Q.west for good: Change leadership stories with Denise Withers – Details, episodes & analysis

Most leaders know by now that a "business as usual" approach won't work if we want to avoid the worst effects of climate change. We need expertise from across sectors, cultures, continents and disciplines to be able to resolve the kinds of wicked problems we now face.

But figuring out how to do that kind of interdisciplinary, intersectional work, particularly in a Western, largely patriarchal society, grounded in somewhat risk-averse institutions, requires a major shift in our processes, systems and beliefs. And we don't have the luxury of waiting a few decades while we figure it out. That's where Margot Hurlbert comes in.

As the Canada Research Chair in Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability Policy and a Professor of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina, she's studying interdisciplinary approaches to these kinds of wicked problems through research on real-world projects about issues like water and clean energy. She's also been a Coordinating Lead Author, Contributing Author and Review Editor for the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change or IPCC

Through that work and her decades of research, Margot has developed deep expertise that allows her to bring a unique perspective to this challenge. In this episode, she unpacks key concepts about inter- and trans-disciplinary work, explores the very real barriers that still prevent us from doing it and shine a light on promising new approaches for current and future climate leaders. 

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Municipalities are ground zero for tackling climate change, especially when it comes to adaptation. They're well positioned to take direct action to do things like build infrastructure and create new policies. However, they're also the level of government typically operating with the tightest fiscal constraints and most demands in terms of serving a diverse constituency. 

So what does it take to be able to lead the kind of transformative change we need in such a challenging environment? That's what we're going to find out in this conversation with Norm Connolly.

Trained as a planner, Norm's worked for several municipalities across the Lower Mainland of British Columbia on files from development to community energy. These days, he's the Sustainability Manager for the City of Richmond, a largely island-based municipality. Home to critical infrastructure like the Vancouver International Airport, Richmond is under threat from sea level rise, as well as events like heat domes and extreme storms. 

In this episode, Norm shares several stories about how he's been able to lead innovation and generate engagement for climate action, despite fiscal and political constraints. He also highlights the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, and offers insights about the kind of climate action leadership we need going forward. 

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After a brief hiatus to shift direction, I'm back with an amazing line-up of innovators ready to share the stories of how they overcome barriers to create breakthrough change on issues from fleet electrification to chronic disease.

In this episode, I talk briefly about the new direction and what to expect, introduce my new online journal packed with innovation stories and strategies from global change agents, and share highlights from the first three years of the show. 

Grab some inspiration. Grow your influence.  Get more impact. And join me on my Q.west for good!

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We're changing things up a bit this episode! Before taking a break for the summer, I wanted to share my TEDX talk on Narrative Intelligence.

It's a great introduction to how we can use stories to make personal, cultural and social change, weaving together everything I've learned over the last 30+ years of work as a filmmaker, educator, consultant and coach.

If you'd rather watch the video for the full TEDX experience, here's the link.

And don't forget to check out my free online webbook that unpacks all the science and shows you how to put Narrative Intelligence to work right away.

Happy listening and have a great summer!

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Food does more than just provide the chemicals we need to survive. It feeds our spirit, imagination and relationships. It connects us to the land, our history, our culture and each other. Perhaps most importantly, food also gives us the power to heal our relationships, systems and society. But to do that, we first have to start to explore, understand and ultimately shift the dominant narratives that define our relationship to food.

And that's exactly what Shizue Roche Adachi and the team at Food Culture Collective are trying to do through story-driven events and strategies with food culture workers. In this conversation, Shizue helps us unpack the power of food to nourish and heal a struggling society. She also shares examples of the ways in which stories can not only reveal harmful narratives but also create opportunities to shape the future.

Find out more about upcoming events at the Food Culture Collective here, and check out their recent piece in the Non-Profit Quarterly here. 

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The only way we’re going to make progress on complex environmental and social issues is through collaboration - bringing together groups with diverse perspectives, needs and skills. And the only way to do that is to find common ground as a place to start - something that’s getting tough to do in an increasingly polarized world. 

That’s why I’m so excited to have George Chmael II and Rachel Seba from Council Fire join me for this episode. As long-time leaders in sustainability consulting, they’ve recently integrated a more intentional approach to storytelling in their work, with impressive results. In particular, their recent film, Fishing for Data for the Net Gains Alliance offers a powerful case study of how to use stories to bring diverse stakeholders together to tackle a common problem.

In this conversation, we look at how they've used stories on multi-year projects to not only find ways to engage diverse communities in co-creating a better future together – but also address historical injustices along the way. In particular, they walk us through two powerful case studies - Fishing for Data, and the development of Masonville Cove - the first urban wildlife refuge partnership in the USA.

They also talk about their decision to develop their internal storytelling capacity to elevate the power of stories in their client work, as well as how they managed to build such a powerful creative team as a small business.

As George reminds us:
"We've got to get the word out. We have to tell the stories. We have to connect to people such that we can drive action in the masses. The activity of an individual company or an individual person can't get it done by itself. We have to do it at scale and storytelling is a key tool to help us do that."

 

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Polarization has become a major roadblock for those working on issues from public health to climate change. Unless we can figure out how to shift cultures and the stories that shape them, it’s going to be tough for us to find ways to move forward together.

That’s why I’m so excited to have Laura Hughes join me for this episode. As a senior policy analyst in the Alberta clean energy program at the Pembina Institute, she leads the organization’s files on women in the energy transition, the Alberta Narratives Project, and nature-based solutions. She also works with municipalities to support their transitions to renewable energy.

