On The Balcony

Join us for What Stayed, a live Season Two gathering. March 31 · Virtual · Free · Limited spots · konu.org/eventsAs we arrive at the final conversation of Season Two, we turn to one of the deepest questions that has quietly threaded through the entire series: what happens when the conflicts we face are not simply disagreements, but conflicts about identity?In this episode, Michael Koehler sits down with Dr. Hugh O'Doherty, longtime teacher of Adaptive Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and a practitioner of peacebuilding shaped by his experience growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.Hugh's life unfolded inside a history of deep division, between Protestant unionists who identified with Britain and Catholic nationalists who identified with Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement brought an end to most large-scale violence in 1998, but the deeper work of peacebuilding, identity, grief, history, and trust, continues.Drawing on decades of work in conflict resolution, Hugh reflects on what exercising leadership looks like when people are asked to engage across seemingly unbridgeable divides. At the heart of the conversation lies a profound paradox: the very identities we cling to in order to know who we are can become the barriers that keep us trapped.Toward the end of the episode, Hugh shares a reading from Prior Unity, a reflection suggesting something radical. Beneath our divisions, unity is not something we must create. It may already be true.What You'll Explore in This EpisodeGrowing Up Inside Conflict: Hugh shares what it meant to grow up in Northern Ireland during decades of violence, where identity was shaped early and reinforced daily, in schools, communities, and public rituals. These early experiences formed the backdrop for his lifelong search to understand the roots of violence.Learning to Sit in the Fire: Working in early peace and reconciliation efforts, Hugh describes the experience of bringing people from opposing sides of the conflict into dialogue, and discovering how little preparation there was for what happens when the "other" is truly encountered. One of the most important capacities he developed was not intellectual. It was the ability to remain in the heat of conflict without fleeing from it.The Paradox of Identity: A turning point came when Hugh realized something unsettling: we often need the other as an enemy in order to know who we are. Letting go of that structure is not simply a change in opinion. It is a loss of identity. Adaptive leadership offers a way of understanding this. People do not resist change. They resist loss.Peace Agreements and Adaptive Work: Hugh reflects on the limits of traditional peace agreements. While they can stop violence, they often leave the deeper adaptive work untouched. Real reconciliation requires something much harder: helping people see how they themselves are participating in the very systems that keep conflict alive.The Inner Work of Peacebuilding: Over time, Hugh came to see that the work of peacebuilding is inseparable from inner work. The divisions we see in the world mirror divisions we carry within ourselves. The journey toward peace is therefore both political and deeply personal.Prior Unity: In the closing moments of the conversation, Hugh shares a reading that has shaped his own path: the idea that beneath our identities and divisions, the world is already a unity. Not a unity we must build, but one we may awaken to.Quotes from This Episode"I learned to sit in the fire." — Dr. Hugh O'Doherty"The more I kept him as the other, the more I realized I was keeping myself imprisoned." — Dr. Hugh O'Doherty"We need the other as enemy in order to know who we are." — Dr. Hugh O'Doherty"People don't resist change. They resist loss." — Dr. Hugh O'Doherty"The world is a prior unity. It is not that there is a unity yet to be established which you must seek for and work on. Unity is so." — Adi Da Samraj, quotes by Dr. Hugh O'DohertyLinks & ResourcesLectures by Hugh O’Doherty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0I1yMElyFAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLlnwEUKxMQReading Shared in This Episode Adi Da Samraj. Prior Unity: The Basis for a New Human Civilization. Middletown, CA: The Adi Da Foundation Press, 2015.In this short philosophical work, Adi Da argues that humanity's deepest conflicts arise from the assumption of separateness. The book proposes a different starting point: the recognition that the world is already a prior unity, and that transformation begins with awakening to that reality.About Dr. Hugh O'DohertyDr. Hugh O'Doherty is an adjunct lecturer who has taught leadership and conflict resolution at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, and the University of Maryland. Raised in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, his work has focused on peacebuilding and dialogue across deep identity divides.He directed the Ireland–US Public Leadership Program for emerging practitioners from across the political parties in Ireland and led the Inter-Group Relations Project bringing together political and community figures to establish protocols for political dialogue. Hugh has consulted with organizations including the Irish Civil Service, the American Leadership Forum, the Episcopalian Clergy Leadership Program, and the Mohawk Community Leadership Program in Canada. His work has also taken him to Bosnia, Croatia, and Cyprus, and he has addressed the United Nations Global Forum on Reinventing Government.He holds an M.Ed. and Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.Continue the ConversationNew episodes of On the Balcony drop every two weeks. Receive additional reflections and resources at konu.org/balcony.Season Three will turn toward practitioners, people out in the world practicing adaptive leadership: their struggles, experiments, and lessons. If you know someone whose practice we should explore, Michael would love to hear from you.

