Wider Roots
Wider Roots

Wider Roots

Jeremy Blanchard

Overview
Episodes

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How can our social movement spaces create more opportunities for our internal transformation while we work for external change? Hosted by leadership coach Jeremy Blanchard, Wider Roots brings together wisdom teachers, coaches, and leaders who are wrestling with questions about how to bridge personal and systemic transformation. This show is for coaches, facilitators, and healers who want to explore approaches to personal growth that focus more on the well-being of the collective, instead of just the individual. It’s also for movement leaders who want to infuse the power of inner work into their changemaking. Our work for climate justice, racial justice, equity, and collective liberation calls on us to bring our best qualities forward. Join us as we explore how we can embody a more compassionate, resilient, and spiritually grounded way of making change. For additional resources and to connect with like-minded changemakers, sign up for our newsletter at https://WiderRoots.com

Recent Episodes

Building a business that resists capitalism (w/ Bear Hebert)
AUG 13, 2024
Building a business that resists capitalism (w/ Bear Hebert)

“Reminding ourselves that, that commerce is not the same thing as capitalism. Buying and selling things is a really old thing that human beings have been doing for way longer than capitalism has existed.”   

Today's episode features anti-capitalist business coach Bear Hebert (they/them). We explore Bear's definition of capitalism as exploitation for profit and discuss principles for running an anti-capitalist business. We examine manipulative tactics often used by entrepreneurs and consider more justice-oriented alternatives.

Bear and I discuss the pressure to have an "ideal" business and how to align money-making with our values. With over 20 years in social justice work, Bear brings insights as both a radical business coach and educator, highlighting how capitalism intersects with white supremacy and patriarchy.

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/11 

⭐ Key moments

  • 03:57 - How Bear got politicized
  • 10:11 - What makes us feel gross about marketing
  • 18:46 - Authentic alternatives to manipulative marketing tactics
  • 28:44 - Debunking the myth of the perfect dream job
  • 33:47 - Rethinking niching from an anti-capitalist lens
  • 36:15 - Business as a garden, not a machine
  • 43:37 - Key areas to integrate anti-capitalist values in your business
  • 47:58 - Aligning business policies with anti-capitalist principles
  • 52:18 - Bear's sources of nourishment
  • 56:51 - Closing

📚 Resources & Links


🌲 Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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59 MIN
Coaching in Times of Collapse (w/ Margaret Wheatley)
JUL 16, 2024
Coaching in Times of Collapse (w/ Margaret Wheatley)

“It takes enormous courage and enormous compassion to face reality. To say ‘I want my little contribution to make a difference. Maybe only in the lives of my colleagues, family, and community, but that's enough actually.’”

Today's episode is with author and systems thinker, Margaret Wheatley. For over four decades, she's been helping leaders show up fully in these chaotic times and find meaningful ways to serve. She’s the author of Leadership and The New Science and Who Do We Choose To Be?

I'll be honest - I find Margaret's work both inspiring and deeply confronting. Part of me appreciates her invitation to look directly at the pattern of societal collapse we're in, relieved someone's telling the truth without sugarcoating. Another part wonders if we can really predict how it'll all turn out.

We talk about facing the reality of collapse with clear eyes, redefining meaningful work and life in this context, and how coaches and leaders can move beyond individualism towards community-centered approaches.

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/10 

Key moments

  • 02:33 - The power of clear-eyed leadership in chaotic times
  • 09:36 - Embracing reality to find meaningful service
  • 13:09 - Breaking free from "hopium" to see our authentic path
  • 22:45 - Cultivating presence through mindfulness practices
  • 25:42 - Embracing the warrior spirit in a changing world
  • 30:39 - Redefining meaningful work and life in turbulent times
  • 36:15 - Community as the answer to individualism
  • 41:54 - Ancient wisdom we need at these times

Resources & Links


Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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49 MIN
What’s the role of the coaching industry in collective liberation? (w/ Andréa Ranae)
MAY 21, 2024
What’s the role of the coaching industry in collective liberation? (w/ Andréa Ranae)

“My invitation is just to let ourselves feel the pain. That we don't have to have the shame on top of it. It’s painful to know that I have contributed to the harm of another person and that I had no idea. I don't have to hold shame about it. I can grieve that.”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/9 

In this conversation, Andréa Ranae and I explore some juicy questions: How has the coaching industry's engagement with social justice evolved over the past 8 years? What does it look like for coaches to recognize our collective power to shape the industry?

Andréa shares stories of the breakthroughs and challenges she's witnessed as her students become politicized. We discuss the importance of taking collective responsibility as coaches and healers. We also dig into the role of shame, and how it can serve as a wake-up call but shouldn't keep us stuck.

