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The Discomfort Practice

The Discomfort Practice explores the value of discomfort in shaping who we are, how we are in the world and how it can be a catalyst for positive social evolution.

Betsy speaks to leaders, activists, athletes, creatives and others who, like her, are ‘professional discomforters’ about comfort zones, having a conscious ‘discomfort practice,’ and the superpowers that lie on the other side of stepping into the unknown. Come get uncomfortable with Betsy...

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  2. Episode #76: Kim Polman on Treating Others and The Planet As You Would Wish To Be Treated

Episode #76: Kim Polman on Treating Others and The Planet As You Would Wish To Be Treated

Aug 28, 2022

In this episode, my guest is someone whose work I have followed for a while and am always impressed by. She's also part of a ‘power couple’ I admire deeply. Kim Polman is an international public speaker, a polymath, and a citizen of the world. She's an American by birth, has lived all over the world and has lived in London (where she’s now based) for many years.

She’s been an environmentalist for decades, has taught music and is vice chair of a charity dedicated to literacy for blind and visually impaired children in East Africa. But, most importantly for the focus of our interview here, Kim is an avid advocate of the Golden Rule, ‘treating others and the planet as you would wish to be treated.’ In 2016, she and Stephen Vasconcellos-Sharpe invited 25 of the world's most respected leaders and thinkers, like Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Vice President Al Gore, to talk about Golden-Rule roadmaps for business and government.

In our conversation, we focus on what the Golden Rule means for leaders - and in real life for everyday people. Kim talks about the ripple effect of ‘doing to others what you would want done to you’ in the world of work and in the world. We touch on the value of connection and interconnectedness and how that flavours any action we take. Kim unpacks the discomfort of change through the metaphor of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It’s messy and a little bit gross… but the end is worth it.

So, join us as we reflect together on what happens when the Golden Rule guides a leader or a business, and how it is exactly what we all need to shift our thinking, our behavior and the world around us. Because we are all connected and any individual can make a difference. 

Key Points Discussed:

  • How everyday life news brought discomfort to Kim that inspired her in her journey (05:10)
  • The simplicity of the golden rule that cuts through the world’s complexity (08:20)
  • The hunger among leaders to embrace the golden rule (12:44)
  • How the golden rule emerge as Kim’s guiding principle (15:24)
  • The personal becoming public (16:56)
  • Work communication guiding rule: Kindness first (20:01)
  • The appreciation that we are all connected and giving empathy and compassion (22:03)
  • A Marshal Plan for the environment (23:51)
  • The need for balance (25:17)
  • The necessary discomfort of knitting together and activating the imaginal cells (27:48)
  • What are you feeling hearing this principle (31:00)
  • It’s the storm before the calm, and you are not alone in this greater desire for connection, walk on (34:22)
  • How to apply the golden rule today (35:58)
  • The awareness that the old way of doing things just isn't working anymore and coming with a new way of thinking (41:32)
  • The importance of being rather than merely doing (47:39)
  • Surviving the lockdowns and learning lessons from the experience (53:07)

Resources Mentioned:

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