Ronderings

Hosted by Ron Rapatalo

Business Careers Society CultureInterviews guests

Website RSS feed LinkedIn

Episodes

118

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

About the show

RONderings is where meaningful conversations meet practical leadership. Ron Rapatalo talks with leaders, changemakers, and everyday people about purpose, career growth, wellness, relationships, identity, and the moments that shape who we become. Ron is a business development leader, executive and career coach, author of Leverage the People Who Love and Care About You, and host of RONderings. Drawing on nearly three decades of experience across corporate, nonprofit, higher education, government, and mission-driven organizations, he believes the best leadership starts with self-awareness, authentic relationships, and the courage to keep growing - for ourselves and for those we serve.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 4, 202656 min

Hold Up an X-Ray, Not a Mirror: Shared Power, Possibility Development, and Young People Who Lead Now (with Dr. Kimberlin Butler)

Nearly every Sunday, a woman at Dr. Kimberlin Butler's church in Louisiana looked at her and told her she was born to win, designed for accomplishment and endowed with the seeds of greatness. A Head Start student who later relied on Pell Grants for college, she heard it so often that she came to believe it, and her work since has been about giving other young people that same sense of what is possible. In this episode of Ronderings, Dr. Butler, founder of The L.E.A.D. Agency, a social impact firm, and creator of Youth-Possible Philanthropy®, a framework for sharing real decision-making power with young people, talks about the difference between being heard and having influence. She became a teacher through Teach For America, advised two US secretaries of education during the Obama administration, and led national work at Grantmakers for Education, a network of education funders. Again and again she saw institutions make decisions about young people with no young people in the room, including during the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal, when she was a funder asking who was caring for the students. She describes the Tower Foundation's Community Experts Team, where young people with lived experience co-design the requests for proposals, score applications and decide how roughly $350,000 in grants is awarded, and explains why foundations need an x-ray rather than a mirror. She also tells the story of a young woman she calls Maya, celebrated on national stages while she was homeless in New York City, and describes the Youth-Possible Philanthropy® Practice Network she is building to bring funders and young people together over three years. Her Rondering is that the future does not simply belong to young people; it has to be shaped with them, because leadership grows when people are trusted with real responsibility, not once they have earned the right title. Referenced in this episode: Carl McNair - brother of beloved astronaut Ronald McNair - and Kimberlin Butler discuss the impact of being a Ronald McNair Scholar/Fellow. - https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/carl-mcnair-brother-of-beloved-astronaut-ronald-mcnair-and-kimberlin-butler-discuss-the-impact-of-being-a-ronald-mcnair-scholarfellow/ 11 Ex-Atlanta Public School Employees Found Guilty In Cheating Scandal - https://www.npr.org/2015/04/02/396975990/11-ex-atlanta-public-school-employees-found-guilty-in-cheating-scandal Engaging Youth in Philanthropic Practice: Field-Building Strategies and the Promise of Youth-Possible Philanthropy® - https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr/vol17/iss1/9/ Power Shared, Possibility Realized: Youth-Possible Philanthropy® in Practice at the Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation - https://www.geofunders.org/news/power-shared-possibility-realized-youth-possible/ Links: Dr. Kimberlin Butler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlindbutler More about The L.E.A.D. Agency: https://theleadagencyllc.com/ Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org

October 28, 202657 min

Get Quiet Enough to Hear What's Next: Job Searching in the Age of AI, Relationship Capital, and Joy at Work (with Krista Purnell)