In this episode, Laura walks us through the details of the Alberta Narratives Project – an incredibly successful initiative run with Alberta Ecotrust and Climate Outreach to help everyone move past the polarizing stories that were holding them back and find common ground to start creating a better future together.  She outlines what they did, who they worked with, what challenges they faced, and – importantly – what they found in their evaluation. 

She also talks more broadly about the value of taking a narrative approach to policy development, as a key strategy in creating the cultural momentum necessary for any successful change project. 

With competing stories and ideologies tearing apart families, communities and nations, learning how to find common ground to tackle tough issues is a critical skill we all need to develop. Laura and her team have created a model for how, exactly, to do that. So be sure to check out her work!

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"In so many ways I have seen people downplay certain aspects of their identity. When in reality, they should be really, really kind of doubling down on being more of who they are." –– Jenn T. Grace

Despite decades of advocacy for diversity in publishing, a quick Google search for the top non-fiction authors inevitably turns up a list of white men. This matters, for lots of reasons. If we want people to be transformed by books, they have to see themselves in those books. Which means that we’re not connecting with a vast majority of the world. Plus, by not publishing work by under-represented writers, we’re missing out on all the wisdom and expertise they have to share, stuff that only they know.

Nobody knows this better than Jenn T. Grace. As an author, speaker, founder and CEO of Publish Your Purpose, Jenn has a fierce commitment to bringing voice to the invisible stories that free people from their isolation. She’s published six books of her own, including her memoir “House on Fire” and coached hundreds of authors to help them bring their stories into the light.

In this episode, Jenn shares key insights from her publishing journey. We talk about why it's important for authors (and the rest of us) to get raw and real when we share our stories. We explore the one-to-one connection authors must create with their readers. And we talk about the need for more diversity in publishing – something she's trying to change through her work.

"It tends to be either women or LGBTQ people or people with disabilities or people of color, people who are coming from some marginalized standpoint that go and enter into the publishing space, and just don't feel seen. And if you want to share your story, speak your truth, impact people, you have to be working with a partner that helps you feel seen and heard. And there's just not a lot of that still in the publishing space. And so our focus is very much on those voices that are often excluded from those traditional publishing settings.

Jenn also has some great tips for authors who are just starting out, and those who want to take their work to the next level. Find out more about her and her journey here. 

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Leaders across the globe are beginning to realize that the biggest thing stopping us from taking action on climate change isn't a lack of capacity or technical solutions. It's a lack of engagement. Of historical and cultural context. Of connection to people and place. No one wants to have climate action done to them. They want to play a role in creating solutions. They need to see themselves, their homes, their businesses and their families reflected in goals and strategies.

Of course, the best (and possibly only) way to create that kind of engagement is with stories. That's why I'm so excited to have Jeff Biggers, founder of the Climate Narrative Project,  join me for this episode.

Jeff draws on decades of experience as a journalist, oral historian and author to help communities shape new narratives on climate change and regenerative solutions. As a global leader in climate change communications, he's worked with groups ranging from the elite of Silicon Valley to small towns devastated by broken economic and social systems. His narrative change work has been featured in the New York Times and Chicago Tribune  - as well as on NPR and MSNBC.

In our conversation, Jeff shares some beautiful and powerful stories about how he works with leaders and communities to help them create a vision of an "ecopolis" where they'd like to live in the future – then reverse engineer or backcast it to figure out what stories they need to bring to life to make it happen.

Here are a couple of articles about his ecopolis work: https://artistsandclimatechange.com/2018/12/06/shaping-new-climate-narratives-why-a-journalist-historian-turned-to-theatre-for-climate-stories/

https://thesolutionsjournal.com/2017/01/15/ecopolis-iowa-city-envisioning-regenerative-city-heartland/

Jeff also shares critical insights about what's stopping municipalities and communities from being able to move ahead on climate action and offers tangible ideas about what we can do right now to get unstuck. (Hint - it's to hire a climate storyteller!)

Jeff's approach works across cultures, continents and communities, and generates co-benefits that go well beyond mitigation and adaptation. You can find more stories about his work and outcomes here. 

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Rinku Sen is an expert on shifting narratives. In her role as the Executive Director of the Narrative Initiative, she leads a team that works across timelines, cultures, sectors and the country to make equity and social justice common sense. As an author, former ED of Race Forward and Co-President of the Women's March, Rinku brings deep experience in racial justice, feminist and labor movements to her change work.

In this episode, Rinku demystifies the work of narrative change, helping us understand what's required, what can stand in our way and what we need to stay committed in the long term.

“It's just about putting in the time and the creativity and the hard work. It's not magic, like the kind of magic we don't have access to. The magic is the combination of having people willing to do this work and letting it be loose.  In non-profit land, in the United States and NGOs globally there's not a lot of room for experimentation. And even in cultural production in Hollywood, for example, or in publishing,  people's ideas of what the market wants and what there's a market for and what there isn't a market for – those kinds of requirements for art do limit what kind of art gets made and what kind of art gets distributed. So finding free spaces to do narrative thinking and narrative work  can be a structural challenge.”

Plus, she shares several excellent examples of narrative change in action, highlighting successes, failures and ongoing challenges on issues like gender equity and racism. In particular, she describes the support her team provides through its Wordforce program and explores early work focused on shifting the model minority narrative about Asian-Americans.

To make the process more accessible, Rinku walks us through the powerful Four Baskets Framework she and her colleagues at the Narrative Initiative use to research, create, test and deploy narrative strategies that inform and inspire action.

Want to know more? Check out the Narrative Initiative and its fantastic resources. You might also want to explore the work of their colleagues at The Opportunity Agenda (listen to my interview with their President Ellen Buchman), the Center for Story-based Strategy, ReFrame and the Center for Cultural Power.

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