Leading from Being

Hosted by Marti Spiegelman & Todd Hoskins

Business Society Culture

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

May 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Leading from Being with Marti Spiegelman and Todd Hoskins delves into the untapped dimensions of leadership, weaving together the possibilities within full consciousness and indigenous wisdom. This isn't another "conscious leadership" podcast – it's an invitation to experience leadership beyond our thinking minds, accessing depths of human experience that most leadership conversations never touch. Drawing from Marti's deep work in 'precision consciousness,' grounded in both Harvard biochemistry and three indigenous wisdom traditions, and Todd's expertise in organizational design and natural systems, each episode bridges principles and practices of leadership with timeless ways of knowing. Together, they guide listeners beyond conventional paradigms to explore how accessing our innate consciousness can transform not just how we lead, but how we exist in relationship with ourselves, our teams, communities, and the living systems around us. Perfect for leaders seeking to transcend traditional frameworks, whether you're navigating complexity in the boardroom, catalyzing transformation in your organization, or fostering change in your community.

Listen to episodes

10 recent

May 25, 2026Episode 371 hr 3 min

Episode 37: Landscapes of Being - Ecotones

Send us Fan MailIn the fourth episode of their Landscapes series, Marti and Todd explore ecotones — the zones in nature where different environments meet and interact, generating new forms of life that neither could produce alone. Todd opens with the etymology of ecotone — eco from the Greek for household, the living relationships of a place, and tone from the Greek for tension and stretching, the same root that gives us the vibration of a musical string and the vitality of a tonic. From the edge effect in ecology to the mangrove's capacity to generate what neither land nor sea could produce alone, Todd and Marti explore how biodiversity concentrates at edges and what that suggests about creativity, consciousness, and connection.The conversation moves from ecology to the ecotones within ourselves and between us. Marti introduces the indigenous understanding of border work — tending the edges so exchange can happen — and the Andean principle of complementarities, where different things come together to create something new that benefits everything. Todd challenges the geographic bias of center and edge, suggesting that sometimes the edge is the center, and that creativity lives in the stretching between what we know and what is arriving. Together they explore ecotones as a model for organizational partnerships, healing through participation, and the human capacity to steward the creation of the never-before-imagined.In Marti's Potentialities essay, "Infinite Arrivals," she reflects on how potentialities are not far away but always in motion toward us — and that the empty, spacious moments we often resist are themselves carrying vital information. Drawing on graphic design's principle of white space, she invites listeners to consider that they may be the very conduit for the next infinite arrival the world needs.

March 7, 2026Episode 361 hr 2 min

Episode 36: Landscapes of Being - Wayfinding

Send us Fan MailWayfinding once meant discovering one's path through never-before-encountered territory, step by experiential step — the opposite of its modern meaning, which is following signs through spaces already fully mapped. This inversion becomes the episode's animating question: what have we lost when we stopped reading the intelligence of living territories and started looking for the right playbook?The conversation moves through Wade Davis's writings on dead reckoning, the Polynesian navigators who learned the speech of the Pacific through wave color and wind, and Andean farmers who read astronomical conjunction to time their planting. These examples ground a larger exploration of wayfinding as dialogue — the same capacity applies to how a new CEO might listen to the living speech of an organization rather than adjusting its rule book. The episode concludes with both hosts reflecting on what it means to find our way rather than the way: an orientation toward living in connection.Todd's Potentialities essay "At the Threshold" extends this into the territory of risk, tracing two forgotten etymologies — the reef navigators had to track and the gift of providence that comes through genuine exchange — and finding in the figure of Hermes a guide who moves with uncertainty rather than eliminating it. For leaders caught between recklessness and paralysis, this episode offers a more fundamental shift: restoring connection with the territory itself brings us all toward home.