When Krista Purnell was laid off for the first time, she planned on six months at home with family and then a new job back in New York. That is not what happened. What came instead was not on her bingo board, and she says it left her in a really great place. In this episode of Ronderings, Krista, an education leader with nearly twenty-five years in classrooms, schools and nonprofits who now offers coaching and consulting, talks about looking for what comes next, being a super connector, and relationship capital in K-12 education. She grew up the youngest of three in New Jersey, twelve years behind her sister, with Saturdays at the museum and the bookstore. She joined Teach For America in 2003, and her first years as a classroom teacher in Newark are still the hardest job she has ever had. Later, as a managing director at the education nonprofit Citizen Schools, she found her old school among those in the program. Then came a merger, that first layoff, and the hard lesson that a business decision still hurts when you have given a place a little of your heart. The conversation turns to what a search looks like now: being honest about which roles are not hers, writing a resume for whoever is actually reading it, taking a coding class and AI courses, and making time quiet enough to hear what comes next. It also covers why she introduces people with nothing expected back, why serious work for children can still make room for joy, and why investing in people is how the results come. It ends on her advice for anyone in a transition: be open to how your life and career unfold, because the next door may open because of what happened before. (01:29) - Recording conversations with the people Ron knows (02:11) - The Knicks, Philly, and comeback wins (05:43) - Growing up twelve years after her sister (07:09) - Saturdays at the museum and the bookstore (08:27) - Becoming a Teach For America corps member in 2003 (10:32) - Teaching middle school math and building assessment systems (12:36) - Citizen Schools, and a first layoff (16:51) - Coding classes and new tech skills (17:27) - Job searching now: waiting for a sign (19:23) - Honest applications, and resumes for systems and people (22:07) - How Krista became a super connector (24:33) - Neuroscience, social intelligence, and reaching people (26:47) - Little science nerds and Trivial Pursuit cards (28:51) - Introductions with nothing expected back (30:52) - Brad Stulberg and The Way of Excellence (33:08) - Joy at work, from Messi to Stephen Curry (35:04) - Serious work without taking ourselves too seriously (37:33) - Vulnerability, joy, and high performance (39:32) - New Leaders, and serious Ron mode (43:07) - Krista's one-minute commercial (44:29) - Hiring managers, and why the streets talk (46:03) - Relationship capital in K-12 education (46:48) - Social savants and drawing out org charts (50:06) - Beliefs, behaviors, and ways of being (51:07) - Krista's Rondering: be open to how your career unfolds (53:48) - Where to find Krista Links: Skechers Is Releasing OG Anunoby's Game-Winning NBA Finals Sneakers - https://www.complex.com/sneakers/a/victor-deng/og-anunoby-skechers-skx-reign-nyc-blue-pe The Case for Excellence Without Obsession - https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/case-excellence-without-obsession-bookbite/58786/ Ask Why, Then Act: From a High School Newsroom to New Leaders and the Good Jobs Economy with Jon Schnur - https://ronderings.podcastsmatter.com/episodes/jon-schnur PD for Instructional Coaches: Exploring Your Inner Landscape - https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-pd-for-instructional-coaches-exploring-your-inner-landscape/2015/01 Krista Purnell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krista-purnell/ More about Purnell & Co: https://purnellandco.netlify.app/ Krista Purnell on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekplife/ Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Ron Rapatalo's bestselling book Leverage: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Interested in writing or publishing? Visit: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Start your own podcast that matters: www.podcastsmatter.com Check out other impact-driven podcasts: www.podcaststhatmatter.org

October 21, 202658 min

You Always Notice the Referee: Calm Leadership, Big Bets on Imperfect Data, and Skill Building in Nonprofits (with Alex Cantu)

