The Will to Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
Jennifer Brown
Why is change so difficult and yet so necessary?
We live in a world that is increasingly complex, unpredictable, and demanding of our resilience. The challenges we face are not just external but deeply personal, asking us to redefine who we are, what we stand for, and how we lead.
Transformation isn't just a possibility, it's an imperative.
On The Will to Change, Jennifer Brown invites listeners to explore the deeper dimensions of leadership, resilience, and human connection. Each month, we feature both thought-provoking conversations with a guest who inspires new ways of thinking, as well as Jennifer's reflective mini-episodes that dive deeper into themes like courage, growth, and the art of navigating uncertainty.
This isn't just about leadership in the workplace - it's about leadership in life. Together, we'll examine the systems and beliefs that shape us and uncover how to lead authentically, inclusively, and boldly in a rapidly changing world.
If you're ready to stretch beyond the familiar, embrace new perspectives, and discover the will to evolve—for yourself and others—this podcast is for you.
To learn more, visit http://jenniferbrownspeaks.com/
We live in a world that is increasingly complex, unpredictable, and demanding of our resilience. The challenges we face are not just external but deeply personal, asking us to redefine who we are, what we stand for, and how we lead.
Transformation isn't just a possibility, it's an imperative.
On The Will to Change, Jennifer Brown invites listeners to explore the deeper dimensions of leadership, resilience, and human connection. Each month, we feature both thought-provoking conversations with a guest who inspires new ways of thinking, as well as Jennifer's reflective mini-episodes that dive deeper into themes like courage, growth, and the art of navigating uncertainty.
This isn't just about leadership in the workplace - it's about leadership in life. Together, we'll examine the systems and beliefs that shape us and uncover how to lead authentically, inclusively, and boldly in a rapidly changing world.
If you're ready to stretch beyond the familiar, embrace new perspectives, and discover the will to evolve—for yourself and others—this podcast is for you.
To learn more, visit http://jenniferbrownspeaks.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books
Nov 28, 2025 • 25min
E392: Making Space for the Next You: Tiny Practices for Big Transitions
Tune in as Jennifer dives deeper into the transformational shift from the self-authoring mind to the self-transforming mind—and why this passage is so challenging, even when we feel ready for it. Building on last week's archetypes, she explores the emotional and practical realities of releasing an identity that once saved us, navigating the disorienting "hallway" between who we were and who we're becoming, and metabolizing the grief, ambiguity, and loss of clarity that accompany real adult development. Jennifer offers grounded practices for creating inner spaciousness, building aligned community, translating emerging wisdom into a world that still rewards productivity, and experimenting with new expressions of work and identity.
Nov 21, 2025 • 25min
E391: From Effort to Essence: The Evolution of Wise Leadership
In this minisode, Jennifer invites listeners into a deeper exploration of how leaders truly grow over time—moving beyond effort, ego, and externally defined roles into wiser, more spacious, community-centered ways of leading. Drawing on adult development theory, mythic archetypes, and her own 30-year journey in advocacy, she unpacks the inner shifts that occur as we outgrow old identities and step into new forms of impact. From the firefighter to the constellation builder, Jennifer traces the evolving stages of leadership maturity and offers a compassionate roadmap for naming where you are, honoring who you've been, and imagining who you're becoming. This episode is an invitation to embrace presence over push, essence over achievement, and a leadership model rooted not in striving—but in wisdom, connection, and shared growth.
Nov 17, 2025 • 39min
E390: Making Purpose Visible, and Actionable: How to Align Your Message and Your Platform
In this minisode, Jennifer invites listeners into a candid conversation about the ongoing journey of aligning who you are becoming with how you show up in the world. Joined by her collaborator Amber Kidd, she explores the powerful intersection of heart and architecture—the inner shifts, purpose, and vision that spark change, and the practical systems, language, and platforms that help bring that evolution to life. Together they unpack how a thoughtful audit of your digital presence can reveal what parts of your past are still speaking for you, what needs to be updated, and how to build a sustainable, authentic platform that truly reflects your emerging voice.
