E377: Hospitality as a Superpower: Inside Kansas City’s Blueprint for Inclusion with Greg Valdovino, VP, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
Release Date: 08/14/2025
E391: From Effort to Essence: The Evolution of Wise Leadership
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this minisode, Jennifer invites listeners into a deeper exploration of how leaders truly grow over time—moving beyond effort, ego, and externally defined roles into wiser, more spacious, community-centered ways of leading. Drawing on adult development theory, mythic archetypes, and her own 30-year journey in advocacy, she unpacks the inner shifts that occur as we outgrow old identities and step into new forms of impact. From the firefighter to the constellation builder, Jennifer traces the evolving stages of leadership maturity and offers a compassionate roadmap for naming where you are,...
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E390: Making Purpose Visible, and Actionable: How to Align Your Message and Your Platform
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this minisode, Jennifer invites listeners into a candid conversation about the ongoing journey of aligning who you are becoming with how you show up in the world. Joined by her collaborator Amber Kidd, she explores the powerful intersection of heart and architecture—the inner shifts, purpose, and vision that spark change, and the practical systems, language, and platforms that help bring that evolution to life. Together they unpack how a thoughtful audit of your digital presence can reveal what parts of your past are still speaking for you, what needs to be updated, and how to build a...
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E389: Deadheading the Garden: On Growth, Grace, and Letting Go
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this minisode, Jennifer reflects on the quiet courage it takes to outgrow the rooms, roles, and identities that once fit us. Drawing on the poetry of Dr. Tunde Okewale and her own metaphors of gardens, shells, and shifting seasons, she explores grace not as softness, but as a vital leadership technology—what allows us to stay human in uncertain times. Legacy, she reminds us, isn’t something we leave behind; it’s a living practice shaped by how we lead, let go, and tend what’s next. This episode invites you to find meaning in the liminal space between endings and beginnings, and to...
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E388: The Rhythm of Renewal: Leadership for a Post-Backlash Era
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this reflective minisode, Jennifer invites us to see the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a living cycle rather than a linear journey. Using the metaphor of nature’s four seasons—spring, summer, fall, and winter—she explores how each stage brings its own lessons, from the hope and emergence of new ideas to the quiet reflection that sustains future growth. As the DEI field experiences a collective “winter,” Jennifer reminds us that stillness is not the absence of progress but the preparation for renewal. This is a meditation on trust, resilience, and leadership—an...
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E387: Winter Work: Four Inner Practices for Renewal and Rebirth
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this minisode, Jennifer invites us into an intimate reflection on what it truly means to lead, rebuild, and stay human in seasons of profound transformation. Drawing from her own experience of letting go, dissolving old identities, and tending to what remains, she explores four inner practices that make reinvention possible—stillness, grief, surrender, and humility. These are not side practices, she reminds us, but essential muscles for leading through collapse into creation. With honesty and grace, Jennifer offers a space to pause, breathe, and remember that even in the quiet of...
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E386: Midwifing Change: Holding Space for What Wants to Emerge
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this minisode, Jennifer explores the idea of midwifing collapse—inspired by writer Josie Plaut’s reflection on the difference between prolonging what is dying and creating space for what wants to be born. Drawing from her story of doctors intervening in her father’s final days while a nurse quietly held space for truth, this conversation invites us to look at our own impulse to “doctor” failing systems, roles, and identities. What if our task is not to fix, but to practice engaged surrender, presence, and trust in what’s emerging? Through this lens, the minisode explores...
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E385: Reset and Rebuild: The Next Evolution of LGBTQ+ Leadership
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this episode, Jennifer Brown and Out Leadership CEO Todd Sears reflect on the evolution and disruption of LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion—and what it means to lead in a time of uncertainty and change. Together, they trace how the “business case” for equality once drove historic corporate progress, and why those same strategies are faltering amid shifting cultural, political, and economic tides. Through a candid, hopeful dialogue, they explore how leaders can adapt by returning to what has always driven meaningful change: storytelling, allyship, empathy, and authentic human connection....
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E384: Humble Inquiry in a Noisy World with Author Peter Schein
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
In this episode, Jennifer is joined by Peter Schein, co-author of Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling (Third Edition). Together they explore how leaders can embrace curiosity, vulnerability, and openness to build trust and strengthen relationships. Peter shares how humble inquiry contrasts with diagnostic or confrontive questioning and why shifting focus from content to context is essential for effective leadership. The conversation highlights how practicing humble inquiry fosters inclusion, belonging, and more thoughtful decision-making in today’s complex and...
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E383: Music and Mentorship: Part 2, Strategies for Inclusive Leadership from OutNEXT
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
This episode features highlights from a series of audio recordings originally created for OutNEXT, Out Leadership’s global LGBTQ+ leadership-development program. The first conversation dives into the creation of the inclusive anthem “It’s Raining Them,” reflecting on music as activism and the balance between self-expression and professionalism. The episode also explores the power of mentorship and sponsorship, showing how authentic relationships and reverse mentoring can help both emerging talent and seasoned leaders grow, adapt, and lead with purpose.
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E382: Owning Your Voice, Shaping the Future: Strategies for Inclusive Leadership From OutNEXT
The Will To Change: Where Leadership Meets the Courage to Evolve
This episode features highlights from a series of audio recordings originally created for OutNEXT, Out Leadership’s global LGBTQ+ leadership-development program. Captured live during the OutNEXT summit sessions, these conversations were designed to inspire and equip emerging LGBTQ+ leaders with tools for authentic leadership, community building, and inclusive impact. Listeners will hear reflections on resilience, mindfulness, and the power of intergenerational support—offering both inspiration and practical strategies for anyone ready to lead with purpose and heart.
info_outlineIn this episode, Greg Valdovino, Vice President of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, joins Jennifer for a conversation about how Kansas City is turning hospitality into a powerful driver for economic growth and community connection. He discusses how the city is preparing to welcome the world for the 2026 FIFA World Cup through its ambitious Welcoming City initiative. From breaking old stereotypes to creating lasting cultural and economic impact, Greg reveals how inclusive leadership, intentional planning, and community-wide collaboration are shaping a Kansas City where everyone belongs—visitors and residents alike.