Andréa Ranae is a coach, facilitator, and singer-songwriter who has dedicated her life to exploring how we can live, work, and relate in ways that contribute to impactful social change.

⭐ In this episode

  • How has the coaching industry evolved in its engagement with social justice over the last eight years?
  • What were some of the key concepts and frameworks Andréa needed to introduce to coaches who were new to social justice?
  • What breakthroughs have coaches experienced as they became more politicized through her teachings?
  • How can coaches use their collective power to shape the industry and create systemic change?
  • What questions can politicized coaches ask themselves to work toward collective liberation?
  • How can shame serve as an indicator of change, and what role does it play in keeping systems of domination in place?

📚 Resources & Links


💬 Connect with Andréa Ranae


🌲 Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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41 MIN
The inseparable link between inner work and outer change (w/ Staci Haines)
MAY 7, 2024
The inseparable link between inner work and outer change (w/ Staci Haines)

“There's no such thing as personal change outside of a social context. You actually can't separate a person from our social context. And that is just like, well, duh, how did they ever think we could do that?”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/8 

In this conversation with Staci Haines, we dive into the intersection of personal transformation and structural social change. I appreciate Staci's commitment to holding these two aspects as inseparable - that true healing and justice require both inner work and outer change. We explore some challenging questions: How can we navigate conversations around Palestine and Gaza with our clients in a way that is grounded in compassion and truth? How do we ensure that transformational modalities don't inadvertently reinforce passivity in the face of injustice, but rather empower us to create change? What are the key distinctions between coaching and therapy, and how can we discern our realm of competency as practitioners?

Staci Haines is a pioneer in the field of politicized somatics and trauma healing. For over three decades, Staci has been dedicated to bridging personal and social transformation, guided by the belief that we cannot have one without the other. As the co-founder of generative somatics and a senior teacher at the Strozzi Institute, she brings a depth of wisdom and experience to her work supporting individuals and movements in healing trauma and embodying transformative change. 

⭐ Key moments

  • 02:43 - Opening
  • 05:03 - Staci's roots: personal + systemic transformation
  • 12:32 - The power of somatics in social change work
  • 17:58 - How we're showing up for Palestine
  • 27:54 - How do we move beyond individualism in healing and coaching
  • 36:09 - Coaching to challenge the status quo, not to cope with It
  • 39:43 - Imagining new credentialing orgs for politicized coaching/healing
  • 59:25 - Staci's sources of joy
  • 1:04:22 - Closing

📚 Resources & Links


💬 Connect with Staci Haines


🎙️ Other episodes you might like


🌲 Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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68 MIN
Heartbreak, Hope, & The Wisdom of Joanna Macy (w/ Jess Serrante)
APR 23, 2024
Heartbreak, Hope, & The Wisdom of Joanna Macy (w/ Jess Serrante)

“Uncertainty inherently means that possibility exists. Possibility for all sorts of things. For the darkest fantasies and fears that I have and for the most beautiful. And my life is a vote in the direction of a possibility, and I'm going to give myself to the one I want.”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/7 

In this conversation with Jess Serrante, we dive into the teachings of Joanna Macy and explore how they can support us in our work for social change. I was particularly moved by our discussion on the role of heartbreak in activism and coaching. We asked, what if more healing modalities and spiritual paths helped us get in touch with our pain for the world as a catalyst for discovering our unique contribution? Jess shares powerful insights from her new podcast, "We Are The Great Turning," (including previews of unreleased episodes!)

We also grapple with the question of hope in the face of overwhelming challenges like climate change. When despair creeps in, what can we draw upon that's more stable than the fluctuations of hope? Throughout our conversation, we touch on the importance of grounding our activism in our love for the world, and how Joanna's teachings can help us do that.

Jess Serrante is a dear friend of mine and a longtime climate activist who has worked with groups like Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and Sunrise Movement. She’s a coach, facilitator, and now a podcaster!

Subscribe to We Are The Great Turning on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Key moments

  • 03:02 - The dream Joanna & Jess had for this project
  • 15:39 - Heartbreak and honoring our pain for the world
  • 23:59 - Clip from Joanna Macy: What if my pain for the world overwhelms me?
  • 28:58 - Clip from Joanna Macy: Our pain is sacred
  • 35:34 - Heartbreak guiding us to our calling
  • 44:25 - Examining Hope (and other places to find our motivation)
  • 53:36 - Clip from Joanna Macy: Whistling in the dark to cheer ourselves up
  • 1:02:51 - Jess' sources of nourishment
  • 1:04:46 - Closing

Resources & Links


Connect with Jess


Follow Wider Roots

  • WiderRoots.com - Join the newsletter for more resources on personal + systemic transformation

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71 MIN