In this first episode of a new season of the Power of Balance - focusing on Speakers of Truth to Power - Stephen Barden tells the story of Harold Strachan, a man who sacrificed all but his life when he spoke truth to the power of the Apartheid regime in South Africa. 

Stephen also invites listeners to submit their own suggestions of Truth Speakers - ordinary people who spoke up to power for the greater good.

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

Contact me here

For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

Stephen Barden turns his "Wherefore" spotlight on the European Union to ask: Where does the EU see its highest value in its world? Can that "Wherefore" carry it through the inevitable turmoil of next decade - or is it time to change, before it does it and its members real damage?

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

In the second in the series "Wherefore Art Thou", Stephen Barden argues that if  human beings need to have a balance of meaning and value with their world, then organizations certainly do. 
 

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

Stephen Barden suggests that before we ask ourselves why? - to give us purpose - we could be asking "wherefore?" What is that place where we and our world value one another at the deepest level? And how is that question practical - let alone invaluable-  in today's world? 

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

 Stephen Barden follows up on the previous episode's theme of refleting

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

Despite the fact that flexible and hybrid working has been widely welcomed, there is disturbing evidence that it is leaving many people exhausted and overwhelmed. Equally worrying is that it may be  leading to poor management practices and a fragmenting of organizational culture - far more rapidly than we suspected. In this episode, Stephen Barden examines the data so far and advocates that leaders need to completely re-think the way they run their companies and institutions.

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

Stephen Barden's central theme in this series on power is that  those who believe they have a balanced, manageable relationship with their world are the most effective and healthy members of our society. 

In this episode he asks the question: why do more and more people feel that they are unheard and that they have little impact in their world? That they have little power in their worlds? 

Stephen argues that  those who feel ineffectual in their own environment will ultimately "move worlds". Historically that meant emigrating or finding sanctuary in sects or communities of like mind. Now, however, we have a new escape route: one that is, literally, close at hand. And, that he argues leaves a dangerous vacuum in society.

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

As a species we are probably the most aggressive, destructive and  divisive that have ever walked this earth. We have destroyed countless other species, including human species. We have enslaved  - and enslave.  We discriminate against anything and anyone who is different from what we consider to be "our norm".  
In our daily  lives, we inevitably catch ourselves being almost intuitively divisive  - whether by competing, envying, resenting, despising, mistrusting or excluding. Even the majority of our relationships are transactional - trading benefits rather than sharing fellowship.
Are we simply incorrigibly driven to achieve dominion - power - over our world?  Or is there something else? In this episode, Stephen Barden proposes that it is fear that  fragments us from one another. And that fear  arises from an illusion that each of us clings to,  as tightly as if it were life itself. 

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/

In this episode, I sat down with financial sector leader Jenny Knott to discuss how deceptive the drive to  diversity can be.   

How can we ensure that diversity really means inclusivity and does not end up being the status quo in another guise?  We also talked about her own challenges in being recognised - not just as a woman but as a working class woman: born, educated and developed outside the clubs and norms of the corporate elite.

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For more information about Stephen Barden and his work please visit:
www. stephenbarden.org
or
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenbarden/