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  • How to Vote for Character, Not Charisma: Courage and Integrity in a Narcissistic Age with Dr. Chuck DeGroat

    How to Vote for Character, Not Charisma: Courage and Integrity in a Narcissistic Age with Dr. Chuck DeGroat
    2026/10/21
    Have you ever followed a leader who shared their struggles on stage, said all the right things about brokenness, and still left everyone around them feeling smaller? Therapist and professor Dr. Chuck DeGroat has a name for that: fauxnerability. Chuck returns to A World of Difference the day after launching his new book, Who You're Becoming, for an honest conversation about narcissism in leadership across tech, politics, faith communities and nonprofits, and the slow work of building real character. Content note: this episode discusses narcissistic and spiritual abuse. Please listen with care. In this episode: Fauxnerability: how performed vulnerability draws people in, and why real vulnerability connects us instead of shrinking us Why Chuck sees narcissism as a defensive structure built over decades, and why he holds empathy and accountability together Return to office and narcissistic supply: why some leaders need people back in the room, and the "mirror-hungry leader" who needs an audience Virtue signaling, performative allyship, and the difference between groupthink and a wholehearted yes Disintegration at work: when mission statements say one thing and the patterns beneath the waterline say another About Dr. Chuck DeGroat: Chuck is a professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary, where he is founding executive director of the clinical mental health counseling program, and a licensed therapist and spiritual director who specializes in abuse, trauma and leadership health. He is the author of When Narcissism Comes to Church, Healing What's Within, and Who You're Becoming: The Slow and Courageous Work of Cultivating Character in a Narcissistic Age (Tyndale), which earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Timestamps: 00:00 Hook: why people plug into narcissistic leaders 00:33 Introduction: welcome back, Chuck 04:58 San Francisco, loneliness, and why connection fuels leaders 07:51 Fauxnerability: when vulnerability becomes a performance 10:14 A crisis of leadership and the doubling down on power 14:54 Empathy and accountability with leaders who have caused harm 19:14 Return to office and narcissistic supply 22:33 Mirror-hungry leaders and ideal-hungry followers 23:56 Lori's story: when you are someone's narcissistic supply 24:58 Virtue signaling and performative allyship 28:07 Disintegration, and what a reintegrated culture looks like 32:08 Reckonings across institutions, and reasons for hope 33:25 The vision of Who You're Becoming: growing in integrity 36:06 Where to find Chuck and his new book 37:03 Closing reflections 40:03 Passport Stamp: Canada A note on the research mentioned: Adam Grant, Marissa Shandell and Courtney Elliott found that leader narcissism was associated with greater resistance to remote work. The title of this research article says it all: Worship me at the office altar: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work https://fortune.com/2026/06/25/return-to-office-ceos-ego-research/ Find Dr. Chuck DeGroat at: https://chuckdegroat.net | Substack, Sit with Chuck | Instagram | Facebook Get his new book, Who You're Becoming Join us on Patreon for an exclusive bonus with Chuck: the story from his book that shows how "performative authenticity" can hide narcissism, even among wellness voices and self-help lovers: https://www.patreon.com/aworldofdifference Has a leader's "vulnerability" ever left you feeling smaller? Explore my SAFE Ground Framework™, a tool for leaders and targets to spot workplace bullying before it spreads. Want to see how your leadership shows up under pressure? Explore the VOICE diagnostic from Brava Global Advisory. Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Connect with Lori: https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriadamsbrown | https://loriadamsbrown.substack.com If this episode gave you something, you can give a little back with a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/loriadamsbr Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 分
  • Stop Doing Change to People: Human-Centered Leadership in the AI Era with CEO Karen Zeigler

