In this introductory episode of Pass the Mic Season Two, host Virginie Glaenzer, along with strategist/editor Lori Schwabel and producer Laura Silvius, recap the highlights of Season One—covering topics such as community power, mindful leadership, age discrimination, philosophy’s societal role, masculinity, the outdated hero narrative, and the emerging link between ethics and profit. They share memorable insights from specific episodes, emphasizing how these conversations illuminated new ways of working and being. The hosts then unveil the focus of Season Two: “A New Age of Conscious Leaders,” a series that will feature CEOs, VPs, entrepreneurs, and managers who are discarding patriarchal, pyramidal business models in favor of more collaborative, purpose‑driven approaches. They announce the supporting book “Leadership Singularity,” written by four strangers during the pandemic, and invite listeners to share stories of organizational change. The episode closes with a call to action for disruptive leaders to reach out, promotion of the upcoming website acorn‑oak‑studio.net, and thanks to the participants and audience.
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Welcome to Pass the Mic podcast, a production of Econoak Studio and music by Benjamin Schlitz. My name is Virginie Glaenzer and I'm your host with a million questions.
Hi, my name is Lori Schwabel. I'm I'm a strategist and the editor of Pass the Mic podcast. Happy to be here.
Hi, I'm Laura Silvius. I'm the producer of Pass the Mic podcast. I'm glad to be here too.
Welcome to season 2. In our first season, we had about 20 episodes and we gathered 4 to 6 people to tackle one question at a time in an attempt to challenge the status quo but also to challenge our own belief on various topics like communities, mindfulness, ritual, trust—one of my favorite—regenerative practices, and many more. Overall, we brought together more than 60 passionate people to discuss what is the real power of a community, how can leaders lead from their heart, can we overcome age discrimination, and one of the most viewed episodes, can philosophy heal our society? These are just some of the discussions, and as you can see, the topics were wide but the questions precise. One of my favorite and memorable insights was in episode 16, while discussing masculinity, Jean-François Nobel reminded us that similar to consciousness or intelligence, we can't easily define gender. He says gender is an experience and a manifestation of how we behave. What about you, Lori? What were your memorable insights?
I think I'll keep with me what Aditi Khurana said in episode 15 around how today we can clearly see that the hero's narrative is fundamentally singular and individualistic, and it no longer serves us, and it's time to let it go. Also, when we discussed ethics, we heard John Hagel say, we often talk about ethics versus profits, but I think in the future, ethics will be essential for profits.
That to me was powerful. Yeah, these were very important discussions that fed the minds and the heart of our tribe at Acorn Oak. It almost felt like all the speakers were holding a light to our own becoming as we were searching for a new way of working together and a new way of being. What about you, Laura? What were your memorable insights?
You know, I remember how in our 11th episode, how Fatim Fatima Bani Shoab pointed out that artists look at the world and ask different questions. Artists look in the world and ask, what world do we want to create? And our response from Acorn Oak is this new season called A New Age of Conscious Leaders. We'll be talking with CEOs and VPs and entrepreneurs and business managers who are mindfully letting go of the old paradigms, the old patriarchal models, the pyramidal view of the world economy and embracing a world of new possibilities, and I'm thrilled.
And to support this discussion, we'll share with the speakers a new book called Leadership Singularity, written by 4 strangers who came together during the pandemic to find solutions. And we'll talk about new business models for our world in crisis, their courage to change and bridging leadership, as well as new marketing practices to recreate trust in our customers and in our employees.
So if you're implementing change in your own organizations, or if you know someone leading a team or an organization who's disrupting the status quo within their company, please reach out to us.
We are excited to bring A New Age of Conscious Leaders to you, and we hope it will be shared across boardrooms and organizations.
Thank you so much, Laurie and Laura, for being on this journey. And also to the viewers and listeners, our new website acorn-oak-studio.net is emerging to support everyone by giving us a space to think, to reflect, and soon to collaborate. Thank you again.
