56. The Head and The Heart of Radical Leadership with Kumi Naidoo and Lindsay Levin
This week, something a little different!
For our conversation, we are joined by South African Environmental and Human Rights Activist, Kumi Naidoo. Kumi is best known for his time running GreenPeace International and Amnesty International, two massive organizations that get at the heart of enacting justice in all it’s forms around the world. We talk about what kind of leadership is needed in our search for environmental and racial justice.
And our main guest this week is Lindsay Levin, CEO of Leaders’ Quest. Lindsay has dedicated her life and her work to reshaping what leadership looks like through vulnerability, listening, and doing the work of searching ourselves to find our collective humanity.
Watch the amazing animation and download Tom’s new book here
Connect with us on Social Media!
Poem
Written by Kumi Naidoo
Normal.
What an average word
So uninspired…It’s actually absurd
In a time when we have been forced to change our ways
To pause and isolate and dream of better days
That we’d ever yearn for the world of yesteryear
A world so divided
So fragmented by fear
It’s mind-boggling at best
That we might just blow mother nature’s test
Longing for the same madness
That put us in this global sadness
Of me first and screw you
And buy-four-for-the-price-of-two
Surely getting back to normal can’t be our aim
After all of the sacrifices, death and pain
Yes, this pandemic has brought us to our knees
Cutting jobs and highlighting inequality
Our leaders are exposed
And the broken systems they have imposed
Are now obviously not making any sense
So, why do we obsess
And resist what needs to be
The end to these failed economic schemes and political machines
That weaken and divide
Leaving only the elite satisfied
No, we have to be better than this!
And if not for ourselves, we must for our kin
Our children and their children and the ones after them
Thankfully, our youth has far more motivation
To take action and end the years of frustration
By breaking down the walls we’ve created
And the inequality that is so outdated
So, now what are YOU going to do
Let’s hope it something substantially new
To keep building post Corona
A human existence that is far from over
Learning from our lessons
Respecting all persons
Especially our healthcare and essential workers
Who were invisible to us before this pandemic
And never again, lest we forget
What and who really matters
Even when all hope scatters
Because this tragedy surely must be
Our big opportunity
To look beyond what has always been
And build a world that we can all thrive in.