    Stop Doing Change to People: Human-Centered Leadership in the AI Era with CEO Karen Zeigler
    2026/10/07
    What if people do not resist change at all, and what they resist is change that is done to them? Karen Zeigler, CEO of Human Score, joins Lori to explain why so many change and AI efforts stall, and what leaders can do differently this week. This conversation was recorded live on LinkedIn, with comments and questions from the community along the way. In this conversation, Lori and Karen explore: Why leaders misread their own workforce, and how fear shows up as projection What Karen means by "AI is us," and why using AI in a human-centered way takes conscious intent The business case for designing work so that people and AI each contribute what they do best Why people resist change that is thrust upon them, and how transparency, agency, and removing even one obstacle build trust How a Nutri-Score label on a frozen pizza in the Netherlands inspired a score for how healthy an organization is for its people About Karen: Karen Zeigler is the CEO of Human Score, a diagnostic that shows leaders the conditions inside their organization across work design, organizational structure, culture, decision making, and fairness. She spent more than a decade in financial services leading teams through mergers, and she brings a human-centered design lens to change and AI adoption. Disclosure: Lori is a consultant with Human Score and the Human Score Collective. Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome and introduction 02:34 Where leaders misread their own workforce 05:30 Fear, ego, and "us versus them" 08:04 What Human Score measures 12:04 "AI is us": using AI in a human-centered way 14:04 The business case for investing in people 19:48 A lesson from the 2008 financial crisis 22:08 Do people really resist change? 27:04 Why listening tours erode trust 28:30 Constant change and human limits 32:48 Comments from the live audience 35:39 Risk reduction and value creation 37:22 What Karen unlearned about leading high performers 42:24 Empathy, and why the obstacle is the way 45:02 How the Human Score works 51:13 Using AI to free people's gifts and talents 54:24 The frozen pizza behind the name 56:52 Lori's three takeaways and Passport Stamp: the Netherlands Find Karen Zeigler at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-zeigler/ Human Score: https://humanscore.info Human Score on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-human-score Curious what Brava Global Advisory could do for your team or your own leadership? Head to https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com to see how we work together and where to start. Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 5 分
  • Feel Less Overwhelmed at Work: Understanding Work Intensification with Melissa Swift

    Feel Less Overwhelmed at Work: Understanding Work Intensification with Melissa Swift
    2026/09/30
    Have you ever felt that the moment you catch your breath, three new demands are already waiting? Organizational consultant Melissa Swift gives that feeling a name, work intensification, and explains what helps. In this conversation, Lori and Melissa explore: How three years working in London showed Melissa that a shared language does not mean a shared culture What work intensification is: too many tasks in too little time, too many people involved in every decision, and too much emotion at work How AI can quietly erode trust at work, and why peer learning and thoughtful change management matter How to stand out in an AI-saturated job market by naming what you are genuinely good at in simple terms What high-stakes professions teach us about clear communication, and why the people who care most are often the ones who burn out About Melissa: Melissa Swift is the founder and CEO of Anthrome Insight, an advisory firm helping organizations and individuals work more effectively in a fast-changing, technology-driven world. She has held consulting leadership roles at Capgemini, Mercer, Korn Ferry, and Deloitte, and is the author of Effective: How to Do Great Work in a Fast-Changing World (Wiley, 2026). Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome and introduction 01:27 What living in London taught Melissa about culture 03:50 Direct and indirect communication across cultures 06:42 More communication, less clarity 10:02 What work intensification is 12:49 Emotional regulation and leadership 17:45 AI and the erosion of trust 21:49 Learning AI with your peers 27:43 Change agility and staying power 32:09 Standing out in an AI resume era 38:17 Lessons from high-stakes work 43:37 Younger workers and the "unboiled frogs" 46:14 Burnout, boundaries, and agency 49:06 Where to find Melissa Find Melissa Swift at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swiftmelissa Website: https://www.anthromeinsight.com Book: https://www.anthromeinsight.com/books Join us for an exclusive bonus with Melissa on Patreon. Want to see how your leadership shows up under pressure? Explore the VOICE diagnostic from Brava Global Advisory: https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com/voice Considering a move abroad for work like Melissa's years in London? Expatsi can help you plan the practical side. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    56 分
  • What Actually Motivates People at Work: The Enneagram Guide to Understanding Your Team with Joey Schewee

