Brooke Richie-Babbage is a nonprofit growth strategist and social impact advisor. She is the founder and CEO of Bending Arc, a social impact strategy firm that supports the launch and sustainable growth of high-impact nonprofits, and the host of Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast. Brooke has spent the past 23 years working as a lawyer, nonprofit leader, and social entrepreneur. She has founded and led multiple successful organizations and initiatives, including the Resilience Advocacy Project (RAP), where she served as founder and Executive Director for 11 years, the Sterling Network NYC and the NetLab Initiative, both initiatives of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, where she served as Director of Network Initiatives for six years, and the Social Justice Accelerator (SJA), an initiative of the Urban Justice Center, where she has served as SJA Director since 2019.  

She has been a visiting lecturer and featured speaker at numerous graduate and law schools, including Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and Fordham. She has presented papers at conferences around the country on social entrepreneurship, non-profit leadership, and community lawyering, and co-produced and hosted the City Watch radio show on WBAI.  She served as Secretary and then Chair of the Social Welfare Committee of the NYC Bar Association, as well as the Co-Chair of the Policy Action Committee of the citywide Welfare Reform Network, and an appointed member of both the Governor’s statewide Child Care Policy Working Group and Mayor Bloomberg’s Adolescent Fatherhood Advisory Council. She has served as a member or officer of several non-profit boards, including as Board Chair for the Community Resource Exchange, and most recently as an officer for the boards of the Urban Justice Center and Nonprofit New York. 

Brooke received both her JD and MPP from Harvard and her BA from Yale. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.

Quotes:

I think that there are two versions of your strategic plan. The internal serves as a roadmap for you and your team. It serves as a foundation for work planning, annual planning, next steps, and funding. Then there’s an external version. That goes on your website. That is your vision. That is ‘where are you taking this organization in the long term?’

There is no one way to do strategic planning. Release yourself from the tyranny of what strat planning is, and start with the question, ‘what is the organizational set of goals?’ The process can be whatever you want it to be.

Strategic planning is not a pre-structured thing. It is a set of conversations that ideally help you determine where you want to go and what you want your adventure to feel like for all the interested parties.

To connect with Brooke:

Brooke Richie-Babbage

LinkedIn

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This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Shannon Curtis has been a recording artist and songwriter for the last 27 years, and has carved out a unique, community-driven DIY music career with her husband and co-conspirator, Jamie Hill, for the last 19. Her new album — 80s kids, her first-ever covers album — is due out in April 2025, and was a great excuse for her to (re)acquire an Atari 2600. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, and is in love with The Mountain, just like any good inhabitant of the Puget Sound.

“When we were forced to pause, it was an opportunity to realize that maybe we had pushed and pulled and prodded and explored every corner that we could creatively in that medium in that setting.”

“I recognize that presence needs to be my goal. The idea of what is before me today to do. I don't need to take on all of the things all of the time. That's been something that I've really needed to focus on.”

“One of the most powerful tools that we can use to exist and resist, is to hold onto our joy. Our joy really is a refuge and when we create experiences of joy with each other, we create a place of safety for people who are feeling threatened.”

“Leaving well is being able to have the knowledge that I showed up before the leaving, that I showed up to the work, that I showed up to that part of my life with all of me in the best way that I could.”

To connect with Shannon:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Threads

Mastodon

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Dr. Jaiya John was orphan-born on ancient Indigenous Anasazi and Pueblo lands in the high desert of New Mexico, and is an internationally recognized freedom worker, poet, author, teacher, and speaker. Jaiya is the founder of Soul Water Rising, a global rehumanizing mission to eradicate oppression. The mission has donated thousands of Jaiya’s books in support of social healing, and offers grants to displaced and vulnerable youth. He is the author of numerous books, including Daughter Drink This Water, We Birth Freedom at Dawn, Fragrance After Rain, and Freedom: Medicine Words for your Brave Revolution.

Jaiya writes, narrates, and produces the podcast, I Will Read for You: The Voice and Writings of Jaiya John, and is the founder of The Gathering, a global initiative and tour reviving traditional gathering and storytelling practices to fertilize social healing and liberation. 

He is a former professor of social psychology at Howard University, and has spoken to over a million people worldwide and audiences as large as several thousand. Jaiya holds doctorate and master’s degrees in social psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a focus on intergroup and race relations.

As an undergraduate, he attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he studied Tibetan Holistic Medicine through independent research with Tibetan doctors and trekked to the base camp of Mt. Everest. His Indigenous soul dreams of frybread, sweetgrass, bamboo in the breeze, and turtle lakes whose poetry is peace.

Main quote: 

“You cannot calendar well being. You cannot calendar healing in a workplace. Accountability speaks to the idea that if I'm not breathing, I'm dying. Consistent investment in healing and well being and growth in your organization day to day, not calendared because that says that it's not actually a priority. If it were a priority, it wouldn't be on a calendar. If staff appreciation were a priority, you wouldn't have one staff appreciation day a year.” 

Additional quotes:

“Storytelling for us is a way of breathing, meaning that on the inhale we draw in the sediment, the nutrient of meaning from the world around us, from the people in our lives, we're drawing in meaning which orients us to the moment, this is the meaning of this moment.”

“You can walk into a workplace in the morning and feel the mood of the day.”

“The storytelling that says the way we treat each other in our staff meeting is intimately tied to how we are going to treat each other in the hallways, and in the break room, in the cafeteria, at our desks, in our offices, and how we treat each other via email communications and phone calls and how we treat our clients, how we treat the community.”

“Change and transition is, of course, the nature of life. It's happening in every moment. The question is how do we relate to it?”

To connect with Dr. Jaiya:

Website

Instagram

YouTube

Books

Also mentioned: Podcast episode with J.S. Park

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This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Over the past 15 years, Stephen Newland has worked in finance roles at a variety of organizations including nonprofits, startups, early-stage companies, and Fortune 500. Stephen believes in making finance simple & actionable!

When he’s not heads down in a spreadsheet, he loves to spend time with his wife and daughter at a local coffee shop or watching his favorite Cincinnati sports teams!

Connect with Stephen:

Nonprofit discount list

Website

LinkedIn

Main Quote:

Once we've got good financial information, how do we turn it into very simple and actionable insights to drive the organization forward? The foundation of that is a forecast. I'm such a believer in it because I have seen it do wonders for organizations.

Additional Quotes: 

The absolute best finance people are essentially the Rosetta Stone for financial statements and they can take the financial statements and create a story with it and say, ‘here's what the organization is doing.’

Leaving well is providing the space for whoever comes behind me or behind you to step in and have the freedom and flexibility to put their spin on the organization.