Join us for What Stayed, a live Season Two gathering.March 31 · Virtual · Free · Limited spots · konu.org/eventsThere are many leadership assessments in the world. Most measure competencies — skills, behaviors, strengths, and gaps. The Leadership Circle begins from a different starting point. It integrates leadership theory, systems thinking, and adult development into a single model that connects behavior to the structure of mind beneath it.In this episode, Michael Koehler and his colleague Judit Teichert sit down with Bill Adams and Bob Anderson — co-founders of The Leadership Circle, long-time pioneers in leadership development, and authors of Scaling Leadership and Mastering Leadership.This conversation is less an explanation of a model and more a reflection on its evolution. Bill and Bob revisit the foundational distinction between reactive and creative leadership, share personal moments of reckoning with their own patterns, and explore what happens when even creative leadership begins to feel insufficient for the scale of today’s adaptive challenges.If reactive leadership is driven by managed anxiety, and creative leadership introduces vision and choice, what comes next?Bill and Bob suggest that the next stage may require something more relational than individual brilliance — a shift toward collective intelligence, deeper self-awareness, and leadership informed not by separateness, but by unity.What You’ll Explore in This EpisodeReactive to CreativeHow strengths, when run reactively, become liabilities. Why development begins when we can see our patterns rather than be run by them. And why reactive leadership is less a comfort zone and more managed anxiety.When Growth Hits a CeilingA powerful story of a CEO who unknowingly capped his organization’s growth — and what changed when he realized he was up against himself.Adaptive challenges cannot be solved from within the very structure that created them.Scaling LeadershipDrawing on over a million survey comments, Bill and Bob describe the central shift in effective leadership: from leading through individual capability to developing people and building collective capacity.Leadership scales when development becomes shared work.The Next StageBob describes what he calls integral leadership — leadership grounded in the presumption, if not the direct realization, of the inherent unity of all things.If our current paradigm is built on separateness, what might leadership look like if it were grounded in unity instead?This episode does not offer easy answers. It invites deeper questions:How do we lead in the unknown?How do we slow down when urgency tempts us to push harder?What if the future emerges not from force — but from listening?Quotes from This Episode“Strengths run reactively have liabilities.”— Bob Anderson“Reactive leadership isn’t a comfort zone. It’s managed anxiety.”— Bob Anderson“I am my own project for life. And it’s a big project.”— Bill Adams“If we want things to change, I have to do most of the changing.”— Bill Adams“Are we going to clean this up neatly? The deep recesses of racism that have been in our lineage for millennia? Patriarchy, violence, war, exploitation? We’re going to clean that up neatly? No. It’s going to be a mess.”— Bob Anderson“Integral leadership is founded on the presumption — if not the direct realization — of the inherent unity of all things.”— Bob AndersonLinks & ResourcesThe Leadership Circlehttps://leadershipcircle.com/YouTube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@TheLeadershipCircleDeep Connect Serieshttps://leadershipcircle.com/deep-connect-series/The Future of Leadership is Integral Informed by Unity White Paperhttps://leadershipcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Future-of-Leadership-Integral-In-formed-by-Unity.pdfUnity Academyhttps://leadershipcircle.com/leadership-coach-certifications/unity-academy/Scaling LeadershipScaling Leadership: Building Organizational Capability and Capacity to Create Outcomes that Matter MostRobert J. Anderson & William A. Adams (2019)Mastering LeadershipMastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business ResultsRobert J. Anderson & William A. Adams (2015)About the GuestsBill Adams is CEO of Full Circle Group and The Leadership Circle, a serial entrepreneur and executive advisor who has worked with CEOs and senior teams across Fortune 500 companies and global organizations.Bob Anderson is Founder and Chairman of The Leadership Circle and co-creator of the Leadership Circle Profile™, integrating adult development, systems thinking, and leadership theory into a comprehensive developmental framework.Continue the ConversationNew episodes of On the Balcony drop every two weeks.Receive reflections and additional resources at:konu.org/balcony