    What Actually Motivates People at Work: The Enneagram Guide to Understanding Your Team with Joey Schewee
    2026/09/23
    Have you ever worked with someone who just didn't get you, not because they were difficult, but because you were wired completely differently? In this episode, Lori sits down with Enneagram expert Joey Schewee to unpack why understanding motivation, not just behavior, is what actually transforms how teams work together. Joey has spent decades helping thousands of employees and hundreds of teams understand each other through the Enneagram, and her new book, When Working Together Doesn't Work, distills that experience into a practical workplace guide. She and Lori dig into why so many people mistype themselves at work, why "culture fit" hiring can quietly push out your most brilliant thinkers, and how managers can stop putting people in boxes and start understanding what actually drives them. In this episode: Why the Enneagram explains the why behind behavior, not just the what, and why that matters more in stress and change The three "stances" at work (independent, dependent, withdrawing) and what each one needs to perform at its best: consistency, affirmation, or latitude Why fives and eights often get labeled "not a culture fit," and what that costs organizations How mistyping happens at work, and why so many people test as eights, ones, or threes simply because they're "doing" at the time Practical language for managers to use type-awareness without putting anyone in a box About Joey Schewee: Joey Stabile Schewee is a management consultant, executive coach, and author of When Working Together Doesn't Work: An Enneagram Guide to Productive Relationships with Coworkers. She's spent 17+ years consulting with corporate teams, drawing on a lifetime immersed in Enneagram wisdom. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction and why motivation matters more than behavior 04:00 – How the Enneagram functions in teams and organizations 09:00 – Mistyping at work and the "boxes" myth 17:00 – A real-world example: culture in family-owned companies 25:00 – Where leaders get alignment wrong 31:00 – Coaching managers to engage direct reports by type 37:00 – New concepts: stances, reference points, and what each needs to thrive 46:00 – Where to find Joey and her book Find Joey Schewee at: wesolutions.life | linkedin.com/in/joeyschewee | Instagram: @enneagramparents | Book: When Working Together Doesn't Work Join us for an exclusive where Joey gets personal about her own career journey and Enneagram discovery on Patreon. Curious what Brava Global Advisory could do for you? Take the VOICE assessment: https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com/voice Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    57 分
  • Escape the Access Tax: How Lolita Taub Built a Career From Scratch as a Latina Venture Capitalist

    Escape the Access Tax: How Lolita Taub Built a Career From Scratch as a Latina Venture Capitalist
    2026/09/16
    Most people enter venture capital as a founder, an angel, an LP, a GP, or an ecosystem builder, usually without a roadmap. Lolita Taub has been all five. She calls the hidden cost of building without inherited networks the "access tax," and she says it shows up everywhere: in every country, for founders and investors and leaders alike, and most people never even name it. In this conversation, Lolita and Lori dig into: The three elements of the access tax: time, equity, and the emotional cost of learning unwritten rules nobody wrote down Why code-switching becomes dangerous the moment you start believing it is you, and how to honor a culture without losing your identity What "community as capital" really means, and why every leadership role is an ecosystem-building role whether or not it says so on the org chart How to answer biased pitch and interview questions ("how will you avoid failing?") by redirecting to the numbers and the value you bring The case for investing in Latin America and Latino-founded companies, including the economic scale most investors overlook What growing up in South Central LA and building a venture fund taught her about resilience, and why she wrote the book she wished she'd had Lolita Taub is General Partner and Founder of Ganas Ventures, a pre-seed and seed fund backing community-driven startups across the US and Latin America. In nearly 20 years across tech and venture capital she has made more than 100 investments and built a community of over 100,000 underestimated founders, funders, and friends. Timestamps (placeholder — pending final edit) 00:00 – Cold open 01:00 – Welcome and introduction 02:00 – A non-linear career: from big tech to startups to venture 04:00 – What is the "access tax"? 08:00 – Code-switching and corporate America 13:00 – Community as capital, ecosystem building as leadership 21:00 – Data centers, AI, and the people behind the numbers 22:30 – The five seats of venture: founder, angel, LP, GP, ecosystem builder 27:00 – Answering biased pitch and interview questions 33:00 – The case for investing in Latin America 38:00 – What Venezuela and resilience taught Lori 40:00 – Where to find Lolita and her book Find Lolita Taub at: LinkedIn | X/Twitter | Instagram | Ganas Ventures | Book: lolitataub.co/book Join us on Patreon for the bonus, exclusive episode with Lolita, just for patrons. (You can start off with a free trial.) Subscribe, leave a review at https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com/reviews/new/, and share this episode. Visit https://www.aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Curious what Brava Global Advisory could do for your distributed team or your own leadership globally? Head to https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com to see how we work together and where to start. Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move https://www.expatsi.com/?ref=2kJ926HZ. As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    50 分
  • Stop Managing Performance, Start Enabling It: Dr. Edie Goldberg on the New Talent Management Paradigm

