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The Human Conversation Podcast on Leadership and Ethics

Podcast de Kaumudi Goda

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How do today's leaders navigate complex ethical dilemmas while inspiring teams, creating trust, and driving results?Welcome to The Human Conversation Podcast on Leadership and Ethics, a podcast exploring the intersection of leadership, ethics, and organizational culture.Join host Kaumudi Goda as she engages visionary executives, thought leaders, and changemakers in candid conversations about integrity and purpose-driven leadership.You’ll hear perspectives from diverse fields, including business, government, advocacy, academia, and the arts.What guiding principles shape a leader’s approach to ethical challenges?How can we foster ethical cultures amid competing priorities?Can ethics and profit coexist?Tune in as we tackle these compelling questions and examine leadership case studies from the latest headlines.

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21 episodios

episode Human Conversation with Martin Koek artwork

Human Conversation with Martin Koek

GET TO KNOW OUR GUEST: MARTIN KOEK Martin Koek studied law at the university of Leiden. In 1991 he obtained his master’s degree in tax law. In the same year he started his career as tax advisor with Arthur Andersen. Within Arthur Andersen and later Deloitte he climbed the ranks and in 2002 he became responsible for the corporate income tax compliance practices in the Netherlands. In 2013 Martin relocated to Deloitte in Hyderabad (India) where he managed the compliance practices for Deloitte Netherlands and Deloitte United Kingdom. In 2017 he returned to Deloitte in The Netherlands taking up his role in the Netherlands compliance practice. After his career as tax advisor in 2022, Martin decided to take a break from professional life and focus more on his private life and his hobbies reading and travelling. In 2025 he started his coaching education that he finished in 2026. Currently he is starting up his coaching practice, mainly focusing on career coaching.   HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS: * KG: You've had such an incredible international career as a corporate leader, advisor, mentor, just to name a few. Is there a red thread that ties all of this together for you? I wanted to know what's the driving force behind all that you do? * MARTIN: One thing is that I like to solve puzzles and find my way or other people's way out of difficult situations. And I like to help people and perhaps not in the altruistic way, but at least in a professional way. * MARTIN: In the beginning of my career, it was about helping clients manage their tax burden. Later on, it became also mentoring of younger colleagues. It became the development of the organization as a whole. And then it's rather difficult to find the right threat but it always focused around helping people solving problems or helping organizations solving problems. * KG: Knowing that you have a compliance ethics taxation background yourself, what are the terms ethics and integrity mean to you? * MARTIN: I think ethics and integrity are the greatest assets that a leader can have. And the difficulty is how to apply those things in the real everyday life of a leader. * MARTIN: As a starting leader, where I realized at one time that I was focusing way too much on reliability and responsibility. And I realized that in my vacation, where I received lots of telephone calls from team members who were trying to solve problems but didn't think that they have the authority themselves to solve the problem. So they always came back to me. I sat down with a consultant to make a SWOT analysis and from that SWOT analysis an action plan had to follow. Okay this is the direction that we are taking and the necessary steps that we had to take the practical steps to make that change. We came up with the solution that we should involve the entire team. * MARTIN: The action plan that the team made was the same as the plan I made with the consultant. But the action steps that we had to take were much more complete than I had made together with the consultant. So what I learned from that exercise is that by being transparent and honest about the future of the team. The team was actually thinking about solutions and action steps to take together with me. But it made the team less reliable from me. And it also created a much more open atmosphere where everybody could share their ideas, could share their doubts, their concerns. And we solved everything together. * KG: What was it do you think that helped the team make that change when you recommended it? * MARTIN: Involving the team and knowing that their views and their recommendations are also appreciated and that I by myself also do not know anything creates an atmosphere that we really we're really going together to make the change to make everything happen. * KG: In Asia, where I know some of the talent you worked with was, it is very hierarchical. So did you face any resistance or hurdles from others in the environment? who are used to hierarchy and couldn't understand why you're going against the grain and trying to do something different. * MARTIN: I learned quite soon that although the society and also lot of corporations in Asia are hierarchical, hierarchy is very important in those countries and those organizations, people hate it. When I came in and started asking input from the team and involving them in the day to day basis, other than just doing their regular job, but also give them an insight in why we were doing things and that we also needed to make changes. They were all quite happy to give me their input. * MARTIN: I've learned that integrity from a leader leads also to integrity from the team. and the same for ethics. If you are an ethical leader, you also get ethical team members. And there are always exceptions, but the broader line is that it is a vice versa thing. Ethical leaders lead to ethical teams. Integrity leads to integrity. * KG: Is there a need that you feel comfortable sharing so we can learn from what lessons you took away from it? I'm assuming you're referring to mistakes that help you clarify and fine tune what your ethics are, what your values are. * MARTIN: In the evaluation process, there's nothing easier than doing an evaluation conversation with a good performer. You always have a nice open atmosphere. But then you have the conversation with the bad performer. And since most leaders are nice people, or at least want to be perceived as a nice person, the evaluation conversations with bad performers are often of a very bad quality. * MARTIN: The evaluator wants to soften the blow and the evaluator is certainly not telling the bad performer that the performance is really bad. We try to hide it a little bit and say this is not the end of the world. If you do this and this you can perform better. But what we are actually doing is hiding the message, leave the bad performer hanging, leaving the bad performer with a feeling of uncertainty. So along the way, I've learned that it is much better to not soften the blow and just tell at the beginning of the conversation, your performance is not up to standards. * MARTIN: By listening, you can also determine, okay, there is room for growth. And when you listen to the needs of the other person and really help the person taking the next step, the conversation is suddenly not closed and tense anymore, but it's open and you're trying to build on something. And I think that's also a part of ethics. It's morally wrong to soften the blow. It's ethically right to start with the bad message, but also being open to the input of the person in front. * KG: What are some of the real world ethical problems that are most relevant to business leaders today? What are your observations around that? * MARTIN: I want to focus on one thing. And it has again to do with the people aspect of business. We started measuring a lot of things like output. We started measuring the number of hours spent on the project compared with the projected number. We started modelling a lot, standardising a lot. And although I am the first to recognize that modelling and that standardization and measuring output brought us a lot, it also harms us. And I feel that we focus too much on the standardized models. And we focus too much on output and we focus too little on the uniqueness that every employee brings to the organization. * KG: How can we begin to persuade organizations? What's the business case for it? * MARTIN: If we listen more to each other about what works on the models and what doesn't work on the models, we eventually get to a situation that the models are not set in stone anymore. Because quite often we design something and that works, but circumstances change. So if circumstances change, you should also redesign the model and then people feel much more at home. * KG: There is a Martin Luther King quote that I recently came across, Martin, that I think is appropriate. He advises that “Faith is about taking the first step, even if the staircase is not clear to you yet.” * MARTIN: In my time in Asia, we also designed. We implemented it. We think it's a success. But every three months, the project team is coming together and gets input from the team on is it still working or do we need to tweak so that this is not all set in stone. And in that way it becomes much more durable to keep working in that way because everybody feels hurt and when change is needed we make the change. * KG: What is your advice to professionals on how to build these cultures of integrity in their teams and organizations as they grapple with competing priorities? * MARTIN: First, as a team you have to do is make sure that everybody is included. And that means that you must have open communication lines where people really listen and understand each other's expectations and needs and wishes. And if there is a clear understanding of expectations and wishes, especially on things that work very well but also on things that do not work, then there is an understanding of what needs to change and what can stay the same. And it's also openness leads to openness. * MARTIN: Secondly, the team needs to make sure that everybody has a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities and actually pick up their roles and responsibilities. And that it is clear that everybody knows what they are doing and also monitor that everybody is picking up their roles and responsibilities. Because they understand a disbalance will occur when someone is not picking up their respective roles and responsibilities. * MARTIN: Lastly, there should be a balance in the give and take. So by saying that, mean that employees give their time and capabilities to the employer and they want to have something in return, which is basically a salary and some vacation date. Employers may want from time to time, have an increase in productivity because it's a busy season. And as long as there is some reward for the employees, it's okay. * MARTIN: If everybody is included, everybody feels included, if everybody takes up their roles and responsibilities, and when there is a balance, a long-term balance in the give and take. Those are excellent ingredients to build team culture that is both ethical as well as that it has integrity. * KG: Do you have any advice for professionals, either mid-career or senior, who are now fearing what is the future of their career paths with AI coming in so extensively? Or advice for people who are going to graduate and are looking to joining the workforce soon on how to navigate this age of AI? * MARTIN: Alternatives will come up and I don't know yet what kind of alternatives that will be but they will come up and perhaps in areas where we do not know about right now and I think that all those companies laying off people should also think really think about what they're doing. * MARTIN: There was a piece about one of the big four companies that issued the report to a government and apparently they relied too much on AI. And although the overall conclusion of the report didn't change, there were a lot of mistakes in the report that apparently was generated by AI. We should also train our people on at least for the foreseeable future on how to check the report that AI made. * MARTIN: When I started my career, there was a saying that trust is good, but checking is better. * MARTIN: We should keep hiring people for the foreseeable future at least to check the outcome of the AI report and checking something is much more difficult than creating something. But still jobs will go lost because of AI. But although I do not have the answer right now, I am certain that alternatives will come up. * KG: In face of uncertainty, sometimes we can refer back to similar occurrences in history where the hurdles were overcome and solutions did emerge. And those are always great prototypes to refer back to. * KG: Organizations seeking to accelerate and amplify their results by real heavy reliance of technology and human beings similarly placing very high value and projecting great trust on technology. Do you have a take on that? Because I know the field that you actually specialized in was very interesting. Do you see, for example, taxation, the careers in taxation, changing from human to more technology-fueled? * MARTIN: Because of the shortage of people, we started investing in technology quite early, in the beginning, just to get a more coherent product. But nowadays also get the technology should help us in with the simple tasks like repairing tax returns, 50 % of the work is not tax related, it's just transferring data from from one software product to the other software product. And if you have to do that manually, it's taking up a lot of time for the people you actually want to do more high-end work. So making an automatic transfer from the one data carrier to the carrier that we need to file tax returns on saves a lot of time. * KG: What excites you these days in terms of your professional pursuits? * MARTIN: When I was thinking about what is the common denominator of what I've done in my career. I found out that it was helping people. * MARTIN: I decided to take up a course to become a coach. And enjoying that a lot because I'm learning so much about myself. Things I knew, actually I can put in a new perspective right now, but also a lot of things about myself I don't know. Or I didn't know, I know now. * MARTIN: I enjoy having the coaching conversations quite a lot. It's more or less the same as the mentoring conversations and coaching conversation I had with my junior colleagues within Deloitte. It's also quite different because where I was actively helping people solving their problems, at the moment I'm learning on how to, not how to solve other people's problems, but how to bring other people to their own solution. And that's difficult, it's challenging. I get a lot of joy from it. * KG: I know you're also a great reader. Would you like to leave our listeners with a favorite book or quote that has been inspiring you lately? * MARTIN: The almond tree written by Michel Cohen Corasanti.  It's just a beautiful story which gives you a lot of background on the situation in the Middle East. It starts back in 1955 and it brings you up almost up to present day. It's an incredible moving book and it really gives an insight in what is going on. And it's especially non-judgmental. And that's what I like about it. No one is judged for the way they act. But it is an objective, more or less objective story. * KG: Is there a quote or a sentence that pops out at you from this book that you wanted to share? * MARTIN: It's a quote from a rabbi. And it mentions what you hate, don't do this to others. And that's a sentence that is with me now for about a year. And still makes a deep impression on me. REFERENCES & LINKS: MARTIN’s Social Media Platforms/Resources LINKEDIN [https://www.linkedin.com/in/martingjkoek/] MARTIN’s Suggested Book THE ALMOND TREE by Michelle Corasanti [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/19466843-the-almond-tree] The Human Conversation Podcast Channels APPLE PODCASTS [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-conversation-podcast-on-leadership-and-ethics/id1736302989] SPOTIFY [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DLMqNqgKZTKyB8zcw5MF0?si=a5c9d1e15b6e4ac3]