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Amanda Misiko Andere leads with love and disruption. She has spent over twenty years working in the nonprofit and public sector as a leader committed to racial and housing justice through advocacy for systemic change.

Prior to joining Funders Together to End Homelessness as their CEO, she served as the CEO of Wider Opportunities for Women, a national advocacy organization. Currently, she serves as board chair of the United Philanthropy Forum and board member of Equity in the Center, Bainum Family Foundation, Philanthropy DMV, and Leadership Fairfax.

Amanda is a founding member and on the leadership team for the National Racial Equity Working Group on Homelessness and Housing and the National Coalition for Housing Justice. She also serves on the Leadership Council for the DC Partnership to End Homelessness and is a volunteer advisor for Fairfax County on their racial equity task force.

Previously she served as an adjunct professor at George Mason University teaching Nonprofit Management, Executive Director of FACETS, and Vice President of Cornerstones; who have similar missions of preventing and ending homelessness and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Main quote:

There can be comfort with change and transition because you discover things about yourself, your body, the people around you. It is truly the life learning mechanism to get you to a place of truer self to get us to justice and liberation.

‌Additional Quotes:

My purpose wasn't necessarily to lead the organization into its next iteration. I was very clear that my purpose was to lead a search and a process that was equitable and just and full of love and disruption. And to set things in place for this black woman leader to not only be successful and impactful, but transformational.

Leaving well means being absolutely aware of who you are in the moment and where you need to be and not be, and how to affect change for justice and liberation in a way that's uniquely given to you by whoever you believe in, God, world, the universe. 

Learn more about Funders Together

To connect with Amanda:

X

Instagram

LinkedIn

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Lacey Kempinski is a former in-house fundraiser, turned Mom, turned consultant. After more than a decade of in-house fundraising, Motherhood changed the trajectory of Lacey’s career. In 2018, when she was due back to work after her second parental leave, Lacey took a leap and founded Balanced Good. 

She’s on a mission to better support parents and organizations in the non-profit sector. Balanced Good provides parental leave coverage – from the day-to-day hands-on work to big picture transition planning – Balanced Good believes that a supported transition to parenthood will benefit both our sector and the parents working in it.

Lacey has a bold vision that all parental leaves are viewed as a celebrated life milestone and not a feared employment gap. 

She loves continuing to immerse herself in all things fundraising. While also balancing that with LEGO building, endless folding of laundry, and a love for hiking, canoeing, and all things outdoors. 

Main quote:

Leaving well to me is thoughtful. It's intentional. And it's critical for the missions that we serve to continue to grow, make impact, and create the change we want to see in our sector and the world. 

‌Additional Quotes:

As an employer, just asking, how can I support you? What can we push forward? And how can we fill your role and get things done while you are focused on your number one priority. Isn't that powerful? How good would it feel if somebody asked you that when you were navigating these hard, hard pieces in life?

Our program goes through what needs to be done. Who is going to do it? What should be prioritized? What can be given grace and extended timelines? How can we push forward mission critical work and de-prioritize non critical work? And then how can we do all of these things thoughtfully to ensure that employees, not just the employee going on leave, but employees all around are satisfied? That’s good staff retention. And we're being thoughtful about the humans that work in our sector.

To connect with Lacey visit the Balanced Good website.

LinkedIn: Lacey Kempinski

LinkedIn: Balanced Good

Instagram

Whether you are preparing for your own parental leave or a team member's, this handy workbook will help you walk through the steps to create a solid plan for the next! Parental Leave Planning Workbook

US Surgeon General's announcement: Mental Health and Wellbeing of Working Parents

Parental Leave in a Day Program: Helping employers and employees make a thoughtful plan as the navigate preparing for parental leave. 

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Camille E. Acey is a mom, a community organizer, a former tech support leader, and founder of the conscious nonprofit closures consultancy The Wind Down. As part of this work, she currently facilitates the Practices of Composting and Hospicing community under the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Emerging Futures initiative. She was a co-founder of the Collective for Liberation, Ecology, and Technology (CoLET), a radical feminist tech collective. She also  served as an advisor to The Ada Initiative, an advocacy group for women in open tech/culture, and was board chair for Whose Knowledge?, a global feminist NGO focused on elevating marginalized voices.

Main quote:

Any chance I get when I can leave something and just say I'm not going to take on this kind of stuff for a while, I think is also really good. Not having to jump into whatever is next. And a sense of pride and not much regret. Letting go of that kind of stuff. I've definitely stepped away from things and then been so impressed by what the people that come afterwards have done, things that would have never occurred to me.

‌Additional Quotes:

I would like people to begin with the end in mind. I think that's really critical. One of the things I'm trying to push forward is to get foundations thinking about this, fiscal sponsors thinking about this. As part of the work of the wind down, I offer a free hotline for anyone who's closing or in discernment around closing.

To connect with Camille:

Website

Newsletter

Blog Post: A Good Day To Die: Some Reasons To Call It Quits

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Kamilah specializes in interim solutions, serving as a successful interim executive to nonprofit organizations with budgets of $10+ million. She is a nonprofit executive consultant with two decades of experience in the areas of organizational and relationship effectiveness; change management; interim leadership solutions; and program design/project management, both domestically and internationally with NGOs and Foundations focused on advancing humanitarian and conservation/environmental efforts. She is currently Founder & CEO of Katalyst Consulting Group.

Her firm works selectively with nonprofit organizations who are serious about advancing equity. She also recently served in a senior leadership role with the Jane Goodall Institute where she led the U.S. operations of the organization’s global humanitarian program and led efforts to grow programmatic scale and impact with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; identified and built partnerships to amplify underrepresented voices in the space of conservation and youth activism; diversified the funding portfolio; and provided strategic direction to a high-performing remote team. Kamilah has strategically and successfully managed within complex global organizations to repair and strengthen critical board, cross-department, and founder relationships and interests resulting in heightened trust, engagement, and collaboration.

Kamilah has successfully led and stabilized internal teams during several CEO and Executive Director transitions and is known for her innate ability to heal fractured teams and lead from a space of humanity. Specializing in supporting nonprofits and foundations, she also has experience working with and leading projects with DoSomething.org, New York Cares, National Urban Fellows, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce’s Southern California Leadership Network, Thomas J. Watson Foundation, and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

Kamilah was a World Economic Forum US Stakeholder Council Member for the Trillion Tree Initiative, an NGO Representative to the United Nations, an NYU Public Service Leadership Fellow, a National Urban Fellow, and a National Wildlife Federation Leadership Fellow. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (City University of New York, Baruch College) and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management (University of Maryland, College Park).

She is also a mother to two young children, a photographer and, through Katalyst, leads executive women’s leadership retreats and a nonprofit consulting mastermind community centering the needs of Black and other women of color.

