Stories Lived. Stories Told. – Details, episodes & analysis
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Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Abbie VanMeter and The CMM Institute
Frequency: 1 episode/9d. Total Eps: 171
The purpose of Coordinated Management of Meaning is to create better social worlds through better communication. This podcast is about empowering all of us in our communication to see ourselves as curious and active participants with the ability to create meaningful change in our relationships and social worlds.
Our practice of CMM is about embodying a “communication perspective,” which asks us to “look at communication, rather than through it.” To take a communication perspective is to consider what we’re making and how we’re making it through our communication practices. This means we look at patterns, contexts, stories, and relationships; and that we use curiosity, mindfulness, collaboration, and dialogue to create better social worlds for ourselves.
So, join us as we take CMM from theory to practice, engage in collective learning together, and apply a communication perspective to make meaning in our conversations.
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See all- https://galsguide.org/
387 shares
- https://cmminstitute.org/about-cmmi/
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See allScore global : 78%
Publication history
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On Reflexivity with Abbie VanMeter | Ep. 153
Season 4 · Episode 153
mercredi 24 décembre 2025 • Duration 12:49
What have you learned in 2025?
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Today, Abbie offers one last, short episode for Season 4. In it, she explores her own reflections on the past year and hopes for the coming year. She invites listeners to join the conversation however they can- emailing storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com, commenting on YouTube, subscribing and following the CMMi Substack, and joining the CMM LinkedIn Group.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
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Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
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Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.
On Unlearning Ableism with Jamie Shields and Celia Chartres-Aris | Ep. 152
Season 4 · Episode 152
mercredi 10 décembre 2025 • Duration 01:06:15
How can you be proactive in your inclusivity?
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Today, Abbie, Jamie, and Celia explore disability through the lens of a communication perspective, talking about transforming exclusion into inclusion in every space, changing narratives to focus on "the problem" as an inaccessible society rather than any one disabled individual, unlearning our internalized ableism as a necessary step for all of us, becoming proactive rather than reactive in our inclusive accessibility practices, and creating space for more stories that acknowledge both the systemic nature of ableism with the individual experiences of disability.
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Jamie Shields is a multi-award-winning Disability, Speaker, Trainer and Consultant, Content Creator and Disability Advocate, Registered Blind AuDHD Rhino, the UK’s 2nd most influential grassroots Disability advocate.
Celia Chartres-Aris is a Disabled Government Advisor, Founder & Investor, Multi-Award Winning Campaigner and Lobbyist, Researcher, Policy and Legal Expert, Speaker and Consultant, recognised as the UK’s most influential Disabled person.
Together, they are the founders of Disabled By Society, a 100% Disabled owned and led business transforming exclusion to inclusion. 17% of the world’s population identifies as Disabled, making us the largest minority group in the world. Despite this, ableism is one of the most under addressed, under-discussed, and underrepresented conversations in society. Society is failing to unlearn our inherent ableism. Everyday, Disabled people face aggressions, encounter inaccessible barriers, are excluded, overlooked, treated as a burden, or seen as a problem to be fixed. As a result, Disabled people are often left to manage internalised ableism in this ableist society. We are on a mission to change this. We cant sit back and do nothing. We partner globally across all sectors to remove the ableism ingrained in cultures, recruitment, products and services, policies, and everything in between. We make the uncomfortable comfortable, ending cycles of oppression and creating an inclusive society that is accessible, empowers, represents and provides opportunity for everyone. Our ground-breaking research and policy work has fed into reviews and cited across the world as never-before-seen data by and for the Disabled community. And through policy, lobbying, consultancy, training, an award-winning podcast, Celia and Jamie deliver award-winning solutions that transform Disability exclusion to inclusion. Having worked with some of the biggest brands and charities in the world, creating systematic change for the 2 billion people affected by ableism.
Order Jamie and Celia's book, Unlearning Ableism: The Ultimate No-Nonsense Guide to Understanding Disability and Unlearning Ableism.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.