When Alex Cantu trained new soccer referees, he told them to give every call about thirty seconds, because the game would show them whether they got it right. As a Chief Operating Officer, he leads the same way, watching how each decision moves through finance, HR and the next staff survey. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Alex, Chief Operating Officer of the Surge Institute, a national nonprofit that develops and supports leaders of color in education, to talk about staying calm under pressure, making big bets on imperfect information, and why a budget should tell a story. Alex tells his story as three decisions. His parents in San Antonio, who never got to finish college, made his education the priority from preschool on. In high school he took up refereeing because it paid cash, and twenty-three years later he still works games on Sundays. He graduated into the tail end of the Great Recession hoping for a career like the one in the advertising drama Mad Men, and a first job in schools with a nonprofit turned him toward social impact. Ron and Alex dig into why Alex says a COO communicates for a living, and why the role now calls for a generalist who can speak finance, law and culture without being a CPA or a lawyer. Alex sees keeping top talent through uncertainty as the sector's next challenge, and bets on skill building, with AI used to multiply what a lean team can do, not to shrink it. For his Rondering, Alex challenges his fellow COOs and CFOs to keep one spreadsheet for the whole budget and make the rest narrative: the organization's legacy, what has to change this year, and the way forward. The numbers matter, but people follow narratives. Chapters: (01:33) - Meeting at the Education Leaders of Color convening (03:27) - Three decisions, starting with his parents (05:25) - Refereeing soccer for twenty-three years (08:08) - A calm refereeing style and two breaths (11:32) - Missing calls and why the ball never lies (13:49) - From referee to chief operating officer (15:44) - Give every call thirty seconds (16:57) - Big bets on imperfect data (18:32) - Bridgespan and the rise of the generalist (23:23) - PowerPoint night: communicating for a living (26:57) - A first job in the Great Recession (28:53) - Advice to college Alex: be confident sooner (31:34) - Retaining top talent through uncertainty (35:44) - Alex's big bet: skill building and AI (37:20) - Ron's big bet: nonprofit mergers and acquisitions (42:37) - Reading together and celebrating what didn't work (48:03) - Alex's Rondering: one spreadsheet, the rest narrative (52:16) - Culture, the Spurs and the Knicks (55:05) - Investing in yourself as a leader Links: NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleads guilty in a betting scheme, August 2007 - https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/nye/pr/2007/2007aug15.html How Generalists Help Nonprofits Navigate Complexity, Bridgespan - https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/how-generalists-help-nonprofits-navigate-complexity A new home at Transcend for the Gradient Learning program, February 2026 - https://gradientlearning.org/whole-student-journal/our-next-chapter/ The Knicks beat the Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals - https://www.espn.com/story/_/id/48419498 The Two-Organizations Problem, Harvard Business Review - https://hbr.org/2026/06/the-two-organizations-problem Alex Cantu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexcantutx/ More about the Surge Institute: https://www.surgeinstitute.org/ Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Ron Rapatalo's bestselling book Leverage: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Interested in writing or publishing? Visit: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Start your own podcast that matters: www.podcastsmatter.com Check out other impact-driven podcasts: www.podcaststhatmatter.org

October 14, 202654 min

Healing Is Evergreen: Self-Talk, Courage, and Building a Coalition of Single Mothers (with Chastity Lord)