2 de jun de 2026 - 53 min
episode Human Conversation with Susan Caesar artwork

Human Conversation with Susan Caesar

GET TO KNOW OUR GUEST: SUSAN CAESAR Susan Caesar is a strategist, storyteller, and systems leader working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human development, and the living world. She serves as the Director of Artificial Intelligence at the International Coaching Federation (ICF), where she leads the responsible integration of AI across a global community of more than 60,000 coaches. Susan guides ICF’s AI strategy for 2026 and beyond, ensuring that emerging technologies strengthen human capability, elevate professional standards, and uphold the dignity, agency, and wellbeing of people worldwide. Susan is also the Founder of humain.org [http://humain.org], a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advancing life-centered leadership and innovation. Her work at Humain.org [http://Humain.org] champions two core commitments: women leading with life and innovation that regenerates the natural world. Through applied research, thought leadership, and cross sector partnerships spanning technology and conservation, she is helping to redefine progress in service of both humanity and the planet. She hosts the humainorg podcast, a storytelling platform featuring global voices who are reimagining how technology, nature, and society can flourish together. As a writer and speaker, Susan explores ethical innovation, regenerative futures, and the cultural transformations needed to usher in a truly life centered era. In addition, Susan is the co-founder of the Lead With Purpose movement, created with Donna Potts McKenzie, which delivers leadership programs for community colleges (including Harper College) and future-of-work pathways for organizations navigating rapid transformation. Across her work in strategy, storytelling, and systems change, Susan’s purpose is clear: to help people, organizations, and technologies lead with wisdom, so that human potential, innovation, and the living planet can thrive together.   HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS: * KG: You've had such an interesting career, customer experience, digital transformation, AI, as a corporate executive, advisor, thought leader, podcaster, to name just a few. Is there a red thread that ties all of it together for you? I want to know what's the driving force behind all that you do? * SUSAN: If I look back when I was a child, I felt that everybody should be having the same opportunities. For me that as a child, I was going, why I want to have equity, equality. So that was a driving force. I think the driving force for me has been around that is people centric, something about treating people equally and with respect and also emotion. * SUSAN: Emotion is at the root of action. How we feel affects what we believe and what we then do. I went from being a creative into being operational. I ran customer and employee operations and I was using technology in a way that gave people better experiences to create the environment and the interactions that created positive emotions because if you've got happy customers and happy staff, then you've got a more profitable business. I learned that life and business is all about relationships. And I'm committed to making business and society more humane. * SUSAN: I still don't feel that we have equity or equal opportunities for people. That's why I advocate for DEIB. I'm really passionate about having diversity in the room because actually it's better for decision-making. The more diverse people and ideas that you have and voices, the stronger the solutions. Actually there's a good reason why I care about that. * KG: What makes you believe so strongly that concepts like equity, emotional intelligence, human-centered design, why do you believe they're so important and to be at the core of all these transformational things that are happening around us? * SUSAN: My career has been around that intersection between people and whatever the emerging technology is and using that in a way, because I've worked in global organizations. It’s been about how you leverage that intersection of human connection and technology to do the right thing by customers, employees at scale. And when I think about ethics and integrity in that space, it is all about honoring our shared humanity. When we are thinking about making changes in organizations or deploying these technologies, it should be there to serve the people. It should be there to add more value to what the purpose of that organization is and what the customers or the citizens that they're serving, how they get more of what they're expecting from that organization. * SUSAN: I think part of the red thread for me is about ethics and integrity helps us deploy things or make decisions that are good for humanity. I think also acting with empathy, honesty and respect should be happening in every relationship. In every moment I used to talk about when in organizations like every decision, every transaction should be supporting and reinforcing the brand values of that organization. And in the wider context, it should be supporting and reinforcing empathy, honesty and respect, dignity for people. * KG: Do you feel that it is feasible for business leaders, brand managers, product managers, innovators of the world to be able to prioritize human dignity, human rights, concepts like these as they are looking at some of the tough trade-offs today, breakthrough innovations, scaling up profitability, shareholder value? * SUSAN: I think they have to end that the tide is turning. I think if you think about it right now, I believe in 2025, we have become disconnected from ourselves, disconnected from each other and disconnected from the world that we live in. There's lots of data points to evidence why that statement might be true. If you think about how we've lost trust in all of the institutions, how we, you know, the level of need for wellbeing. Then if you think about the planet, just all of the indices that we track to show how we are treating the world that we live in and the other creatures that we share the world with. I think there's a lot of evidence to say that we need to change. * SUSAN: I think with AI coming, I think there is the opportunity to change because now we're going to be able to, I think leaders need to be standing back and really thinking about the long-term sustainability of their organization and how it is treating its people and the world because the younger generations are going to ask those questions. * SUSAN: I think it is possible, I think it is happening. I personally am advocating for that in my organization, Humane Org. For me, it's all about helping women leaders, advocating for them, and then helping leaders make choices that are good for the people that work with them, the societies and the communities they're part of and ultimately what we're doing to our planet. * KG: In all of your experiences, has there been one that jumps out in your mind that challenged your sense of ethics and integrity. If you could share something and what you learned from that experience because I think it will shine a light for others who are similarly grappling with ethical dilemmas and asking themselves, can I survive this by doing the right thing? * SUSAN: In the beginning of my career, women weren't treated fairly, I don't think, and I experienced that. And then more laterally, think organizations really have grown so big and hierarchical and it really doesn't fit what the world needs today. And COVID was a good example of that, how we had to completely pivot what organizations are. Anyway, through all of that, I've chosen not to work in a corporate now. I work for ICF, the International Coaching Federation, and I am helping that organization elevate coaching because I believe coaching is a way to help the future. * SUSAN: I've worked in the tech industry and that's often been the first place that layoffs happen. And I mean, I've had to do it or I've done it because I've been a leader in those organizations. I've understood why the business needed to do it. However, the effects that that have has on people, their livelihoods, the families that they have, the communities that they're part of. I found that a difficult ethical dilemma. And it therefore shaped my conviction that we can and must do business differently. And that's why I've set up Humane Org. It is human centered leadership. * SUSAN: I'm here because I believe coaching in every walk of life, if people have access to coaching, then it helps us be better people, better leaders. And therefore it's the ripple effects of what that can do in society. That's the consequence of my ethical dilemmas. I believe I'm in a much better space now and feel I'm in flow as a person and I hope to influence other people in those spaces so that they can help organisations heal. * KG: As an expert on responsible, humane AI, what are your observations on real world ethical dilemmas most relevant today? And what would your advice be to professionals grappling with such situations? * SUSAN: I think at the moment we have a power imbalance and I believe that will get resolved. But right now you've got the power of a few impacting the many. I don't see the influences, the governments could be influencing this, but they are not at the moment, but I think there are some signs, some signals that are changing. * SUSAN: I mentioned the breakdown of trust, and this is in many aspects of our lives. And, you know, the fact that we, whether it's in a business as lead or in organizations and leaders, whether you're a leader in a community or educational establishment or a business, you're faced with perpetual volatility at the moment and complexity. And we as consumers also feel that. We feel there's a need to act. * SUSAN: I advise leaders to help themselves with this. Hire a coach. If you haven't got a coach in your life right now, I would advocate for getting one. I believe coaching is really a human practice. And so you may be using AI tools to spar on ideas around your goals, your life, et cetera, but that is not the same experience as working with a coach. * SUSAN: What coaching does, helps you pause, slow down, have presence, reflect. It enables you to zoom out and then you become much better at thinking through and making decisions that actually have the right impact now, but are also good for the longer term. * SUSAN: If you put yourself in the center of all of these changes that are happening around you, all the decisions you need to make, all the tools that you have access to, you know, how do you make sense of all of that? If you've got another human alongside you that is trained in coaching and is an expert at how to be present in that moment with lived experience, with wisdom, with all of the groundedness that coaches have, they will help you make sense of everything that's around you, everything that you're experiencing, in order that you can make the decision about what's the right pathway for you, what's your purpose, and how do you get from where you are today to where you want to be. * KG: What would your advice be on how we can partner with and use technology to enhance the support and service we provide to individual leaders, to organizations, to societies we serve? * SUSAN: I think AI offers us a few opportunities. Its strengths are in the fact that it solves problems faster than we can. It can automate repetitive tasks and it can uncover insights that we may not have seen or could not see. * SUSAN: It can spot patterns and it can show how you might be impacting those patterns. And then you can look at that to decide, well, what decisions, what choices are there and what would be the right one for us to make in that moment. And so I think AI really as a partner, it's there to help you not only have the right kind of insights to make decisions or take actions, but it's also enabling you to scale. * SUSAN: I think the more that we are aware where there are problems, the more we are and how they make the root cause of those problems. I think and I believe that humanity will be ingenious and find ways to solve for those so that we still can take the benefit of and value from these discoveries of AI. So what AI is doing in the world, it's not going to go away. I think it's going to get better and better the more that we understand how we can harness it for our good. * KG: In your observation, what are some other things, individuals, organizations, non-profit organizations and initiatives like the kind you lead, what role can they play in ensuring that the kind of work needed that you're pointing out, whether it's debiasing, ethical, human, prioritizing human rights, inclusion, those kinds of important aspects. How can NGOs, the individual leaders, corporates maybe even play a role and support this where governments and legislations are not yet adequate? * SUSAN: The first thing is we can't be passive. We have to be active in this space. If I use myself as an example, you have to educate yourself. You have to become aware of what the challenges are, what the opportunities are, you know, and really understand what's surfacing. And I think from that point of view, then you have an obligation, no matter what role you have your obligation is twofold. * SUSAN: One is public awareness. So if you are in a space where you can help others understand and keep safe, then we should. I do want to start a campaign that allows us to, you know, talk about do no harm, talk about how people using AI for experiences of companionship, et cetera, what the implications and the things to watch for are. * SUSAN: Wherever you are impacting the world, so whatever position you're in, if you're working with other people who have the opportunity to leverage AI and everybody does, it's helped them on their pathway to experiment with it, play with it, gain curiosity around it, and then become practical users of AI. * SUSAN: I will be doing more to create educational courses, online activities and also probably a playground somewhere where somebody can play with the tools in a way that's safe. And also as part of my role, I have already got the AI standards and framework and our code of ethics, which provides guidance to people that are building technology in the coaching profession. But I want to do more in that space. I want to find smarter ways to vet and validate other people's technology so that I can provide assurances to our 62,000 members on which of the products that are being built for coaching, how do we assess them and how do they make decisions about which ones are right for them. * KG: You talk the language of the younger generations, the next generations that are perhaps not even yet in the workforce. And I think everything you say and do speaks to that. If those in those generations are listening now, what would your advice to them be, whether in the choice of education, the kinds of things they choose to level up on? Do you have anything to say to the youngest generations? * SUSAN: If you think about all of the changes that humanity has come through, each of the technological changes, even though people have been fearful of them and skeptical of them, they've all ended up doing good things for humanity. So this is a change. It is more significant because of the scale and speed, but I think just to remain hopeful in humanity and their place within it. And then to guide them, would say, what's in your heart, follow your heart. * SUSAN: Follow your heart because that's the thing that's going to propel you in your mission, in your purpose, in your life. And a career is just one part of that life. It's not the whole thing. And then thinking about the future. AI is transforming everything that we do. Our lives, our work, how we play even. And it's a technology that is going to be moving fast. * SUSAN: If you're not a technologist, then I think thinking deeply about the human aspects of the world in the future, because we need the human infrastructure to really make sense of and create value and unlock possibility from the technology. The technology is not going to do it on itself. It needs humans doing that. * SUSAN: I think creativity is still, the curiosity of a human mind and the innovation join in the dots in different ways. AI can't do that and therefore finds paths that enable you to think like that and how you might create strategies or blueprints for organizations or communities and really join all of those dots and leverage AI to enable it. * SUSAN: If you can create a connection between the green ethics and the climate change and our green economy and AI, I think that again offers some future job opportunities. * KG: This is a red thread throughout even in your podcast, it comes through, you're talking not just about humans, but really thinking about perhaps humans leading decision making but thinking about the entire planet, including other life forms and how important that is. * KG: I know reverse mentoring has been something that's been developing, but you're talking about younger people having the ability to be powerful coaches as well. Can you share a little bit of a thought on that? Because I think that's powerful. All of us can learn so much from the fresh new thoughts that young people can bring to the table. * SUSAN: The qualities that make a great coach aren't necessarily qualities that come with age. I think they are innate things that part of it is that you already have that kind of propensity in your nurture, if you like, or nature. * SUSAN: I don't see why age means that you cannot be a coach. I know people use the word wisdom, but wisdom, I think that's tapping into the wisdom of being a human. And the fact that we have, as long as humans have been evolving, that wisdom is passed on to each generation. And so they carry that wisdom irrespective of what age they have. * SUSAN: I'm in a profession that transforms humans. And so putting these two things together, I think I'm absolutely in the right place at the right time to help humanity because we need human coaches, we need coaches to be helping people make sense of what's happening and to harness AI for the betterment of everybody. And this is the right space to do that in. * KG: Is there a quote, a book or piece of advice that changed your life that you'd like to share with us? * SUSAN: It's a quote by Emily Dickinson and it is, "I dwell in possibility."  REFERENCES & LINKS: SUSAN’s Social Media Platforms/Resources LINKEDIN [https://www.linkedin.com/in/susancaesar/] HUMAINORG [https://www.humain.org/about] PODCAST [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humain-leaders/id1777482768] The Human Conversation Podcast Channels APPLE PODCASTS [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-conversation-podcast-on-leadership-and-ethics/id1736302989] SPOTIFY [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DLMqNqgKZTKyB8zcw5MF0?si=a5c9d1e15b6e4ac3]