Main quote:

I think the biggest soapbox that I'm on these days is understanding that we can operate outside of the ways we've done business and that it's okay, that it's fun. You get to be an innovator of creating this new pathway of working in this ecosystem that's outside of the way that we think it's supposed to be and that it's always been done.

‌Additional Quotes:

Find or build your community. I don't care who that is. I don't care if it's a handful of friends that are doing the same thing. I don't care if you're paying for a membership. I don't care if it's your church group. You need to have people around you that are going to be understanding of where you are, that are on the journey with you, that have been there and done that. That's make or break for the speed at which you can succeed in your consulting practice.

To connect with Kamilah: 

LinkedIn

Visit Katalyst Community

For a free trial to the Katalyst Community

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After nearly fifteen years of fundraising for arts and education organizations, Katie Mendez launched Built to Raise in 2023, providing interim director of development and short-term fractional fundraising services specifically for small and mid-sized nonprofits. She is an artist on the side, loves to explore the world, and her favorite way to spend an afternoon is snuggling on the couch with a kid, a dog, and a cup of hot tea. 

Main Quote: With my work, I'm not there to form relationships with your donors. That's not my job. My job is to help sustain the operations, make sure things aren't falling through the cracks, make sure that the team that's there is connecting and talking to the right people and asking people for their support. But it's not about me connecting with donors.

Additional Quote: Leaving well looks like making sure that when you're gone, because eventually you will leave, eventually you will transition on to something else, that the mission is greater. And I think especially in nonprofit work. It's just really centering that idea.

To connect with Katie:

Website

LinkedIn

Best place to find your next nonprofit partner

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Kemi Ilesanmi is a cultural strategist, coach, and connector with over 25yrs of experience in the arts sector. She has been executive director at The Laundromat Project (The LP), and previously Creative Capital Foundation and Walker Art Center. A graduate of Smith College and NYU, she also serves on several boards and advisory councils. In December 2022, she “left well” after 10yrs at The LP and traveled the world for a year with her husband. Now back in Brooklyn, she sees the world with fresh eyes and renewed hope.

Main quote:

Leaving well means to me a sense of satisfaction, a sense of joy, a sense of doing one's best to leave in a state of respect and intention with the communities and people that you are involved with.

Additional Quotes:

I really wanted to expose [my team] to all of the parts of doing this work because I wanted to make excellent leaders of color for the field. And not just for my organization. My thinking around that was that I was feeding the field. I was strengthening the field by making them well rounded leaders at my organization.

Learning how to navigate our own emotions as well as the needs and demands outside of us was a big learning that we carry through. And was a really important muscle and skill set that we learned as an organization, because it always allowed us to say yes to other things.

To connect with Kemi:

Website

LinkedIn

The Art of Gathering

The Art World Podcast Episode

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Nonprofit leaders often have too much on their plates, and not enough time or capacity to effectively choose what task or projects are important vs. urgent vs. should be delegated. In this episode, I’m sharing the well-known concept of the Eisenhower Matrix and how it can be applied to workplace transitions. Listen in to learn how to identify which tasks associated with leaving can be postponed, prioritized as urgent, or left entirely for someone else to do.

To share your thoughts with me on this episode, please leave me an audio message on SpeakPipe! 

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This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Rita Sever has worked as an HR Director, and HR consultant and a trainer.  She has worked with social justice organizations throughout the country.  Rita has an MA in Organizational Psychology and is a certified professional coach.  Rita has taught “HR in a Nonprofit” to graduate students at University of San Francisco and Sonoma State University in California.  Rita has also written two books:  Supervision Matters and Leading for Justice.

Rita is a fan of Matt the Electrician (musician), loves a good book and her favorite way to spend an afternoon is playing a low-competition game with family and/or friends. 

Main quote: Tying the job responsibilities to the mission, vision, and values grounds the job description and helps people understand why it matters.

‌Additional Quote: Be as intentional as you can, as a whole organization, of enlivening your values to support the culture.

To purchase Rita’s book, visit either Amazon or Bookshop.

To connect with Rita:

Website

Instagram

LinkedIn

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Vital Voice Training is a communication consultancy out to revolutionize the conversation about good public speaking and leadership presence — from stressing out about your “ums and uhs” to working creatively at the intersection of you and your context. Since 2014, they’ve been bringing game-changing public speaking and communication training to individuals and organizations, specializing in building public speaking confidence, navigating difficult conversations, balancing authenticity and situational adaptivity, and bringing out their clients’ own unique charisma. Co-founders Julie Fogh and Casey Erin Clark are experienced professional actors — their approach is grounded in theater and performance, neuroscience, somatics, socio-linguistics, and organizational psychology. Their clients are leaders in the finance, venture capital, law, and tech industries, world-changing entrepreneurs, and best-selling authors, as well as in-demand keynote speakers who regularly bring their ground-breaking ideas and perspectives to stages all over the world. 

Casey Erin Clark is a voice, public speaking, and communication coach, performer, author, entrepreneur, podcast host, and leader in both the entertainment and business worlds. She is a fierce advocate for gender justice and spends her days speaking, teaching, and writing about the power of women’s voices, while seizing fulfilling opportunities to perform on screen and stage. In 2014, Casey and Julie Fogh co-founded Vital Voice Training, a voice and speech coaching company on a mission to change the conversation about what leaders are “supposed” to sound like and empower everyone to own the power of their full vocal instrument and presence. Casey hails from the cornfields of southern Illinois (where she grew up singing with her family Von Trapp-style) and has a BFA in musical theater from Illinois Wesleyan University. She also coaches musical theater pros of all ages, is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, performed at the 2013 Oscars with the Les Miserables movie cast, and sings with the Grammy-nominated and Tony-honored Broadway Inspirational Voices choir. Recommending romance novels and breakfast restaurants is her love language. Will perform the Lafayette speed rap from Hamilton on demand.

Julie Fogh is a voice coach, podcast host, and interpersonal communications specialist who works with speakers and  leaders helping them navigate their individual tensions and blocks, revealing the personal power and unique and captivating humanity that exists in all of us. Through Vital Voice Training, Julie and her co-founder Casey Erin Clark blend the toolbox of the professional actor with their powerful frameworks for embracing one's authentic speaking voice to businesses, schools, and organizations all over the country including Thrive Capital, Facebook, Google, NASA and The Hartford. Julie was raised in Seattle and earned her BA in Theatre and Women Studies from University of Washington. She earned an MFA in acting from Northern Illinois University, a rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum that engaged with the physical body, the emotional life, imagination, use of language, character construction, non-verbal communication and the truth of the moment. She has studied with  the Moscow Art Theatre and University of Copenhagen and has studied Meisner Technique with Kathryn Gately, Michael Chekhov Technique with Deborah Robertson, and Movement and Period Style with Lloyd Williamson. She loves YA novels, introverts,  and her very vocal  rescue cat, Ashland.  

Read the MM Lafleur piece

Quotes:

When we walk into a room, every time we go into a meeting, we are there for a purpose. We always communicate with a purpose in mind. So we need to give ourselves the agency to ask why am I here and what am I trying to accomplish?

Our mission from the beginning of this company has been to expand our ideas of what leadership looks and sounds like. We do that in part by showing up with more of who we are, even in spaces where that is risky and where that may not always pay off. But we do it strategically, we do it bravely, and we do it consistently so that other people can also do it.

Leaving Well is the ability to really figure out for yourself and for the people that you care about how to button this chapter, how to transition, how to move forward. 

To connect with Vital Voices:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

Linkedin

To connect with Casey:

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

To connect with Julie

LinkedIn

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Sherrell Dorsey is an award-winning data journalist, entrepreneur, speaker, and author teaching the world to redefine who gets to create and participate in the future. She founded The Plug in 2016,  the first Black data-driven tech news publication to syndicate on the Bloomberg Terminal, which was acquired in 2023 by ImpactAlpha. 

As the TED Tech podcast host, Sherrell provides her in-depth analysis and commentary on technologies changing society, and how these advancements can provide opportunities for more underserved Americans to participate in an increasingly automated and digital world.

Her first book, Upper Hand: The Future of Work for the Rest of Us, published by Wiley in 2021, connects everyday people and communities to opportunities and resources to upskill or retrain for in-demand careers both present and future so that they do not get left behind in the sweeping changes technology is bringing across industries. 

She has graced the stages as a keynote speaker, host, and moderator at some of the leading companies in the world, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Accenture, Bloomreach, Cisco, and others. 

Her work has been featured in Vice, The Washington Post, Seattle Times, The Information, Columbia Journalism Review, and more. She earned her stripes working for companies like Uber and Google Fiber.  She holds a Master's degree in data journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international trade and marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Main quote:

I think once you start to not be as in love with the work, it's time. It's your own life telling you there's something else out there. You did a great thing and now you can transition out with dignity, with respect to your team and those who helped you build. I think once you start to get that inkling, you just can't ignore it. It taps on you over and over.

‌Additional Quotes:

I was brave and I didn't take any shit and I cried and I fought and I grew and I learned and I sacrificed. I had to become a very different person through this process and I'm grateful for it. But it wasn't always easy. It wasn't always kind, but it definitely refined me in many ways. 

To connect with Sherrell:

Website

Instagram

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Tatiana O’Hara is Team & Leadership Development Consultant that helps successful, yet overwhelmed online business owners create the structure needed for their team & daily operations, so they can focus on scaling sustainably. 

As a corporate leader turned business coach, she’s helped dozens of leaders optimize and build their team, and learn essential leadership skills that have yielded hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales growth. Tatiana puts the focus on the things that matter most in our business- the people that run it!

Main quote:

If we have an efficient operation and a strong company culture, you're already opening yourself up to improve your capacity a lot without hiring more people. A lot of times we think we need more people to have more capacity, but sometimes more people can actually shrink your capacity because you're bringing more people into chaos.

‌Additional Quotes:

When you can build your own personal leadership and build that thought leadership within yourself, it allows you to show up as who you really are. And that's what we want to see. We want to see who you really are, not you fitting the mold of who you think you need to be.

Streamlined operations and strong company culture, those two things together is 100 percent the gateway to you being able to accomplish big things.

To connect with Tatiana:

Website

Instagram

To learn more about Grindaholics Rx

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Joan says: It often feels as if I’ve spent my career leaving positions, organizations, and their people. I love beginnings and the energy that comes with stepping into something new and that means that in some way, I love endings as well. With a whole passel of interim gigs under my belt, I now also work at helping others find and succeed in those roles through the Interim Executives Academy and it’s been a good match. I’m an empty-nester and live and work in Fort Wayne, IN, where I share a house with T.S. Eliot, the cat, who, like me, enjoys nothing more than sitting in the sun. I read. He snores.

Main quote: When change has come to me because of others actions or changes beyond my control, that's where my lessons are. That's when I learn most deeply from the change. And I've learned to grieve if there's some grieving or sadness around change or transition. Then to find what's to celebrate about it.

‌Additional Quote: I may have to leave something, but I want to know how I can leave with the most grace and respect for what was, and value and treasure what was, and leave everybody in the best position to move forward from the change, not just me. I want to be a person that leaves well, but I also want to be a person that can be left well.

To connect with Joan:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Interim Executive Academy

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This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

To share your thoughts with me on this episode, please leave me an audio message on SpeakPipe! 

To listen to more episodes about values, check out episodes 18, 38, 40, 42 and 48!

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Amy Freitag became president of The New York Community Trust in July 2022. For the prior eight years, she was executive director of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a 75-year-old family foundation based in New York City. During her tenure, she initiated the J.M.K. Innovation Prize and led grantmaking in criminal justice reform, climate change, democracy, and historical conservation, including several Civil Rights sites.

Freitag previously was executive director of the New York Restoration Project, which led a private effort to plant one million new trees in New York City. Prior to that, she was the U.S. program director for the World Monuments Fund and deputy commissioner for capital projects with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

She served on the NYC Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers and currently sits on the board of the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation.

Freitag was raised in Akron, Ohio, and holds an A.B. from Smith College and master’s degrees in landscape architecture and historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.

Main quote: The best leaders I know always want the organization to thrive well past their ambition. The organization will go to new places, and we all have certain gifts that we bring to an organization, and no one person can lead an organization forever. It gets richer with different leadership.

‌Additional Quotes: If we don't listen and adjust, we may not be as effective as we want to be. It’s super hard, and it sounds really basic, but I actually think listening is one of our biggest superpowers that we have to lean into to really maximize and optimize. 

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This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

N. Chloé Nwangwu, the brand scientist, is a speaker, behavioral strategist, and brand visibility expert. A former international conflict mediator, she is now the founder of NobiWorks, a brand visibility consultancy where she partners with underrecognized brands, leveraging science to ensure they are impossible to ignore. Her clients have included a number of boutique firms, the High Ambition Coalition, and the first refugee delegation to the UN.

Main quote:
“Your circle of recognition is just fancy talk for your network. But it is your network organized around a specific behavior, namely recognition. And ensuring that your circle of recognition is designed to amplify your ideas in the right kind of way, that's going to be the path forward.”

‌

Additional Quotes: 

“Don't be content with disrupting the present. Focus on shaping the future.”

“One of the most pernicious things that ideal client avatars do, and why I find them so dangerous, is that they segment us and our world into demographic, sometimes psychographic segments.”