At ten or eleven, Chastity Lord read about a college student who was about to drop out, until she opened her mailbox and found her tuition inside, left by someone she never identified. Chastity decided then that one day she wanted to be that someone for somebody else. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Chastity, president and CEO of Jeremiah Program, which works with single mothers and their children two generations at a time, to talk about self talk, healing, and what history still has to teach today’s leaders. Chastity grew up the middle of three girls in a low-income home, where the library was her babysitter and her mother had the girls write book reports. The mailbox story came from Carol Burnett’s autobiography, and it still shapes how Chastity thinks about the angels in our lives: sometimes the money, sometimes the tough conversation, sometimes the introduction. Ron and Chastity dig into self talk as a leadership practice. Being in conversation with your own greatness, she says, means being honest about when you dip below your baseline, and healing is evergreen: a cut closes, but it still leaves a scar. She turns to Harriet Tubman, whose hardest step may have been telling someone else her idea, and to the unnamed people who walked through heat and cold during the bus boycott. She also explains why the math does not math for single mothers earning minimum wage. Every mom at Jeremiah Program, across nine cities, is in college or headed there within six months, and the organization has published a report with the Urban Institute to put single mothers’ own voices on the record. Tune in for Chastity’s Rondering, a question she asks herself as a leader, a spouse, and a parent: do you want to be right, or do you want to be effective? Chapters: (04:02) - Chastity Lord on gratitude and a life her mother and grandmother couldn't have dreamed for her (06:57) - Carol Burnett's autobiography and the tuition money in the mailbox (11:13) - Ronness: why joy belongs in wellness (12:57) - History as an angel: Harriet Tubman and the courage to enlist others (16:08) - The bus boycott and the unnamed people who walked through it (17:22) - José Rizal, Juneteenth, and the revolutions that don't get named (18:50) - Asking each person what they need from the group (20:48) - Therapy, self talk, and being in conversation with your greatness (24:37) - Talking to ten-year-old Ronald (27:08) - Hurt leaders and the martyrdom in social impact work (28:38) - Healing is evergreen: the scar that stays after the cut closes (31:36) - Jeremiah Program and why single moms dream in threes (33:18) - Building the largest coalition of single moms in the country (34:45) - The Urban Institute report on what single mothers need (35:38) - The math doesn't math: minimum wage and the cost of being poor (40:25) - Where Chastity finds joy: car games with her son and trash TV (45:25) - Chastity's Rondering: do you want to be right or effective? (49:44) - It's not really about the phone: a parent's job is to keep you safe Links: Carol Burnett and the tuition in her mailbox - https://www.biography.com/actors/carol-burnett-stranger-money Fifth Avenue, Uptown, James Baldwin - https://seeksummer.commons.gc.cuny.edu/fifth-avenue-uptown/ Elevating Their Voices: What Single Mothers Say They Need to Survive, Urban Institute - https://www.urban.org/research/publication/elevating-their-voices-what-single-mothers-say-they-need-survive Chastity Lord on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chastity-lord-973870 More about Jeremiah Program: https://jeremiahprogram.org/ Jeremiah Program on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremiahprogram/ Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Ron Rapatalo’s bestselling book Leverage: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Interested in writing or publishing? Visit: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Start your own podcast that matters: www.podcastsmatter.com Check out other impact-driven podcasts: www.podcaststhatmatter.org

October 7, 20261 hr 19 min

Falling Apart Is Breaking Open: Burnout, Redefining Success, and Whole-Human Leadership with Laura Saldivar Luna

Leadership coach and former Teach For America Chief People Officer Laura Saldivar Luna spent forty years defining success as the next achievement. When everything started breaking down at once, she asked a harder question: what if the problem was how she was relating to her own life? In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Laura, founder of Piñata Possible, to talk about what comes after you have checked every box and still have to ask what you actually want. It started at six, when a first-place trophy from a citywide math competition left her wanting more of that feeling. A first-generation Georgetown graduate, she told anyone at Teach For America headquarters who would listen that she would launch the San Antonio region within five years. She did, and watched her first 100 corps members teach in the same schools she attended growing up. Years later, she told her mom she had done everything on the list. Her mom cried and said: whatever you want. Laura was scared, because she was not sure. Ron and Laura dig into the piñata at the heart of her coaching: what feels like falling apart may be the opening to something bigger. They get candid about leaders who believe they serve people by burning themselves out, including an executive strategy session Laura showed up to with the flu, and Ron opens up about learning to forgive leaders who caused harm while burnt out themselves. Tune in to hear why Laura believes another word for uncertainty is possibility. Chapters : 🏆 05:47 Laura Saldivar Luna's first-grade math trophy and forty years of chasing achievement 🚪 07:57 Every box checked, then her mom's answer: whatever you want 🪅 15:45 Piñata Possible: when falling apart is really breaking open 🧭 33:06 Your body as a compass: a clear yes and a clear no 🏫 39:23 Declaring a five-year dream to launch Teach For America San Antonio 🤝 42:53 Relationship acumen: the leadership strength most workplace rubrics miss ⏸️ 52:42 Burning out is not serving: slow down to go faster 🕊️ 57:01 Forgiveness for leaders who caused harm while burnt out themselves 🌬️ 01:11:45 Laura's Rondering: another word for uncertainty is possibility Links : Website: https://www.pinatapossible.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-saldivar-luna Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pinatapossible/ If something in this conversation sparked your curiosity, Laura would love to meet you one on one. Book a virtual tea with her via the Calendly link here . Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org