4 de may de 2026 - 40 min
episode Human Conversation with Jazz Rasool artwork

Human Conversation with Jazz Rasool

GET TO KNOW OUR GUEST: JAZZ RASOOL Jazz Rasool is a British-based scientist, executive coach, and researcher recognized for his pioneering work in Industry 5.0, AI coaching, and human–machine collaboration. He is the founder of the AI Coaching Alliance, a global initiative advancing ethical, humanity-first approaches to artificial intelligence in coaching, and the author of Coaching 5.0, a groundbreaking work integrating AI, the metaverse, and biometrics into coaching practice. With more than two decades of coaching experience, Jazz has blended science, technology, and human development to create innovative tools such as the Atmascope Resonance Engine, designed to help individuals discover their life purpose. His collaborations include work with NASA on space training technologies and contributions to future-focused programs on AI ethics, 3D/VR learning, and immersive education. A TEDx speaker, RSA Fellow, and EMCC Senior Practitioner, Jazz serves as an advisor to techUK, the Association for Coaching, the EMCC, and the Association for Business Psychologists. He was recognized as a Top AI Influencer in 2025 for his thought leadership in Coaching 5.0, which continues to shape the future of coaching and human-centric innovation worldwide. HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS: * KG: You've had such an interesting career as a researcher, innovator, advisor, speaker, coach, mentor in such diverse fields as industry 5.0, innovation, technology, coaching, to name just a few. Is there a red thread that ties all of it together? What is the driving force behind all that you do? * JAZZ: I feel it's a curiosity and a sense of wonder and a desire to, first of all, bring things alive within myself and bring myself to life. And lastly, it's about paying all those things forward to other people, helping other people get curious, cultivate a sense of wonder, work on things that bring them to life. And again, lead them to pay it forward. * JAZZ: The reason I'm a polymath and I've been involved in all of those things is because I always had a sense of wonder about things. I never lost my sense of wonder. And wonder and curiosity work very closely with each other. * JAZZ: When your curiosity reaches a certain threshold, you start to experience a sense of wonder about things. And it's the same in reverse. If you have a sense of wonder that reaches a certain threshold, you will get curious about things. And it drives you not down a fixed path. * KG: You were an astrophysicist working with such esteemed organizations as NASA. What drew you to the things that speak so deeply to me and are such a call of time today? Ethics and psychology and working with human minds. It's a fascinating journey for a scientist to be walking this path well before it was identified as the crisis of the time. Tell me the journey to that? * JAZZ: I suppose I've always been drawn to life in all of its different forms, here on Earth, certainly, in the ecosystems that exist out there, in the environment, in jungles and deserts, in the Arctic, for example. And after a while, you take that idea of going beyond your imagination and you start to be interested in life beyond this world. * JAZZ: My journey into astronomy and then into astrophysics into space was actually triggered by me being bullied in school because as a kid, I must have been about 11 or 12 years old. And I went to get as far away as I could from the bullies. In my innocent mind, I thought the furthest place I can get is in outer space. * JAZZ: I decided to fight back against the bullies because I thought I'm that thing which I'm trying to reach for, I can't reach it if I let these people get to me and I'm crushed here before I get a chance to even fly. So I did put a stop to those things and then the following year my grades went up, I moved up into the highest classes, I got academic awards and you know it sparked something really interesting in me. It made me start to have a sense of this potential in me that I'd never seen. * JAZZ: I began to wonder what, if you could put a ruler or some kind of measure against someone and say, right now you have only manifested 20 % of your potential. There's another 80 % to go. If someone told you that, then people would either bend at the knee and just feel crushed. Or they go, wow, there's another four times more potential in me. And one of the first things I did many years ago was I brought together the different models of psychology from other various cultures and integrate them into a single model to help understand human development and potential in the mind. And I encoded the models into an AI platform. And this was in 2008. And one of the first things I wanted to do was identify based on people's skills and their alignment, where are they on that measure? * JAZZ: If people could see not just how much potential they haven't realized yet, but they could see specifically where they not realizing their potential and where they might even be going against themselves and not being true to themselves, then that's the target for coaching. That's the target for mentoring. But you've got to do it in a way which is respectful of what that person can take because some people are not ready to grow and they need to acquire certain experiences before they're ready to grow. * JAZZ: If you're a man of substance or you're a woman of substance, then that's something that can be shaped, right? But if you're not a person of any substance at all, There's nothing to say, there's nothing to get a grip on, right? So part of the journey in coaching is to help people start to build substance in their character and in their life. And part of that is about being true to themselves and discovering what it is that they need to be true to. What is the potential that they've got to realize? And ethics is fundamentally about that for me. It's about helping people discover what it is that they need to stay true to. * JAZZ: When someone does an injustice to themselves and they're not being true to themselves, technically they are being unethical with themselves. The most ethical thing you can ever do is to be true to yourself and true specifically to the humanity within you that you share with other people. * JAZZ: So ethics comes into coaching and mentoring because it helps people to connect in to the things that they need to be true to. But it also highlights where the potential is that must be manifested. It's an injustice if someone has potential and for some reason it's suppressed or for some reason it's not resourced. As a result, that individual stays a caterpillar and never becomes a butterfly. * KG: This is my running theory and I've noticed many times the most compassionate and caring people are the ones who were harmed themselves. And in that grief and hurt, they found incredible sensitivity and compassion towards others. * JAZZ: As soon as you have that awakening, that someone's not who you think they are, then it's you know, kind of duty within you to no longer fuel the fire of the previous prejudice that you actually had. And because of that, I wanted to start working in a world which didn't have prejudices. And the worst kind of prejudice is a prejudice a person has towards themselves. You know, If they believe within themselves that they're not good enough, they've got imposter syndrome, there's all these things going on. And the opposite is true as well. They can have a prejudice where they think too much of themselves too, and they're arrogant and narcissistic. But if you can find a sweet spot, a place of grace between how humble you can be and how noble you can be then I think that's a magical place where you can actually grow because I've crossed the line from humility into humiliation. * JAZZ: It turns out in coaching and mentoring in general, development of individuals, if you can help them find a sweet spot between their humility and nobility, that's a state of grace where they start to develop gravitas in terms of their character and balance. And that's always been my life. I'm always looking for that sweet spot in myself on a daily basis. And whoever I can talk to, I ask them, know, today, where's your grace? Where's that sweet spot between your humility and your nobility? We need to recognize our own value and pay it forward and that's what being noble really is about. But we can't afford to lower our opinion of ourselves so much and dig into humility so much that we cross that line. That's a very fine line between humility and humiliation. Who's going to see your value if people are just walking all over you? What difference are you going to make in the world if you lower yourself that much? So getting that balance is really critical and it's proportionate to the kind of life or the activities that you're trying to do. * KG: If we define ethics as being true to who you are, what if someone's self-awareness and motivation, sense of fairness is stunted to begin with and therefore what's true to them might not be what's ethical for the rest of humanity, whether that is a person in an ecosystem or a coder or a developer of AI that would amplify everything in the future. How can we use your definition of what ethics is in a way that protects us also in such scenarios? * JAZZ: When I first heard that term, let's focus on human beings rather than technology or corporations or whatever. And then it dawned on me, which human beings are we centering on? I realized there are a lot of bad actors out there and maybe being human centric is not the way to go. * JAZZ: That deeper humanity that we all share as a species, whenever anybody really connects into it and they genuinely feel that humanity and they respect it and they honor it, it's impossible for them to engage with things that are unethical because it would mean being in a state of disrespect to their own humanity. And the conservation of our humanity is the outcome of living ethically. * JAZZ: If you are not doing things that are ethical, you can expect your humanity to start to get undermined. And over time, if you lose touch with your humanity, and you engage with other people who are in touch with their humanity, you're going to find it really difficult to be in the world. Now, those people who are in touch with their humanity, they might be able to show you compassion. But most people in the world, they aren't that connected into their own humanity. They have a connection, but it's not something that they have full conscious agency necessarily to engage with. And this where ethics is useful because it can remind us of the journey, the path to go back to being fully connected to our own humanity. That's a personal humanity. But if you go a little bit deeper than your own personal humanity, you will find a deeper connection to the whole of humanity that you share, shared humanity. So these are layers within us and you can be human or you can be someone who is an expression of humanity. And those are two very different things. And when you connect into that expression of humanity that's personal to you, that's the first step to engaging with that deeper humanity. * JAZZ: The across space and time as well, that's the ultimate arbiter of whether your ethics is sustainable or whether it is just temporary or whether it just fits the scape of your little corporation or your little venture or enterprise, whatever it is, right? If you want something that's universal and that's eternal, then you have to think beyond yourself, ultimately. * KG: You're talking about three levels: The humans, An expression of humanity, and a deeper shared humanity. And that if we can get deeper, we can connect to the highest common denominators. Those would be timeless and not ephemeral and fleeting. * JAZZ: If AI can actually be in service to those things, then it can be in service to humanity. It can actually advance humanity and not just humans. If it advances the humanity within us all collectively, then we will move forwards into a genuinely more advanced civilization. Advanced on the inside, not advanced on the outside necessarily. * JAZZ: There is no separation between inside and outside. It's a continuum. And when you don't work with a continuum and you work with it with something that's on the inside and something that's on the outside, right there is your problem. You have a mindset of separation. You think that what goes on outside isn't connected to what's going on inside of you. * JAZZ: Wherever you go at the deepest, deepest levels, everything is a continuum of energy. Everything. So ethics is intimately linked to that continuum of energy that we're all rooted in. And whether you're using technology or whether you're just a human being having a conversation with another human being, if you aren't answerable or accountable to the conservation of energy at that deeper, deeper level, then you're not going to be able to exercise conservation of your own humanity. * JAZZ: The law of conservation of energy is intimately linked to conservation of humanity. And usually you find if you start exercising conservation of your own humanity, suddenly your energy levels change. You're a different person. The integrity of who you are starts to become much more robust. The people who don't do these things, they're the ones that fall apart sooner or later because they're not being supported by something fundamental in the universe. * JAZZ: The ultimate demonstration that your ethics is being true to the right thing in you. It allows you to be in a state of grace. It allows you to be in a state where you're demonstrating conservation of humanity. And the moment that you lose your state of grace, typically, that's when typically you start doing things that are not respectful of your humanity or anybody else's. And AI can really help with this. It can help us keep track of what we're being true to. It can help us keep track of that state of grace and whether we're drifting too much into humility or nobility. * JAZZ: Conservation of energy is the most fundamental principle in the universe, the law which rules all other laws. * JAZZ: For example, wherever you see cycles, you can pretty much bet there's some conservation of energy going on, right? And if there's conservation of energy going on, it