Join us for What Stayed, a live Season Two gathering. March 31 · Virtual · Free · Limited spots · konu.org/eventsMindfulness has become respectable.It improves focus. It reduces stress. It helps leaders perform under pressure.But what if mindfulness isn't primarily about performance?In this episode of On the Balcony, Michael Koehler sits down with Dr. Matthias Birk—organizational psychologist, executive coach, former Global Head of Coaching & Advisory at Goldman Sachs, Global Director of Partner Development at White & Case, Zen teacher, and founder of Self-Transcendent Leadership.What unfolds is not a conversation about mindfulness as a productivity tool.It's a conversation about perspective.Matthias distinguishes between what he calls within-paradigm mindfulness—using meditation to cope more skillfully within the identity you already inhabit—and beyond-paradigm mindfulness, which loosens that identity altogether.One reduces suffering within the game. The other questions the game itself.At the heart of the episode is a passage from Rainer Maria Rilke:Be forever dead in Eurydice, singingly rise, praisingly rise, back into pure relation. Here, among the vanishing, be—in the realm of demise. Be the pulsating glass, shattered yet of its own vibration. Be—and yet know the non-being's ground, The infinite bottom of your innermost sound. So that you might complete it—this one only time.For Matthias, meditation isn't an accessory to leadership. It's not like playing golf. It's about being fully alive in the here and now—and discovering what remains when achievement, anxiety, and identity begin to soften.What You'll Explore in This EpisodeMeditation before it was fashionable Matthias began practicing Zen as a teenager, long before mindfulness entered corporate vocabulary.Within-paradigm vs. beyond-paradigm mindfulness Mindfulness can help you manage stress inside demanding roles. But it can also invite you to question who you are beyond those roles.Achievement and insecurity From McKinsey to Goldman Sachs to global leadership, Matthias reflects candidly on ambition and belonging—and how meditation shifted his relationship to that inner voice.Self-transcendence Drawing on Abraham Maslow's later work, Matthias explores what it means to move beyond ego-centered striving toward expression, service, and alignment with something larger.Leadership as expression What if leadership isn't about constructing a persona—but about listening deeply enough to express what's already there, this one only time?Quotes from This Episode"Meditation is not a hobby. It's not like playing golf. It's not something you do on the side. It is about being fully alive in the here and now." — Dr. Matthias Birk"If you don't brush your teeth, they're going to rot. If you don't brush your mind, it's going to come up with not great stuff." — Dr. Matthias Birk"The real benefit of mindfulness is that you can live a free life." — Dr. Matthias Birk"One of the saddest things is to live a life and never hear your innermost sound." — Dr. Matthias BirkLinks & ResourcesSelf-Transcendent Leadership — Dr. Matthias Birk https://www.self-transcendent.com/Publications & Articles by Dr. Matthias Birk https://www.matthiasbirk.com/publicationsSelected ArticlesWhy Leaders Need Meditation More Than Ever — Harvard Business Review (March 2020)Now Is a Great Time to Start Practicing Mindfulness — Harvard Business Review (January 2021)Why It Is Important (Especially for Leaders) to Feel Their Fear and Pain — Mindful Magazine (September 2022)At the Beginning You Hold the Structure, Then the Structure Holds You — Tricycle: The Buddhist Review(September 2023)Guided Meditation 7-Minute Guided Mindfulness Meditation — Insight Timerhttps://insighttimer.com/Matthias_Birk/guided-meditations/guided-mindfulness-meditation-2Continue the ConversationNew episodes of On the Balcony drop every two weeks. Receive additional reflections and resources at konu.org/balconyAbout Dr. Matthias BirkDr. Matthias Birk is an organizational psychologist, executive coach, and founder of Self-Transcendent Leadership. He began his career at McKinsey & Company advising clients on leadership development and organizational change, and later served as Global Head of Coaching & Advisory at Goldman Sachs and Global Director of Partner Development at White & Case.He is an ICF-certified executive coach, trained in family therapy at the Ackerman Institute in New York, and has taught leadership for over a decade as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School and NYU. He is also a long-time Zen practitioner and teacher at New York's Still Mind Zendo.He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children—and is an equally passionate and mediocre surfer.

