path in order to achieve our own definitions of purpose and success. Valerie discusses her career journey, growing up with high expectations from immigrant parents, and how this influenced her vocation and career trajectory. We then circle back to talk about jobs of the future and why we need to shake things up to create a more inspiring future workforce, now!

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How we can help Ukraine: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082992947/ukraine-support-help?t=1645782791891 

Link to sources:

Career Portfolio: Rinne, April. “Why You Should Build a ‘Career Portfolio’ (Not a ‘Career Path’).” Harvard Business Review, 13 Oct. 2021, https://hbr.org/2021/10/why-you-should-build-a-career-portfolio-not-a-career-path.

The Squiggly Career: “The Best Career Path Isn't Always a Straight Line.” Performance by Sarah Ellis, and Helen Tupper, Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper: The Best Career Path Isn't Always a Straight Line | TED Talk, Feb. 2021, https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_ellis_and_helen_tupper_the_best_career_path_isn_t_always_a_straight_line?language=en. Accessed June 2021.

“New Data Track Graduates of Six Popular Majors through Their First Three Jobs.” Philosophy Degrees and Sales Jobs: New Data Track Graduates of Six Popular Majors through Their First Three Jobs, Inside Higher Ed, 2 Aug. 2019, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/08/02/new-data-track-graduates-six-popular-majors-through-their-first-three-jobs.

This episode is part II of the last episode, episode 5. 

We continue our discussion about the millennials and gen z workforce asking for accountability and making a collective call for action. For many of us, COVID has either exacerbated or created mental health issues and stress levels that we hadn’t had or noticed before. There is a stigma around mental health problems especially in the relationship between employees and employers given it is often a place of work performance. This calls for more development of emotional intelligence and psychological flexibility amongst leaders and the work culture in organizations. But numbers show that people are still stressed and anxious due to the pandemic and that a significant amount of the younger workforce believe that their companies have done a poor job in supporting them. In addition to the stress and mental health problems, we’re battling, we’re still faced with other societal inequalities that too often show up in our personal lives leaving many to rethink our values on wealth distribution and discrimination because of our backgrounds. As people call for accountability and change, we don’t often know what we want to change into. Are we asking for more salaries, competitive employment benefits, regulations, labor laws, etc? 

Meryn and I have been fortunate enough to experience different societal structures and organization cultures across the US, Australia, UK, and Norway. We’ve enjoyed the laws to protect the benefits of employees in Norway, but we also see the fast-changing landscape of market-driven organizational changes in the US and in Australia. Join us in on our discussion!

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Google’s Manipulated Ad Auctions, Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard, and the Danger of Billionaires, Pivot Podcast, 2022

Deloitte Millennial Survey, A call for accountability and action, 2021

Credit Suisse Research Institute, Global Wealth Report, 2021 The World Inequality Lab, World Inequality Report, 2021 Bregman, Rutger

Utopia for Realists. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2017

Over the past weeks and months, we’ve been traveling around to meet old friends around the world. Valerie has been in the US, UK, Canada, and Norway while Meryn has been in Norway and Australia. We reflect on our encounters and conversations we have with our friends of different perspectives and share the contrasting movements across countries and continents. From those encounters, we are reminded of how difficult it can be for many of our peers, who are busy building a life (as one does in their late 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s), to deal with all the emerging social and climate challenges of today. It can be easy to underestimate ourselves to tackle big systemic problems that seem impossible like climate change and social injustices, but we’ve also witnessed collective action in many ways that have progressed us further every day. One of them is cancel culture, a powerful yet dangerous modern form of boycotting and ostracism, for better or worse. While cancel culture has its pros and cons, the call for accountability is spreading towards the corporate world where millennials and gen z are taking these values to the workplace for the better. Of these values, we discuss the key topics of concern such as climate, business in society, mental health, systemic racism, health in the workplace, and stress (exacerbated during COVID).

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  /////////Endnotes//////////

 Deloitte Millennial Survey, A call for accountability and action, 2021 Credit Suisse Research Institute, Global Wealth Report, 2021 The World Inequality Lab, World Inequality Report, 2021 Bregman, Rutger. Utopia for Realists. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2017

Many of us dream of the perfect job. For many modern idealists, it is often a job that brings a positive impact and progression to society, it requires our talent and skills, and it rewards us with competitive pay and career growth potential. Is it too good to be true? We explore Ikigai, a Japanese concept known as the synergy between doing what you love, what the world needs, what you are good at, and what can you be paid for. This way of life encompasses "your reason of being" and the collective small sums of joy that bring happiness in your everyday life. Listen in on our discussion about our Ikigai - its beauty and its obstacles, and how we help each other on the journey to realizing our own Ikigai.. and making a career of it. 

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---

Sources: 

Loehr, Jim, and Tony Schwartz. “The Making of a Corporate Athlete.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, Jan. 2001, https://theplumonline.com/life/what-ikigai-key-work-life-balance#:~:text=%22Ikigai%20is%20the%20synergy%20between,%E2%80%9CEveryone%20has%20an%20ikigai.

Valerie and Meryn have been separated by the Atlantic and travels to London, but it's not just for leisure. 

Pandemic lockdowns and social restrictions have limited many people's exposure to different ways of life and cultures from themselves. Meryn and Valerie are reminded of the contracting lives they live in during COVID-19. The trip makes us reflect on our surroundings that influence our social bubble and profession. We talk about our desire to stay connected with the evolving betterment of values and discuss our visions to continue expanding our surroundings and input that make up our views and mindset.

From contracting social circles to expanding societal mindsets, we continue to reevaluate and evolve our sense of responsibility. In the meantime, employees across America and Europe are leaving their jobs at record numbers - creating the Great Resignation Era. How might the sense of responsibility and desire to express their social and climate values show up in this period? 

*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]

✨ Meryn's Linkedin

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***

Sources: 

Cook, Ian. “Who Is Driving the Great Resignation?” Harvard Business Review, 15 Sept. 2021, https://hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-great-resignation. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.

Microsoft, 2021, 2021 Work Trend Index: Annual Report, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.

Schwartz, Jeff, et al. Deloitte University Press, 2016, Global Human Capital Trends 2016 The New Organization: Different by Design, https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends/2016.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.

Urquhart, Jasmine. “Employee Burnout Has Doubled since Lockdown Ended, Research Finds.” People Management, 20 Oct. 2021, https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news/articles/employee-burnout-has-doubled-since-lockdown-ended. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.

Meryn and Valerie are both co-founders of two different social impact startups. We first connected over our passion for social innovation startups. Triple bottom-line concepts (aka businesses for people, planet, and profit) have been on the rise in recent years. They give innovative ideas beyond technology alone challenging the way we measure success in a business. This both gave us energy and sometimes despair when challenged with the additional measures of success and additional challenges to the already arduous startup journey. We talk about the energy it gave us, how we keep faith in this space in times of despair, and why we still believe in impact x business.

*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]

✨ Meryn's Linkedin

✨ Valerie's Linkedin