Be a Hope: Singing, Community, and Courage in Leadership | Benjamin Mertz

What parts of ourselves did we leave behind when we learned how to be professional? For some of us, it was singing. For others, creativity, play, vulnerability, or the willingness to connect with someone whose worldview looks nothing like our own. Somewhere along the way, being human can become something we carefully manage rather than something we fully inhabit. Amy and Benjamin Mertz explore what happens when we bring those parts of ourselves back into the room. Drawing from the Black spiritual and civil rights music traditions, Benjamin describes how communal singing can dissolve defenses and reconnect people to joy, courage, and one another. Their conversation expands into dialogue across differences, the importance of community when we feel stuck, making “good trouble” at work, and what it means to protect our humanity as AI becomes more present in our lives. Hope, Benjamin suggests, does not have to be something we wait to feel. It can become something we practice through service, creativity, connection, and the way we treat the people around us. Perhaps staying human is not something we accomplish alone. It is something we keep reminding one another how to do. Moments That Create Momentum: We Were Made to Create – Explore why singing, dancing, and making art still matter even when no one is performing, competing, or trying to be the best. Freedom Is Not Individual – Discover how community can help us remember who we are when our own thinking has left us feeling stuck. Disagreement Is Not Danger – Hear how to stay expansive and hold space for our differences. Good Trouble Builds Resilience – See why speaking up in small ways can strengthen a team before a much larger storm arrives. Be a Hope – Recognize how hope becomes more tangible when we practice it through service, connection, creativity, and integrity. About the Guest: BenjaSoul is a composer, pianist and song leader who has led music of the Black Spiritual tradition for 20 years. He leads music at benefit concerts, protest actions, sacred services, and Black History workshops. He is currently the board chair of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, an immigrant rights and anti-incarceration nonprofit organization. He has worked in the Civil Rights space his entire life. Benja is also a certified executive coach through the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute. He helped develop BEC's inclusive leadership programs and teaches Leadership presence with Dr. Mark Rittenberg's team at the Haas School of Business. He has facilitated leadership workshops across many industries, including healthcare, education, and tech. He is currently pursuing a Master's in History, focusing his thesis on the history of the Civil Rights movement. When not teaching, performing, or causing good trouble, Benja is at home being the proud father of Isaiah, Sammy, and baby Amarachi. https://benjaminmertz.com https://benjasoul.com Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity: htpps://im4humanintegrity.org About Amy: Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work. She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality. Connect with Amy: https://createmagicatwork.net/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427 https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.