Chaplain Sharon Burniston bravely and forthrightly shares some of her lessons from losing her vision to battling Parkinson’s…lessons she applies through her palliative care ministry; lessons we all can benefit from. Her YouTube video, Alone in a Crowd https://youtu.be/4Qu-XKwPpNg is poignant and practical. She shares some of the elements of her philosophy and helps us find delight in our everyday life.

In his just released book, The Radical Enterprise https://itrevolution.com/a-radical-enterprise/, Matt K. Parker guides us through the four imperatives of the radical collaboration needed to save us from the repeated missteps we take by trying to foster innovation and engagement through mandate and hierarchy. Learn how to snatch sanity from madness by taking even small steps informed by the actual human condition as opposed to the one we’ve made up and maintained for centuries that is predicated on the belief that we need to be told what to do at every turn. You’ll leave the conversation feeling liberated and able to take on the world we live in today and pursue an even better one for tomorrow.

SHIFT CEO and two-time best-selling author, Joe Mechlinski, returns to the IFOW to share his insights about the stories we tell ourselves and each other in pursuit of purpose, fulfillment, and impact. This lively conversation has something for everyone – including pretending today is unique, participation trophies, and the Norwegian Winter Olympic Team!

We live in unprecedented and unpredictable times…sort of a climate change circumstance for organizations. So what are leaders and activators to do? How will they facilitate sensemaking for themselves and their teams? Dr. Ciela Hartanov, who runs innovation and strategy firm humcollective, is an alumna of Google, and the author of the forthcoming book, “Reclaiming Sensitivity,” provides an understanding of how to grow well beyond the Industrial Age thinking that remains a cornerstone of our engagement practices and help our people solve for the paradoxes that surround us…solutions that hold the key to revealing the emergent strategies that we need to navigate our uncertainty and fulfill our collective promise.

Brad Federman, Founder and CEO of PerformancePoint and author of Cultivating Culture, joins us for a lively discussion about leadership, engagement, and performance and offers great counsel about ways to help teams discover and live their possible. Can people really learn to walk the talk…tune in and find out. We also cover issues of vertical and follical challenge, because some of us are short and bald!

As many business books, seminars, programs and such that continue to be churned out, effective leadership remains an ongoing science project: hypothesis, test, observations, conclusions, update, repeat. Light the candle and see what sort of height and orbit we can achieve. Rocket Science! The IFOW is thrilled to welcome an actual rocket scientist, to talk us through how some of the principles of and lessons from his profession can inform us as activators. Tobin Anthony, CEO of a thriving small business devoted to getting things safely into space for its clients, also is responsible for weathering economic and other challenges and cultivating people and their talent, and committed to living a fulfilled life, is our guest…and you will be even more ready for launch after you listen to our conversation.

In an era of technology-enabled services and a greater embrace of holistic well-being, Lionrock Recovery could well be the poster organization for both. As they say, “We use technology to make it easier and more private to get addiction treatment, and to reach people who would not otherwise get help.”
Ashley Loeb Blassingame, Co-founder and Chief People Officer, who also serves as an addiction counselor; and AJ Black, Director of Business Development focused on the employer market, share a variety of insights and encouragements for helping us understand when and how to pursue or support earlier intervention when substances begin to control our lives or the lives of people we care about.
The conversation is informative, intense, and inspiring.
In terms of the broader impact that life’s stressors can have on us, check out these articles:

• Marriage hurts a hedge fund manager more than divorce

• Divorce has “immense” impact on small businesses

Jennifer Byrne, CEO of Arrived Workforce and former CTO of Microsoft US, walks us through a variety of challenges and options we have for best utilizing technology versus being used by it. We cover topics ranging from AI to data to the cloud to how closely to follow a recipe!

Urban Meyer – and his ilk…those who can produce desirable results at a cost that we can’t afford or sustain – should be indelible lessons in who not to/how not to hire. We know others will repeat the mistake of believing that the next dirt bag they hire won’t be SO bad…just don’t be one of the others!

Melissa Henderson, Executive Agent and hiring expert, rejoins us to splash some cold water on the faces of those trying to hire in our extremely tight and competitve talentmarket. She issues a blunt piece – and highly accessible – piece of advice to would-be employers: get off you backsides and do the work. Take a listen to find our ore about exactly what work will serve your interests best.