To connect with Chloé: 

Website

Nobi Works Linked

N. Chloé on LinkedIn

Instagram

~

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

To chat with me about bringing After Action Reviews to your nonprofit or social impact organization, contact me here.

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Share YOUR strong opinion with me via an audio message on SpeakPipe! 

Resources shared in this episode:

Africa Brooke’s book: Amazon | Bookshop

The Decelerator

The Wind Down

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.    

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

To share your thoughts with me on this episode, please leave me an audio message on SpeakPipe! 

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.    

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

Third Sector Academy

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

It’s time to reimagine workplace transitions and the way we say goodbye. Here’s the truth: People Leave. We leave towns and cities, and we leave relationships. We leave projects, volunteer opportunities, and appointed and elected seats. People leave jobs too, whether high powered roles and barely paid gigs. 

Another truth is that organizations are exponentially terrible at preparing for and navigating workplace transitions.  The combination of people leaving and the reality that our workplaces are ill-equipped for those situations makes for perpetually bad exits. I’ve examined the way people leave, and through the Leaving Well framework, believe we can reimagine and create the art and practice of moving on from a place, thing, role, or job, with intention, purpose, and when possible – joy, and want to invite you into the conversation with this episode.

Main Quote: 

Leaving Well is not just about avoiding dreaded PR nightmares, scheduling exit interviews, or scrambling to toggle off access to email accounts. It's so much more than the departure itself.  It's about the way we handle transitions, how we prioritize people, and how we ensure the ongoing health of our organization in the face of inevitable change.

Additional Quotes:

Leaving Well benefits not only those departing, but also those staying behind. It mitigates the loss of productivity. It protects the bottom line of organizations and prevents knowledge attrition. It builds company loyalty and a positive workplace environment.

Creating a culture of leaving well does not sow seeds of restlessness.

To connect with Naomi:

Website

LinkedIn

~

Take the Transition Readiness assessment

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

To share your thoughts with me on this episode, please leave me an audio message on SpeakPipe! 

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

• Jaiya John - Your Caring Heart - Amazon or Bookshop  

• Kim Scott - Radical Candor - Amazon or Bookshop 

• Rita Sever - Leading for Justice -  Amazon or Bookshop

• Values Exercise  / Breathing Space article

• Nicole Olive video

• Vu Le video

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

Your First Million Live

Your First Million Book:  Bookshop or Amazon

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

In this episode, I’m excited to talk in depth about the Workplace Transition Quiz and the four archetypes, and how knowing which one you are can help you improve your relationship with Leaving Well. If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

To take the quiz: https://www.naomihattaway.com/quiz

To save the Archetype Playlists:

Transition Trailblazer

Change Custodian

Steadfast Stabilizer

Change Champion

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

Necessary Endings, Dr. Henry Cloud Bookshop | Amazon

Tanya Geisler podcast episode

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

In this episode, I’m reading for you an article, originally published on Community Centric Fundraising on the topic of knowing enough to be dangerous, and my take on why this statement is harmful. If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

This episode content is pulled from an article of the same name, originally published on Community Centric Fundraising.

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

In this episode, we are going to go deep into the waters of … riverbanks. Why they matter in the realm of leaving well, and how you can navigate your own riverbanks. If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

In this episode, we are going to dissect the concept of exit interviews and discuss better ways to hold them, including recommended questions for those exit interviews, who they are *really* for, and my top tip for shifting the power of the exit interview. If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

Exit Interview, Kristie Coulter [Amazon | Bookshop]

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

Ingrid facilitates smooth leadership transitions for nonprofit organizations. Ingrid has built a consulting practice that focuses on strengthening nonprofit leadership, especially during transitions.

Over the course of five interim executive director appointments, Ingrid has seen a variety of ways leaving well can be implemented. 

She also offers executive search services and guides organizations to develop comprehensive succession plans that promote leaving well.

Over the last twenty-five years, Ingrid has served in a wide variety of roles in nonprofit organizations. This includes eleven years as the executive director of a food system nonprofit, where she built the fledgling organization to be a community institution.

Main quote:

There’s a lot of great work being done but people are burning out because they're doing too much. If we can get organizations to work together, they can cut down on some of that and really improve their efficiencies.

‌Additional Quotes:

Leaving well is really being intentional in how you go, and not burning bridges, not taking a lot of knowledge with you that other people don't have. But really intentionally transferring that knowledge, those relationships, so that that work can continue.

To connect with Ingrid:

Website

Facebook

Linkedin

Learn more about the Interim Executive Academy

~

Take the Transition Readiness assessment

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

In this episode, we’re going to talk about protecting your heart, walking away, and leaving well. If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

Zena Me’s LinkedIn post

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

In this episode, I dive into a discussion about practice, ritual, and capacity, and how those things intersect with the idea of organizational health and Leaving Well. If you’re new here, Leaving Well is the art and practice of leaving a place, role, title, or thing with intention and purpose, and when possible … joy.

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.  

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

Africa Brooke is a Zimbabwean-born consultant, coach, speaker, and podcaster, recognized for her work in overcoming self-sabotage and self-censorship. As the founder and CEO of Africa Brooke International, she provides consulting, coaching, and support to a global audience. 

She hosts two personal development podcasts, “Beyond the Self” and “Unthinkable Thoughts,” and is a frequent guest on TV shows, podcasts, and radio broadcasts. Her insights have been featured in publications like The Guardian, and she has delivered keynotes at prestigious venues, including Cambridge University.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

- Get your copy of The Third Perspective at Amazon or Bookshop.

- Read my article on Values and Breathing Space

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee. 

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

Jerry Dugan is a public speaker, author, and the host of Beyond the Rut, a podcast about helping you achieve your dreams and thrive in your faith, family, and career to experience a life beyond the rut.

Jerry’s own life growing up through divorce, his dad’s attempted suicide, and combat have built within him resilience and the perspective that life is too short to live it stuck in a rut.

Since 2015, Jerry has been the voice behind the Beyond the Rut podcast, a source of empowering narratives and actionable insights that propel listeners beyond stagnation and towards more fulfilling lives. In 2023, he encapsulated his transformative philosophy in a book of the same title, using the R.U.T. framework to redefine success and breathe purpose into everyday existence.

In the dynamic world of corporate transformation, Jerry Dugan stands at the helm of BtR Impact, LLC as its CEO and Senior Leadership Consultant. With a focused mission, he guides leaders to amplify employee engagement, ensuring they achieve peak performance while crafting a seamless blend of work, life, and personal values.