Some challenges don't fail because we lack intelligence, expertise, or good intentions. They fail because the systems meant to hold them — the structures, relationships, and shared stories — aren't strong enough to carry the weight.In this episode of On the Balcony, Michael Koehler sits down with Tim O'Brien to explore one of the most quietly powerful ideas in Adaptive Leadership: the holding environment.At the center of the conversation is a real public case — Gina Raimondo's leadership of pension reform in Rhode Island — where the technical problem was solvable, but the adaptive challenge was immense. Retirements, livelihoods, and deeply held beliefs were at stake. Data alone couldn't move the system. Logic was not enough for people to absorb the loss.What made progress possible was the deliberate construction of a holding environment — one capable of containing fear, grief, anger, and conflict long enough for new meaning to emerge.Tim and Michael use this case to unpack what holding environments really are — not abstract "safe spaces," but designed conditions that help people stay in hard conversations without fleeing, fixing, or polarizing.What You'll Explore in This EpisodeWhat a holding environment actually is. Holding environments are the structures, relationships, and shared stories that make it possible for people to engage adaptive challenges without becoming too overwhelmed. As Tim describes it, a holding environment is not about removing distress — it's about recognizing and legitimizing what people are already carrying.The three components of a holding environment. The conversation explores structures and boundaries (time limits, spatial design, process clarity, and role boundaries all matter — from how long a meeting lasts, to who holds the microphone, to how a forum is framed); relationships both horizontal and vertical (holding environments depend on the quality of relationships among peers and the relationship between people and authority — trust, legitimacy, and containment travel through these relational channels); and story, meaning, and purpose (facts matter, but they must be held within a shared narrative — in Rhode Island, Raimondo's "Truth in Numbers" report didn't just inform, it created a common reality people could argue within, rather than argue about).The Rhode Island pension reform case. The episode walks through how Raimondo resisted the pressure to act as a technical savior and instead orchestrated a process where loss could be named, anger expressed, and responsibility shared. Public forums, clear data, and repeated engagement weren't accidental — they were elements of a holding environment intentionally designed to stretch the system's capacity.Why some systems collapse under pressure. Many organizations already have holding environments — but not ones strong enough for the challenges they're facing. When the heat exceeds the container, people disengage, scapegoat, or polarize. Exercising leadership often means strengthening the container rather than supplying answers.Holding environments vs. psychological safety. The conversation distinguishes between team-level psychological safety and the broader, more demanding work of holding environments — especially in public or cross-boundary systems where authority is diffuse and stakes are high.Quotes from This Episode"A holding environment might be a place where one's inner world is recognized, legitimized, or validated." — Tim O'Brien"She creates a space where cognitive and emotional turmoil could give way to meaning. People are upset, angry, full of rage — but something has to be done." — Tim O'Brien"They're not forging lifelong relationships, but on this particular issue they're meeting the other people who are implicated — hearing them, getting to know their story, and taking in the complexity of the situation." — Tim O'Brien"Holding environments are spaces in which cognitive and emotional turmoil give way to meaning.” —Gianpiero Petriglieri (shared by Tim O'Brien)Links & ResourcesLeading Pension Reform in Rhode Island: Building Holding Environments to Achieve Change: https://case.hks.harvard.edu/leading-pension-reform-in-rhode-island-building-holding-environments-to-achieve-change/Holding Environments and Public Problem Solving: https://case.hks.harvard.edu/holding-environments-and-public-problem-solving/Petriglieri, G. & Petriglieri, J. L. (2010). Identity Workspaces: The Case of Business Schools. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9(1), 44–60.Gianpiero Petriglieri — LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gpetriglieri/Gianpiero Petriglieri — YouTube Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UNey2CS4LkTim O'Brien — Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Page https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/timothy-obrienAbout Tim O'BrienTim O'Brien is a senior lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he teaches Adaptive Leadership and public problem-solving. His work focuses on adult development, leadership education, and the design of holding environments that help individuals and systems engage complexity without becoming overwhelmed.New episodes drop every two weeks.