November 12, 2025Episode 351 hr 21 min

Episode 35: Landscapes - Animals Build Ecosystems with Simon Mustoe

Send us Fan MailWhat if 50% of wildlife species are actually recovering—and no one's talking about it? Wildlife ecologist Simon Mustoe challenges the catastrophe narratives dominating conservation, revealing a radically different picture of what's happening on Earth.In this Landscapes episode, Simon explores how animals don't just inhabit ecosystems—they build them. From whales fertilizing ocean food webs to elephants shaping forests, wildlife carries the cultural knowledge and behaviors that create the stability we depend on. He introduces the concept of the "air gap"—the space between our minds and Earth—and why floating brains that can move through landscapes make animals the builders of living systems.Hosts Marti Spiegelman and Todd Hoskins dive deep with Simon into questions that challenge conventional thinking: What if the greatest obstacle to conservation is constant human intervention? What if "doing less" could achieve more? How do we shift from control to participation in the ecosystems we're part of?The conversation weaves together original human wisdom and modern ecology, examining how collective knowing surpasses individual scientific prediction, why humans need to remember they're animals too, and what it means to let wildlife lead the restoration of our world.Marti's Potentialities segment explores the power of awe as an evolutionary force—and why our linear minds trap us from experiencing the very rapture that could change everything.Topics include: rewilding consciousness, the paradox of action versus awareness, Tom Brown Jr.'s teaching on sensory capacities, the Yaqui understanding of perception as the core of being human, and why dreaming about wildlife might be the truest sign you're connected to life.Guest: Simon Mustoe, wildlife ecologist and author of How to Survive the Next 100 Years: Lessons From Nature and Wildlife in the Balance

September 28, 2025Episode 3452 min

Episode 34: Landscapes of Being - External Territories and Internal Geographies

Send us Fan MailIn this inaugural Landscapes episode, Marti traces the word's surprising origins from Dutch "land" and "ship," revealing how understanding of place began with fluid conversation between territories. The discussion moves from physical geographies to what Andean elders call "landscapes of the heart"—internal territories of relationship and meaning that shape who we become.The conversation explores how Western separation from Nature impoverishes both external and internal landscapes, while original human wisdom traditions demonstrate belonging to the places we inhabit. Personal stories emerge of witnessing the healing of post-extraction lands in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and the electromagnetic pull of Arctic territories, showing how specific places can restore capacity for thriving.The episode reveals how placing awareness outward into the world can create deeper connection than traditional meditation, and concludes with the understanding that integration emerges naturally naturally when systems are well-functioning. For leaders navigating complexity without clear roadmaps, this offers a different approach to finding direction through relationship with the territories we're crossing.

July 9, 2025Episode 331 hr 8 min

Episode 33: Relationality & the Deeper Dynamics of Life

Send us Fan MailIn the final episode of their "Problem with Problems" series, Marti Spiegelman and Todd Hoskins explore the deeper dynamics that lie beneath our habitual problem-solving orientation. They introduce the Andean principle of "sourcing from who you're becoming, not from who you have been" and examine how this shift in awareness transforms leadership, relationships, and our capacity to respond to life's challenges.Marti and Todd discuss how moving beyond the fixed, self-referential lens of problem-solving opens us to participate in the living dynamics that shape reality. Through practical examples—from mentoring relationships to networking events—they illustrate how presence and connection reveal opportunities invisible to our reactive, categorizing minds.Marti shares insights from original human wisdom traditions about humanity's role as conduits for universal consciousness, while Todd explores how true mentoring helps people unfold into their authentic being rather than simply achieving goals. Together, they invite listeners to discover what becomes possible when we stop trying to control outcomes and instead learn to move with the creative forces of life itself.

May 12, 2025Episode 3258 min

Episode 32: Stepping into Belonging

Send us Fan MailIn this second installment of "The Problem with Problems" series, hosts Marti Spiegelman and Todd Hoskins explore how our dualistic worldview impacts our sense of belonging. They discuss how a binary "either/or" perspective shrinks our awareness to two dimensions, forcing us to see ourselves as either included or excluded, which fundamentally limits our creative capacity and connection to the world.Marti and Todd propose that true belonging isn't about fitting in with specific groups but rather about recognizing our inherent membership in the greater whole—the living universe. They suggest that when we shift our awareness away from self-reference and into direct sensory experience of the world around us, we can discover that belonging is already guaranteed and unconditional.Throughout their conversation, Marti and Todd look into how this shift in orientation transforms our relationship with problems, creativity, and collective action. They explore how indigenous cultures maintain connections to something larger than ego structures and how our modern disconnection from Nature places excessive pressure on human relationships for validation.The episode concludes with Todd's potentialities essay on "Sinuosity"—the value of winding, responsive paths versus our cultural obsession with directness and efficiency—and how embracing our natural rhythms might lead to more authentic ways of being in the world.