Jerry’s pragmatic leadership approach, known as the T.E.N.T. framework, stems from a rich background that includes commanding roles during Operation Iraqi Freedom and corporate healthcare endeavors. This framework is his compass for cultivating leaders across all tiers, fostering teams rooted in trust, collaboration, and transparency to yield concrete business outcomes.

Jerry’s vision doesn’t stop at breaking free from life’s ruts; he envisions a life lived expansively. Residing in Dallas, Texas, he savors the tranquil ’empty nest’ phase with his partner, Olivia, after raising a son and daughter into adulthood. They now share their home with three feline companions and a loyal dog named Oreo.

Main quote:

Leaders have to find out how to serve the needs of the organization and the customer by also - and probably first and foremost - serving the needs of their people.

‌Additional Quotes:

My term of service had a date that ended it. There was a very official - unless you re-enlist - last day. So it was like a graduation for me in that respect.  Every transition after that though, it's much more fluid. I'm like, wait, am I allowed to leave? Is today the day? Is tomorrow the day? How does this work? Do I have to give a two week notice? Can I leave now?  So it's been much more fluid since then, but, I would say bittersweet in most cases.

A big number one that you often hear at an exit interview is, I didn't see opportunities for growth here. They were offering it there so I saw career progression. I saw skills development, responsibility expansion that wasn't being offered here, no matter how much I asked.

How we lead each other is nothing like what we see in the movies. We don't just yell orders and people say yes sergeant, no sergeant.  To get that kind of loyalty and obedience, you gotta treat them like people. You gotta genuinely lead them as a human. You're a human leading other humans and you got to respect their dignity. You got to respect their self worth, their worth.

People are six times more likely to stick around if they regularly receive positive recognition for the work they are doing. And it's got to be specific recognition that ties into the greater good. Like, how did your task or your project or your work on a daily basis lead to this metric here or to this strategic outcome?

Stay mobile, stay adaptable, and create that safe space for your team to thrive.

Do it [leaving well] in a way that you preserve the work that you've done. You preserved as many of the relationships as you could, and you've honored the organization on the way out the door. That's the best way to leave well, while also still being true to yourself. You got to be true to yourself and recognize that you are leaving for the right reasons.

To purchase the books we discussed:

To connect with Jerry or learn more about his work:

Website

LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Audiobook | Goal Setting Tool

To get access to the Leaving Well Motivators worksheet, sign up for our email newsletter

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

After spending over a decade supporting entrepreneurs, startups, and corporations grow their businesses internationally, Amy Cunliffe quit and left that career behind.  

As a Certified Business Coach supporting business owners in their growth phase, and as the creator of The Entrepreneur Compass, Amy has taken her decades plus experience supporting the international growth of over 500 leaders, startups, and corporations, and helps her current clients simplify their businesses on their journey towards reliable financial growth. 

Main quote:

We've got to stop gripping for dear life. When you're gripping with your life, what can I hold in my hands? Nothing, right? I'm not creating any space for anything new to come through. If you're gripping this old job or this old identity or this person, you're never going to be able to let it go. Give space, like open those palms up to allow them to receive.

‌Additional Quotes:

Could you give yourself the permission to evolve? Could you give yourself the permission to say that's okay?

We are the ancestors of the future, and we are the caretakers for the next generations, and so when I think about leaving well. If you're leaving your role, that you leave it in such good stead for the next person to slip into simply, easily, with comfort, and that you know that you've done your best, and you go forth with grace.

To connect with Amy:

Instagram

Amy’s free workshop

Book a Complimentary Coaching Session 

~

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson is a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) and Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP)  with over 15 years of experience in the field. She has worked in a variety of industries, from advertising agencies to corporate America to nonprofit organizations. She thrives on helping clients solve problems and create unique strategies to best reach their target audience, drive revenue, and grow their businesses at scale. As an entrepreneur, she can help you build a strong marketing function, with the right systems to get more done with fewer resources. 

Ashlan holds a Master's degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing from Portland State University (PSU). She completed a Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation with the PSU Nonprofit Institute.

Ashlan is an active volunteer and serves as Professional Chapter Leadership Advisor for the American Marketing Association, Past President of AMA PDX, the American Marketing Association Portland chapter, and Board Secretary for the People’s Nonprofit Accelerator. Through these organizations, she continues to increase her knowledge, strengthen her leadership skills, and expand her network to better serve her clients. 

In March 2020, she was recognized for her service to the community as a Portland Trail Blazers Hometown Hero by Director's Mortgage. She was born in Hawaii, moved to Oregon at the age of 10 and recently relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada where she lives with her husband, Jon, and their fur babies Ahri (mixed breed small dog), Loki and Leilani (two former ferral cats who were raised as siblings).

Main quote:

Organizations: you should be rewarding people who say that they want to stick around, want to do more, want to do better with you. And if you're not hearing that, if you're not listening to that, then people are going to leave you and that's going to be  what happens. 

‌Additional Quotes:

Investing in your people matters so much more than anything else.

Leaving well means that you have taken the intentional time  to  Set people up to lessen the blow of you leaving.

To connect with Ashlan or learn more about her work:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Pinterest | TikTok | Twitter

Check out Ashlan’s recent guest appearance on the School of Moxie podcast. 

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Matt Anderson is the founder of Proximity Design Studio, a social innovation start-up whose mission is to imagine, create, and scale new solutions that invest in the well-being of parents to keep families together. Proximity is a media production and strategic consultation company that believes in the power of storytelling to shift the mindsets that hold in place policies and practices that benefit systems over people. Matt has worked in the child and family services sector for over 20 years and brings a unique depth and breadth of experience to the work of Proximity. 

Matt’s background includes public policy, business development, program development, multi-media storytelling, and executive leadership. Matt produced the award-winning feature documentary film From Place to Place, two seasons of the podcast Seen Out Loud, and many other multi-media projects. Matt’s career began with youth who were aging out of foster care and those early relationships shaped his philosophy that we should listen to people’s stories, learn from their expertise, and take action with them. Matt is a native of Pittsburgh and is in the process of moving from North Carolina to Washington D.C.

He is a devoted optimist and believes wholeheartedly in the good in people and the world we live in. His favorite way to spend an afternoon is finding unexpected and meaningful ways to connect with people by exploring a new town or city-human connections. Their stories are the things that fuel his purpose and passions in life.

Main quote:

I had to trust myself. I had to have faith in the fact that once I let go, then everything that I need will be available to me. The fear of letting go is so powerful, but what has surprised me is that I let go into a realm of abundance, a space where all things become possible to me.

‌Additional Quotes:

I knew I had to leave. When I felt that again, I was like, Oh, I'm not right with the organization. I'm not right with our clients and I'm not right with myself. I have to leave. I'd be doing everybody - forget myself - I'd be doing everybody around me a disservice.