just means things are not going to run out. Things are going to be sustainable. And in human beings, the three things I've noticed that we all need to maintain conservation of that are the deeper components of our humanity are our motivation, our intention, and our attention. * JAZZ: When people start stop paying attention to things or they can't pay attention to things, that's a problem. If people want out of motivation or their desire to or impetus to do things, that's a problem. If people can't form clear intentions to do things, despite the fact that they're motivated and they can pay attention, then it means the right things just don't get done. And usually the things that interfere with our motivation and tension and our attention are the equivalent of carbon in the atmosphere that we're all trying to get net zero targets met for. We know that if that stuff's there, it's going to change climate in terms of temperature. We know sea levels are going to rise. We know there's a species diversity is going to go down. These are all the consequences of carbon footprint on the outside. But there's an actual equivalent of carbon footprint on the inside of people. And it affects people's inner climate. And that inner climate is going to be something that's affected by three things. It's affected by emotional toxicity. If you go into an organization, a toxic workplace or toxic behaviors, you can pretty much bet that's going to seriously affect the climate there. Right. Secondly, it's incongruence. Incongruence is the failure to be true to what's important. Right. And you're doing things that are not aligned to your values or deep, deep principles, sustainable principles. And lastly, and incoherence, nobody can work effectively in a place where people think incoherently or the strategies are incoherent. So the opposite of those things are coherence, congruence and typically compassion when it comes to emotional toxicity. * JAZZ: If you have those things in place, if you minimize, if you get to net zero with emotional toxicity, you get to net zero with incongruence and incoherence, you can pretty much better. You're going to be in an environment where everybody's very motivated. They've got clear intentions on working with the right things and they've got the energy to consistently pay attention to things and they're not going to be burnt out and they're not going to be overly burdened by having too many things to focus on and starting to affect their attention. * JAZZ: You need to have the right mix of motivation, intention and attention for what it is that you're trying to be true to. All we've got to do each day is trying to manage our motivation, attention and intention. These are natural resources that we need to exercise conservation of on the inside of ourselves. * JAZZ: We need to change the narrative with feeding AI so that actually it can advance us in the future rather than to lead us to a place where the things that are the most precious and sacred within us and within our humanity actually end up atrophying because we fed AI the wrong narrative. * JAZZ: If you feed AI things that are unethical, things that undermine our humanity, then you can expect AI to then undermine our humanity. That way it'll work. * JAZZ: You can't connect to people unless you first connect to them through something that is of relevance to them, that's connected to their interests and their behaviors and their references. But that's just the foot in the door. If you want to see it on the table, you then have to start to speak to people's intentions and their priorities and their way of being, the things that they have a deeper resonance with as opposed to the things that they have a relevance connection with. * JAZZ: If you really want to trigger movement in people, have to have the right amount of relevance connected with the right amount of resonance and the right kind of resonance. If you try and get resonant with people without any relevance, people will look at you and feel something, but they won't know why this is important. * JAZZ: Social media and search engines and AI historically, most people will know this when it comes to search engine optimization, as they very much focused on connecting people through things that are of relevance to each other. They are relevance engines. That's what they are, but they're not resonance engines. * JAZZ: I built my own platform, which identified what resonance factors there were, but also appreciated, you're not going to get people to connect into that and work with that unless you do that through a portal of relevance of some kind. So I realized that relevance and resonance were needed, but we don't need relevance engines. We don't need resonance engines. We need something that is an engine that manages the balance and proportion between these two things. * JAZZ: These three dynamics of supporting something and reinforcing it, challenging it and trying to change it because it's reached its expiry date and we need to do things differently now. And lastly, having appropriate reflection to figure out the balance of those two things. These three things are critical for everybody's growth. If you don't, they're like, I've described them as being like vitamins. You need to get your three a day. Everybody needs to get their support. * JAZZ: We need to make sure AI is the agent through which we get the right support each day, that we get challenged in the right way in our thinking every day and what we're doing in terms of our actions and that we are reflecting on the right things too. * JAZZ: The people who typically had two or more of those qualities that I could go and get support from and challenge from, perhaps, reflection, they're like a superfood. They end up being my best friends because they had all those qualities in one person. But the bullies in my life, I noticed something. They gave me the exact same things, but at the wrong times. So they would support me and reinforce something I was doing that really they should have challenged. They should have tried to change and alter. Instead they colluded with me and reinforced that behavior that wasn't healthy. * JAZZ: When it comes to AI, I believe that the future value of it will come from its capability of identifying what support we need, when we need it, what source do we get it from? Similarly, with challenge and reflection. Now I can get vitamin C from an orange. It's much more difficult to try and get it out of a cactus. So just like my friends, there were some people who I could get support from, but they were just really difficult to get hold of. And it was hard to try and actually get some that would actually help me. I have to go to somebody else who didn't necessarily have the right support to give me. So AI, it's really important for it to identify where in our lives, which needs, what kinds of emotional and social intelligence through which we need to meet those needs and get support. What kind of things do we need to do that challenge us and pull us out of our comfort zones? And where are the areas that we need to think three things and at the same time, not overthink things and ensure that we act in a prompt kind of way where it's actually necessary. * JAZZ: All mentoring and coaching comes down to those three things. But the biggest challenge is identifying what it is that you need to do more of, what it is that need to do less of, and what it is that you shouldn't interfere with. * JAZZ: Behind the scenes, there are dreams that are looking at us in the same kind of way. And they're saying, today my human came true. And if we worked with our dreams like that and we built a relationship with them, then not only would our dreams come true, there's every likelihood that our dreams would actually lead us to become true to ourselves. And if AI can help us to become true to ourselves, I think our dreams coming true will be a natural outcome of that. * KG: How can we build systems that speak to our higher selves and help us come true and our dreams come true without us ourselves being capable of doing that yet? * JAZZ: People can sometimes mistake one for the other. For example, something that you think is a preference, like, oh, I'd like to have a glass of wine. Oh, I'd like to have this cake. They look at it as a preference. But in their minds, they've got to this point where they actually don't look at it as a preference anymore. They're mistaking it as a priority. And they will do everything they can to get that priority met. And they rob people, they will do harm to themselves, they will do everything, because they think it's a healthy thing. They think they're fulfilling a priority and it's not a preference. This is the difference between an interest and an intention as well. * JAZZ: Whenever people conflate preferences and priorities, interests with intentions, and they conflate behaviors with a way of being, that is usually the route to addiction of one kind or another. And usually leads to the undermining of their humanity and their agency and their self-compassion. These are all consequences that we'll see that are typical of addiction patterns. * JAZZ: When it comes to the development of systems, I feel one of the things that we need to do is we need to have frameworks which prevent things being miss, being misattuned. One of the factors that has come up recently is emotional misattunement, which is when someone uses an AI for friendship or companionship and they anthropomorphize it, treat it like it's a human being. * JAZZ: One of the biggest challenges that arose out of social media now is extending into AI is the undermining of our agency. * JAZZ: We can't look at AI as a friend. It's a tool. And it's a tool that has an agenda behind it. The producers of that AI, they have made it so that they get some kind of return on their investment. And they also have an intention as well. And they're looking for a return on that intention too. * JAZZ: When people work with technologies, they have to realize there are two kinds of ROI. There's a return on investment and there's a return on intention. * JAZZ: There are some things that are more important than money, believe it or not, for those corporations. And having control, having power over people's agency that then is channeled towards adverts for which they get a lot of money. That’s the way that they do things. Now it's not necessarily a bad thing. But you have to ask, all right, in them actually seeking a return on that intention, were they being true to the humanity within themselves that they share with everybody else on the planet? And you can pretty much bet the answer is no. They have an agenda which is not in service to humanity. It's in service to something else. So the future has to be one which is not going to lead to dependencies, it's actually going to lead to enhanced agency and more free will and it's going to lead to freedom. * JAZZ: When your will has some freedom, it doesn't necessarily have power. We talk about willpower, you can have free will, but it might not have very much power behind it. So even when you act, you might not be able to really make any kind of impact in the world. In addition to having will that is free, you also need to have will that has power to it as well and resources in order for it to act. And that that's what enables genuine freedom. A will that is free and that has power and resources to act, that individual who possesses those things, you could say is a free human being. * JAZZ: I'm always conscious that beyond the free will that human beings have got as members of the public or citizens of a nation, that free, amount, their will is free, is carefully controlled. Very carefully controlled. * KG: Have you ever had success, as a coach, as a psychologist, a scientist, where you've been able to reach to the deeper shared humanity aspects of such powerful players? Or they need not necessarily be powerful players, they might just be people who are unmoored from that shared humanity, such as your bully. I'm sure in your experience, you've met many other such misaligned people who are incoherent. * JAZZ: I'm aware that in a lot of the work that I've done, there have been people who are behind the scenes who are going to do things in subtle ways sometimes to undermine me or undermine the message or the narrative. And then there are other people who want to do something about it and are advocates but they just don't have the resources, the power, the authority, all of these things. * JAZZ: There are many people who've got titles and they have authority to do things, but they don't have the resources to exercise that authority. And I think this is the biggest challenge. How do you get resources to the people who have got the, not just the knowledge, but they've got the humanity and they've got credibility for them to do things and act from a place of wisdom rather than intelligence and knowledge? Because I know a lot of people who are very intelligent, very knowledgeable but their agendas are not benevolent. And then there are people who've got incredible amount of wisdom, but they have no power. They have no resources. * JAZZ: If I can create a platform where people can all help one another to the extent that you end up with a billion people helping one another. And I wasn't even involved directly, that would be a cool thing. And it extends the paradigm of the fish story where if you give a man a fish, then they'll feed themselves for a day. But if you teach them how to fish, then they can feed themselves and their family forever. * JAZZ: Our main focus in work that I do is about paying things forward. How do you build architectures to pay things forward? Because if you can pay freedom forward, if you can pay understanding and wisdom forward, if you can pay responsibility and duty and diligence and power forward, then you're not gonna have people who are in power, you're gonna have people who are empowered. * JAZZ: If you use all of the will that you have available to you to seek what it is that you wanna have in your life. Then the universe does an interesting thing, which is when you've run out of free will, because you used it all up, trying to seek what you were after, far from that being the end of it and you not being able to do anything else, the universe looks at individuals who do that. And because of