Brimming with wisdom, experience, and a fierce resolve to shatter stereotypes, Mayra Olivares-Urueta captivates us with her mission to dismantle institutional barriers and create a more inclusive future in higher education. Readings and Resources: Olivares-Urueta, M. (2022, March 28). From at risk to at promise: Fighting fiercely for the community …

Dr. Elizabeth Keating is a linguistic anthropologist who explores language -- and more recently, narrative -- to understand people's daily experiences. In her new book, The Essential Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations, she explores the power of asking open-ended questions that create connections by revealing …

Last week in a newsletter I suggested to leaders that they reach out to their teams to talk about what’s happening in Gaza and Israel. Even as I made those recommendations I knew those conversations might be hard – not just for the leaders, but for everyone involved. Because talking about suffering is hard. One person – someone I trust – responded …

I don’t know about you, but I did NOT end up having the summer I intended to have. I spun off in two directions: one pragmatic and logical, the other experiential and mystical. And it broke my brain. Listen to what I learned and how it's affecting this podcast. Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. I also coach women lead…

Teaching is an act of love. After thinking about this with recent guests and faculty Rand Park, Sidneyeve Matrix, and Stephanie Cawthon, I've come to wonder if we don't expect far too much of our educators and far too little from our leaders. Teaching requires emotion: compassion, empathy, affection. Even love. These are necessary for learning to t…

Today we wrap up our month of conversations about what teaching and leadership have in common in a conversation with Stephanie Cawthon, a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Stephanie uses her experience as a stage manager and her lifelong love of teaching to find innovative ways to engage the folks around her …

Successful teachers, like successful leaders, know how to engage people's hearts. Sidneyeve Matrix is one of my favorite people to talk about this with. A marketing professor and graphic designer with a Harvard credential in Instructional Design, Sidneyeve devotes I'm guessing most of her waking moments to thinking about how to help people learn by…

Meet Rand Park! He's a senior lecturer in the Department of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management, and he joins us this week to share his insights into how extraordinary teaching and authentic leadership can lead to both transformational learning and leading. Our discussion is threaded through with the import…

It's officially back to school season! Let's kick things off by thinking about all the things you already are really good at that you've learned by teaching, and how you can use those same skills in your leadership this year. We'll talk about... >> Listening & Empathy, and the power of building trusting relationships at work; >> Providing Feedback,…

For our Summer Session we’re running a fan favorite playlist: a combination of the most-listened-to episodes as well as listener-requested favorites. Our Summer Session gives you a chance to revisit episodes you may not have heard in a while or even to listen to episodes you might have missed. Today we're replaying Episode 26: In Community: Interra…

For our Summer Session we’re running a fan favorite playlist: a combination of the most-listened-to episodes as well as listener favorites. Our Summer Session gives you a chance to revisit episodes you may not have heard in a while or even to listen to episodes you might have missed. Today we're replaying Episode 22, Feminism is Optimism, with Elis…

For our summer session we’re running a fan favorite playlist: a combination of the most-listened-to episodes as well as listener favorites. Our Summer Session gives you a chance to revisit episodes you may not have heard in a while or even to listen to episodes you might have missed. Today we're replaying Episode 20, A Bodacious Question, with Susi…

For our summer session we’re running a fan favorite playlist: a combination of the most-listened-to episodes as well as listener favorites. Our Summer Session gives you a chance to revisit episodes you may not have heard in a while or even to listen to episodes you might have missed. Today we're replaying Episode 24, Empathy & Gratitude: Mandy Bale…

For our summer session we’re running a fan favorite playlist: a combination of the most-listened-to episodes as well as listener favorites. Our Summer Session gives you a chance to revisit episodes you may not have heard in a while or even to listen to episodes you might have missed. Today we're replaying Episode 21, Democracy is a Creative Act, fe…

For our summer session we’re running a fan favorite playlist: a combination of the most-listened-to episodes as well as listener favorites. Our Summer Session gives you a chance to revisit episodes you may not have heard in a while or even to listen to episodes you might have missed. Today we're replaying Episode 23: Mentors & Allies: How to be Mac…

In honor of Juneteenth I explore its history, including The Emancipation Proclamation, General Order #3, and Biden's proclaiming today a federal holiday. If you've never read The Emancipation Proclamation and/or want to hear some beautiful words from the poet Ross Gay, this episode is for you. Readings & Resources The Emancipation Proclamation. Hea…

