Episode #86: Pilar Garrido on How Leading With Love Benefits Communities
Release Date: 01/15/2023
The Discomfort Practice
In this episode, Betsy dives deep into the transformative power of small, everyday actions. Drawing on personal experiences, she talks about how individual action can actually drive collective impact. What's your role in creating change? From environmental stewardship to social justice, the episode explores the interconnectedness of personal responsibility and bigger collective change. Betsy shares her own experience of leading change, on a personal and on a bigger level. The episode concludes with a powerful call to action, encouraging you to take a step toward 'being the change you...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
Welcome to Season 5 of The Discomfort Practice! In this first interview of the new season, Betsy Reed is joined by Thea May, a communication coach for ‘Edgewalkers and soul-led leaders.’ Together, they explore the theme of ‘edginess’ and dive deep into the discomfort of breaking away from outdated communication norms to create a world where we can all thrive. Thea shares her journey, the power of embodying discomfort, and how to ‘scale ourselves to meet the messages that move through us.’ This episode is packed with insights that will inspire you to embrace your own edges...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
She's baaaack. Well, I'm back. If you don't know me yet, I'm Betsy Reed, and I'm obsessed with the value of discomfort. The juicy, hot, cold, annoying, uncomfortable feeling of being outside of our comfort zones... and pushed to expand. Pushed to perhaps discover things about ourselves that are getting in our way. Or forced to innovate, to forge new pathways, to walk away from the things we thought were forever and create a new reality. Over the past four seasons, I've talked to some truly inspiring guests about the value of discomfort in shaping them and what they do in the world. And I've...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
In this final episode of Season 4 of The Discomfort Practice, Betsy looks back at some themes that arose over the course of the year+ it has spanned, before taking a brief hiatus to prep the launch of Season 5 in March 2024. What she found in looking back was some striking themes - the greatest of which was love. This has woven its way into many episodes, including: with Kim Polman, founder of Reboot the Future, whose ethos is based on the Golden Rule with Daze Aghaji, who talked about creating change from a place of love with Pilar Garrido, Minister for the Economy in Costa Rica during...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
In this solo episode, Betsy journeys her way through a personal question at the moment: 'What am I meant to be a channel for on this earth? What is meant to come through me?' It's a very personal question, and there are no wrong answers. She talks about experimenting with being a channel for love, and how that has transformed her life in just a short span of a few months. As with most of Betsy's solo episodes, she leads listeners through practical steps to uncover their own answer to the question she's pondering. What 'special sauce' are you meant to bring to whatever is meant to flow through...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
In this episode, Betsy speaks to Dr. Terence Lester, an activist and scholar who focuses on bringing justice to those suffering from poverty and racism. The founder of LoveBeyondWalls.org and The Dignity Museum, he is also the author of three books: 'I See You: How Love Opens Our Eyes to Invisible People,' 'When We Stand: The Power of Seeking Justice Together' and 'All God's Children: How Confronting Buried History Can Build Racial Solidarity.' Three ideals drive Terence: (1) anyone can make a difference, (2) we don’t live forever, (3), and it’s worth dedicating one’s life to ensuring no...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
Looking back at your life, at some of the things that have been difficult or even traumatic, how have those things actually been part of your path to becoming who you needed to become? And how have some of the most difficult things you might have gone through actually been divinely chosen training to create the ‘architecture’ of your life, or gain skills you needed to deliver your mission in the world? Betsy thinks out loud while asking these questions and shares how she has come to appreciate how she now appreciates her own Fundamentalist Christian upbringing for the spiritual...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
We're trying a new thing over here and have dug out a great episode from our archives. This is a revisit of Episode 55, which is a juicy, insightful interview with Paul William Davis, an intuitive personal advisor, an entrepreneur, a best-selling author, an award-winning business growth consultant, speaker with the best Irish accent you're likely to hear all day, lol. Betsy and Paul deep dive into how you go about figuring out what your personal purpose is and how important intuition - your 'knowings' - are (and you'll get an idea of why Betsy includes it in the coaching framework she has...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
This solo was recorded in November 2023, off the back of a 5-day spiritual retreat with teacher Sabrina Lynn in Ibiza, in which 22 wild souls went deep into their shadows. And healed themselves, their ancestral line and things they didn't even know they were healing for the collective. Shadow work is a term that many know and some of you might not. They are the part of us we haven't yet owned. The things we're ashamed of, don't want to deal with, won't look at, don't want to acknowledge are part of us. We stuff them in the basements of our souls, convinced that dealing with those things will...
info_outlineThe Discomfort Practice
In this episode Betsy is joined by Carlos 'Charlie' Zimbrón, Co-Founder and CEO of Fuckup Nights, as well as The Failure Institute. Betsy and Charlie say the word 'fuck' a lot cuz... clue's in the name, really. So if you enjoy 'swear words' as occasional punctuation and appreciate a free-flowing, un-edited conversation, you're gonna LOVE this one. Fuckup Nights has become a global movement driven by community of people who share professional failure stories on a monthly basis in 200+ cities in 62+ countries. It's a link I often share with the execs who take the online course I lead for...
info_outlineIn this episode of the Discomfort Practice, I talk with political scientist and economist Pilar Garrido. We chat about her experience leading a sustainable economic development policy in Costa Rica for a green and inclusive economy, as well as designing innovative financial instruments for critical public investment projects. We will also get into what adaptation for climate change is. Pilar leads with a human touch, transforming our ideas of what a leader should be.
Pilar has been a key figure, using her government minister role to steer Costa Rica's ambition to be one of the five countries piloting the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG’s were launched by the United Nations in 2015. Their aim is to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030: all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
So, buckle yourself in for this episode and be inspired by a politician who governs with both heart and strength. She has served as Chief of Staff, Deputy Minister, Minister of Planning and Policy, Technical Secretary of the Sustainable Development Goals in Costa Rica and as Costa Rica's co-ordinator of the Economic cabinet. A woman of many talents!
This is an inspiring episode, so tune in for Pilar’s positive story and so much more. Enjoy!
Key Points Discussed:
- The discomfort Pilar experienced whilst becoming a politician and minister at a young age, especially during the Pandemic, as she describes as being like on the front line (5:20)
- Choosing to work from a place of love (08:20)
- Making difficult choices and creating policies to protect people during the Pandemic (12:20)
- Pilar’s journey from political scientist to advisor to politician (14:50)
- Costa Rica’s initiatives to put humanity and sustainability first, before economics (23:40)
- How to have a big impact in politics: where your job is not forever (27:00)
- Part of Pilar’s legacy: diversifying an economy that has previously heavily relied just on tourism, so that it is healthy and robust (31:00)
- The IDG framework (that Costa Rica are one of the first countries to pilot), which aims towards eradicating hunger, poverty, sustainability and ensuring human rights. The IDG’s (Inner Development Goals) consists of five dimensions: Being (relationship to self); Thinking (using your brain); Relating (and caring about others in the world); Collaborating (social skills and society) and Acting (driving change) (36:40)
- How everyone can do something small, that will collectively make a big impact (46:00)
- Pilar’s optimism for the future (51:10)
Connect with Betsy:
Rate, Review, Learn and Share
Thanks for tuning into The Discomfort Practice. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, follow, like, and/or drop us a five star and written review. Share this episode with others and help spread the word and grow our audience. Don’t forget to tune into our other episodes and share your favourite ones on social media!