Episode 48 of We are Open Circle’s Beyond Listening Podcast saw Miriam, Adam and Brandon join in conversation to mark two milestones in our journey: the confirmation of Brandon as a partner and the launch of the not-for-profit Open Circle Foundation.
A divine appointment: Brandon’s journey towards partnership with Adam and Miriam.
The impact of our work already, and our shared potential for transforming lives.
Our common spirit and generative tensions, in the three-legged stool of leadership.
Brandon Harding joins as partner for We are Open Circle, and as Vice President of the Open Circle Foundation, which supports and empowers service workers and community leaders through retreats, mentoring, and training programs, designed to uplift and inspire.
Our current projects include Serving those that Serve, MTF Youth Wilderness Rite of Passage, Care for the Soul and Wellness in the Wild.
You can make a donation to support our mission here.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Together, we can create real change.
” The impact of having those people together was astounding. Not because of the program that we did, but because of the sharing and the humanity, the way it uplifted different people for different reasons. And so, ‘uplifting humanity’ to me always seemed lofty. And in that retreat, I started to feel a really grounded effect of leaders gathering from very different backgrounds together to share their stories and to share their development and to share their needs and wants, of what they want to bring to the world.”
Turn conflict into creativity, tension into tremendous impact.
” There's a mystery in it when two or three are gathered together around, I would even call it a Common Spirit, the principles that are at the center. And with the skills and capacities that each of us have developed... because of our gender, because of our faith, because of our culture... the tensions in that being generative. When you're gathered around something, a strong Spirit of something, those tensions then can be used to increase the impact a hundred or a thousand fold beyond what you could imagine...”
See, recognize, and uplift humanity.
”I know in my own life, helping people see the humanity of other individuals has been really really profound. One of our missions is to uplift humanity and one of the key ways to do that is to help people see the people around them through a different lens, to see them this as fully human. And really that begins the uplift to serve those communities that don't always get that kind of "love" from our culture.”
