On The Balcony

On this episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael Koehler welcomes Professor Leary to chat about yet another chapter of Ronald Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers. As a chief Harvard psychologist, a Senior VP at the Urban Institute, and an advisor to the White House, Professor Leary is deeply familiar with Heifetz’s work and the man himself. Today, with Michael, she opens up the episode to talk about authority and the importance of understanding that an authority figure doesn’t always exercise leadership. Often, we conflate the two, and look to people in authority roles to lead us away from suffering and pain. Working with Harvard students around the concepts highlighted in this chapter, she and Heifetz noticed how people often fall into a binary way of relating to authority: those who accept or even admire authority figures and those who reject and rebel against them. In their class, Professors Leary and Heifetz invited their students to explore further options to work with authority on a gradient. The first part of today’s episode is closed out by Leary’s personal experience in positions of authority. She looks back on these times with a sense of accomplishment around her team’s coordinated efforts around President Biden’s executive orders to address issues of equity. Be sure to stay tuned to the second part of today’s episode where Michael once again engages in a coaching session of his own. This week, he welcomes fellow coach Judit Teichnert to help him explore his patterns around authority, particularly around cisgender men—a deeply personal, emotional, and, ultimately, revelatory conversation.The Finer Details of This Episode:Authority as a roleLeadership as a practiceAuthority work: protection, direction, coordination, management Pains and promisesThe binary way to relate to authorityThe authority gradientTeaching at HarvardQuestioning authorityLearning from each otherProfessor Leary’s experience in positions of authorityMichael’s coaching session with Judit TeichertExamining his patterns around authorityQuotes:“In this chapter, authority, described in very particular ways, of course, has value to it. It’s about survival. It's about protection, it's about the human need to be empathically seen and recognized.”“Leadership as a practice and authority as a role.”“I also have been a chief psychologist running a division of Psychology at one of the Harvard hospitals. I'm currently a Senior Vice President at a DC based think tank, the Urban Institute. I'm a professor at 2 Harvard Schools and a lecturer at a third I did two turns of public service, one in the Obama administration as an advisor to the White House Council on Women and Girls, and most recently, as a senior advisor, Senior Policy Advisor to Domestic Policy Council, also in the White House.”“There is a sentence that I think captures a critical part of both the opportunity and the dangers of authority. ‘The misuse of authority,’ Ron Heifetz  writes, ‘We attribute charisma to people who voice our pains and provide us with promise.’“They are looking to you hoping that you might be able to bring them relief. And it's quite a thing to help them realize that relief will come from the two of you, but not from you alone.”“If you decide you're going to negotiate with authority, on one day, on one issue, it does not commit you for eternity to do that.”“That was a very powerful experience of seeing how coordinated expertise could deliver outcomes, and use both the tools of authority and the tools of leadership, towards trying to make the world a better place.”“I think the important part of the framework is that it's not as though you could take the work off their shoulders, you know.”“I realized that some of that pattern that felt, like, huge and big in my own family that relates to me feeling afraid around a parent, that some of those parents are also showing up in other parts of my life, maybe and are maybe not as big, but, like, present.”“I particularly feel, like, some fear and some nervousness around people in very senior roles of authority, especially if they're kind of cisgender, male, white, and, like, a little bit in that dominant, slightly even aggressive stance.”“I think I would love to find more courage to engage in moments when I may fall silent, when I may fall into that pleasing pattern, to at least be more in touch with that sense of injustice, that sense of my own anger.”Links:On The BalconyLeadership Without Easy AnswersProfessor Leary at the Urban InstituteProfessor Leary at Harvard Kennedy School Professor Leary on Twitter: @kimberlynlearyMentioned in this episode:OtB_KONU_Nov promoOtB_KONU_Nov promo

On today’s episode, Mitzi Johnson, the former Speaker of the House in Vermont, joins Michael  to talk about Chapter 2 of Ron Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers.  This chapter focuses on Adaptive Leadership, and it’s unfortunately timely  that Johnson is here to discuss this chapter, given her extensive work with gun reform in Vermont.  Both she and Kohler agree that leadership is a team effort. They explore what leadership looks like from roles of power and authority that rely on  the feedback of the governed.  Johnson recalls how restorative responses elicited pushback from the gun community,  how she tried to empathetically listen to her opposition, and how that made all the difference in the world.  Michael and Mitzi go on to chat about Mitzi’s very own restorative response to change.  As her tenure as Speaker of House in Vermont has come to a close and she moves forward, she aims to maintain a semblance of productivity and charity in her daily life.  Later, as Michael welcomes his coach, Andy Cahill, back to the podcast, he undergoes a similar introspection.  Michael is set to return to Germany soon, and he touches on his apprehension toward digging up past and ancestral trauma.  In response and as a conclusion to this episode, Andy urges him to focus on acknowledging his thoughts and bodily reactions to change whilst practicing self compassion. The Finer Details of This Episode: Why leadership is a team effortAdaptive LeadershipChanging gun lawsHow stress and conflict elicit pushback in the form of restorative responses Fear of loss in the gun communityJohnson’s restorative response to her tenure’s endMichael’s reorientationAcknowledgement and self-compassionQuotes: “People disagree or even disengage, not because they resist change per se. It's because they resist the loss embedded in addressing the problem.”“I have to work to get myself into the headspace with people who are really frustrated that progress doesn't happen quickly. I, on the inside, understand why things don't happen faster so I really identify with people who feel those constraints of authority.”“Leadership is a team sport, and adaptive leadership really accentuates that.”“So, in the natural world, when nature gets a curveball, it finds some way of fixing and settling into a new normal. And one of the examples that's used in the book is about those moths that used to be light colored, but then during the Industrial Revolution, there's so much pollution that the light colored moths kept getting picked off by the birds, because they stood out.”“Knocked out of equilibrium, living systems summon a set of restorative responses.”“Leaders not only influence followers, but are under their influence as well. And there is very much a symbiotic relationship there.”“I think, in a way, practicing leadership always means you are in touch with various stakeholders and factions.  Maybe they are the different departments in your firm, the different beneficiaries, the funders in your nonprofit, or in your community people with different values, but there's always different stories, and different groups will be knocked out of equilibrium in different ways.”“I committed to talking to two of my American friends about ancestors. I've been wanting to engage more deeply in conversations around social justice, and I feel that my experience as a German might be helpful in an American context, especially for looking back and talking more about history, particularly when it's hard.”“There's also something about the absence of a vision or its opposite that produces disequilibrium, discomfort, or discord.   There's something about your leadership right now that you sense is missing or lacking.”“As you imagine yourself exercising leadership, I want you to notice how it feels in your body to make that move or to take that risk.”Links: On The BalconyLeadership Without Easy AnswersMitzi on TwitterMitzi on FacebookAndy CahillMentioned in this episode:OtB_KONU_Nov promoOtB_KONU_Nov promo

Welcome to the introductory episode of On the Balcony, a truly insightful podcast where leadership coach and facilitator Michael Kohler takes a deep dive into Ronald Heifetz’s  revolutionary book, Leadership Without Easy Answers, to uncover the theoretical and practical lessons it offers.  Not only are you invited to read along in the book as each episode covers a chapter in order, but you are also welcome to join Michael as he, himself, receives coaching that brings to life the message of that chosen chapter. This podcast represents a personal and professional journey toward leadership development and increased self-awareness that will prove both educational and actionable. Fellow coaches Rosi Greenberg and Andy Cahill join Michael for this premier episode which opens up with a discussion about the concept of leadership as a verb - all about mobilization, action, and understanding.  They go on to reveal that one can use their identity, wisdom, and acknowledgement of biases in service of their work.  Even more importantly, however, leadership requires a familiarity with silence.  In a field that’s typically associated with the spoken word, sometimes the pauses in between are far more important. The practice of leadership requires one to be in tune with the information in between the lines. Michael goes on to chat with Andy about how to genuinely follow through on commitments, find those commitments in the first place, and lead with values and intention.  The pair close out the episode by talking about intuition and the importance of taking baby steps, especially when it comes to embarking on a journey outside of your comfort zone. A formidable introduction to a powerful new podcast, today’s episode marks the first step in a crucial leadership journey. Joining this journey will prove a powerful investment in your own development .The Finer Details of This Episode: How to mobilize people (verb, mobilization, understanding)Managing lossThemes of silenceIntroduction and Chapter 1 ‘Values and Leadership’Identity, wisdom, and biasWhy leadership isn’t value-neutralFollowing through on commitmentsResisting change Listening to intuitionTaking baby stepsQuotes: “​​Definitions of what leadership actually is remain abstract and not really aligned.  The old joke goes that leadership professors would rather share the same toothbrush than the same definition of leadership.”“Unlike what you may have heard before, it is not that people are resisting change. People love change if it's in their favor. Nobody gives back the winning lottery ticket or the room upgrades. What people resist is loss, real loss or perceived loss.”“Rosie is a leadership coach, an artist, and most of the time, she combines these two practices in one as she did when she co-created the cover of our podcast. On her website, she writes that she spent 34 years trying to be less messy, but realized it's actually way funner to just embrace it.”“Leadership is not personality. Leadership is not a set of tools. Leadership is not a role… It's a practice; it's an activity. It's a verb.”“Music also teaches us to distinguish the varieties of silence: restless, energized, bored, tranquil, and sublime. Silence creates moments so that something new can be heard.”“There's something that we were told when we were four or five, we’ve got to stop making messes... And so we’ve got to just dive into them and figure them out rather than avoid them.”“My aspiration is that we can go deeper than we often get the chance to in the frenetic pace of our day-to-day lives. So that's what I try and bring into all of my coaching with my clients, and hope to bring that today here.”“There's something here that's activating your nervous system right now. And that's a pretty good clue that you're entering territory that's uncomfortable and a bit risky.” “Take a moment to connect your hand to your heart. And with as much compassion and non-judgment as you can muster, gently bring your conscious attention here to your heart, where you feel this fragility and this warmth.”“The belonging I'm actually looking for is the belonging that is generated, that is created in that moment of really getting to know people and really deeply connecting with them, including the ‘not so pretty’ sides. I mean, that's the belonging I want. Links: On The BalconyLeadership Without Easy AnswersRosi GreenbergAndy CahillMentioned in this episode:OtB_KONU_Nov promoOtB_KONU_Nov promo

On the balcony is a podcast for change agents, executives and people who care about developing others.  In this kick-off season Michael Koehler and his guests examine Ronald Heifetz’s landmark book: “Leadership Without Easy Answers,” the framework behind the most inspiring leadership class at Harvard University. The show offers powerful reflections and live coaching on today’s most pressing challenges.