Let's Get Real

Sharmin Banu is an executive coach and the former president of the Washington State Chapter of International Coach Federation.   She is also the Pacific Regional Lead for Braver Angels, a grassroots organizations that seeks to depolarize American politics.   Sharmin shared candidly about a time when she moved from self doubt to self confidence.   We also explored how my cultural bias affected our collegial relationship.  Sharmin walked through an approach to being more empathetic with those who have different beliefs than our own. 

Braver Angels
Greenleaf Coaching
Nina Simonds Coaching 

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Nina shares four ways of being that cultivate empathy.  It's easy to focus on techniques and skills for building empathy. Your mindset and way of approaching others is equally important in being able to step into someone else’s shoes.  In this bite-sized episode Nina defines empathy and walks through the four mindsets that matter most for truly understanding and caring about others.   

Satya Nadella on The Power of Empathy
Microsoft's Cultural Transformation
Design Thinking 

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Abigail Morgan Prout is a professional leadership coach and a midwife for emerging patterns toward a more feminine-forward leadership.  She is the author of a new collection of poetry - Walk Deep. In this conversation Abigail and I explored how writing fuels reflection and self awareness.  Abigail shared her passion for the written word, her accidental discovery of her own inner poet, and poets who inspire her  We also talked about how poetry gives us new language for not only our own experience but the times we live in.

Walk Deep by Abigail Morgan Prout
Amanda Gorman
David Whyte
Ada Limon
Mary Oliver
Ta-Nahisi Coates
Poetry Unbound 

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Jenny Leman is the President at CareerPlug, a software and service company that makes hiring easier for small and mid-size businesses.  Native to Texas, Jenny graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004 and joined CareerPlug in 2017.   She works to build healthy and scalable internal systems to equip and empower the CareerPlug teams to bring the best for their clients.   In this conversation,  Jenny and I explored the trending topic of Quiet Quitting and what is most foundational in creating a workplace culture where people will thrive. Jenny also shared what identities matter most to her and what makes inner work so crucial to healthy and effective leadership.  The two of us also riffed about the power of tools such as The Hoffman Process and non-violent communication for creating personal and relational  transformation. 

CareerPlug

Chief

Quiet Quitting

The Hoffman Process

Non-violent Communication 

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I share one of the essential tools for creating an authentic and fulfilling life - understanding the difference between your inner critic and your true nature.  This is the first of several conversations I will be having directly with our listeners.   

Soul without Shame

Mindfulness and the Ego 

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In this Season 4 Opener I spoke with Akasha of Cultivating Leadership, a professional coaching and training firm that supports organizations in developing the workforce of the future.  Akasha's deep interests in spirituality, adult development, and intercultural consciousness give him a unique and powerful perspective on leadership development.   We talked about how to help coaches find cultural common ground in developmental conversations.  I was also inspired by Akasha using an early traumatic experience as a catalyst for working with leaders to create more inclusive spaces.  Akasha also shared an acronym that gives us a pathway for repair when we have done harm.

Leading Inclusively Lab 

Cultivating Leadership 

Susanne Cook-Greuter 

IDI 

Resmaa Menakem

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Matt Scott is the Manager of Storytelling & Engagement with Project Drawdown, a nonprofit organization that seeks to help the world reach “drawdown”—the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Since the 2017 publication of the New York Times bestseller Drawdown, the organization has emerged as a leading resource for information and insight about climate solutions.  Matt Scott focuses on passing the mic to those who often go unheard in the climate space.  In this conversation Nina and Matt explored how storytelling and data work together to shift thinking and behavior.  Matt also shared the five barriers to climate action.  Nina was happily surprised to learn Matt is a fan of co-active coaching! 

Project Drawdown

The 5 D's of Climate 

Drawdown's Neighborhoods

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Executive Coaches Neil Edwards and Jeff Jacobson, guests from Season One, joined Nina again to have a conversation about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at this year's Academy Awards and the subsequent fallout from it.  Neil shared his perspectives on the overreaction of many white folks in his circle and the complexity of the situation for the black family.   Rules that were broken (or not) and patterns that remain in our collective response.  

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Camille Lee is the founder of WearEmOutTees, a circular t-shirt brand focused on getting pre-loved tees back into the economy to help divert them away from landfills, which extends their lifecycle. She hand-selects each shirt and creates the vision for the images screen-printed on every piece.  Camille explains circular fashion and what inspired her to create a business that diverts textiles from landfills.  Nina and Camille also explored the ups and downs of running a social impact business. 

