Edgy Ideas

Daniel Matalon is on a mission. Dan asserts that humanity’s biggest existential threat is not climate change, tribalism, or inequality but our inability to make agreements with each other at the level we require to address our challenges.  In this podcast Simon explores both the mission and what's behind it, making interesting connections to how the personal and the project come together.  The question "is there enough?" is like a yeast starter, once you ask the question it expands. Dan aims to meet everyday folk in a place where they can reflect on their identities and their worldviews, opening a space for new collaborations. Enjoy this podcast!  Bio Daniel Matalon is the founder of #IsThereEnough, a provocative new conversation about the intersection of survival economics and social justice. He is also the co-founder of Impact Launchpad, a UK-based venture studio for social impact incubation and development. His upcoming title, The First Agreement, is a historical and future-leaning look at economics, scarcity, and survival, that suggests that our drivers of incentive can be measurably built around human beings at the center of our economies, rather than the assets and resources we measure them by today. Visit Dan's website: https://www.isthereenough.org

Giles Hutchins shares his work and thinks about how to lead organizations following nature's flow rather than using nature as an external resource.  Since the industrial revolution, we have been an extractive society, taking from the environment, without understanding or considering our interconnectivity and interdependence with the environment.  We are now paying heavily for this way of thinking, and Giles works in organizations to change worldviews and create regenerative leadership. He calls for a shift from the machine mindset to a living-systems mindset; from a world that is made of separate parts, to a world that is interconnected and interdependent.  If you want to be part of creating more humane and sustainable workplaces, this is an important podcast to listen to!  Bio Giles is a pioneering practitioner, keynote speaker and executive coach at the fore-front of this necessary revolution. He applies advanced consciousness raising techniques, deep-dive nature immersions, embodiment work, ancient wisdom tradition insights, and cutting edge research on leadership consciousness.  Giles has over 20 years business experience in helping all shapes and sizes of organisations transform.  Formerly, over a decade as management consultant, programme manager and business practice lead at KPMG, and more recently Global Head of Sustainability for the global technology provider Atos.  He is currently Chairman of the Future Fit Leadership Academy, Lead Partner of The Natural Business Partnership, co-founder of Biomimicry for Creative Innovation, co-founder of Regenerators.co and partner/associate with a number of pioneering organisations, such as The Global Leaders Academy and The Laszlo New Paradigm

Hetty explores how transpersonal coaching takes us ‘beyond the person’ and into the wider ecosystems in which we live and work, including the spiritual realm. Hetty and Simon share their own faith journeys that have shaped how they engage with this work. They discuss how spirituality is either ignored in the workplace because it is not relevant to a high-performance ‘modern’ work culture and belongs in the private realm, or how it can be instrumentalised i.e. take this mindfulness course and your productivity will increase by 30% (which immediately turns a transpersonal opportunity into a secular, goal-focused activity. To work with a transpersonal frame is therefore challenging yet Hetty claims they are vitally important. She describes how this work needs to be embodied and how her yoga practice has helped her with this over the years. Hetty also shares how women’s experiences have been marginalised, and the part they play in developing a transpersonal frame. We are facing very challenging times, and the answers will not come from more of the same. It is only by de-centering the human and recovering a sense of belonging to the whole that will bring hope and change to our current state of being. Hetty believes that focusing on the transpersonal is an essential part of this journey. Bio Hetty brings 25 years of psychology and executive coaching experience to global leadership development. A best-selling author, her career has spanned the arts, journalism, media, health, and policy development in the private, public and voluntary sectors. She designs and delivers leader-coach and global culture change programs. Key focuses are women’s leadership, Transpersonal Coaching, and the regenerative contributions approach. She works ecosystemically and holistically founded on transpersonal psychology and informed by psychoanalysis and embodiment approaches. She teaches at the Irish Management Institute, is a Senior Associate Director with Common Purpose, and she coaches, teaches, and facilitates in French. Hetty is Director of Publications Strategy for the Association for Coaching and Executive Editor of the AC global magazine, Coaching Perspectives, now a leading publication in the field. Hetty holds a Masters in Psychoanalytic and Systemic Approaches to Organisational Consulting from the Tavistock Centre (UEL), a Certificate in Coaching Supervision from Oxford Brookes, a Masters in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute (UL), and a BA in languages from Cambridge University. She is married with two millennial daughters. Recent publications: The Future of Coaching: Vision, Leadership and Responsibility in a Transforming World published by Routledge. Her long-form essay on Radical hope: a dimension of the soul rooted will be published in the Autumn by PCCS Books in the collection of essays, Holding the Hope: Essays exploring psychological and spiritual responses and practices to climate change and extreme biodiversity loss. For more information on Transpersonal Coaching programmes For more information on Ecosystems Supervision programmes with Martin Vogel Contact: einzig@hettyeinzig.co.uk http://www.hettyeinzig.com

Our guest this week is Dr Eliat Aram, CEO of The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR).  Dr Eliat Aram has been the CEO of TIHR for over 13 years. The TIHR, a not-for-profit outfit operating in the UK and abroad is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2022 and is a world-leading research, evaluation, consultancy, and professional development organisation. Believing in the abundant potential of human relationships and love for people are the drivers in the way she shapes the direction of the institute, the multitude of its activities as well as her praxis.   TIHR was established in 1947, dedicated to the study of human relations for the bettering of working life. Eliat discusses some of the TIHR developments over the years and shares new directions they are pioneering, particularly in the areas of how aesthetics, art, and place inform our working lives today.     TIHR developed many experiential learning methodologies, drawing on systemic thinking, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and other social sciences, the most well-known are the Group Relations Conferences. Eliat reflects on the importance of this innovative learning methodology and its continued relevance in today's disruptive world. This podcast will be of great interest to all of us indebted to the Tavistock Institute and its positive influence on work, organisations, and society.  Bio Dr Eliat Aram is a Chartered Scientist Psychologist (BPS), a UKCP registered Gestalt Psychotherapist, and has been one of the pioneering members of the CMC (Complexity & Management Centre) of Hertfordshire University. Her theoretical grounding is in complexity theory, organisational studies, Gestalt psychotherapy theory, and systems psychodynamics. She is a keen practitioner of Group Relations, the Tavistock enterprise’s core ‘learning through experience’ practice. She has directed many Group Relations Conferences internationally including the Tavistock Institute’s flagship GRC known as the ‘Leicester’ conference. She has been one of the two directors of the TIHR’s certified courses Coaching for Leadership and Professional Development (2014-2017) and co-founder of the Supervision for Coaching and Consultancy course, now in its seventh cohort. She has contributed to all TIHR Professional Development activities and program design. Someone told her recently that perhaps work-life balance is found when one finds their love at, and for, work and life. Working with the dynamic of shame as an integral part of any potentially transformative learning process has been her quest and the tenet of her evolving thinking over the decades of her practice. Someone told her recently that perhaps work-life balance is found when one finds their love at, and for, work and life. She unashamedly thinks this might just be so. 

Susan Long has studied and practiced working with the unconscious for many years. She brings fresh thinking to help us understand the unconscious in its many forms. Susan discusses the pre-Freudian unconscious drawing on the romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling’s work who thought of the unconscious as a source of creativity. Susan reflects on the ‘repressed unconscious’ of Freud, and how he developed a treatment method (psychoanalysis) based on using free association to access the unconscious. Freud also pioneered group psychology, and Susan explores the group unconscious and how this manifests in society today.  The 'associative unconscious' is a more contemporary exploration of the unconscious and Susan shares how we might draw on it to discover individual and group thoughts that are not yet accessed, what Christopher Bollas called the 'unthought known'.  Simon shares his experiences of using a 'free-association matrix' method in a work setting The conversation finishes by exploring a new wave of thinking about the unconscious, such as neuro-scientific insights and a more generative eco-unconscious, taking the unconscious beyond the human mind. This is a fascinating discussion, enjoy! Bio Susan Long is a Melbourne based organisational consultant and executive coach. Previously Professor of Creative and Sustainable Organisation at RMIT University, she is now a Professor and Director of Research and Scholarship at the National Institute for Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA) and a coach and consultant in private practice. Susan has been in a leadership position in many professional organisations and has published ten books and many articles in books and scholarly journals, is General Editor of the journal Socioanalysis and an Associate Editor with Organisational and Social Dynamics. Susan is a distinguished member of ISPSO. Simon Western is the host of Edgy Ideas Podcast, founder of the Eco-Leadership Institute www.ecoleadershipinstitute.org, and CEO of Analytic-Network Coaching- an advanced coach training company. He is the author of internationally acclaimed leadership and coaching books, and blogs on wider social-political issues. Previously a past president of ISPSO,  a family psychotherapist, general and psychiatric nurse, and a factory worker.  Simon works with senior leaders in global companies as a leadership consultant with the aim of delivering new eco-leadership cultures that support system-change, and to coach ‘leaders to act in good faith to create the good society’.