This may be obvious but it bears saying out loud: our words matter. When we use war metaphors we create a reality rooted in violence against other humans we perceive as our enemies. When we use sports metaphors we create a reality rooted in competition and besting our opponents. When we use familial metaphors we create a reality rooted in the perce…

What HAVE I learned from a year of podcasting? 🧐 In no particular order, here are (some of) the things I’ve learned -- all life lessons -- from a year of podcasting. When you’re podcasting, even though you’re speaking on a public platform you’re not speaking to everyone. You’re speaking and most people aren’t listening. Also, you’re speaking and so…

Mary Oliver's poem, The Summer Day, does not appear in this episode but my thinking is inspired by her question: since this is the only life we have, what will you do with yorus? How will you spend your days? Leaders in higher ed often don't feel in control of their days. We have so much to respond to, and so many people we're accountable to. It se…

Whenever I explore research in equity work, either by reading or by talking to experts, I hear all kinds of updates in language. And when I try to research the idea of language updates, I read all kinds of articles about the difficulty inherent in accurate naming, and sometimes even acknowledgement that striving for the right language is itself roo…

“To incorporate the sense of oneself as part of a complex web of mutual dependence is to become more humble. At the same time, this humility enhances one’s ability to form bonds with others. In short, retreating from the center of things – both in reality and in one’s self-conception – is inseparable from forging connections that expand the boundar…

Today I talk with Renee Wells about what it means to educate for equity through the lens of restorative justice. Renee is an educator and consultant with a grounding in the work of bell hooks and Paolo Freire, and I love how open and frank she is about all the things that we sometimes find hard to deal with…or to talk about…or to change…in our work…

The day Jayne and I talked about the book White Women: Everything you already know about your own racism and how to do better, I woke up here in Milwaukee to snow. In April. Yes I'm a Prince fan and yes I'm familiar with the jokes. On May 1 I was running an errand with my kiddo and we sat at a stopsign for about 7 extra seconds, marveling at the sn…

Come read this book in community! We're hosting a book discussion group facilitated by Dr. Jayne Sommers of the University of St. Thomas. Get the details and register at the website.🧡 I love this book -- "White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better" -- a lot. And I’ll be honest: I don't enjoy reading it. Aaaa…

Jayne Sommers shares her journey from first-born Capricorn -- achievement-oriented, striving for perfection, confident in her own rightness -- to anti-racist educator. She brings these experiences to her work as facilitator of our upcoming challenge: White Women's Work, where we'll spend a month exploring Regina Jackson and Saira Rao's work in Whit…

If you work on a college campus, I’ll guess that most of what you do, all day long, is talk. You teach, mentor, and advise students. You run committee meetings. You report on your findings, whether you’re conducting research, designing systems, or enforcing policy. You send emails. You chat in Zoom. You message in Slack. You trouble-shoot and probl…

There's a story I regularly tell when I'm asked how I deal with conflict. It's of a time when a campus leader called my cell and chewed me out. Hard. In today's episode I unpack that story and try to disentangle what I usually say about it from what the neuroscience of conversations tells me. I come to some interesting truths along the way, all in …

“Twenty years of research involving more than 100,000 people reveals that the key skill of effective leaders, team mates, parents, and loved ones is the capacity to skillfully address emotionally and politically risky issues. Period.” (Crucial Conversations, pp 9-10) Here’s some of the research showing how organizations benefit when teams are skill…

W•A•I•T is an easy framework that helps you ask: Why Am I Talking? It's a great tool for slowing down, asking questions, and inviting greater participation in conversations. Get the details and grab my easy guide to the framework, along with a (very partial) list of powerful questions in today's episode. Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Ins…

In this episode we revisit The Grounded Academic Leader from episode 30. I want to help you set yourself up for a strong start to your next term by reviewing your goals as this term comes to an end, and making adjustments based on what you've accomplished and learned to refine and recalibrate your goals for the next term. Let's connect! Come find m…

A discussion of the fourth stage of psychological safety - the safety to challenge the status quo - as form of institutionalized and acceptable dissent. [02:22]: The three stages of psychological safety we've covered so far: Inclusion Safety, Learner Safety, and Contributor Safety. Today we'll dig into the role of dissent in psychological safety an…

"Being a contribution" -- an idea from The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander -- provides a frame for creating the 3rd stage of psychological safety (Contributor Safety), even as it helps you develop what Amy Edmondson calls Leadership Inclusiveness. Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. I als…

For better or worse -- & TBH, just for worse -- our busy-ness has become a measure of our worth. But activity is not achievement. We know this from teaching. Now it's time to infuse this into our leadership practice. Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilita…