September 30, 202656 min

Lead as You: Joyful Leadership, Play, and Developing Black Education Leaders with Lanira Murphy

Education leader Lanira Murphy has had people write her off as too joyful to be serious. She leads network-wide academics anyway, with karaoke in the PD and a firm belief that Black education leaders should never have to lead as someone else. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Lanira Murphy, Senior Director of Academics and former California State Assembly candidate, to talk about joy as a leadership practice and why the field still needs a real plan for developing Black educators. Her story starts with her mother in Shreveport, Louisiana, whose school was desegregated when she was in eleventh grade. The Black schools closed and the Black teachers were fired, a loss Lanira says education has never recovered from. Her mother made sure her children would graduate. Lanira became the first in her family to finish college, then nearly applied to graduate school without asking her professor for a recommendation. The professor would not allow it, and told her to always give people the opportunity to participate in her life. Ron and Lanira dig into what her Assembly run, where she earned more than 60,000 votes against an incumbent, taught her about voice and motivation, and why adults in professional development deserve the same dynamic learning environments we want for kids. She is candid about the double bind Black women leaders face: too angry reads one way, too joyful reads as not serious. Her answer is to show up as herself anyway. Tune in to hear Lanira's Rondering on the power people underestimate in themselves, and why she believes the most powerful movements in American history came from young people. Chapters : 🏫 03:54 Lanira Murphy on how desegregation taught her mother what education is worth 🙌🏾 06:23 Always give people the opportunity to participate in your life 🗳️ 11:57 Why she walked away from politics and chose Teach For America 🌱 16:30 Pouring into Black education leaders after a lost generation 😄 19:30 Joyful leadership means making sure people feel seen 🎤 22:54 Adults don't play enough, and educators burn out without it ⚖️ 28:01 The double bind of leading as a joyful Black woman 🗣️ 34:43 What politics teaches school leaders about voice and the power of story ⚡ 47:19 Lanira's Rondering: Marianne Williamson on being powerful beyond measure Links : LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lanira-murphy-89899920 Lanira calls herself an open book: if she has a resource that's working, it's yours. Reach out to her on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going on joyful academic leadership and developing the next generation of Black education leaders. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org

September 23, 20261 hr 4 min

Most Rules Are Made Up: ADHD Leadership, Psychological Safety, and Fractional Talent with Sarah Braver

Sarah Braver, COO and interim CEO of coLeague, embeds fractional People Leaders in mission-driven organizations. Her operating principle is that most workplace rules are made up, and you can build the one you actually want instead. In this episode of RONderings, Ron sits down with Sarah, who works with the fractional talent firm founded by Lora Cover, to talk about ADHD at work and why psychological safety is the layer everything else sits on. Sarah made up her own major at Furman, then spent her first job out of college color correcting photos for The Greenville News. An old professor called to ask what she was doing, and within weeks she was on Microsoft's campus in Redmond, in flip flops, because nobody had told her what to wear. She ran executive education for Fortune 50 companies out of London, wildly undiagnosed, learning the business from the back of the room while her actual job was making sure the binders showed up. She and Ron compare notes on ADHD as a work style, including why crochet works for her brain and knitting does not. Sarah makes the case that most of what looks like a performance problem at work is an anxiety problem, and most anxiety is an information problem. Her employee hierarchy of needs puts safety at the base, and she defines it broadly: not just feeling able to raise a problem, but knowing your paycheck will be right. Tune in to hear why Sarah believes mindset follows behavior, and what that means if you are trying to change how someone thinks. Chapters : 🌮 04:05 Sarah Braver on Tijuana tacos and a life that never adds up ⛺ 10:19 The dad who invented fractional work and called it tent making 👟 13:07 Flip flops on Microsoft's campus and learning from the back of the room 🧩 26:37 Building three companies she no longer fit in 🧠 45:11 The designed distraction that lets an ADHD brain focus ⏳ 51:34 Inch wide and mile deep: why fractional work is interim work 🛡️ 55:09 The employee hierarchy of needs and why anxious people cannot work 📐 01:00:15 Most rules are made up, and mindset follows behavior Links : LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahbraver Website: coleaguepartners.com Connect with Sarah Braver on LinkedIn or visit coLeague to learn more about embedding fractional People Leaders in mission-driven organizations, from chief people officers down through the full talent vertical. coLeague also offers a free Talent Diagnostic, a ten minute quiz for organizations trying to find the root cause of a people problem. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org