Season 2 of On the Balcony continues by looking sideways — exploring frameworks that stretch Adaptive Leadership into new terrain.In this episode, Michael Koehler sits down with Judit Teichert, Managing Director and Partner at KONU Germany. Judit's work is shaped by her background as a licensed psychotherapist trained in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and more than a decade of coaching and facilitation around adaptive leadership and adult development with teams and organizations across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the U.S.The conversation explores a question that sits quietly underneath so much leadership work: If we already understand the challenge, why is change still so hard?Judit's answer: insight alone isn't enough. We need practice — repeated iterations that build new pathways, not just in our thinking, but in our emotions, behaviors, and relationships. Change requires more than understanding. It requires reps.This episode also spends time with loss — not as something to fix or rush past, but as something that needs to be named, held, and lived through if change is going to last.Stay With What You're LearningEach episode, we send a short reflection and one resource to go deeper — things we don't include in the show.Sign up for the On the Balcony newsletter: konu.org/balconyWhat You'll Explore in This EpisodeThe triangle of change: thinking, feeling, actingHow cognitive behavioral therapy offers multiple entry points into change — and why limiting ourselves to "thinking our way" into new behavior often falls short.Why insight isn't enoughThe gap between understanding a pattern and actually changing it. Why we underestimate how many iterations — how many "reps" — real change requires.Practice as pathway-buildingThe metaphor of building a road through a jungle: the first time you take a new route, everything is unfamiliar and threatening. Only through repetition does a path become a highway.Managing loss in organizationsWhy naming loss is both diagnosis and intervention. How holding space — without rushing to solutions — allows groups to grieve and then reorient on their own terms.The role of ritual and structure in griefWhat we can learn from cultural and religious traditions about allocating time and space for mourning — and why organizations often skip this step.Reframing loss as sacrificeHow, after grief has been processed, framing loss as "in service of something bigger" can restore meaning and commitment.A live example from client workHow one organization combined adaptive leadership diagnosis with CBT-informed skills practice — role-playing difficult conversations repeatedly to build new muscles for candor.Quotes from This Episode"I think sometimes we underestimate how much practice, how many flight hours or reps it takes to actually change." — Judit Teichert"When you take a new route the first time, you're in a deep jungle. You don't know what the next step looks like. That's why it feels so tense and sometimes threatening to do something you've never learned to do before." — Judit Teichert"Paradoxically, one of the strategies to manage loss is not to manage — but to hold." — Judit Teichert"Grief and sadness — their function is to support us to reorient. If we don't take that time, we're clinging to something and we cannot wholeheartedly commit to something new." — Judit Teichert"There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it. And there's like the absence of any drama in that sentence. That's one of the biggest changes." — Judit TeichertThe Poem: Autobiography in Five ChaptersJudit shares Autobiography in Five Chapters by Portia Nelson — a short poem that captures the long arc of change: from falling into the same hole, to noticing the pattern, to finally walking a different street.Portia Nelson, "Autobiography in Five Chapters," from There's a Hole in My Sidewalk (1977). Short excerpts are quoted in this episode for reflection and discussion. All rights remain with the author's estate. We highly recommend reading the full poem, which offers a powerful meditation on awareness, responsibility, and change.Links & ResourcesKONU — Growing and Provoking Leadership https://konu.orgOn the Balcony Newsletter https://konu.org/balconyAbout Judit TeichertJudit Teichert is a Partner at KONU and Managing Director of KONU Germany. Her work is shaped by her own journey as a leader — learning to stay grounded under pressure, bring care into tough conversations, and align action with what truly matters.Her early experiences at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York and as a licensed psychotherapist sharpened her ability to read human dynamics and support deep, sustainable change. She originally set out to become an actress — and left acting school with the humbling realization that her drive to "get it right" was getting in the way of being fully present. That insight has stayed with her ever since.Over more than a decade, she has worked as a facilitator, coach, and program designer with leadership teams across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the U.S. Her approach blends psychological depth with a systems perspective and strategic clarity — creating experiences that build trust and connection, encourage high standards and accountability, and lead to meaningful results.Next EpisodeNew episodes drop every two weeks.Key NotesThis episode complements Episode 1's focus on individual development (Immunity to Change) by exploring how insight translates into action through practice. Together with Episodes 2 and 3, it builds a picture of change that spans the cognitive, emotional, systemic, and behavioral.The poem Autobiography in Five Chapters offers a gentle, humorous mirror for anyone who has ever found themselves back in the same place — and a reminder that the hole doesn't disappear. We simply learn, over time, to walk around it.

