580: Help People Show Up as Themselves, with Frederic Laloux

Frederic Laloux: Reinventing Organizations

Frederic is the author of Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness*. The book is a global word-of-mouth bestseller with over 850,000 copies sold in 20 languages. Frederic’s work has inspired the founders of Extinction Rebellion, the Sunrise Movement, and Project Drawdown, as well as countless corporate leaders and faith movements. In a past life, he was an associate principal with McKinsey & Company. He’s also the creator of the Insights for the Journey video series.

In this conversation, Frederic and I explore a place where almost every leader can have a meaningful impact: helping people show up as their whole selves. We discuss how critical it is for leaders to lead the way in doing this — and how storytelling can be an important entry point. We look at some of the practical actions leaders can take to enter into a place of wholeness, including elevating beyond content, using everyday language, and integrating with the work at hand.

Key Points

• As a leader, wholeness begins with you. Exploring wholeness yourself sets the stage for everyone else to be able to engage more fully.
• Rather than talking lots about wholeness, it’s often helpful just to begin modeling it. When you do, everyday language us useful to help others engage.
• Your personal history, the history of the organization, and the organization’s purpose are often helpful stories to share that open up a space for wholeness.
• You can turn any conversation into a moment of wholeness. One invitation for leaders is to stop talking about content and elevate the dialogue to “what’s happening” overall.
• Resist any temptation to disconnect wholeness from the work at hand. Bringing these together helps people to show up at work more authentically.

Resources Mentioned

• Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness* by Frederic Laloux
• Reinventing Organizations: An Illustrated Invitation to Join the Conversation on Next-Stage Organizations* by Frederic Laloux
• Insights for the Journey video series by Frederic Laloux

Interview Notes

Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required).

Related Episodes

• The Way to Stay Grounded, with Parker Palmer (episode 378)
• How to Be More Inclusive, with Stefanie Johnson (episode 508)
• The Path Towards Trusting Relationships, with Edgar Schein and Peter Schein (episode 539)
• End Imposter Syndrome in Your Organization, with Jodi-Ann Burey (episode 556)

Discover More

Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.