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The Way Out Is In

Wise Leadership (Episode #17)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Health & Fitness, Education, Buddhism, Mental Health, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement

0.0 • 0 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2021

⏱️ 97 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to episode 17 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. In this episode, the presenters, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and lay practitioner and journalist Jo Confino, are joined by special guest, entrepreneur and author Lindsay Levin, to discuss wise leadership and new ways of creating change and harmony in turbulent times.  “Serial entrepreneur” Lindsay Levin founded Leaders’ Quest in 2001 as her “last startup”, to help leaders and companies align profit with purpose. Her work explores collective humanity through vulnerability and listening. She also launched the Leaders’ Quest Foundation to build leadership capacity in grassroots communities.  Her passion for finding common ground between diverse perspectives and opposing voices prompted her to co-lead the launch of the alliance Future Stewards, after the Paris Climate Agreement. Her book, Invisible Giants: Changing the World One Step at a Time (2013), is a celebration of the everyday heroes who have inspired her to ask tough questions, and to strive to be the change she wants to see in the world. Together, all three also talk about: the balance between urgency and patience; purpose; polarisation; and becoming agents of change. And: at a planetary level, how do we know when to slow down and when to speed up?  Lindsay Levin further shares her relationship with the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village community, and about: working with leaders; dealing with competing interests and egos; spiritual values in the business world; self-awareness; tolerance in the climate movement; listening to others’ lives and widening circles of compassion; responsibility; the gap between cleverness and wisdom; ‘quests’; collective and individual development; planetary well-being; and honouring anger and grief.  Brother Phap Huu talks about his own experience of dealing with disagreements in the community as abbot of Upper Hamlet, and shares stories about Thich Nhat Hanh as a leader. He also delves into the importance of listening in leadership; applying Buddhist teachings into daily life; bringing together conflicting parties; discriminative mindsets; inclusiveness; adapting to change; avoiding burnout; nourishing compassion; learning to be in stillness; and not postponing ‘simple opportunities’.Jo shares the story of a company which lost its way after taking the space to create and reflect away from its staff. He delves into the pressure of short-termism; Indigenous insight into decision-making; and being observers of our own selves. And: is time money?  All three share the simple routines they use to nourish themselves in what they do.The episode ends with a short meditation on gratefulness, guided by Brother Phap Huu.  Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/  With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/  List of resources  Lindsay Levinhttps://futurestewards.com/team/lindsay-levin/  Leaders’ Questhttps://leadersquest.org/  Future Stewardshttps://futurestewards.com/ ‘Please Call Me by My True Names’ (song and poem)https://plumvillage.org/articles/please-call-me-by-my-true-names-song-poem/  Zen and the Art of Saving the Planethttps://www.parallax.org/product/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet/  Trần dynastyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BA%A7n_dynasty Lý dynastyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BD_dynasty Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong/  The opioid crisishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic  The Great Accelerationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Acc

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to another episode of the podcast series The Way Out is In. I am Joe Konfino working at the intersection of personal development and systems change

0:27.0

and I am Brother Fabhoo a Zen Buddhist monk under the guidance of Zen Master Tikikhan in the Plum Village community.

0:34.0

And today, brother, we are going to be talking about wise leadership.

0:39.0

I think the reason we're doing that is because the world is transforming. We're facing many many challenges and for those people in positions of influence or power that the old ways of operating which is I'm in charge and I know what to do doesn't work anymore.

0:57.0

We need to find new ways of creating change and harmony in these difficult times.

1:04.1

So that's what we're going to be talking about. The way out is in the same.

1:16.0

Out is in. Hello dear listeners I am Joe Confino and I am Brother Fap who and today we have a very special

1:36.4

guest because we have Lindsay Levin and Lindsay is the founder of an organization

1:41.6

a social enterprise called Leaders Quest.

1:44.0

And you, Lindsay, have pivoted your whole sort of direction of travel in Leaders' Quest to develop

1:50.2

wise leadership.

1:51.2

So it's absolutely right, we should be talking about that today.

1:54.3

And Lindsay is also the founder of an alliance called Future Stewards, which is really a group of

2:00.3

organizations coming together to drive systemic change in order to create a regenerative world.

2:07.0

So welcome Lindsay.

2:08.0

Thank you so much. It's very special to be with you and actually to be in the room together is beyond special so I'm

2:14.7

thrilled to be here.

2:16.1

Yeah and we're sitting in Ticknet Han's hut in upper hamlet the sitting still hut sitting

2:21.9

around his kitchen table which which is very, very cozy.

2:26.0

So Lindsay, just tell us why, what's brought you to Plum Village?

2:31.2

Well, friendship actually, so friendship with you Joe, friendship with the wonderful monastics here,

2:37.0

and the reputation of Plum Village. I have a lot of friends who've benefited from studying with you from visiting in the past.

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