Season 2 of On the Balcony continues by looking sideways — exploring frameworks that stretch Adaptive Leadership into new terrain.In this episode, Michael Koehler is joined by Dr. Mary C. Gentile, creator and director of Giving Voice to Values (GVV) and longtime professor of ethics and leadership. Mary’s work centers on a deceptively simple but deeply challenging question: How do we actually act on our values when it matters most?GVV begins with a clear premise: most of us already know what we believe is right. The real challenge is not ethical analysis — it’s ethical action.Throughout the conversation, Mary and Michael explore why good people so often stay silent, how organizations normalize small compromises, and what it takes to prepare ourselves to speak with clarity, credibility, and courage when the moment arrives.As Mary describes it, GVV is less about persuasion and more about practice and rehearsal — building the capacity to respond before we’re under pressure.What You’ll Explore in This EpisodeWhy knowing isn’t the problemGVV challenges the assumption that ethical failure stems from moral confusion. Instead, it asks what gets in the way after we know what we believe.Acting into clarityRather than waiting for confidence or certainty, GVV emphasizes practice. By scripting, rehearsing, and testing our responses, we grow into new ways of thinking and acting.A different starting questionInstead of asking “What’s the right thing to do?”, GVV begins with:“If I were going to act on my values, what would I say and do?”Anticipating pushbackMary shares how effective values-driven action requires anticipating resistance — the rationalizations, pressures, and fears that show up in real systems — and preparing responses that are grounded and practical.How GVV complements Adaptive LeadershipBoth frameworks support leaders in:acting amid uncertaintynavigating authority and risktolerating loss and resistancetaking responsibility without certaintyAsking powerful questionsExperimenting and learningGVV adds a practice-based bridge between values and action — especially in moments when silence feels safer.Voice, identity, and courageMary reflects on how speaking up is shaped by role, identity, and context — and how playing to one’s strengths (asking questions, telling stories, naming stakes) makes action more possible.Quotes from This Episode“Giving Voice to Values is not about persuading people to be more ethical. It’s about preparing people to act on the values they already hold.”— Dr. Mary C. Gentile“If you don’t remember anything else about Giving Voice to Values, remember this: it’s about asking a different question.”— Dr. Mary C. Gentile“The folks who study positive deviance have a good phrase. They say, if you want to have an impact on people’s behavior, rather than asking them to think their way into a different way of acting, it’s more impactful to ask them to act their way into a different way of thinking.”— Dr. Mary C. Gentile“We justify what we do, not by belief in its efficacy, but by an acceptance of its necessity.”— Karl Weick, Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems (shared by Dr. Mary C. Gentile)Links & ResourcesGiving Voice to Values https://www.GivingVoiceToValues.orgContact Dr. Mary C. Gentile GentileM(at)darden.virginia.eduGiving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s RightMary C. Gentile, Yale University PressKarl Weick (1984)“Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems”American Psychologist, January 1984, p. 48About Dr. Mary C. GentileDr. Mary C. Gentile is the creator and director of Giving Voice to Values (GVV), an internationally recognized approach to values-driven leadership development. Her work has been used in more than 1,500 educational and organizational settings worldwide, helping individuals and institutions move from ethical intention to ethical action.Next EpisodeNext time on On the Balcony, Michael is joined by Judit Teichert to explore cognitive behavioral theory — continuing the Season 2 inquiry into how insight becomes action.New episodes drop every two weeks.

When Your Team's Anxiety Is Actually the AnswerSeason 2 continues looking sideways — exploring frameworks that stretch Adaptive Leadership into new terrain.In this episode, Michael Koehler sits down with Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian, a psychoanalytic psychologist and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Candice's work focuses on systems psychodynamics — a field that helps us see the hidden life of groups.The conversation explores what lies beneath the surface of organizational life: the unconscious patterns, projections, and anxieties that shape what happens in teams and organizations long before anyone names them.What's fascinating is that this work sits in the background of Adaptive Leadership itself. Systems psychodynamics was one of the practices that informed Ron Heifetz's early teaching — and it remains a place where many practitioners go to sharpen their ability to consult with groups in real time.This episode feels like stepping behind the curtain of Adaptive Leadership — into the terrain where authority, anxiety, and imagination meet.What You'll Explore in This Episode:What systems psychodynamics is — and why it mattersHow this field helps us understand the hidden, unconscious social elements in groups that are highly impactful but intangible. The dynamics that shape whether work actually gets done.When anxiety is data, not disruptionWhy the distress in a group — the tension, reactivity, and discomfort — isn't something to manage away, but vital information about what the group actually needs. Learning to read anxiety as a signal rather than a problem to solve.Group relations conferencesA unique learning experience where the content is the live experience of the group itself. No talks, no papers — just studying what emerges in real time as people navigate authority, roles, and group dynamics.Consulting without memory, intent, or desireA practice from Wilfred Bion about meeting groups with spaciousness and openness — not