We only learn by doing, we only find out what's possible by doing. We have to take action.

If you leave with integrity and you leave whole, I think you leave well.

To connect with Matt or learn more about his work:

The Proximity Podcast

Instagram

Facebook

Matt is proud to be partnered with Mother’s Outreach Network and the recently produced Standing With Moms documentary. 

To get access to the Leaving Well Values worksheet, sign up for our email newsletter

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Stephanie Barron Hall (M.A. Organizational Communication & Leadership) is a speaker, Accredited Enneagram Practitioner, published author, and host of the Enneagram in Real Life Podcast. Stephanie has been facilitating personality-centric team development for years as an outside consultant for organizations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Stephanie's approach to the Enneagram is grounded in communication theory and emphasizes deep personal work through application, curiosity, and self-awareness.

Main quote:

What do I need from me? What does my family need? What does my future self need? So I think that's leaving well and in whatever scenario, I think that's really important.

‌Additional Quotes:

It's like that concept of you build the plane while you're flying it. We love to say that. But you can only do that for so long before you actually have to really legitimize things.

When we have these mass layoffs that we've been seeing, that's really destabilizing. I think that managers forget about that emotional aspect of humans, no matter who you are, it's going to impact you.

When people bring me in, they're ready to talk a little bit, at least about emotions so I'm able to meet people there and to talk about those things. A lot of the time leaders will say, I don't understand why this is happening. Or there's this issue on my team where there's this conflict. They want something tactical but it's an emotional problem.

To purchase the books we discussed:

Necessary Endings, Dr. Henry Cloud: Amazon | Bookshop

Drive, Daniel Pink: Amazon | Bookshop

To learn more about finding your Enneagram type.

To connect with Steph or learn more about her work:

Website | Instagram | Youtube | Podcast

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Yanique is the author of White Women Cry and Call Me Angry: A Black Woman’s Memoir on Racism in Philanthropy. I’m a huge fan of Beyoncé. I have been to all her concerts except Coachella (but I have watched it repeatedly on Netflix). I love a good meal, whether it be Jamaican, Indian, or Thai. It’s the curry for me! My favorite way to spend an afternoon is curled up in my bed talking to friends and family, reading a book, or watching a movie.

Main quote:

I can leave a situation, even if it's not good for me, even if it's toxic, and recognize the humanity in the leaders and the people who I may have left behind.

‌Additional Quotes:

I used to wake up with my computer, 5 a.m. on my lap, in bed. Without that work to do, I had to find other ways to wake up. It started with waking up to hydration, drinking water before getting out of bed, stretching, moving my body, exercise, eating something nutritious, a thing that I skipped a lot, walking the dogs, meditating, using the Headspace app, journaling.

We can thrive on less money than we think. That string is often what keeps us in places we shouldn't stay in. It's a tough thing to believe, and I didn't believe it until I went through it myself.

Leaving well means knowing what is nourishing to you, knowing what is values aligned. And when  a container, whether that be a workplace, a relationship, whatever the container is. when that container can no longer hold you.

To purchase Yanique’s book, connect with Yanique or learn more about her work:

White Women Cry

Instagram

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Robert Pardi is a Life Coach, Author, speaker and one of those rare individuals who embraces change. In fact, he lives by a philosophy he calls Possibility in Action, which has allowed him and his clients to escape conformity and reimagine life. 

After experiencing the devastating loss of his young wife to metastatic breast cancer, Robert reimagined his entire life and left the world of finance to share the many lessons he learned throughout his life's journey while relocating to Italy.

He is committed to helping people bring desired possibilities into their reality. He acts as a catalyst to break people out of habitual living and consciously craft their life to live an elevated life experience. 

He believes that personal growth is a lifestyle and that possibilities exist all around us but without action they remain in the land of wishing.

Main quote:

Leaving well means that you are giving yourself the opportunity to fully express  who you want to be in the journey of your life.  It's not running away. The idea of leaving - people almost talk about it as like an escape -leaving well is not running away. It's running towards, towards the future you want. 

‌Additional Quotes:

Adversity should never be the dominant color on the canvas of your life. It is a contrast color for something else.

Why do we get into burnout? Because we have no boundaries and we're sucked into things that basically feel like an obligation, and we're not getting a return from it. 

There are borders and there are boundaries. Boundaries are actually an invitation. They're the rules of the game. You're not going to let somebody in your house and walk on your white couch with muddy shoes. You don't want them to walk over certain emotions. What you're doing when you're setting boundaries is saying here are the rules of the game. I'm inviting you to sit in a space where I can show up authentically, vulnerably, and myself and contribute all of  it. It's a beautiful thing, actually.

Know your values, know the story you want to look back on. Look at the fears, look at the risks.

There's no stability except for what we bring to the table.

There will be no growth if there is no feedback.  First and foremost, you have to not only communicate, you have to help people understand the value of transparency, the value of being direct, the value of honesty and openness.

Grief is a big pile of crap, right? That's also the best fertilizer possible. Yes there's longing and there's sadness, and there are lots of emotions around that. And it truly offers you the opportunity to grow.

To connect with Robert or learn more about his work:

Books | Free Resources | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube 

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Jennie supports women who are ready to step into their legacy and maximize the impact they can have in the world. She has dedicated her life + career to building a more equitable world and supporting female founders and leaders at every stage of their journey. 

🪩 At Wild Awake, she supports ambitious consultants who better the world through her signature program Consultant Catalyst, which centers on strengthening your systems and operations, elevating as a leader, and creating a magnetic brand + knockout website. 

🪄 Delve is a mission-driven communications and creative agency that launches social good initiatives and works with nonprofits to make their work as impactful as possible. 

🏛️ Outside of Wild Awake and Delve, Jennie is an elected state representative in Alaska, where she advocates for LGBTQ+ equality, paid family leave, mental health, and reducing violence against women, among other progressive issues. When not working, you can find her exploring Alaska with her family, cooking, reading a romance novel, or taking a course. She has lived, worked, and traveled across four continents + over 30 countries.

Main quote:

I learned and grew so much from the experience of having people who don't know you make judgments about you, make threats against you, come to your home. And if anything, it helped me step into my highest self and feel more confident in who I am and operate even more closely to my North star. Because if every day I knew I was acting in that way, what people said about me meant so much less because I couldn't be shaken. I knew the place from which I was working. I knew the values that I hold.

‌Additional Quotes:

Honestly, I just got scared. And I'm sad to say that because I didn't want to be scared and I didn't want them to ‘win’. But I just couldn't do it. If I didn't have kids, I would have just kept going. But I had my family to think about. Ultimately I just felt that it was going to erode me and age me in a way that was going to make me less effective.

To me, success is going to be when a single mom can run for office and be in the legislature. That takes support. It takes planning. It takes thinking.