the law of conservation of energy, whoever seems to respect the law of conservation of energy by using up all of their free will and not wasting it, they're a good example to use to actually police the universe as a whole, because that person isn't gonna waste anything. * JAZZ: It turns out when you run out of steam pursuing what it is that you're trying to be true to, an interesting flip happens. An extra bit of energy is given to you because the universe sees you as being a good representative ambassador for it. So it gives you extra authority. It gives you extra agency. It gives you extra resource and extra freedom. * JAZZ: You can literally create your own fate if you constantly use 100 % of your free will. Those that don't, then they're disrespecting conservation of their own energy and their own life force. And the universe doesn't look kindly on those individuals. It usually makes them extinct. * JAZZ: One of the things I put into my technology was to identify within an individual what is the center of gravity of their life that they should be putting their energy into that will sustain their will. A key problem was people's will is not free because of two or three reasons. One, their will is not free because they have baggage to do with their past. When you start to get that kind of increased free will. If there's less stuff holding you back from your past or your future or the present, you genuinely have more freedom and energy from across space and time starts to come towards where you are and it synchronizes with you and it coincides with you. And the outcome is that synchronization is something that manifests as a synchronicity but coinciding with you is something people regard as a coincidence. * JAZZ: There comes a point when the synchronicities and coincidences don't happen in a fragmented way, they start becoming continuous. Life just becomes one big synchronicity and coincidence. * JAZZ: Synchronicity is two things coming together in time. Coincidence is two things coming together in space. A synchronicity and coincidence together, that’s serendipity. * JAZZ: If we can get to a position where we can enable our will to be 100 % free, it actually starts to generate synchronicities and coincidences and serendipity, which overrides any power structures around us. * JAZZ: Our saving grace is that if we work with the laws of nature, whether we're doing it on our own or whether we're using AI to help us, those people who respect the laws of nature, especially the conservation of energy and how it works, they'll end up with more power than the people who've been given power. * JAZZ: When you're being true to yourself, you're actually honoring your own nature. When you're not being true to yourself, you're literally going against your own nature. And if you go against your own nature, then the laws of nature are going to kick back. They're going to affect your freedom, your willpower, your agency, all of those things. * KG: How can we as coaches, as consultants, as observers with a common interest in shaping a more inclusive ethical future persuade those who are supported by systemic structures of power? Your answer is, let's focus on those agents of change who are more aligned, who can and desire greater alignment, because then they become self-powered, perpetual agents of change, because they're in full alignment. There's synchronicity, there's coincidence moving into serendipity. And these agents of change are not those perhaps who are systemically blessed or endowed with power and privilege, but rather they are empowered aligned individuals. * JAZZ: If you look at a torch with a couple of batteries in it and you switch it on, it sends out lots of light particles in different directions, all right? And it's very illuminating. You can put your hand in front of it. You won't feel it, but it's very illuminating. It has no impact. That's the problem. It's illuminating, but it doesn't have any impact. * JAZZ: The same torch with the same battery, it can use a different kind of physics to generate light where all the light particles come out in synchrony and coincident and in phase. And that's called a Laser. Now a laser, it's light isn't all over the place. It's really tiny little point, the energy goes towards. And from that point, it's the opposite of the torch. It's not very illuminating at all, but you wouldn't want to your hand in front of it. It will cut you in half, it will burn you. It will make a serious impact on you. * JAZZ: If you want to change the world around these technologies, coaching, mentoring, don't focus on trying to make an impact first before you have illuminated what it is that needs impact. Because it's like, if I take a torch and I illuminate the darkness and I can see there's a door that we need to move through and I can go, okay, that's where I need to go. And then I wanna get to the door. If I continue to shine the light on the door handle, it's not gonna open the door. I need something that has a bit more momentum, more impact, more force. In order to open that door. And I can't use a torch anymore. Illumination isn't enough anymore. I need to move to impact. And that's where you need something like a laser or something that's got greater force and impact capability to actually open the door. What you do not want to do is the opposite. You do not want to shine the laser into the darkness and wave it around all over the place, not knowing what it is that you're cutting through or making an impact on. And then illuminate and look and see what damage you've caused by shining that laser randomly in all these different directions. * JAZZ: Sometimes you can't save the world on your own. You need to work with other people. Sometimes you might think I need certain amount of money to get certain things done. Actually, if you work through other channels, you don't even need to worry about generating money. The money can be given to you. And providing you work in a state of collaboration with others towards that higher common goal beyond yourself, often the resources turn up and they're not yours. They don't belong to you, but you get to use them. * JAZZ: When you see it actually happen in the real world and it has million dollar effects, then you go, okay, when I'm doing this for other people, I'm doing this for the world, I notice how much more agency and synchronicity and coincidence I get compared to when I'm just doing it for myself. * KG: As a futurist and a technologist and very much a humanity centered responsible transition advocate, what's your prognosis? Do you feel there is greater potential and greater number of people migrating to your realm of operating on what could be shaping a more synchronous future where everyone's tapped into their shared humanity and working towards the greater good, knowing that it's going to benefit everybody, individuals and the collective. What's your prognosis? Do feel like you're going closer to a more positive future? * JAZZ: I do take a bit of a Star Trek view of this, which is I can see a future where our concerns are no longer concerns to do with issues on this planet. They're to do with concerns beyond this planet. And I do recognize from an astronomy perspective that we are technically on a spaceship that's moving through the galaxy and it's got life support systems that we need to look after in order for us to continue our journey. * JAZZ: You were born up there amongst those stars and you're going to die up there amongst those stars. And when people recognize, yes, you're on this planet, but actually you're moving around the galaxy. And so when you were born, you were actually in a different location in the galaxy. And when you die, you're going to be in a different location in the galaxy. And this is the truth. * JAZZ: If we take that and look at what we're doing with technology and how industry is developing, I do look at it and go, what can we do in terms of our potential? And let's go back to the beginning that we were talking about, whereas you look at what the potential of an individual is and not what they could achieve. Wouldn't it be great to have technology to identify that and realize that? The next level up is to go, all right, well, that individual's connected into their potential, they're conscious of how much they have and what they can do and they're on their journey to realizing it, Now let's scale up. * KG: How close are we to technology not merely amplifying what exists, but helping us get where we are not yet ourselves capable of getting to? How close are we to having technology that can actually intuit and find that center of gravity as you called it that resonance and relevance in a positive manner. * JAZZ: One of the first things I learned was when you look at the universe, all the things that you see, they're about 1 % of what there is. And they call the stuff that you can't see, they call that dark matter or dark energy. And the 99 % or 95 % smaller level of the universe is invisible to us because it's in the form of this dark matter or this dark energy. * JAZZ: I've had to say to people that when you go and look in the mirror in the morning, I want you to accept that. I want you to accept that what you're looking at is one to 5 % of who you are. Right? 99%, 95 % of who you are is not visible to you, but it's there. It's in you, it's pervades you and it's there, but you're not in touch with it. * JAZZ: When you look behind someone's personality, there are two things that you will go through. You're going to go through that person's ego and you're going to eventually get through down to their character. And my aim was to identify what was in the dark matter of this individual. What was the ego? That was influencing that person's personality and deeper down, what was the character that was influencing the ego and was influencing someone's personality? Because these are the things that would lead you to someone's personal connection to their humanity and what they're trying to be true to, right? So that's what I built my AI platform around. It was designed to interpret those results, to take an X-ray of those initial results, drew, reveal. * JAZZ: You need to give yourself a bit more credit and recognize a bit more of your value. And actually in this area, you're being perfectly true to yourself and you're being authentic. If you know this bits of information, then you know where the work is, it has to be done. And you know that if you get the right proportions and adjustments made, this person will end up going from a state of elimination to a state of impact with themselves. They go from torch to laser with themselves. And that's what I started to set up. I did it for individuals first, and then I started doing it with teams. * JAZZ: The moments, synchronicities and coincidences start to happen, you know a chain reaction has begun. And it only takes so much material for that chain reaction to go beyond a certain domain and begin to affect the whole world. * JAZZ: We need to start chain reaction. And when it reaches a certain scale, it can't be controlled anymore. People will only have the choice to collaborate with it. It doesn't matter whether you're a prime minister or a tech bro, you're just going to have to collaborate with it. If you try and control it, you're going to get burnt in the process of trying to do that. * JAZZ: You need a certain substance in order to start a chain reaction. In the case of an atomic bomb, if you just got one gram of uranium or plutonium and you bash it against another bit of uranium, that's not going to be enough. You need a certain number of kilos of this stuff be brought together and have pressure put on them and implosion for the chain reaction to start. It's the same thing with people. You can't just go out into a field and find pure uranium. You find uranium ore and then maybe 1 % of it is actual useful stuff that you're going to work with. In the same way, you look at the populations out there and go, all right, we need to bring uranium ore in and then we need to refine it and enrich it. In the same way, we find people who are radioactive, full of energy and life. We're going to refine these individuals. We're going to enrich them. And then we're going to put pressure on them. And together, they're going to release this energy. They're going to release this illumination and they're going release this impact. It's amazing that the physics that applies to nuclear reactions in atomic bombs, that same physics applies to human beings. * JAZZ: There's a Vedic and Indian kind of mindset as well as mindset from Eastern cultures, which is that matter is the densest form of mind. If you take the idea that matter is the densest form of mind, you stick that into Einstein's equation, which is E equals MC squared. Now, instead of saying energy related to matter and light. Now you're saying energy is related to mind and light. Now the same physics that people have been using for E equals MC squared to generate nuclear chain reactions and atomic bombs, instead of releasing energy from matter now, you're going to release energy from mind. And you can start a chain reaction in someone's mind that shifts their perceptions and leads them to an epiphany or enlightenment and things like that.  * JAZZ: I genuinely believe that each moment has accompanying it all the resources that you need to complete that moment. And when you start believing that, when you start believing that each moment has within it and around it all the resources you need to fulfill it, that's when you start looking at the things that, there's something missing, or you're looking for something that's not there. You're looking for things that have got nothing to do with the moment. So you need to stop doing that and look and get present to what is with you in the moment and realize by fully taking advantage of those resources that are with you, you will complete that moment and you will fulfill it.  REFERENCES & LINKS: JAZZ’s Social Media Platforms/Resources LINKEDIN [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jazzrasool/] The Human Conversation Podcast Channels APPLE PODCASTS [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-conversation-podcast-on-leadership-and-ethics/id1736302989] SPOTIFY [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DLMqNqgKZTKyB8zcw5MF0?si=a5c9d1e15b6e4ac3]

