On today’s season finale of On the Balcony, Michael Kohler welcomes Professor Ronald Heifetz, author of Leadership Without Easy Answers, the book that has formed the focus of this season. Professor Heifetz is among the world’s foremost authorities on the practice and teaching of leadership. His work addresses two challenges: developing a conceptual foundation for the analysis and practice of leadership and developing transformative methods for leadership education, training, and consultation. He...
Nov 09, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 13
In this episode of On the Balcony, Michael welcomes guest Susanna Krueger, a serial social entrepreneur and former CEO of Save the Children Germany, the oldest and largest independent child’s rights organization in the world. She’s here to engage with the final chapter of Ron Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers, entitled “The Personal Challenge,” which outlines a set of reflective questions you can ask yourself to better practice leadership around difficult adaptive work. Susanna begins th...
Oct 27, 2022•40 min•Ep. 12
On the eleventh episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael continues his conversation with George A. Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece, about Chapter 10 of Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers. Papandreou picks up the discussion by sharing how Heifetz inspired his decision to stage an intervention through an inclusive approach, encouraging the Greek people to take their future in their own hand. His proposal of a referendum was part of this emphasis on inclusion, but it was me...
Oct 12, 2022•24 min•Ep. 11
On the tenth episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael Kohler welcomes a most fitting guest to discuss Heifetz’s book, particularly the chapter entitled “Assassination”. Former Prime Minister of Greece, George A. Papandreou will be joining the podcast for two episodes to discuss Chapter 10 of Leadership Without Easy Answers, and its impact upon his role in salvaging the Greek economy in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the hunt for scapegoats when things got heated and people had to e...
Sep 28, 2022•39 min•Ep. 10
On the ninth episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael welcomes Ashley B. Stewart to talk about Chapter 9 of Ron Heifetz’s, Leadership Without Easy Answers , the importance of pushing boundaries, taking risks and managing the dangers of practicing leadership building from Ashley’s experience working as an Executive Coach, Transformation Facilitator, and Racial Consciousness Consultant as well as Executive Director for Talent and Organizational Development in the Baltimore City Public School...
Sep 14, 2022•42 min•Ep. 9
On this episode of the On the Balcon y podcast, Michael is joined by Julia Fabris McBride today to discuss the eighth chapter of Ron Heifetz’s book, Leadership Without Easy Answers. Today the pair reckon with the idea of leadership as it functions without authority. McBride is an actor, author, and President and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC). In her work with KLC, McBride strives daily to foster civic leadership and create stronger and healthier Kansan communities. In doing so, she m...
Aug 31, 2022•41 min•Ep. 8
On today’s episode of On the Balcony, Michael is joined by Jevan Soo Lenox to discuss chapter seven of Ronald Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers. Jevan has held Chief People Officer roles at multiple exciting Bay Area growth companies, including Blue Bottle, Stitch Fix, and most recently, insitro, where he has brought the adaptive leadership framework to life in fast-paced hyper-growth environments. Today, he helps us bridge the lessons from Heifetz’s examples of leadership failures into ...
Aug 18, 2022•52 min•Ep. 7
On this sixth episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael is joined by Ian Palmquist, Deputy Director at the Equality Federation and the Board President of the Adaptive Leadership Network. In his experience of advocating for LGBTQ+ rights with government officials, Palmquist has become familiar with authority and its resources and constraints for the practice of leadership. When advocating and legislating meet, Ian has discovered that it can be challenging to satiate one side’s appetite for c...
Aug 03, 2022•38 min•Ep. 6
On the fifth episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael welcomes Radha Ruparell, author and Head of Global Leadership Accelerator at Teach For All, into the conversation to talk about the main ideas in Chapter 5 of Ron Heifetz legendary book, Leadership Without Easy Answers (1998) , namely informal and formal authority, holding environments, and nurturing our inner capacity. When talking about what it means to practice leadership, we often think about what we can do for others, how we can in...
Jul 20, 2022•44 min•Ep. 5
On this episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael Koehler welcomes Lauren Lyons to chat about chapter four of Ron Heifetz’s legendary book. As an engineer and manager at SpaceX, NASA, and Blue Origin, she knows a lot about managing the expectations of her team and working towards change. Michael and Lauren open up the episode by talking about authority relationships as an exchange. As Heifetz puts it, “Authorities serve as repositories for our worries and aspirations, holding them if they c...
Jul 06, 2022•59 min•Ep. 4
On this episode of the On the Balcony podcast, Michael Koehler welcomes Professor Leary to chat about yet another chapter of Ronald Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers. As a chief Harvard psychologist, a Senior VP at the Urban Institute, and an advisor to the White House, Professor Leary is deeply familiar with Heifetz’s work and the man himself. Today, with Michael, she opens up the episode to talk about authority and the importance of understanding that an authority figure doesn’t always...
Jun 22, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 3
On today’s episode, Mitzi Johnson, the former Speaker of the House in Vermont, joins Michael to talk about Chapter 2 of Ron Heifetz’s Leadership Without Easy Answers . This chapter focuses on Adaptive Leadership, and it’s unfortunately timely that Johnson is here to discuss this chapter, given her extensive work with gun reform in Vermont. Both she and Kohler agree that leadership is a team effort. They explore what leadership looks like from roles of power and authority that rely on the feedbac...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 2
Welcome to the introductory episode of On the Balcony , a truly insightful podcast where leadership coach and facilitator Michael Kohler takes a deep dive into Ronald Heifetz’s revolutionary book , Leadership Without Easy Answers, to uncover the theoretical and practical lessons it offers. Not only are you invited to read along in the book as each episode covers a chapter in order, but you are also welcome to join Michael as he, himself, receives coaching that brings to life the message of that ...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 1
On the balcony is a podcast for change agents, executives and people who care about developing others. In this kick-off season Michael Koehler and his guests examine Ronald Heifetz’s landmark book: “Leadership Without Easy Answers,” the framework behind the most inspiring leadership class at Harvard University. The show offers powerful reflections and live coaching on today’s most pressing challenges.
Apr 07, 2022•2 min