WearEmOutTees

Fast Fashion

WearEmOutTee on IG

Let's Get Real on IG

Nina Simonds Coaching 

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Kristy Drutman, otherwise known as “Brown Girl Green” is passionate about working at the intersections between media, diversity, and environmentalism.  As a youth climate activist, Kristy has worked with youth from around the world to create collaborative, intersectional online media with the goal of creating conscious, culturally relevant content.  Kristy talked about her experiences at the UN Climate Talks and the harm that happens regularly to BIPOC activists.  Nina and Kristy shared their inspirations and the importance of well being and mental health for activists.  Kristy also talked about why DEI is not just nice to have, but an essential safety net for BIPOC leaders in the green movement. 

Brown Girl Green

Brown Girl Green on Instagram

Octavia Butler

Morgan Harper Nichols on IG

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Carlos Deal is an entrepreneur, a chef and owner of Alternativeats, a restaurant with a focus on Navajo and Japanese food.  Carlos shared his vision for opening up a commissary kitchen and developing the next generation of chefs in his community.  Nina and Carlos talked about the importance of local foods in addressing our carbon footprint.  Nina also learned what a hoop house is. 

Alternativeats Facebook page

Change Labs

Uranium Poisoning on Navajo Nation

Peabody Mine Shutdown

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Dr. Irina Feygina is a social psychologist who applies behavioral science and facilitation approaches to climate change policy and program development.  She served as the Director of Behavioral Science and Assessment at Climate Central, and as a fellow on the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.  Irina joins Let's Get Real to talk about how our need for belonging affects our belief in climate change,  how some of our core assumptions endanger us, and what actually influences people to take positive action.  Nina and Irina also talk about what it really takes to have productive conversations with people who have different beliefs than our own.  Irina shared openly about her own struggle to integrate the scientific method with more intuitive ways of knowing and how her own inner work mirrors what needs to happen in society.   

Process Work

Polarity Management

The Master and his Emissary
 

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Andy and Nina talk about the impetus behind a season about climate activism.  Nina busts some climate change myths and the two of them riff about how sustainability is influencing their plans to buy or build their next home.   Andy shares a bit about his recording methodology. Nina also gives a sneak peak into some future episodes of Season Three.

Drawdown Project

The Last Glacier

Nina Simonds Coaching
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David O'Leary is a wealth management expert, impact investment professional, public speaker, and writer.  David spends his time as Founder & Principal of Kind Wealth, a holistic wealth management practice helping early to mid-career Canadians manage their money in a way that matches their values.  Nina spoke with David O'Leary about how to put our money where are values are and make investing a form of activism.  David and Nina also shared stories about how our attitudes about money influence our choices.   David explained what Environment Social Governance (ESG) criteria are,  the bottleneck to more social impact investing, and the power of newer forms of financing such as microlending. 

Dave’s Impact Investing Podcast  

Kind Wealth
 
Dave's Resources for Impact Investing 

James Baldwin Quote

Soul of Money  

Muhammad Yunus  

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For the Season 3 Opener, Nina interviews Lilly Tong, climate creative and activist and host of Make Peas Not Beef.  Lilly is passionate about building smart cities that leverage sustainable practices and technological innovation to combat climate change.  In this conversation Lilly and Nina talked about the importance of optimism to being a climate activist.  They also riffed on veganism, reducing use of plastic and the privilege of clean drinking water.  Finally, Lilly shared the three things that all of us can do to be climate activists.   

Food for Thought Podcast

Make Peas Not Beef

Game Changers Documentary 

Betsy Rosenberg 

The Drawdown Project 

Blueland

Dropps

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Robin Lacambra is a social justice advocate and movement educator and the founder of GOODBODYFEEL, a studio that offers accessible, inclusive and decolonized movement classes that build self-awareness, strength and community.  

Robin shared how inclusivity informs both her parenting and her leadership.  Nina and Robin talked about how essential embodiment is to our collective liberation.  Robin spoke eloquently about the difference between true joy and what she calls "toxic positivity."  They also riffed about the power in deconstructing binary thinking in our personal lives and in our activism.   

GOODBODYFEEL

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Rebecca Scott is a leadership coach and catalyst with Cultivating Leadership.  She also brings humor, vulnerability and grace to her daily struggles with Multiple Sclerosis through her blog Stumblr.  In this episode Rebecca shared the mindsets and habits she uses to deal with MS and how she applies what she is learning to her work with leaders.  Nina and Rebecca also geeked out about adult development theory and how it has helped both of them grow.  They also came up with a new definition for moderation.  

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Richard Hurt was elected to Aliso Viejo City Council in 2020, the first black person to be elected to local office in South Orange County, California.  Nina and Richard talked about their hopes for racial equity in the United States and the importance of staying in the conversation.   Richard about his early experiences getting things done for Aliso Viejo and what gives him hope for the future.

Kathryn Finney

Leadership and Self Deception

Clint Smith 

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