NEW: Plant Yourself merch designed by my daughter, Yael Zivan.

PYP 112: Zoe Weil on Raising a Generation of Solutionaries

zoe-weilOne day, Zoe Weil came to the radical conclusion that the main goal of education is to produce kind people who contribute to the wellbeing of the world by tackling huge problems.

This may not seem radical, but compare it to the US Department of Education's mission statement: “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”

Weil notes in her book, The World Becomes What We Teach (that link allows you to download it for free):

“…this mission is neither sufficient, nor ultimately appropriate, for a world with significant and grave challenges that threaten our children's future. Contrary to the views of some, climate change is not a future possibility; it is happening now, with potentially catastrophic impacts. Already, species are becoming extinct at alarming rates. Human population continues to grow, and of the 7.3 billion people in the world, one billion do not have adequate access to clean water and food, more than 2.5 billion lack basic sanitation, and over 25 million are living in slavery. Additionally, tens of billions of land animals and more than one trillion sea animals suffer and die each year as part of an unsustainable and inhumane global food system.”

In the face of this reality, Weil, the founder of the Institute for Humane Education, says that schools have to shift their focus to raise a generation of “solutionaries”: people who can look problems in the eye and brainstorm, test, and implement real solutions for the benefit of humans, animals, and the environment.

In our conversation, Weil and I cover a wide range of topics, all woven skillfully together by her wholistic and compassionate mind:

  • the definition and role of humane education
  • why we need solutionaries to tackle the unsustainable and unjust manifestations of our culture
  • “the framing of a problem is part of the problem”
  • the insights and blind spots of partial solutions (the “Waiting for Superman” issue)
  • a solutionary teaching koan: what's the connection between dead zones in Gulf of Mexico and the primary causes of death in US
  • organic apples and fast food cheeseburgers
  • the blessing of collaboration
  • education: the root system that effects every other system
  • how to speak truth to power: evoking the grandchildren of the 1%
  • the blindness of proximal kindness
  • why can’t buy ourselves into a peaceful world
  • boycotts and buycotts – evidence of our own integrity, but not solutions
  • bullying as the alpha and omega of character education
  • playing the true price game with children and adults
  • the MOGO principle and recognizing one’s blind spots
  • and much more…

Links

The Institute for Humane Education

Zoe Weil's website: ZoeWeil.com

Zoe Weil's 7 TEDx Talks

Zoe Weil's books

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Dr Howie Jacobson

This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).

My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.

Here are three gigs that I do:

1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation

I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high  performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.

At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.

My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.

2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance

I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.

We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.

The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.

3. High Stakes Conversations for Fast Growing Small Business Teams

I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.

So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.

You CAN Change Other People!

Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.

What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.

Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.

 

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.

Disclosure

This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive compensation from your actions on such links. It don't cost you a dime, tho.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *