Bryn Jones Image by quang-nguyen-vinh Last week during the opening retreat of the Community Leadership Accelerator (CLA), I was grateful for important lessons about learning and unlearning and enacting power through play. As one of the leaders of the program, I always learn a lot, but it’s not usually the experiential sort of learning that we curate … Read more
I’ve been noticing something that feels important to name. Many leaders are trying to lead as if things are normal,while living and working in a context that very clearly isn’t. For some, there was a specific event or series of events that produced an existential threat.A moment when funding, safety, or stability nearly disappeared.Then things … Read more
In Buddhist teachings, there is a simple and enduring idea known as the first and second arrow. The first arrow is the pain we cannot avoid. Illness. Conflict. Uncertainty. Scarcity. Structural constraints. The realities of leadership in complex systems. We do not choose the first arrow, and no amount of good intention or skill guarantees … Read more
As we explore urgency, stress, and burnout in the context of systems collapse and cultural stories, it’s worth asking: what does it take to lead from a different rhythm— one that’s attuned, resilient, and regenerative? In The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimaging Ourselves, Dr. Shawn Ginwright offers a powerful framework for shifting from reaction to … Read more
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood Urgency doesn’t live in a vacuum. It’s shaped by the cultural, systemic, and narrative waters we swim in—whether we know it or not. Many of us, especially in mission- driven organizations, are swimming in waters that carry conflicting currents. Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects offers a helpful framework to name and … Read more
Photo by Tara Winstead Picking up where we left off, it’s important to understand what urgency, when left unexamined, can lead us toward. Remember that when something feels urgent, our bodies feel it. We shift into sympathetic arousal: This is stress. Stress is not just a mental state. It’s a full-body pattern of activation. The … Read more
Lately, I’ve been carrying stories from clients that shook me. Two leaders in moments of deep personal vulnerability. Both pushed past their limits— not by the demands of their work, but by the demands of their bosses. One received a call the night before a major surgery. Her boss was anxious about a grant proposal … Read more
Recently, I’ve been hearing a recurring theme in the coaching conversations I’m privileged to hold. It sounds something like this: “There are too many fires, and no time to breathe.”“I used to know how to distinguish real urgency from the noise—but now that seems so much harder.”“I can’t hold this much. Everything and everyone needs … Read more
In my work with leaders across nonprofits, social movements, and BCorps, I keep hearing a familiar refrain: “I just need to hold them accountable.” But when we scratch beneath that phrase, something more complex is going on. What if accountability isn’t something we hold over others—but something we tend with them? What if true accountability … Read more
The qualities of working together as a team comes up over and over in my coaching, facilitating and consulting work. Recently, reframing teamwork in ways that focus on the whole more than its individual parts has been a consistent theme, so it seems worth speaking directly to. One of the most powerful shifts a leadership … Read more