September 16, 202650 min

Pausing Unlocks Possibility: Sabbaticals, Burnout, and Rest as Organizational Resilience with Elandria Jackson Charles

Executive coach and sabbatical guide Elandria Jackson Charles makes the case that a leader stepping away for three months is not a perk. It is an investment in organizational resilience. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Elandria, founder of Ayoka Partners, to talk about sabbatical care and what changes when rest is built into the structure instead of left to the individual. Elandria grew up an only child outside Atlanta, raised by parents from Macon whose sacrifices never added up on paper. She was a junior Olympic champion at 12, running the 200 and the 400, and she was also throwing up before races. She quit track before college and lost the identity that came with it. Perfectionism carried her for years after that, until burnout and her second child arrived together. That is when she bet on herself and built Ayoka Partners. Ayoka is Yoruba for one who causes joy, and it was her original middle name. Ron brings a sports analogy. When a paid athlete goes down, the organization rehabs them, because getting that player back on the court matters to the team. The social impact sector calls itself a team sport and structurally plays an individual one. Elandria asks how we perceive injury when there is no limp, when a leader is answering every email and going home a shell of herself. A sabbatical, she says, shows you your leadership bench fast, and funders have a role in making one possible. Tune in to hear why Elandria says slowing down actually accelerates you, and what a yellow smiley face sticker in the shower drain has to do with joy. Chapters : 🌿 02:40 Elandria Jackson Charles checked every box and still lost herself 🏃 07:40 A junior Olympic title at 12 and vomiting before races 🌅 24:27 Rest hygiene, and asking what fuel supports her dreams today 🪑 34:32 A sabbatical shows you who is actually on your leadership bench 🎾 36:34 Social impact says team sport and structurally plays an individual one 🩹 38:34 The injured leader with no limp, still answering every email 😊 40:32 Joy is micro: a smiley face sticker in the shower drain ⏸️ 44:39 The Rondering: pausing unlocks possibility, and slowing down accelerates you Links : LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/elandriajacksoncharles The Sabbatical Moment newsletter: sabbaticalmoment.myflodesk.com Instagram: @restclarityjoy Connect with Elandria Jackson Charles on LinkedIn to learn more about sabbatical care and her work supporting leaders, especially Black women leaders, to pause and come back with clarity. Her free newsletter, The Sabbatical Moment, is where she writes about the smaller sabbatical moments you can build into an ordinary Thursday. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org

September 9, 20261 hr 10 min

Whistleblowing With Rhythm: Coast Guard Reform, Carnival Energy, and Practicing the Future with Dr. Kim McLear