Nov 7, 2025 • 31min
E389: Deadheading the Garden: On Growth, Grace, and Letting Go
In this minisode, Jennifer reflects on the quiet courage it takes to outgrow the rooms, roles, and identities that once fit us. Drawing on the poetry of Dr. Tunde Okewale and her own metaphors of gardens, shells, and shifting seasons, she explores grace not as softness, but as a vital leadership technology—what allows us to stay human in uncertain times. Legacy, she reminds us, isn't something we leave behind; it's a living practice shaped by how we lead, let go, and tend what's next. This episode invites you to find meaning in the liminal space between endings and beginnings, and to trust that releasing what no longer fits is itself an act of becoming.
Nov 5, 2025 • 18min
E388: The Rhythm of Renewal: Leadership for a Post-Backlash Era
In this reflective minisode, Jennifer invites us to see the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a living cycle rather than a linear journey. Using the metaphor of nature's four seasons—spring, summer, fall, and winter—she explores how each stage brings its own lessons, from the hope and emergence of new ideas to the quiet reflection that sustains future growth. As the DEI field experiences a collective "winter," Jennifer reminds us that stillness is not the absence of progress but the preparation for renewal. This is a meditation on trust, resilience, and leadership—an invitation to honor the season we're in and the wisdom it holds.
Oct 23, 2025 • 21min
E387: Winter Work: Four Inner Practices for Renewal and Rebirth
In this minisode, Jennifer invites us into an intimate reflection on what it truly means to lead, rebuild, and stay human in seasons of profound transformation. Drawing from her own experience of letting go, dissolving old identities, and tending to what remains, she explores four inner practices that make reinvention possible—stillness, grief, surrender, and humility. These are not side practices, she reminds us, but essential muscles for leading through collapse into creation. With honesty and grace, Jennifer offers a space to pause, breathe, and remember that even in the quiet of winter, the seeds of renewal are already taking root.
Oct 16, 2025 • 12min
E386: Midwifing Change: Holding Space for What Wants to Emerge
In this minisode, Jennifer explores the idea of midwifing collapse—inspired by writer Josie Plaut's reflection on the difference between prolonging what is dying and creating space for what wants to be born. Drawing from her story of doctors intervening in her father's final days while a nurse quietly held space for truth, this conversation invites us to look at our own impulse to "doctor" failing systems, roles, and identities. What if our task is not to fix, but to practice engaged surrender, presence, and trust in what's emerging? Through this lens, the minisode explores how collapse can be a generative season, where letting go becomes an act of creation.
Oct 9, 2025 • 58min
E385: Reset and Rebuild: The Next Evolution of LGBTQ+ Leadership
In this episode, Jennifer Brown and Out Leadership CEO Todd Sears reflect on the evolution and disruption of LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion—and what it means to lead in a time of uncertainty and change. Together, they trace how the "business case" for equality once drove historic corporate progress, and why those same strategies are faltering amid shifting cultural, political, and economic tides. Through a candid, hopeful dialogue, they explore how leaders can adapt by returning to what has always driven meaningful change: storytelling, allyship, empathy, and authentic human connection. Rather than viewing this as a setback, Jennifer and Todd see it as a necessary reset—an invitation to rethink what progress looks like and to reimagine inclusion for the next era of leadership.
Oct 2, 2025 • 55min
E384: Humble Inquiry in a Noisy World with Author Peter Schein
In this episode, Jennifer is joined by Peter Schein, co-author of Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling (Third Edition). Together they explore how leaders can embrace curiosity, vulnerability, and openness to build trust and strengthen relationships. Peter shares how humble inquiry contrasts with diagnostic or confrontive questioning and why shifting focus from content to context is essential for effective leadership. The conversation highlights how practicing humble inquiry fosters inclusion, belonging, and more thoughtful decision-making in today's complex and divided world.
Sep 25, 2025 • 29min
E383: Music and Mentorship: Part 2, Strategies for Inclusive Leadership from OutNEXT
This episode features highlights from a series of audio recordings originally created for OutNEXT, Out Leadership's global LGBTQ+ leadership-development program. The first conversation dives into the creation of the inclusive anthem "It's Raining Them," reflecting on music as activism and the balance between self-expression and professionalism. The episode also explores the power of mentorship and sponsorship, showing how authentic relationships and reverse mentoring can help both emerging talent and seasoned leaders grow, adapt, and lead with purpose.