Some of your best skills in the classroom translate to your best skills as a leader. In this episode I explore the second stage of psychological safety -- the safety to learn -- and draw parallels between what successful teachers know in the classroom and the ways leaders can create learner safety for their teams. Let's connect! Come find me on Lin…

in today's episode i discuss why inclusion matters so much to psychological safety, and how to identify inclusive behaviors in your own leadership, on your team, and even from your own boss. i weave together research from amy edmondson, nika white, and timothy clark. i also share some resources you can use today to identify behaviors you can change…

I recently hosted a couple workshops designed to help leaders find joy in their work again. On today's episode I share the audio of the workshop along with the workbook participants used to complete the activities. Grab a copy of the workbook -- a color copy to print, or a fillable PDF -- and follow along! Listen to this episode along with #35, The…

After talking with women across the country about how to love your job again, we're digging into the core premise: inner work joy comes from getting consistent feedback on meaningful work. This is findings of the research from Teresa Amabile and Stephen Kramer, which they share in their book The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, E…

When I told a friend about my dream of building an app to help women see whether their new-boss-to-be is toxic -- before they accept that new job -- he burst out laughing and said “you’re on a serious vendetta here.” My first response was oh no, no no no. And then immediately I was like uhhh, yeah, maybe a little bit. In this episode I explore how …

This idea has pervaded my life since childhood, but I hadn't heard (or remembered) the phrase until I saw it last summer, painted starkly on a building mural near George Floyd Square in Minneapolis. For days I couldn't get the phrase out of my head. Budgets reflect values - that's not news. I've seen this at play in institutional budgets on every c…

This week I reflect on lessons from my “Year of Yes.” Shonda Rhimes coined this phrase in her 2016 book Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person. Higher ed is not great at creating space for women to integrate our desires and aspirations. We are complex creatures - we seek professional success, disciplinary expertis…

In this episode I welcome special guest Dr. Jade Singleton, co-founder of Johnson Squared Consulting and DEI consultant at NASA's Science Mission Directorate, to discuss the current state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace -- what we're getting wrong, what we're doing right, and how we can get better. Dr. Singleton designed and le…

In this episode I share my process for designing a successful year grounded in clarity, calm, and confidence. I walk you through my own planning process, which includes reflection, setting intentions, and backward design. I've used this system to establish my purpose and my financial goals, and to make sure they're connected. I also share the free …

I first got interested in the idea of burnout for faculty and staff through the work of Rebecca Pope-Ruark, author of Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning & Renewal. So I've been attuned to conversations about it -- not just among colleagues who are experiencing it, but also among women who are eager to help each other prevent, avoid, …

Shelly Roder and Sarah Moore Nokes, two coaches who focus on support those in helping professions -- especially nonprofits and social-justice oriented organizations -- created the Tiny Sabbatical Project. Tiny Sabbatical: Creativity helps you connect your intention and your creative side, while Tiny Sabbatical: Connection helps you forge deeper bon…

Willo Boniface is the Founder & Lead Glower at The Transformed Academic, where she coaches and consults with women in higher ed who seek holistic, joy-filled lives. She considers herself a "recovered" academic and has rich insights into what women experience inside of higher ed, as well as practical approaches to finding balance and restoring their…

Christina Holmgren and Jayne Sommers share a co-mentoring model that dismantles typical patriarchal, hierarchical mentoring structures codified by white supremacist culture and instead creates space for black women's experiences and agency to exist alongside white women's humility and allyship. Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or…

After more than two decades leading transformational projects for organizations of all sizes, Barri Harris has committed herself to supporting success across intergenerational teams so that colleagues can develop meaningful trust in their leaders *and* in each other. In this episode we talk about cultural conditioning, especially related to power a…

Mandy Balek-Stephens leads by practicing empathy and gratitude as people explore their path -- whether they're exploring their profession, their studies, their interests and passions, and their identities. Let's connect! Come find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook. I also coach women leaders (individually and in groups) and facilitate campus w…

Gender discrimination is real. The gendered wage gap is real. The mommy tax is real. It's bad for straight white women. It's much worse for women with brown and black skin; for lesbians and queer, bi, and trans women; for women whose first langauge is not English; for women who are entering professions as the first in their families or social circl…

Joy. Activism. Feminism. Optimism. Throw in a love of teaching, and I bring you: Elise Robinson! I feel like I've known Elise forever and goodness knows I've admired her for just as long. Currently earning her PhD at the University of Georgia in Theatre & Performance Studies, Elise is the kind of professor we all love and remember: passionate, enth…