1 de abr de 2026 - 2 h 10 min
episode Human Conversation with Dr. Isabel de Bruin Cardoso artwork

Human Conversation with Dr. Isabel de Bruin Cardoso

GET TO KNOW OUR GUEST: DR. ISABEL DE BRUIN CARDOSO Dr. Isabel de Bruin Cardso is a leading scholar and practitioner in nonprofit ethics, recognized for her pioneering work on the ethical challenges unique to the nonprofit sector. She is the founder of the Gradel Institute of Charity’s Nonprofit Ethics Lab, an initiative born from her doctoral research at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Her research introduced the concept of the “NGO halo effect”, demonstrating how nonprofits’ missions, moral identities, and people are often idealized in ways that obscure unethical behavior. This groundbreaking work has positioned her as a thought leader in shaping nonprofit ethics as a distinct field of study and practice. Before embarking on her PhD, Isabel accumulated over 15 years of professional experience across a wide range of organizations, including NGOs, religious congregations, philanthropic foundations, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Through this work, she observed that moral missions and strategies such as codes of conduct, safeguarding training, and whistleblowing systems often failed to prevent unethical practices. These insights motivated her to pursue doctoral research and ultimately establish the Nonprofit Ethics Lab, which bridges research and practice to develop approaches to ethics that are fit for purpose in the nonprofit sector. Currently, Isabel serves as a lecturer and coach at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, where she teaches organizational ethics and nonprofit management. She is also a visiting lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, extending her influence to international academic audiences. Alongside her teaching, she consults with NGOs worldwide, helping organizations navigate ethical dilemmas and strengthen their ethical cultures. Isabel also contributes to nonprofit governance as a board member for several NGOs. Her academic contributions include publications in scholarly journals, practitioner outlets, and newspapers, reflecting her commitment to engaging diverse audiences. She is presently co-editing a book on the paradox of nonprofit discrimination, further advancing discourse on the complexities of ethics in the sector. Isabel holds a PhD in Management from Erasmus University, an MA in Human Rights from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a BA in International Affairs from University College Utrecht, Utrecht University.   HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS: * KG: You've had such an interesting career, research, education, consulting across the world, to name just a few. Is there a red thread that ties all of it together for you? What's the driving force behind all that you do? * DR. ISABEL: I think a lot of where I am now was based on always a drive to be involved with human rights, not necessarily only from a legal rights perspective, but more human rights as a principle as well. But the different stages and phases of my life have also been shaped a lot by circumstance, by people, and by opportunity. * KG: What are the terms ethics and integrity mean to you? * DR. ISABEL: How I look at ethics versus integrity, I think that ethics is like the framework. That's really kind of like the North Star, the moral compass of what we stand for. As individuals, these can be our values or also as an organization. So ethics would be what is incorporated into a code of conduct or let's say safeguarding policy. * DR. ISABEL: Integrity is the implementation thereof. So it's really practicing what you preach. So without ethics, you can still have integrity, but you're not necessarily having that North Star guiding you. And without integrity, you can have ethics, but then you're not implementing your ethics. * DR. ISABEL: Ethics really kind of as an overarching guiding principle, if you will, and integrity, the implementation of it. * KG: What can you share with me about how you make that make personal sense to you? Is there a personal story, for example, when you yourself felt tested on these two issues of ethics or integrity? * DR. ISABEL: So I think ethics, especially with respect to dilemmas, is thinking through how will a decision impact on the people or the stakeholders around you. Ethical dilemmas and making decisions around them are tough. It's never win-win. So being very conscious of the so-called moral remainder or the moral impact of our decisions. * DR. ISABEL: I think with respect to how I approached ethical dilemmas to the extent that I have the luxury of time is to think about it, to take the time to think about it. Try and get as much information, perspectives as I can in order to make as informed a possible decision as much as possible. And also being very conscious to kind of reflect on what the outcome of that decision is. * DR. ISABEL: Several times in some of the organizations that I worked for. But then the dilemma is what do you say? And how do you say it? And to whom do you say it? And yes, I suppose we are talking about whistleblowing now, but that dilemma also of the uncertainty of not knowing how that will impact you. So the ethical dilemma speak up or not? * DR. ISABEL: I think that experience led me to also do a PhD in the sense of how can we explain both kind of that goodness of these organizations, as well as the fact that they can behave unethically. The ethical dilemmas that I've seen at work can also encourage me to undertake a PhD on this topic. * KG: Let's acknowledge both exist, pick a path after considering all your stakeholders, all of the important factors, and instead of getting paralyzed by it, choose a path and then make that reflect on those decisions. It might sometimes be a wrong decision. * DR. ISABEL: So a decision, you have like a good decision, which is different than the right decision, which is different than the fitting decision. And I suppose it also depends on how one perceives what the correct decision is. * DR. ISABEL: The right decision could be about following the rules. You know, it's very clear, I have to do this because that's what the rules say. The fitting decision could maybe be thinking about the potential outcome of something. And the right decision could maybe be based more on implementing one's own virtues, what they stand for. * KG: I feel that particularly nonprofit sectors in areas of work and life where people are very much giving for the betterment of the planet, betterment of humanity or other species really, there is an even deeper expectation of goodness, of good values, of ethics. And the burnout can be so much higher. The cognitive dissonance can be so much starker when people act. unethically or organizations show lack of integrity or lack of alignment with stated values, they do not walk the talk. * KG: So the research that you are doing and your pursuits through your PhD and I know the work that you do now are so pivotal. I'd love to hear a little bit more about that. * DR. ISABEL: When there is a sense of cognitive dissonance or a sense of an emotional reaction, if you will, when our values are aligned with those of the organization to the extent that one has the privilege of choosing where to work and people work in the nonprofit sector, people tend to work for organizations whose values are very similar to their own. * DR. ISABEL: In the sense of your own values can get flamed by the goodness of what your organization is doing. Like it reflects back on you. You think that you become really, really good because your organization is doing so well, creating a Halo effect. And that can also be reinforced even more within the organization itself. * DR. ISABEL: If that sense of others' goodness is also idealized, it's easier to turn a blind eye on their unethical behavior. It's easier to give another chance. So people can be prioritized over integrity. * DR. ISABEL: You mentioned burnout and that's something that I've also seen within nonprofits. I think one way of also explaining that within nonprofits is if this achievement of the mission is also haloized, that the mission is the end all be all for what the organization does. And if the mission is prioritized above other considerations like staff well-being or whatever else. There can be this tendency indeed for burnout because whatever you're doing, it's not good enough because you still haven't met the mission. So you need to be accessible at all hours of the day. You need to come in on weekends.There is no rest for the hungry, so to speak, because the mission is always there pushing you. * KG: One of the problems is also if one is attempting to focus on employee well-being and also diverse perspectives around the board of the nonprofit, it can feel challenging to assess what to focus on. Do you have any advice for non-profits struggling with these kinds of things? * DR. ISABEL: That struggle is inherent to nonprofits. Nonprofits are dependent on others for their resources. And this sounds like a paradox, but by excluding, you actually can include more. Because with limited resources, you are forced to make these decisions about what do we focus on. And by focusing on less, but you're able to do one thing arguably better. * DR. ISABEL: Is the question too, about do you fundraise based also on what the donor would like you to do? Because there's also an ethical question. If the donor says you were referring to water sanitation, water, washed water sanitation, if the donor says you can do this, but also let's say education, to what extent do you then drift from your intentional mission to accommodate the donor? Or, you know, are you more conscious to fundraise from particular donors who might give you unrestricted funding and allow you to implement as you see best? So these are also decisions that nonprofits have to face. Where do you want to get your money from? Because this has implications too on how that will be used. * KG: What are your observations on real world ethical dilemmas most relevant to non-profit boards today and what is your advice to them in those situations? * DR. ISABEL: We know that nonprofits at various levels, boards, and executives face their own dilemmas, but they are rarely accessible in the public to begin with. And I think that also comes back down to that assumption of, because these are so-called morally good organizations. They're not made publicly available because of potential scrutiny against the organization or stigma. But they're also not used for training or teaching purposes. * DR. ISABEL: So there's also this assumption that just because of business ethics, let's say that a code of ethics work, we assume that it also works in the nonprofit sector. We are a different type of organization. We have a different role and positioning in society than business and then governments. But how ethics is understood and spoken about and discussed and trained on is we're kind of borrowing from public administration in terms of values and implementing values. And we're also borrowing from business in terms of how they consider and actualize ethics management. * DR. ISABEL: This is also the intention behind the lab to have conversations on this. Like we were talking about regulation, should the same regulation or accountability standards apply to nonprofits as they do to business, for example, because you're assuming then that the organization are black boxes, we fail to then take into consideration their inherent characteristics, what makes them unique, and their also unique positioning in society. * KG: That nuance of higher purpose organizations, morally good organizations, and the lack of structure and how each organization can have a unique problem, how this is under-researched and therefore there's no category. As a researcher who's looking at ethics myself, I think a tripartite collaboration would be very good for societies, the government, the corporate sector and the nonprofits. But those are extremely difficult. They can feel unwieldy. * KG: Have you seen any examples that are successful where morally good organizations, nonprofits, governments have all been able to come together to address perhaps some key issues, constraints, discussed constraints, we discussed lack of research. Have you seen any successful examples around these kinds of collaborations? * DR. ISABEL: This phrase of morally good organizations and different contexts, you're absolutely right, because it's not in all contexts that nonprofits or NGOs specifically are considered to be morally good. For example, in Brazil, several parts of Brazil, they are mistrusted. And trust is something fundamental for nonprofits because it also allows for them to do their fundraising. And that lack of, that perception that they are not good can also be exacerbated when there is one example of unethical behavior. * DR. ISABEL: In terms of partnerships with governments, I think it very much depends on context again, because sometimes nonprofits are like the government's service delivery arm, if you will. * DR. ISABEL: One of the characteristics of nonprofits is that they are private, meaning that they have in principle the autonomy to create their own mission, independent from the political ideology of the governments. And you need organizations like that as well for advocacy purposes. You need organizations as well to bring kind of a mirror to civil society about what is wrong and what needs to happen. * KG: Lack of trust and excessive public scrutiny and echo chambers in social media and digital world means that any negative thing is magnified and amplified. * KG: When I'm working with nonprofit boards too, they're so anxious and paralyzed by not wanting to do anything bold. And they take very, very cautious, minute steps forward, which slows the progress down. But the argument I often hear is we have had a pristine reputation and a storied history of doing good work in the community for over decades. * KG: Around this caution, do you have any advice for nonprofits? Is anxiety around trust, losing trust, being cancelled due to public scrutiny? * DR. ISABEL: Nonprofits are held to a different standard of accounts. At the end of the day, it's a group of people working in an organizational form, just like a group of people might be working in a business form or in a government form. The question is, we should be able to humanize, I think, all types of organizations and should be cognizant of the fact that there are people behind the organization. * DR. ISABEL: The fact that there are mistakes doesn't necessarily mean that they need to be brushed under the carpet, but rather it allows for an opportunity to have a conversation with the organization is where do we go wrong? And how can we do better to prevent it next time? * DR. ISABEL: I think the more trusting the organization is then perceived because it humanizes. Certain ethical dilemmas can create anxiety, of course, in terms of will I lose funding? Will I lose other influential stakeholder groups? Then it's also that deep reflection of, if I do not communicate this, for example, to what extent does an organization make a statement about a crisis situation, even though their mission might not necessarily be focused on that part of the world or deal with issues affecting that part of the world, yet they feel morally obligated to make a standpoint. * DR. ISABEL: Having conversations on dilemmas, being reflective about what is the ethical dimension of this dilemma. We know an ethical dilemma is different than a dilemma. So what makes it have that ethical components? Having these conversations about how do you see it? How do you perceive it? What would you do? How would you not do it? These conversations also help clarify what the organization stands for. Ethics is about the gray as we know. It's not about the black and the white. The black and the white people are clear on. The gray is unclear and that can also change over time. That can change with circumstance, with crisis. So the more that that gray is spoken about the clearer kind of it becomes like a black or white issue. Like you want to minimize the gray and then the more minimized it becomes, the clearer people in the organization know what the organization stands for and how to implement that as well. * KG: What advice do you have for whistleblowers in the field of nonprofit work? * DR. ISABEL: In terms of whistleblowing, it's also understanding your organizational context. What would it mean if you were to encourage anonymous whistleblowing? That might mean also harder follow-up when you do get an anonymous complaint. But if it is not anonymous, the person who might want to make the complaint might not necessarily feel psychologically comfortable safe in raising an issue. There has to be also the sense of culture within the organization that encourages speaking up. Speaking up that encourages also listening and then being very clear as what has been done with the listening. Not listening for the sake of listening, but active listening and actually doing something what has been heard. * DR. ISABEL: There is no one size fits all in terms of whistleblowing. Again, context matters and there are various dynamics that can also be encountered through setting up whistleblowing processes and structures. * KG: With your foundation, do you primarily work with organizations? Or would such a whistleblower, perhaps a well-intentioned, passionate person working within a nonprofit seeking some advice, seeking some help, would individuals also be helped? by your organization? Are you primarily looking to help and advise only organizations and not individuals? * DR. ISABEL: Advice in terms of being able to set up or implement any kind of ethics management infrastructure, yes, and that would include whistleblowing. But to receive complaints or suspicions or advice as to how to go about if you wanted to whistleblow, I am not sure if we would do that. We would, however, make can do bespoke training. * KG: So the hypothetical I had in mind is there's someone sitting on the board of a nonprofit that's small, doesn't have any processes in place and they certainly feel like there is a problem, whom can I speak with for advice? Are there resources you can suggest for help? * DR. ISABEL: That would probably on Charity Commission's websites probably have guidance around who to contact and for what issue. It could be that charity regulators would have, across the world, would have resources on their websites potentially on this. But an ethical dilemma can, especially at an individual level, can also be discussed maybe with a peer in a different organization to the extent that they feel comfortable doing so. Because again, having that different perspective of someone who might be going through the same thing or is in a similar situation or context can provide that perspective. * KG: Is there a peer community that you've observed for nonprofits, but that is a niche community need. Have you observed or seen come across anything like that, a peer community for nonprofit leaders? * DR. ISABEL: Sometimes funders also facilitate these communities of practice or these learning opportunities where they bring together their grantees and they discuss their experiences, not that the donor is necessarily present, but they fund for the opportunity to allow grantees to come together to discuss a specific topic. Then you've got these umbrella type NGOs. So for example, in the Netherlands, you have Partos and you have Goede Doelen Nederland. REFERENCES & LINKS: DR. ISABEL’s Social Media Platforms/Resources LINKEDIN [https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabel-de-bruin-cardoso-phd-65b7791/] GIC Ethics Lab [https://www.gradelinstituteofcharity.co.uk/gic-ethics-lab] The Human Conversation Podcast Channels APPLE PODCASTS [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-conversation-podcast-on-leadership-and-ethics/id1736302989] SPOTIFY [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DLMqNqgKZTKyB8zcw5MF0?si=a5c9d1e15b6e4ac3]