Civic designer and movement strategist Dr. Kim McLear spent twenty years in the Coast Guard, and ten of them running a whistleblowing campaign built on carnival rhythm instead of the lone hero. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Kim, a systems engineer turned artist and movement builder, to talk about how she reimagined whistleblowing as a collective practice with rhythm and discipline. Kim is a first generation American raised by Trinidad and Tobago immigrant parents who each served nearly thirty years in the military. She started school in Okinawa and finished high school in Germany, with 18 cities behind her before she could vote. She still has a scar on one finger from opening a reinforced steel door during a cyclone to get a better look at the trees dancing. Hours under the hood of cars with her father taught her that changing one part changes the whole system, which is the thread that runs to her PhD in systems engineering. She picked the Coast Guard because it was the furthest thing from anything she knew, water included. When she spoke up, she refused the single hero version and built a survivor led coalition of thousands while continuing to serve as an officer and teach as a professor. She stayed disciplined about describing behavior rather than calling people names, and over a ten year arc that work helped surface a CNN investigation and new federal laws. Tune in to hear why Kim calls despair a design feature of oppressive systems, and what practicing the future looks like when it starts with a paint bucket and a couple of friends. Chapters : 🧵 02:39 Dr. Kim McLear: engineer, professor, and Coast Guard whistleblower 🌍 07:47 Dignity for all living systems, not just the human ones 🌀 11:55 Cyclones and car engines: the making of a systems engineer ⚓ 25:45 Why she joined the branch furthest from her comfort zone 🥁 30:18 Whistleblowing with carnival rhythm: no one whistles a symphony alone 📰 38:36 The ten year arc behind the CNN investigation and new federal laws 🚫 49:59 Never call people names: describe the behavior instead 🎷 01:01:42 Practice the future: grab a paint bucket and a couple of friends 🎭 01:04:11 Despair is a design feature of oppressive systems Links : LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justdrkim/ Connect with Dr. Kim McLear on LinkedIn to follow her work as a civic designer and movement strategist building education ecosystems for movement builders. Her practice draws on music and rhythm to help communities move from fragmentation toward coherence, which is the same practice she walks through on this episode. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org

September 2, 202653 min

Create the Conditions: Authentic Leadership, Code Switching, and Being the Only One with Gold Chhim

Gold Chhim leads national partnerships at Education Pioneers. For years he kept his identity and his leadership in two separate lanes, and closing that gap is what he now means by authentic leadership. In this episode of Ronderings, Ron sits down with Gold, Managing Director of Partnerships at Education Pioneers, to talk about what it costs to be the only one in the room and what changes when you stop paying it. Gold grew up on the east side of Compton, the son of a Cambodian refugee mother who told him his job was education. His schools were roughly 65% Latino and 34% Black. The remaining 1% was him. He got into UCLA and finished year one on academic probation, wondering whether he was smart enough to be there. Two days after graduating, he flew to Detroit with two suitcases and started teaching high school math. He founded the basketball team too, which made him the winningest coach in school history by default. Ron and Gold get into the part that does not fit on a resume. Gold's students in Detroit had never met an Asian person, and their only reference point was Jeremy Lin. The two of them compare notes on being judged by other Asian Americans for how they talk, and on why code switching eventually stopped being worth it. Tune in to hear the question Gold uses as a north star: is he living as someone 15 year old Gold would look up to? Chapters : 🌏 01:53 Gold Chhim and the short list of Southeast Asian leaders in education 🧭 08:31 The hustle his mother taught him: education was the job 🎓 10:38 Academic probation at UCLA and the fear of not belonging 🧳 12:23 Two suitcases to Detroit two days after graduating 🔢 14:49 Growing up as the 1% on the east side of Compton 🏀 21:23 His Detroit students had never met an Asian person before 🏙️ 27:23 Teaching in a city that woke up bankrupt 💿 37:54 Music as a better entry point than what do you do 🚦 39:32 Why he stopped keeping identity and work in separate lanes 💬 49:57 The Ronderings question: create the conditions for authentic leadership Links : LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gold-chhim-94b59a9a/ Connect with Gold Chhim on LinkedIn to learn more about his partnership work across the education sector at Education Pioneers. He asked for it directly on the episode: message him, and he will look for a way to partner. Connect with Ron: www.linkedin.com/in/rapatalo Check Out Ron's Book: www.amazon.com/dp/1613431473 Leverage Publishing Group: www.leveragepublishinggroup.com Publish a Book That Matters: http://booksthatmatter.org Start a Podcast That Matters: http://podcastsmatter.com Go from Expert to Thought Leader: http://geniusdiscovery.org