March 11, 2025Episode 311 hr 3 min

Episode 31: The Problem with Problems - The Problematic Worldview

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Marti and Todd begin a new three-part series exploring "The Problem With Problems," focusing first on the worldview that centers around problems and solutions. They open with a revealing story about forest management, where the seemingly simple solution to prevent all forest fires actually created the conditions for far more devastating blazes – a perfect illustration of how our problem-solution mindset often backfires in complex living systems.The conversation delves into how deeply we've embedded this problem-solving reflex in modern life. From business to healthcare to personal development, we've trained ourselves to see challenges primarily as problems needing fixes. But what if this very worldview is limiting our ability to thrive in a complex world?Drawing from original human wisdom, Marti and Todd invite us to consider a different way of being – one where we participate in living systems rather than trying to control them. They explore how our sense of belonging shifts when we stop looking for problems everywhere and instead experience our membership in the world around us.This thought-provoking conversation challenges us to reconsider the problem-solution paradigm that has shaped our modern world and encourages us to explore more expansive, creative ways of engaging with life's challenges and possibilities.

November 24, 2024Episode 301 hr 3 min

Episode 30: Climate Consciousness with Liz Carlisle

Send us Fan MailIn the final episode of their climate consciousness series, Marti and Todd welcome Liz Carlisle, associate professor at UC Santa Barbara and author of "Healing Grounds: Climate Justice and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming." They explore the essential relationship between human consciousness and agriculture through the lens of indigenous wisdom and regenerative farming practices. Carlisle shares insights learned from women farmers and indigenous leaders about the importance of putting "roots in the ground all year round" - both literally in farming practices and metaphorically in how we approach our relationship with the land. The conversation delves into how regenerative agriculture isn't just about carbon sequestration, but about healing our relationship with the earth and each other through practices that give back to the land rather than simply taking from it. The hosts and guest discuss the potential for regional food systems to scale out (rather than up) regenerative practices, and how everyone - even those not directly involved in farming - can participate in healing our relationship with the planet. The episode concludes with the new "Potentialities" segment, replacing the previous "Conscious Rant," where Todd shares observations from a regenerating forest in Costa Rica as a metaphor for how consciousness in leadership can create conditions for sustainable transformation.

April 7, 2024Episode 291 hr 4 min

Episode 29: Climate Consciousness with Felipe Benitez

Send us Fan Mail In the third episode in their series on climate consciousness, Marti and Todd are joined by Felipe Benitez, the founder of Corazón Latino. They dive into a discussion on approaches to leadership and addressing climate change through a lens of love, compassion, and engaging diverse communities. Benitez emphasizes the importance of reconnecting people, especially communities of color, with Nature in joyful and experiential ways, rather than relying on top-down messaging or policy changes alone. He shares insights on effectively inviting people into Nature, tapping into shared human experiences, and catalyzing collective action through a focus on hope and positive engagement. The three of them discuss the power of individual consciousness, the need to move beyond polarization, and the opportunity to create a more hopeful future by highlighting our interconnectedness with the natural world.

December 21, 2023Episode 281 hr 7 min

Episode 28: Climate Consciousness with Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir

Send us Fan MailIn continuing the series on climate consciousness, Marti and Todd welcome guest Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir, an Icelandic author, filmmaker and sustainability leader. Hrund discusses the Icelandic concept of "InnSæi" which means intuition or "inner sea." She describes how InnSæi represents seeing within oneself, understanding one's place in the world, and navigating life with an inner compass.The conversation explores how modern life has disconnected people from their InnSæi and the natural world. However, by cultivating presence, imagination, and awe, we can shift our center of gravity back within. This helps us make better decisions, empathize, tap into creativity, and care for the planet. The conversation stresses the importance of understanding the complexity and interconnectedness of life. We must move from separation to participation, respecting planetary boundaries. Our consciousness and actions impact the world.