On Creating 'Grains of Empowerment' for Women and Girls with Mil Niepold | Ep. 143
Season 4 · Episode 143
mercredi 6 août 2025 • Duration 58:50
Who isn't being invited to the conversation?
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Today, Abbie and Mil explore ways to create “grains of empowerment” that enable every individual to participate in community-based solutions to our global problems, beginning with each of us asking the question “who is missing?” in every space we enter; systematically inviting people with differing perspective, identities, and experiences to the table; and naming the invisible patterns of communication that keep us from hearing each other in conversation.
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As a board director, mediator, and international ESG supply chain strategist, Mil Niepold, has spent her career at the intersection of partnerships, policy, and sustainability—architecting inclusive, bottom-line solutions that address climate change while improving human rights at the same time.
Career-wide, Mil has served on, and chaired, ESG-related advisory boards, helped Fortune 500 companies launch integrated gender and climate supply chain strategies, and advised more than fifty companies, governments, and NGOs on climate-resilient human rights due-diligence strategies, with a particular focus on women’s leadership on climate change and the elimination of child and forced labor. Her clients have included Amazon, the Asian Development Bank, Nestlé, CARE International, Oxfam America and others.
A lifelong consensus builder, she has mediated more than forty multi-stakeholder dialogues on complex economic and social issues such as agricultural policy, climate-resilient livelihoods, child and forced labor, rural land use, and gender policy.
Mil has made policy reform recommendations to six governments around climate, gender, and human rights, and led teams in designing and delivering international sustainability, negotiation, and leadership trainings.
Recognized for expertise in social inclusion, Mil has appeared as keynote, panelist, and presenter with institutions such as University of Pennsylvania Law School, Climate Investment Fund, U.S. State Department, World Bank, and the United Nations.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told. here.
Explore all things CMM Institute here.
Where Does Meaning Come From? | Mike Hemphill | Part 1
Season 2 · Episode 55
lundi 3 juillet 2023 • Duration 44:40
How do we, as a community of individuals with individual experiences, thoughts, and feelings, come together to create shared meaning?
How has our understanding of communication evolved to more accurately encompass the complexities and nuances of human relationships?
How do we fool ourselves into believing "the illusion of stability"? And how can we learn to embrace mystery instead?
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Mike is the Director of Leadership Development for the Clinton Foundation and co-directs the Presidential Leadership Scholars program. He is also a Professor of Practice at the Clinton School of Public Service where he teaches courses on communication and the leadership of social change.
Today, Mike introduces himself and shares about the experiences that have shaped him. Mike and Abbie discuss how they define communication, consider how meaning is made, and explore what it means to be both a scholar and a practitioner of communication. Finally, Mike talks about "the paradigm of communication."
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Learn more about CosmoKidz.
Learn more about the CosmoTeenz Fellows' work on Instagram.
Invitations & Possibilities | Ilene Wasserman & Jeff Branch | Part 2
Season 2 · Episode 54
lundi 26 juin 2023 • Duration 41:16
How can we use our individual relationships to make a difference in our larger social worlds?
How can we promote healing and growth in our relationships?
How can we learn to be agile and lead with emergence in our lives?
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Listen to Part One with Ilene and Jeff here.
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Dr. Ilene Wasserman is the Founder and President of ICW Consulting. Ilene is on the Board of Stewards for the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution. She has been on the cutting edge of practice and research in strength-based methodologies, capacity building, and relational leadership, that engage diversity, create equity, and fosters inclusive cultures.
Dr. Jeff Branch, Principal with ICW Consulting Group, LLC is an organization development, change, executive coach, and DEIBJ consultant. Jeff also practices as Chair of graduate programs utilizing inquiry, dialogue, and systems thinking to support multi-level system development and high performance.