    Stop Managing Performance, Start Enabling It: Dr. Edie Goldberg on the New Talent Management Paradigm
    2026/09/09
    What if everything you've been taught about managing performance was built for a workplace that no longer exists? Dr. Edie Goldberg returns to A World of Difference to unpack the research behind her new book, revealing why the system most companies use to drive performance is quietly working against them. Topics Covered Why “coercive control” — carrots, sticks, and fear-based motivation — is the hidden operating system behind most performance management, and why the research says it doesn't work The shift from measuring performance to enabling it: transparency, trust, autonomy, and connecting work to purpose Why only 4% of employees revisit their goals mid-year, and how to make goal-setting actually motivating What a real “performance feedback culture” looks like, and the four conditions that predict it How AI can genuinely support performance enablement (goal clarity, personalized development, reduced bias) — and where it can quietly go wrong The bias built into hiring and performance systems, and what a well-designed AI process can do differently Guest Bio Dr. Edie Goldberg is founder and president of E. L. Goldberg and Associates, a globally recognized expert in talent management and the future of work, and a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is co-author of Performance Enablement: A Model for Driving Organizational Performance and The Inside Gig: How Sharing Talent Across Boundaries Unleashes Organizational Capacity. Timestamps 00:00 – Cold open 01:13 – Why Edie wrote this book now 05:34 – Coercive control as a management strategy 09:13 – The new paradigm: enabling control 14:27 – The elephant in the room: managers spend 90% of their time doing the work 21:44 – Why goal-setting fails (the 4% problem) 28:11 – AI's real impact on performance management 37:14 – Bias in AI hiring and performance systems 44:11 – Where to find Edie and her book 48:00 – Passport Stamp: New Zealand (a shout out to the Kiwis who listen from Aotearoa, the Maori word for New Zealand) Watch the exclusive, bonus episode on Patreon here. Find Dr. Edie Goldberg At elgoldberg.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/edie-goldberg-phd | Book: Performance Enablement Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode. Watch this episode on Youtube. Visit aworldofdifferencepodcast.com for more resources. Thinking about a life abroad? I use and recommend Expatsi to help navigate the move . As an affiliate, I may earn a small commission. Brava Curious what Brava Global Advisory could do for your team or your own leadership? Head to https://www.bravaglobaladvisory.com/voice to see how we work together and where to start. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 分
  • Change Makers EPS 61: Allan Wind on the Andes, USAID and Peace Corps

    Change Makers EPS 61: Allan Wind on the Andes, USAID and Peace Corps
    2026/09/06
    Allan J. "Alonzo" Wind is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), having worked off and on with the Agency primarily overseas on diplomatic assignments from 1990 to 2019 in the Peru, Nicaragua, Angola, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Africa and the Southern Africa Regional Missions. In these roles he provided oversight to U.S. government foreign aid development and humanitarian assistance and supported U.S. Ambassadors as their senior development officer on multiple U.S. Embassy Country Teams. In South Africa he helped establish the Southern Africa Regional Leadership Center as part of President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative, and contributed to other youth development efforts and business incubators. He previously worked as the Global Programme Coordinator for the International Save the Children Alliance Secretariat and as a Country Director and Health Sector Coordinator for different nonprofit private voluntary organizations including CARE and PLAN International in a range of countries including Ecuador, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom. Mr. Wind began his career as a Rural Public Health U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1980-1982, where he was widely known as “Doctor Alonzo.” The Alonzo nickname stuck throughout life in many countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He graduated from the University of Chicago. He is originally a New Yorker, and as a high schooler he was a “subway rat” attending the famous Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. There he studied creative writing for two years with his teacher, the famous Irish American writer Frank McCourt. He has always been an avid science fiction fan and sometime writer, and notes that writing science fiction and creative writing under Frank was invaluable for future U.S. government work. He and his wife currently reside in Fairfax County Virginia, while their adult daughter is in Africa on her own adventures. Mr. Wind serves on the Boards of Directors of different non-governmental organizations, including Hunger Relief International, supporting the efforts to help the neediest in Guatemala and Haiti, any way he can. His memoir is Andean Adventures Website: https://enableennoble.net ANDEAN ADVENTURES: https://tinyurl.com/AndeanAdv AVENTURAS ANDINAS: https://tinyurl.com/AventurasAndinas The A World of Difference Podcast is brought to you in partnership with Missio Alliance. Stay In Touch: Connect on Facebook and Instagram with thoughts, questions, and feedback. Rate, review and share this podcast with anyone that would love to listen. On Clubhouse . Find Us Online: on Instagram and on Facebook on Twitter at or Interested in one-on-one or group coaching on how to live a life that makes a difference? Check out: https://www.loriadamsbrown.com/coaching If you are facing some big decisions, here is advice . Mentioned in this episode: Do you want to go deeper? Join us in Difference Makers, a community where we watch and discuss exclusive content that truly makes a difference. Give us $5 a month (the price of a latte), and join in on the conversation with our host Lori and others who want to make a difference. We'd love to have you join us! Patreon Join Difference Makers Join us in our membership community for exclusive content for only $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/aworldofdifference. We go deeper with each guest, and it makes such a difference. Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 分