inserting your agenda or expectations, but listening for what the group actually needs in the moment.The intersection with Adaptive LeadershipHow systems psychodynamics deepens the practice of reading the "heat map" — understanding what the anxiety in a group is actually about, which tells you what the group needs. Anxiety isn't random noise; it's a compass pointing toward the adaptive challenge.Why this work matters nowThe origins of systems psychodynamics in studying authoritarian regimes and the Holocaust — and why these insights are resources for navigating the rise of authoritarianism today.The role of the consultant as instrumentHow practitioners open themselves as channels through which hidden, unconscious dynamics can surface and be named. When the group triggers you publicly, that's not about you — it's telling you how high the distress is in the system.Quotes from This Episode:"We're carrying all this stuff, and my stuff dances with your stuff dances with the third person, and it creates this whole thing in and of itself."— Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian"These unseen forces are born from our individual histories, assumptions, and feelings, which merge to create a powerful collective dynamic that is highly impactful, but difficult to see."— Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian"Everything is data. So if this group has found a way to trigger me in a way that actually makes me publicly reactive, that tells me that's how high the distress is. It is not about me."— Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian"To lead effectively, we must learn to see these hidden dynamics not as personal attacks, but as vital data that reveals what the group truly needs to make progress on its most important work."— Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian"You are paying attention to this stuff not to navel-gaze, but because you're trying to get work done. You're trying to understand more clearly what might be impeding progress."— Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian"The experience of the group is the content of study."— Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian"Your instrument of self, of body, of energy, of spirit has to be in some relative open space — open a channel — so that these hidden, unconscious things can travel through you to be known."— Dr. Candice Crawford-ZakianLinks & Resources:A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems (Group Relations Conferences)https://www.akriceinstitute.org/Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian's Faculty Profilehttps://www.gse.harvard.edu/directory/faculty/candice-crawford-zakianAbout Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian:Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian is a psychoanalytic psychologist and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she teaches in the doctoral program "Practicing Leadership from the Inside and Out" alongside Michael Koehler and Dr. Lisa Lahey.Her work focuses on systems psychodynamics and group relations — helping individuals and organizations understand the unconscious dynamics that shape group life, authority, and leadership. She is also a musician, singer, and songwriter, bringing a creative lens to her practice.Candice came to this work after a transformative experience at a group relations conference while working in the startup chaos of XM Satellite Radio. That week-long conference changed the trajectory of her professional life and sent her back to school for psychology.Next Episode: Dr. Mary Gentile on Giving Voice to Values — bridging the gap between what we believe is right and what we actually do.New episodes drop every two weeks.KEY NOTES:This episode complements Episode 1's focus on individual development (Immunity to Change) by exploring group-level dynamics. Together, they show how personal and systemic forces interact — why change is hard both internally and in the systems we inhabit.The practice of "consulting without memory, intent, or desire" offers a powerful counterpoint to more directive leadership approaches — creating space for groups to discover what they actually need rather than what we think they should do.

Season 2 of On the Balcony begins by looking sideways — exploring the frameworks that stretch Adaptive Leadership into new terrain.In this first episode, Michael Koehler sits down with Dr. Lisa Lahey, co-author of Immunity to Change, faculty at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and co-founder of Minds at Work. Lisa's work on adult development has profoundly shaped how we understand leadership — not as a set of skills to acquire, but as an internal capacity to grow.The conversation explores a question many of us wrestle with: Why do we resist the very changes we say we want?Lisa's answer: competing commitments and big assumptions. We're not just resisting change. We're protecting something we care deeply about — even when we don't realize it.This episode gets personal. Lisa coaches Michael through his own immunity to change around pushing his colleagues to use more AI. What emerges is a powerful demonstration of how our internal "immune system" keeps us safe — and stuck.What You'll Explore in This Episode:The shift from socialized to self-authoring mindHow we move from looking outside ourselves for approval to authoring our own values and commitments — and why this developmental shift matters for leadership.The Immunity to Change frameworkA practical, four-column exercise that uncovers the hidden commitments and big assumptions creating resistance to change.A live coaching sessionLisa walks Michael through the process in real time, revealing how deeply protective mechanisms work — and how to begin testing the assumptions that hold us back.How adult development and Adaptive Leadership are relatedBoth frameworks help us face complexity, hold competing commitments, and grow through challenge rather than around it.The influence of Chris ArgyrisHow Argyris's work on organizational learning shaped both Lisa's thinking and the broader field of developmental leadership.The power of the pauseA reflection on pausing not as a luxury, but as an act of deep responsibility to ourselves and the world.Quotes from This Episode:"You can grow your capacity to experience the world in different ways. And that difference keeps enabling you to hold greater complexity, take more perspectives, and handle greater ambiguity."— Dr. Lisa Lahey"There is a next place in development where you no longer are subject to meeting everybody's expectations of you. Instead, you get to be the author of your own expectations — grounded in your own sense of who you are and what you value."— Dr. Lisa Lahey"You have an aspiration to grow. You want to develop some capacity. And yet at the very same time, unbeknownst to you, you've got a whole inner curriculum actively working to protect yourself."— Dr. Lisa Lahey"The immunity to change process invites us to consider: we don't just have worries. We actually have a part of us actively committed to making sure those worries don't come true."— Dr. Lisa Lahey"It is not a luxury to pause. It is an act of deep responsibility to ourselves and the world."— Tara Brach (shared by Dr. Lisa Lahey)Links & Resources:Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Laheyhttps://www.amazon.com/Immunity-Change-Overcome-Unlock-Organization/dp/1422117367Minds at Workhttps://mindsatwork.com/About Dr. Lisa Lahey:Dr. Lisa Lahey is co-founder of Minds at Work and co-author of Immunity to Change and An Everyone Culture. She is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she co-teaches "Practicing Leadership from the Inside and Out" with Michael Koehler. Her work focuses on adult development, organizational transformation, and the internal dimensions of leadership.Next Episode: Dr. Candice Crawford-Zakian on systems psychodynamics and the unconscious life of groups.New episodes drop every two weeks.

In this engaging discussion, Professor Ronald Heifetz, a leading authority on leadership and author of Leadership Without Easy Answers, shares profound insights shaped by his experiences as a parent. He explores how adaptive leadership is crucial for navigating today's unpredictable challenges, such as systemic racism and sexism. Heifetz also reflects on the erosion of trust in leadership, contrasting responses to global crises, and emphasizes the importance of empathy and proactive reconciliation. This conversation offers a visionary perspective on the future of leadership education.

In this episode of On the Balcony, Michael welcomes guest Susanna Krueger, a serial social entrepreneur and former CEO of Save the Children Germany, the oldest and largest independent child’s rights organization in the world. She’s here to engage with the final chapter of Ron Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers, entitled “The Personal Challenge,” which outlines a set of reflective questions you can ask yourself to better practice leadership around difficult adaptive work. Susanna begins the conversation by highlighting Heifetz’s point about the loneliness of leadership and how feelings of frustration or helplessness vis-a-vis massive complex challenges can be mirrored at the top and in the whole organization. She then discusses how engaging with purpose is a key aspect of the art of leadership and that this requires the skill of listening to people and asking them what the current opportunity for them is. Susanna illustrates this with the example of the international podcast she set up, which became a form of cultural engagement for the Save the Children community.Next, Susanna discusses the flaws in international aid, particularly that it too often plays to what is in the aid-givers’ interests instead of asking what those in need really want. She suggests that a change to the framework of aid, particularly in the developmental space, is needed but can only be implemented by finding the right partners and allowing for flexibility and learning. Susanna also tackles the pressures on authority to fix and solve and the difficulty of living in the ambiguity of leading people while having to navigate your own course. She brings up Heifetz’s point that people project onto their leaders and highlights the importance of distinguishing oneself from one’s role through inner development, sharing some of the methods she uses to do so. And finally, Susanna discusses the new platform she is building with the aim of connecting people who want to invest in good causes with each other and projects with sustainable development goals.The Finer Details of This Episode:The loneliness of leadershipPreserving a sense of purposeShifting the framework of aidLiving in the ambiguity of leadershipBuilding a community for social changeQuotes:“You cannot impose developmental contexts and developmental goals and impact goals from a Western point of view. It will fail because it is not what generates from the community.”“The purpose of development can only originate in communities when they say what they want by themselves.”“People will tell you, ‘We want more leadership. I want more direction.’ And then you have to sit in this place and say, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know, and I will give it to you, but I will give it to you in a certain way and in a certain structure, but not as you expect.’”“The level of listening requires us to access other things than just logic. It requires open conversation and the capacity to connect.”“I want to be a part of changing the world into a better place in a humble way, where I can be in my fullest, and where I can connect to people, and where I can help others to be their best.”Links:On the Balcony on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcastLeadership Without Easy Answers on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Without-AnswersSave the Children - https://www.savethechildren.org/Project bcause - https://bcause.com/Susanna Krueger on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/susanna-krueger-9a728590/?originalSubdomain=deMentioned in this episode:OtB_KONU_Nov promoOtB_KONU_Nov promo