Ilene and Jeff are passionate about creating and sharing diversity, inclusion, and social justice initiatives with organizations at the personal, group, system, and community levels. They model transparency and value discovery, connection, care, and love. Ilene and Jeff understand the work it takes to create safe spaces for meaningful dialogue to occur.
Today, Ilene, Jeff, and Abbie continue their conversation about community, curiosity, and inclusion. Ilene and Jeff share stories of their experience working with organizations, including the importance of internal partnerships in their work. Abbie asks Ilene and Jeff what it looks like for them to embody the values of dialogue, collaboration, and inclusion. Jeff and Ilene explain what it means to be "Cha-ordic," what it means to be mindful, and what it means to engage in "mutual transformative learning." Finally, Ilene and Jeff share their visions of a better social world.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal andSocial Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Learn more about CosmoKidz.
Learn more about the CosmoTeenz
Sparking Community | Ilene Wasserman & Jeff Branch | Part 1
Season 2 · Episode 53
lundi 19 juin 2023 • Duration 41:41
How do we create spaces where people feel, not just safe enough but also, brave enough to share their most vulnerable stories and selves?
How can we learn to manage the tension that arises when we start having new and challenging conversations?
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Dr. Ilene Wasserman is the Founder and President of ICW Consulting. Ilene is on the Board of Stewards for the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution. She has been on the cutting edge of practice and research in strength-based methodologies, capacity building, and relational leadership, that engage diversity, create equity, and fosters inclusive cultures.
Dr. Jeff Branch, Principal with ICW Consulting Group, LLC is an organization development, change, executive coach, and DEIBJ consultant. Jeff also practices as Chair of graduate programs utilizing inquiry, dialogue, and systems thinking to support multi-level system development and high performance.
Ilene and Jeff are passionate about creating and sharing diversity, inclusion, and social justice initiatives with organizations at the personal, group, system, and community levels. They model transparency and value discovery, connection, care, and love. Ilene and Jeff understand the work it takes to create safe spaces for meaningful dialogue to occur.
Today, Ilene and Jeff introduce themselves and share some stories that shaped them. Ilene discusses identity and how her understanding of identity was first formed. Jeff talks about how he thinks in terms of "episodes" and how he has always been guided by curiosity. Abbie, Ilene, and Jeff explore their first experiences interacting with people from different backgrounds and learning about diversity. Ilene explains what "innovative communities" and "inclusive communication" at the workplace means to her. Finally, Abbie asks Ilene and Jeff to describe what it means to them to "spark community."
...
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal andSocial Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Learn more about CosmoKidz.
Learn more about the CosmoTeenz Fellows' work on Instagram.
Strategies for Changing Interpretation | Karen & Sonja Foss | Part 3
Season 2 · Episode 52
lundi 12 juin 2023 • Duration 32:18
How can we be asking ourselves, "Is this a world in which I want to be living?" What do we do when the answer is "no"?
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Karen A. Foss is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University of New Mexico. Her work expands the boundaries of communication to incorporate and legitimatize feminist perspectives. She is the author of COLOR Up to Create the Life You Want to Live.
Sonja K. Foss is Professor Emeritx of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. She has been on the forefront of scholarship on agency, change, and communication from feminist perspectives. Her books include Inviting Transformation.
Together, Karen and Sonja have authored Feminist Rhetorical Theories, Gender Stories, and Feminism in Practice.
Today, Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss "interpretation" as the core of Karen and Sonja's work and lives. Karen and Sonja present strategies for making new choices, including reframing, appreciation, enactment, and more. Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss what it means to "live today as you want the world to be," what it means to always be denying reality, and what it means to "joyfully allow." Finally, Abbie expresses appreciation for the ways that Karen and Sonja have made these important ideas accessible, asks about what it's like for Karen and Sonja to work so closely, and considers what this work means for what a better social world looks like.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal andSocial Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Learn more about CosmoKidz
Invitational Rhetoric | Karen & Sonja Foss | Part 2
Season 2 · Episode 51
lundi 5 juin 2023 • Duration 29:29
How can we communicate in a way that acts as an invitation for others?