Sometimes we have this thing where we want to look back. I think we need to just accept where we're at and then focus on what we're doing next because when we're holding on to the thing that we chose or didn’t choose to leave, it's taking away from the things that you can be doing and building right now.

To connect with Jennie:

LinkedIn

Wild Awake Creative

Delve for Good

~

Take the Transition Readiness assessment

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Bethaney Wilkinson is a facilitator and spiritual director who is passionate about holding space for the changes we long for most in the world. She is author of The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change and hosts a podcast by the same name, which has been downloaded over a quarter of a million times worldwide. She is the founder of multiple social impact efforts including A More Beautiful Way, The Diversity Gap, Grace Dialogues, and Atlanta Harvest. She has dedicated more than a decade to exploring the intersections of community, racial healing, and social change—specifically in the organizational context.

As part of her work, Bethaney has been invited to share at major conferences and in partnership with top global companies, including Google, Creative Mornings, Ball, Magna International and more. She has a degree in Education from Emory University and in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is in the process of becoming a Certified Spiritual Director via the Kairos Spiritual Direction Training Program from Parish Resource Center. She is also in the process of becoming a Certified Breathwork Facilitator to better support BIPOC communities on their embodied healing journeys.

As a facilitator and thought leader, Bethaney is passionate about amplifying creative solutions to the challenges facing diverse communities and organizations.

When she’s not holding space for individuals or teams, you can find her reading about spiritual formation, playing with her dogs Isla and Bear, or sustaining Cedar Wilde, a 1-acre homestead and market garden with her husband Alex.

Main quote:

It serves me  - and it might serve others - to  look at all of the different types of changes and the discomfort that they bring, as invitations. To deepen self awareness, deepen love of neighbor, to deepen our expertise in managing a team.

‌Additional Quotes:

People tend to have very unrealistic expectations about how long something is going to take, how long it takes to really understand one another, how long it takes to get on the same page. It takes a long time and having a workshop here and there doesn't quite get us to where we're trying to go. Information is incredible and I love a good light bulb moment. I love learning new language for things, but embodying a new way of leadership, a new way of working across lines of difference in ways that truly honors the dignity of every person at every intersection is really hard work. And, it's often messy. 

Part of the reason transformation takes so long is because people are already at capacity in life, typically. We are leading full lives with partners and kids and homes and communities and things happening all over the globe. I think that our capacity tends to be limited, at least in modern times. The amount of space it takes to think deeply about the shifts needed in our organization, that space tends to not be there unless we create it.

The really practical cost is higher turnover. It tends to lend itself to a disengaged workforce, people who feel used and not valued. There are real financial costs to that turnover. Depending on the nature of the organization, it can lead to broken trust in a community, the communities you're serving, the clients you're trying to reach if you aren't able to be responsive and adaptive to like the felt needs of the people you're serving.

What does it mean to let things rest, to let things lie fallow for a time, and then return to the next phase of it when we're ready.

Leaving well means looking at the real, even if it's uncomfortable  and doing the best you can with what you have and honoring the present reality.  Knowing that in some grand sense, there's grace for every step of the journey. 

To connect with Bethaney

Website

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To connect with A More Beautiful Way:

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To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Amy graduated from U Penn with a bachelor’s degree in English and a masters degree in Reading/Language arts and her first career was teaching as the Reading Specialist and classroom teacher in New York City. She pivoted careers to pottery and sculpture as she was raising her family and then transitioned to a role that didn’t involve an office or a boss when she created It’s Your Move, a concierge moving service.  

The client specialty of It’s Your Move was helping older people transition from their “big” house to a smaller space, guiding them through the process of sorting through and clearing out items they either couldn’t use or didn’t want. As Amy said about her experience with their clients: “I learned a great deal about how people process change, loss, and how they almost always find their way to a lighter, happier place.”

Main quote:

Forgiveness is really very powerful.  And we sometimes forgive other people, but we forget to forgive ourselves.

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It can be painful and also be valuable, and strengthening. It can be a good thing. I got through that, I can get through this. Then joy begins to come into it, because it doesn't control you, you control it.

I think regret is a really terrible emotion. And if you leave something and you left something unfinished,  that can nag at you. If there's something you want to say to somebody, say it.  If you love them, tell them you love them. If you got a bug to pick, pick it, say it, live truthfully.

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Sarah Brune has dedicated her career to advancing progressive causes across the Midwest. She is the co-founder of Heartland Next, a marketing, advocacy, and public affairs firm that works with nonprofits, small businesses, and candidates who are committed to making the Heartland great. Sarah also leads the policy advocacy department at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, where she and her team work to close the racial homeownership gap through policy change at the local, state, and federal level. 

Main quote:

I understand my role in that organization as a white woman, and I think about that every day. I think it's important for me to understand what value I'm bringing. It's good to have diversity - whatever that may look like in an effort to advance racial equity. I think white women have to participate and have to lead in some ways, but not too much.

‌Additional Quotes:

Loneliness can be part of a transition.

To connect with Sarah or learn more about her work:

Heartland Next

NHS Chicago

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To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Lesley is an authority in developing data-driven strategies and unlocking potential in teams to achieve goals.  She found her calling helping business owners and management teams multiply their impact by elevating strategy and focus and aligning resources towards a greater sense of purpose and reward. 

​After leaving her corporate executive role in 2021 she launched Scale-Up Strategies with a passion to help business owners grow and scale their businesses.  She earned her Certified Exit Planning Advisor designation from the Exit Planning Institute, and with this training combined with her work experience AND her firsthand experiences as the daughter and granddaughter of successful entrepreneurs, she is grateful to have found a niche within the advisory space to leverage her experience and make a difference in the lives of hard-working business owners and their teams. 

 Lesley lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with her husband and 2 children. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities such as biking and boating.

Main quote:

Working with business owners, their business becomes a sense of who they are. It's their identity. And they can't even imagine what they would do if they didn't have their business to be running every day. And who am I if I'm not the owner of XYZ business?

‌Additional Quotes:

There's a lot of different ways to transition ownership or leadership of a business and being able to provide that education first approach and helping them understand all of the different options that are out there and listening to them and their goals and understanding what's important to them.

I think our whole lives, we're always navigating who we are, what we want. What's for me been core is understanding my values. I will always do my very best. I will always keep learning. I will always take the high road and do what is right and good. And those kinds of pieces are more foundational to my identity than the job title I attach to my work.

Step one, hold your values close. The second part of leaving well is finding purpose or gratitude in whatever it was that you're moving on from. And then find future. What are you looking forward to next? Those three things.

To connect with Lesley or learn more about her work: 

Website

Abby VanMuijen’s Feelings Journey

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To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley