learning from nature with laurie marshall about curiosity and leadership

just listened to an unreal episode of the humancurrent while making sourdough bread and sourdough waffles on my work from home day. the interview was with laurie marshall and it was mind-blowing several times over. she’s a big fan of wheatley and benyus, so i knew i would dig it, but it was really really amazing. two ideas that really stuck out to me:

this first one i’ve been practicing, largely because of my involvement with evolutionary leadership, but also the interaction institute for social change: how do i respond to situations of difficulty or conflict with curiosity? marshall says that it’s “very tough,” but in my experience it’s been super worth it. and as gibrán (and adrienne) says, i think it’s actually a big part of how we’re going to evolve through our more instinctual nature. can we learn to respond to difference with curiosity? if so, what might that do for us as a species? i know i’m already committed to practicing this, but i’m thinking maybe i’ll make it part of my 2019 commitments (which reminds me, i should probably loop back to my 2018 commitments and see how i’m doing…)

the other line that actually made me “wow” out loud was:

“We’re going to be entering a lot of chaos in this new political era, where our leader is going to be shedding light on the places that need healed, that’s what a leader does even if they do it consciously or unconsciously.”

:O

she’s talking about 45 and even though i knew this about leadership from many other contexts, i deeply appreciate the concise frame marshall put on it, here. i’ve been thinking lately a good bit about what’s my definition of leadership and this is definitely getting added. sidenote: the other thing that’s important to me about leadership is the capacity to create environments in which people can be/come their best selves AND make their own unique contributions to the space.

words / writing / post-processing
327w / 10min / 5min