3 de mar de 2026 - 53 min
episode Human Conversation with Leah JM Dean artwork

Human Conversation with Leah JM Dean

GUEST: LEAH JM DEAN She is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Conduit International Ltd a professional and personal development solutions company dedicated to helping organizations, leaders and women work smarter, live well, and foster meaningful connections.   With over two decades of experience, Leah has shaped leading HR strategies and served as a trusted coach and advisor to thousands of leaders, employees, and women across the globe. Leah has also led teams and has experience in Strategy Development, Mergers & Acquisitions, Boards & Governance, Professional Speaking, Facilitation, Executive Search, Corporate Communications, Facilities, Administration, and Corporate Social Responsibility.   As the CEO of Conduit International LTD, Leah and her team have worked across diverse industries, including insurance, reinsurance, education, non-profit, faith-based, financial services, food and beverage, and business consulting.   Leah holds an MBA from St. John’s University and is a certified strengths coach. She is also the author of two books Be Different & Assemble the Tribe, which was named Bermuda’s most popular book of the year in 2021.   A self-proclaimed recovering workaholic, Leah is passionate about helping women and organizations to find strategies to optimize their work, invest in their wellbeing and make a lasting impact on the lives of those they touch.   When she is not working, Leah enjoys reading, writing, walking in nature, and spending quality time with family and friends. She lives in Bermuda with her husband Terrance and two children.   HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS: * KG: You've done so many different things. You've had an impactful career in corporate leadership, speaking, training, coaching, writing, mentoring all over the world. Is there a red thread that ties all of it together for you? I was curious about the driving force behind all that you do. * LEAH: I had to say that there was a thread, I think the thread that weaves, that has woven its way through everything for me, it really comes back to my mind. * LEAH: I guess if I had to sum it all up, my why in this season and my why for my work and my business is about helping organizations and leaders and women to work smart, to live well and connect with people. * LEAH: I'm a strengths coach, so I believe we all have strengths and talents that we can develop into strengths and we should look to unleash that unlock it, the live well piece it's I think we're whole people and so there's the part of us that shows up at work. There's a bus that are leaders there's a gift that we have to give to the organization. But so many leaders do that at the sacrifice of themselves and so how can we live well? And then the connect people has just been my work for the last seven years or so, how do we build community? We need community to live our healthiest, happiest lives. And so all the work that I'm doing every day kind of plays. * KG: What a beautiful thought. It makes space for varying focus areas and varying needs in different stages of life, but also enables people to identify core values that drive a person forward. * LEAH: My experience is that your purpose, or purpose by definition, is the reason you exist. You are literally your purpose when you walk into the room and how that purpose is delivered or resonates or shows up in different seasons will change. * LEAH: When you leave yourself open to the possibility of change, like the world just opens up in a much bigger way than if we put ourselves in these boxes. * KG: What is your idea of ethics and leadership? What do those stumps mean to you? * LEAH: Ethics are the principles of conduct that govern an individual or group. They're the principles that drive us as individuals or groups of people. Integrity is really about adherence to a code of values. * LEAH: Values is like the anchor. It's the thing that, they're the things that keep you grounded in what matters. And then ethics is like the chain connected to the anchor. They connect to your anchor, your daily decisions, they give structure and tension. And then integrity is like the steadiness of the vessel. It shows if your anchor and your chain are keeping you from drifting when the current shifts. * LEAH: Values are what you believe is important. Ethics create the rule to honor those beliefs. And then integrity is how you live them out when they're watching. * KG: Do you have a personal story of a time when you had to navigate a different difficult ethical dilemma? But how would the outcome of that incident might have been? * LEAH: Values, there's deep fundamental beliefs. They're both actual and aspirational. I've learned is that as we grow and as we develop, if we accept that we each have the capacity for change, then it's also possible that our beliefs are going to change, which means the chain and the tension is also going to change over time as well. * LEAH: When we're navigating these issues, I think it's really important that we leave some room to grow, that we leave some room for grace. And then we also have to remember that a lot of the deep work that we're going to do is actually in the gray. * KG: A lot of dilemmas and leadership is around the fact that there is no one true clear answer. It's so contextual and you're saying what's important is to maintain a sense of agility and fluidity instead of brittleness and rigidity around looking at things with the binary lens. * LEAH: Shortly into my tenure I was asked to do something from a values and ethics perspective. I just thought it was unethical. And so my answer has to be that under no circumstance can I do that thing that you're asking me to do. And so at the end of the day, this is the decision that you have to make. * LEAH: Sometimes when we think that there are these values and ethics that we stand on, we think that we should know the right answers all of the time. Sometimes what we really need to do is take a step back and as you said, give ourselves space to consider all of the options. * LEAH: These issues that we navigate are never one dimensional. They're often complicated. These issues are going to come up again and again and again. And in some ways it feels like we even more increasing frequency right now and I think if we give ourselves the space to say what's the right answer for this moment I think that we will find ourselves in a better place. * KG: These days, taking a stance seems like a dangerous thing to do. That you'll alienate some people, that you'll figure out this is what you care about and being seen and being authentic can sometimes feel dangerous because of public scrutiny, because leaders can be cancelled and they are quite often. * KG: In all of this, what gave you the strength and the clarity to say this is important and I'm okay to take a stance? How can someone evaluate for themselves and make a timely decision on whether or not to take a stance? Can you share a little bit about how you thought it through? * LEAH: I think there's two deciding factors. One is value. So for me, one of my values is trust. And the definition that I use for trust for me, for my trust value, is trust is where your intent and your behavior line up. * LEAH: I want to lean into the work smart part of my mission. The other thing that I think helps me is some of my strengths can be very, some of them have a force to them. There's part of me that says, how can I turn the strength on myself to make sure I do the right thing? And so that's part of how I kind of processed how I was going to show up. Like, yes, it's uncomfortable. Yes, you don't really like it, but you have the strengths of responsibility and command and activator. * LEAH: If the goal is for the organization to achieve results, if the goal is to bring people together, then we owe it to ourselves and the organizations and the situations to have these conversations. And for me, my value said I had to give back. * KG: Do you have any observations on ethical dilemmas most relevant today? And what would your advice be to professionals, leaders, organizations? * LEAH: How do we deal with the divisiveness that we see as people pick a spot and then dig in and entrench into those corners? And so the dilemma that a leader often has is do I then couple that with my own beliefs and values and then double down in that space? Or is there something else that I should be doing? * LEAH: My reflections come from my last piece of work, which is a book that I wrote. It's more of a faith-based book. It's called Be Different. * LEAH: I often take a piece of work and I say, how could I apply that in a leadership context? And so there is a model that is embedded in this whole idea of being different in that book. And when I apply that from a leadership context, it pushes me to ask leaders to first ask the question, how can I be different?  * LEAH: There's five pillars. 1) Listen Different 2) Trust Different 3) Think Different 4) Talk Different 5) Live Different * LEAH: The simple definition that I use for that is leadership is about unlocking the greatness in others to achieve results, right? And so if I want to unlock the greatness in my team that has very different views, then what is it that I need to do in order to get to that place that allows us to move forward together?And I would contend that the answer that every leader has to challenge themselves with is how can I be different in the gray. * KG: How does that work in a rapidly evolving world with so much uncertainty, so much accelerated change, and with a lot of uncertainty also in how do we create an AI-empowered, fair world and not an AI-driven chaos where we can't quite control these very systems that we half-bakedly built. Can you help me understand how this framework that you're recommending will fit the leaders operating in this level of uncertainty too? * LEAH: I watched this TED Talk on emotion and stress. And the particular speaker, she said, often we are afraid of certain things, but actually we need to use that stress and discomfort as a beacon, almost guiding us towards the thing that we need to address. * LEAH: You have to talk a little bit differently. You have to talk with more hope. Listen, here's what I, I don't know what's going to happen 10 years down the road, but here's what I know today. And here's how you're adding value. And here's how I can continue to support and develop you. And that may be the only answer that you have, but use the pillar and the anxiety to kind of guide you into your next best step. * KG: What advice do you have for leaders on how to build cultures of integrity in their organizations, in their teams today. * LEAH: There's a quote that I use as one of the principles for the program, which says, the feeling is normal. The feeling of fear, the feeling of anxiety, the feeling of frustration, the feeling of anger, the feeling of imposter syndrome, that just makes you human. But it's the decisions that you make after the feelings that matter. * LEAH: All of those things that we feel, all of those things that your employees feel, they are absolutely normal. They are part of our human experiences, but it's decisions that we make after the feelings that matter. So we can give ourselves space. We can go get advice. We can listen a little bit differently. We can think a little bit differently. We can ask ourselves, how can I be different? and that's okay. * KG: That quotation pairs beautifully with the leadership model and framework you recommended before. Feeling is normal. Fill in the blank. Whatever feeling you're feeling right now, that's normal. What's the next decision you make? It's that decision that matters. Between the feeling, the feeling and the decision lies the framework. Listen, trust, think, talk and live different. Apply that and then hopefully a decision will emerge for you as you apply the framework. * KG: Where is your research taking you these days? What are you excited about with regard to all of your work? * LEAH: There's that live well right in the middle. And the reason why I'm focused on that in the moment is because when I talk to leaders, they share with me I absolutely understand these are the things I have to do to manage well. These are the values that anchor me. These are the things that I need to do to be able to operate more strategically and achieve results. But how can I do all of those things while still not sacrificing my own well-being? I'm a whole person. You know, I need time to invest in my well-being. * LEAH: Based on my strengths, I am wired to execute. I am wired to work. And so some of this journey for me is in my quest to help others. I will also help myself and that's where my work is taking me at the moment. And so I'm just looking forward to what will reveal itself as I study what does it mean to really live well in our lives and our leadership while still making an impact. REFERENCES & LINKS: LEAH’s Social Media Platforms LINKEDIN [https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahjmdean/?originalSubdomain=bm] LEAH J M DEAN WEBSITE [https://www.leahjmdean.com/] INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/leahjmdean/?hl=en] FACEBOOK [https://www.facebook.com/leahjmdean/] LEAH’s Books/Newsletter/Resources BE DIFFERENT [https://www.leahjmdean.com/be-different] ASSEMBLE THE TRIBE [https://www.leahjmdean.com/book] The Quiet Life Newsletter [https://www.leahjmdean.com/join] 20 ways to invest in your leadership [https://www.leahjmdean.com/20ways] The Human Conversation Podcast Channels APPLE PODCASTS [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-conversation-podcast-on-leadership-and-ethics/id1736302989] SPOTIFY [https://open.spotify.com/show/2DLMqNqgKZTKyB8zcw5MF0?si=a5c9d1e15b6e4ac3]

2 de feb de 2026 - 37 min
Muy buenos Podcasts , entretenido y con historias educativas y divertidas depende de lo que cada uno busque. Yo lo suelo usar en el trabajo ya que estoy muchas horas y necesito cancelar el ruido de al rededor , Auriculares y a disfrutar ..!!
Muy buenos Podcasts , entretenido y con historias educativas y divertidas depende de lo que cada uno busque. Yo lo suelo usar en el trabajo ya que estoy muchas horas y necesito cancelar el ruido de al rededor , Auriculares y a disfrutar ..!!
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