Hour 1 – Barb Adams and John J. Higgins, Leading for the Common Good
The pandemic, climate crisis, racial injustice, socioeconomic inequality, voting rights under attack, Afghanistan…Americans in general are filled with existential dread. And once again, Americans are facing a choice. Will we rise up and decide on the side of truth and social justice for the common good or will we allow a misguided contingency of lost souls undermine everything America stands for with their falsehoods and absurd conspiracy theories?
Take for example the pandemic. The Delta variant has quelled Americans’ optimism and with it, consumer confidence has dropped. Americans overwhelmingly elected Joe Biden to the presidency to control the pandemic and lead this country back to some form of normalcy. But as the pandemic’s resurgence continues all across the country, blame is an easy game to play, especially for the GOP. While they place blame on the president for failing to protect America from the pandemic, they are the ones who continue to spew false information, egging on millions of Americans to refuse life-saving vaccinations and masks, allowing the variant to spread freely, resulting in a rise nationwide in the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The level of the GOP’s insane pandemic response knows no bounds–from comparisons of vaccine and mask mandates to the Holocaust to so-called “cures” with Clorox, hydroxyl-chloroquine, and death by horse paste. These power-hungry fear mongers would rather see America fail on all counts than admit their lies and shame.
Far too many doctors and nurses have died trying to save the unvaccinated from their own willful ignorance, and the count continues. At what point do our frontline workers decide they’ve had enough? Our healthcare system is being overwhelmed, and it could have been prevented!
Meanwhile, the climate crisis, once seen as a far-off problem, is here, now. Louisiana, which has yet to recover from two major hurricanes in 2020, is bracing for a direct hit from a major Category 4 hurricane Sunday, 16 years to the exact day when Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 3. And while Hurricane Ida takes aim at Louisiana, Tennessee struggles to deal with record-shattering, deadly flooding and the U.S. West continues to burn amidst record drought.
We must choose wisely and we must step up and choose what is best for the greater good of all. While Trumpian sycophants and so-called leaders speak to people’s fears instead of their hopes, creating more chaos, we must support those who are focused on the common good.
Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. Good leaders do the work of guiding others to a place they’ve never been before and want to get to, and they see the future possibilities and clear the way forward so others can see those possibilities as well. They are focused on the common good. What is happening in this country is a battle for the Soul of America and humanity—those who are focused on the common good versus those who intentionally lead people astray through their dark intentions. Hitler was a prime example of leading people to a place they thought they wanted to go. His propaganda and misrepresentations masked his nefarious plot and people were deceived. By contrast, though, the common good is always the focus of good leaders, and no definition of a good leader would be complete without you!
Each of us as individuals has the ability to lead and each of us has been a leader and will be a leader at different times in our lives. Want to change the world and our future for the better? It begins within and by being intentional. Commit to understanding yourself and to understanding where others want and need to go. Know why others want to get to this new place. Make the difference you want to make in the world based on your values and beliefs and continue to check-in with yourself to stay on course.
We are at a critical moment. We must work together to build momentum for transformative action to address all of the major crises happening here at home and around the world. We are not separate from one another for everything is connected, and those who choose to see our connectedness and choose to be of service and lead themselves and others with love shall truly create the divine future within humanity’s heart and soul.
JOIN Barb and John as they discuss Leading for the Common Good.
Hour 2 (Rebroadcast) – Kelly and Robby Riggs, Counter Mentor Leadership
Joining the show during the second hour are the father and son co-authors of Counter Mentor Leadership: How to Unlock the Potential of the 4-Generation Workplace.
Father and son team Kelly Riggs, a Boomer, and Robby Riggs, a Millennial, the co-authors of Counter Mentor Leadership: How to Unlock the Potential of the 4-Generation Workplace, are entrepreneurs and management consultants. Together they are uniquely positioned to challenge stereotypes and poke fun at the status quo.- What happens to the bottom line in organizations plagued with turnover from malcontent Millennials?
- How to transform an entrenched generational disconnect into a dynamic, collaborative organization able to face 21st century challenges.
- How to move from directives and demands to relational leadership.
- How to capitalize on each generation’s skills to close the knowledge gap and enhance understanding.
Kelly Riggs is an author, speaker and business performance coach for executives and companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. Kelly is a former sales executive and two-time national Salesperson of the Year with well over two decades of executive management and training experience. Robby Riggs is a corporate consultant specializing in strategic transformation initiatives and driving successful change in companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100s. Their new book, Counter Mentor Leadership: How to Unlock the Potential of the 4-Generation Workplace (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2018), offers practical, actionable advice that improves workplace culture and enables organizations to bridge the generational divide.
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