Posts tagged resilience
Chap. Karen Meeker | Purpose, Leadership, Resilience & Faith

Magical technologies surround humans in the developed world. It’s taken for granted that on-demand electricity, stocked grocery stores with food from around the world, communication that enables anyone with a smart phone to broadcast their lives globally, and various modes of safe, cheap transportation are the norm. Someone living just a century earlier would find today’s world unrecognizable. Yet, these changes are minor compared to the possible changes to come. Artificial intelligence is in its infancy and already its transformative powers are easy to feel. Space exploration, space mining, and space tourism will go from novel to ordinary in the coming decades. Fusion energy and quantum computing will likely go from theoretical to practical in a couple generations. Medical research will extend life like never before and potentially suspend the aging process while robots and other technologies will do the work that has often filled people with meaning.

In short, the changes that humanity has experienced are nothing compared to the changes that are to come. As these changes arrive, people are bound to gravitate toward the things they know in order to cope. Relationships and faith will become more important than they are now. Real leadership that offers solutions and helps people navigate rapid change will grow in importance and so will individual and organizational resilience. In an AI world where unprecedented longevity is possible, finding one’s purpose becomes of paramount importance.

In this interview, Chaplain (Colonel) Karen Meeker joins the show to discuss all these topics. She talks about the importance of finding one’s purpose and how to go about finding it. She describes her work helping military leadership navigate the challenges in the aftermath of battle and she gives her perspective on the differences between resilience and perseverance. Chaplain Meeker goes on to share her insight on what the future of faith might look like, suggesting that the next pope could come from the continent of Africa and saying missionaries might one day originate from Africa and be sent to developed countries. She ends the conversation by discussing the mistakes humans are making today that the people of 2075 will look back at in disbelief. 

Chaplain (Colonel) Karen Meeker is a US Army Colonel and the Command Chaplain of US Africa Command. Raised in rural Pennsylvania, she received calls to serve God and the US military when she was growing up. Chaplain Meeker holds a Master Parachutist badge and was named Pathfinder School and Officer Honor Graduate at Basic Airborne School in Fort Benning, GA. She is also the first woman chaplain to serve in Special Operations and the first woman chaplain jumpmaster. Chaplain Meeker enjoys serving Soldiers and their Families through worship, preaching, discipleship, outreach, and also enjoys competing in an occasional endurance event. In 2020, Chaplain Meeker was inducted into the US Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame.

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Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman | Leading Through High Pressure

Major General Kenneth Ekman is a command pilot with thousands of flying hours. Many of those hours have been in high-pressure, combat situations. In his role as the Department of Defense West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command, Maj. Gen. Ekman has had to deal with a variety of other high-pressure situations, including the drawdown of U.S. forces in Niger.

In this interview, Maj. Gen. Ekman discusses three topics in detail - leadership, managing pressure, and the future of Africa. He describes the leadership model he believes yields the best results for teams, how to prepare a team to execute a mission, the concept of “disagree and commit,” and managing change as a leader. Referencing his experience as a command pilot, Maj. Gen. Ekman talks about the methods he has used for managing stress and high-pressure situations, building trust when the stakes are life and death, and how he has developed resilience over the course of his career. The conversation ends with Maj. Gen. Ekman detailing why Africa is important to the United States and how their shifting demographics, along with their abundance of natural resources, will make Africa a more important global influence throughout the rest of the 21st century.

Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman is the Department of Defense West Africa Coordination Element Lead, U.S. Africa Command, Stuttgart Möhringen, Germany. In this capacity, he coordinates with African militaries, the U.S. interagency, and allies to build unity of effort, maximize the effectiveness of operations, activities and investments, and ensure alignment with U.S. whole of government efforts to advance posture initiatives and campaign objectives in West Africa.

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Don MacPherson | Becoming Resilient

In 2018, 12 Geniuses host Don MacPherson was told that he was a candidate to have both his hips replaced. With two young children in diapers and believing he was too young for the procedures, he put off the surgeries for two years. The pandemic extended the wait until 2023. By that time, Don’s mobility had become limited, he was irritable, sleep was difficult, energy was low, and he wondered if he would ever be able to restore a life that was without constant discomfort.

In this interview, Don turns over the host microphone to his friend Jason Lauritsen to discuss what Don learned about himself and becoming resilient. Don and Jason discuss how being open to feedback was crucial in helping Don realize that he needed to improve his health, how an audit of Don’s values helped him understand that his family would suffer if he didn’t take care of what ailed him, why this story might be relatable to others who are experiencing chronic pain and those who are living with someone in chronic pain, and how Don has gained a renewed sense of optimism about the future from this experience. They go on to talk about why building resilience is vital for anyone who wants to have a long, successful, fulfilling life and Don shares what he would like to do with the next 25 years of his life.

Don MacPherson is CEO of 12 Geniuses and host of the 12 Geniuses podcast. He is also a founder of Home at Home, an organization that offers a comprehensive range of services, from home assessments to renovations, to make aging in place not only possible but truly fulfilling.

A dynamic keynote speaker, Jason Lauritsen is a true thought leader in the world of work and employee engagement who is dedicated to revolutionizing the way we Lead With Relationship™. He fearlessly challenges traditional norms to reshape the employee experience by consistently placing authentic human connection at the heart of leadership. Jason is the author of two books, Unlocking High Performance and Social Gravity. Jason’s thought leadership has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Talent Management magazine, HR Executive magazine, and SHRM publications.

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Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman | Thriving in Tomorrow's Work

The world is changing faster than ever. The “Accelerating Rate of Change” suggests that humans will experience exponential rates of change this century. With the first quarter of the century nearly complete, there is little evidence that these predictions are false. We’ve seen massive changes in healthcare and medical technology, Artificial Intelligence has moved from potential to reality, space technology sees breakthroughs on a daily basis, climate change and climate technology are engaged in a battle that could determine the future of humanity, and social trends threaten to further divide us. All these things are true and we haven’t even experienced the potential of quantum computing and fusion energy. That’s a lot of change!

In 2003, Ray Kurzweil said “the 21st century will be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate of progress, which is a thousand times greater than the 20th century.” That’s an unimaginable amount of change that has the potential to steamroll the rigid and those who are convinced that they can continue doing what they have always done. To thrive in a future that moves this quickly requires intention and a rare set of ingredients. These skills will help people flourish in the workplace and in their personal lives.

In this interview, Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman discusses the necessary ingredients to thrive at work now and in the future. She talks about the importance of resilience, creativity and innovation, forming strong social connections, doing work that matters, and being able to identify future scenarios well before they arrive. Most importantly, Gabriella unlocks the secrets for building our skills in each of these areas.

Gabriella Rosen Kellerman is an author, entrepreneur, start-up executive, and Harvard-trained physician with expertise in behavioral and organizational, change, digital health, wellbeing, and AI. Her first book, Tomorrowmind, co-authored with Professor Martin Seligman, will be published by Atria in January 2023. She has served as Chief Product Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at BetterUp, a transformation platform for global professionals, and as Head of BetterUp Labs, BetterUp’s research arm, which studies whole person development in partnership with labs at Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and many more. 

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