In this episode, Simon Western is joined by organisational consultant, certified Analytic Network coach, and Emerita Professor of Psychoanalysis and Culture Caroline Bainbridge to reflect on what is happening in Ukraine, drawing on psychosocial thinking. Their aim is not to provide answers but to stimulate thinking and insights. This horrific, shocking, and unnecessary war is about the Putin regime deepening its own power base, and imagining themselves as Tsarist heroes ‘making Russia great again’ to borrow from their ‘Trumpist’ friends. At the heart of this project is repression; the war can be thought of as a ‘return of the repressed'. Fukuyama proclaimed the End of History when the Soviet Union collapsed, and many swallowed the kool-aid and repressed the clear signs that totalitarianism was returning within China and Russia, while authoritarianism was resurfacing through populist and nationalist politics in the west. The war can also be thought-about as part of the Putin regime's desire to impose a new repressive regime across the old Soviet empire. Simon and Caro reflect on these and other thoughts, hoping to create thinking space for those listening to engage in their own reflections, in order not to fall into the traps of repression.           Bios Simon Western is the host of Edgy Ideas Podcast, founder of the Eco-Leadership Institute www.ecoleadershipinstitute.org, and CEO of Analytic-Network Coaching- an advanced coach training company. He is the author of internationally acclaimed leadership and coaching books, and blogs on wider social-political issues. Previously a past president of ISPSO,  a family psychotherapist, general and psychiatric nurse, and a factory worker.  Simon works with senior leaders in global companies as a leadership consultant with the aim of delivering new eco-leadership cultures that support system-change, and to coach ‘leaders to act in good faith to create the good society’. Caroline Bainbridge is an organizational consultant, accredited Analytic-Network coach, and Emerita Professor of Psychoanalysis and Culture. She specializes in inclusion-focused leadership work and organizational change, and executive coaching that centers on complex experience. After more than 25 years as a university lecturer, published writer, and researcher, Caroline has been recognized as Emerita Professor of Culture and Psychoanalysis. She is fascinated with how our networked and mediated milieu shapes experience and behavior. Caroline trained at the Tavistock in London and at the Eco-Leadership Institute. Find out more here. 

In this podcast Dr Vamik Volkan shares his fascinating personal journey, and some of the theories that have gained him an international recognition.   Born in 1932, Vamik a Turkish Cypriot lived in Cyprus under British rule, with the second world war and Nazi’s in the shadows as he grew up.  His journey took him to study medicine in Turkey, and psychiatry and psychoanalysis in the USA.  Experiencing the loss of a dear friend through a Greek terrorist attack back in Cyprus, Vamik in the USA found himself separated from mourning his friend. He went on to study mourning and later trauma, drawing also on his experiences of racism in the USA during the 1950s/60s.  His insights led him to work with traumatised countries and nations/peoples in conflict.  He has met and worked with former President Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachov, Desmond Tutu and Yasser Arafat.  Vamik shares some of his key ideas,  such as how large group identities form around ‘chosen trauma’s’ and ‘chosen glories’ and how these are mobilised by leaders. Vamik shows how leaders personal experiences are played out in large group dynamics, and he addresses what drives Vladimir Putin and reflects on the current the war Ukraine.  We will be hosting a Clubhouse Discussion Friday 4th 6pm GMT on this podcast content click link to join - a recording of the discussion will be available  Bio Dr Vamık Volkan is an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia: Emeritus President of the International Dialogue Initiative, he holds Professorships across the world and has many other honorary positions.  Dr. Volkan was a member of the International Negotiation Network under the directorship of former President Jimmy Carter.  His work on trauma and understanding large groups is internationally renowned and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times Dr. Volkan is the author, coauthor of psychoanalytic and psychopolitical books. His book, Large-Group psychology: Racism, Societal Divisions, Narcissistic Leaders and Who We Are Now, received the Gradiva 2021 Best Book Award.