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Karen A. Foss is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University of New Mexico. Her work expands the boundaries of communication to incorporate and legitimatize feminist perspectives. She is the author of COLOR Up to Create the Life You Want to Live.
Sonja K. Foss is Professor Emeritx of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. She has been on the forefront of scholarship on agency, change, and communication from feminist perspectives. Her books include Inviting Transformation.
Together, Karen and Sonja have authored Feminist Rhetorical Theories, Gender Stories, and Feminism in Practice.
Today, Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss the importance of remembering our choices when it comes to both feminism and communication. Abbie explores the connection between Karen and Sonja's understanding of feminism and CMM, comparing the process of understanding, critiquing, and transforming with the CMM-ish process of imagination, genuine inquiry, and embodiment (presented by Alex Jagiello in Ep. 22). Karen and Sonja describe the feminist values of equality, self-determination, and immanent value. Finally, Abbie, Karen, and Sonja consider caring wildly about the things we care about as an "ethical version of persuasion."
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal andSocial Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Feminisms & Communication | Karen & Sonja Foss | Part 1
Season 2 · Episode 50
lundi 29 mai 2023 • Duration 44:07
How can we better include the experiences of women in our understanding of communication?
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Karen A. Foss is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Communication at the University of New Mexico. Her work expands the boundaries of communication to incorporate and legitimatize feminist perspectives. She is the author of COLOR Up to Create the Life You Want to Live.
Sonja K. Foss is Professor Emeritx of Communication at the University of Colorado Denver. She has been on the forefront of scholarship on agency, change, and communication from feminist perspectives. Her books include Inviting Transformation.
Together, Karen and Sonja have authored Feminist Rhetorical Theories, Gender Stories, and Feminism in Practice.
Today, Karen and Sonja share the story of how they came to be so passionate about the intersection of feminism and communication. Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss the need to rethink the assumptions of theories in the discipline of communication that are based on the historic communication patterns of men. Karen and Sonja offer a definition of feminism, including the roles of understanding, critique, and transformation. Finally, Karen and Sonja explain some of the different types of feminisms.
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Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal andSocial Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Learn more about
Plan for Emergence | Sergej van Middendorp | Bonus Episode Reflection
Season 2 · Episode 49
vendredi 26 mai 2023 • Duration 46:10
What are you still thinking about from our conversation with Stephanie Higgs?
What questions do you still have after our conversation with Chris Wells and Emma Nicholson?
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Today, Abbie is joined by Sergej van Middendorp, a member of the CMM Institute's Board of Stewards, to reflect on the conversations Abbie previously had with Stephanie Higgs (Part 1 & Part 2) and Chris Wells and Emma Nicholson (Part 1 & Part 2). In this conversation, Sergej shares his own experience with learning about the label of "giftedness." Abbie and Sergej discuss the relationship between difference and sameness, and the ways that each showed up in the conversations with Stephanie, Chris, and Emma. Abbie and Sergej explore what it means to "complicate the narrative," how we can embrace that paradox of "planning for emergence," and looking back while at the same time looking forward.
...
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created, produced & hosted by Abbie VanMeter.
Stories Lived. Stories Told. is an initiative of the CMM Institute for Personal andSocial Evolution.
...
Music for Stories Lived. Stories Told. is created by Rik Spann.
Find Rik on YouTube.
Listen to our conversation with Rik in Ep. 8.
...
Explore all things Stories Lived. Stories Told.
Email me! storieslived.storiestold@gmail.com
Follow me on Instagram.
Subscribe on YouTube.
Check out my website.
Learn more about the CMM Institute.
Learn more about CMM.
Learn more about Cosmopolis 2045.
Learn more about CosmoKidz.
Learn more about the CosmoTeenz Fellows' work on Instagram.
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