Father David McCallum is at the heart of a very interesting change process taking place in the Catholic Church.  Pope Francis has called for a 2 year process to advance a synodal church.  David discusses how a synodal church embraces leadership from the edges, engaging the laity and being less hierarchical and clerical in its approach.   Simon and David share thoughts on how this process might happen, and how synodal leadership symbolises how the Catholic church is responding to our disruptive age.  Inspired by early church practices of discernment, accompaniment and spiritual friendship, David is working with others to develop new ways of organising, leading and being in this emergent space that is opening.  Enjoy this podcast!  Bio  Father David McCallum, S.J., Ed.D is a Jesuit priest and leadership educator. He serves as the founding Executive Director of the Program for Discerning Leadership. The Program provides leadership formation for senior Vatican officials and major superiors of religious orders in Rome, Italy, as well as internationally.  Born in Buffalo, NY (1968), and raised in Rochester, Fr. McCallum is a proud Upstate New Yorker.  He serves as a facilitator for mission driven, personal and organizational development programs, provides developmentally informed executive coaching, and delivers leadership development programs and spiritual retreats internationally. He co-founded the Contemplative Leaders in Action program (CLA), an initiative of the Office for Ignatian Spirituality (USA East Coast Province) Currently, Fr. McCallum lives in Rome and serves as a member of the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops Commission on Methodology, supporting the Synodal process initiative by Pope Francis. 

Danny is a leading practitioner working with elite athletes. In this podcast he shares his reflections on working at a leading premiership football club in the UK. Drawing on his experiences of studying at the Tavistock clinic, Danny discusses the leadership and power dynamics at play in these soccer clubs.  He applies Menzies-Lyth theory of social defences against anxiety to his experience, observing how the obsessive focus on diet and nutrition are a social defence against the anxiety of poor performance. Whilst diet is clearly important, the excess of the practices tell a different story.  Simon and Danny discuss the 'happiness imperative', how highly paid footballers feel obliged to be upbeat - 'how can you not be happy, with the wealth and glamour'  yet this represses the shadow side of their lives, and the anxieties and struggles they face.  Discussing mental health issues is not encouraged as they need to be 'at the top of their game' to be selected and successful.   Danny ends by discussing his life-long practice of meditation, and how this helps him in his work, and how he uses an embodied approach to help athletes engage more holistically with their bodies, rather than 'stay in their minds'. I hope you enjoy this fascinating podcast.  BIO Danny Donachie works with World class athletes and leaders to improve performance through greater presence. He has held several leadership positions in elite sports, most recently working with a leading premiership soccer club in the UK.  Danny brings his lifelong practice of meditation from Eastern traditions, alongside a more psychologically informed approach to his work. Through Embodyism he consults with high performing individuals and groups.

Ian Parker is a practising psychoanalyst, an academic and a revolutionary activist.  Ian discusses the radical roots of psychoanalysis and how these have changed overtime, to make psychoanalysis fit with contemporary capitalist society.   Ian believes that psychoanalysis should be a radical practice than impacts on individuals and society, rather than an elite practice that adapts individuals to conform to social norms. He writes “Our task is to connect social struggle with the kind of unavoidable internal struggle described by psychoanalytic theory.”  Ian challenges the standard idea of the unconscious being like an ice-berg where beneath our conscious surface lies a dark abyss of uncivilised, biological and instinctual drives.   He works with a Lacanian approach that addresses the unconscious as a social and external phenomena, one that we individually relate to.  He is critical of  the ‘Psy’ professions such as psychology and psychotherapy as being instrumental to keeping things as they are, rather than offering a past to individual and social transformation.   Ian is working towards developing a psychoanalytic practice that has a liberation ethic  Enjoy listening to this fascinating and edgy podcast!  BIO   Ian Parker is a psychoanalyst and a member of the new revolutionary organisation Anti-Capitalist Resistance, and of the Fourth International. His academic work has always been critical of psychology and psychiatry. His most recent book, co-authored with his Mexican comrade David Pavón-Cuéllar, is Psychoanalysis and Revolution: Critical Psychology for Liberation Movements  https://psychoanalysisrevolution.com/.   Ian is Emeritus Professor at Leicester University and his academic writing is widely published and cited.