Leading through Chaos
Article. Examines the personal stories of Haitians to better understand the nature of Haitian leadership in a neocolonial, post-disaster context.
Resources
Leadership Development Resources
Before launching Whole Human Leadership, I was primarily an academic. My book, podcast episode, articles, storytelling toolkit and videos show my foundation and approach. I invite you to explore.
Toolkit
Whole Human Leadership: The Guide
Build your foundation. Name your layers. Light the candle of your purpose.
This toolkit is for leaders who want to lead from wholeness, not burnout. You build your leadership like a layered cake. Start with a whole-brain foundation, then add your identities, your values, and the practices that fill your cup. Play, creativity, storytelling, mindfulness and nature are the icing that holds it together, and the candle on top is your purpose.
This is my philosophy and approach, built into a fun, interactive guide for your use.
- Eight chapters, each with a short teaching, a somatic practice and a worksheet
- Fill it in on screen or print the pages to work on paper
- Ends with your own living leadership philosophy
- Includes a guide for a 90-minute team session
Book
Becoming: Transformative Storytelling for Education's Future
This edited volume is a collection of powerful stories about teaching, learning and leadership. It gives readers a framework to reflect on, and tell, their own stories to fuel personal, professional and organizational transformation.
The eBook or hard copy can be purchased directly through DIOPress or Amazon.
Tea for Teaching Podcast
Transformative Storytelling
"From the earliest days of human society, storytelling has played an important role in transmitting and sharing knowledge. In this episode, Laura Colket and Tracy Penny Light join us to discuss how storytelling can be used in higher ed to help us reflect on and understand the rich diversity and the commonalities that exist within our educational communities."
Teaching & Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In collaboration with the Center for BioMedical Visualization at St. George's University, I created this video based on my research into people's experiences of teaching and learning through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impact of COVID-19 on Education in Grenada
During the pandemic, I joined a virtual panel in Grenada alongside the Minister of Education and other senior educational leaders. Here are my opening remarks, based on initial findings from my ongoing research.
Highlights from the Storytelling in Education Conference
In 2019, I co-founded the Center for Research on Storytelling in Education. With a grant from the Spencer Foundation, we launched the center with a virtual conference series. More videos are on our YouTube channel.
Gender Roots
Through the JAM initiative (Justice, Art & Medicine), I worked with St. George's University's Center for BioMedical Visualization in Grenada on this culturally relevant video about gender identity, expression, sex and attraction.
Free resource
Storytelling Toolkit for Educators
The CRSE Storytelling Toolkit is a free, open-source resource developed through the Center for Research on Storytelling in Education (CRSE), which I co-founded.
It offers a healing-centered, justice-rooted framework to help educators bring storytelling into their classrooms, fostering deeper connection and leadership.
Research
Selected Research on Storytelling & Leadership
Reimagining Professional Learning
Article. Shows the power of storytelling as a tool for professional learning for educators and educational leaders, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Storytelling as Critical Praxis
Book chapter. Storytelling as praxis helps leaders build meaningful, authentic working relationships to create more equitable teaching and learning environments.
From the Blog
Articles on healing-centered leadership and burnout recovery, weaving somatic wisdom, play, storytelling and nature into everyday practice.
The Process of Becoming
Carl Rogers, a Paulo Freire tattoo, and the spiral: why growth is never a destination, and why that's the heart of healing-centered leadership.
Where the Heat Meets the Flow
What the runoff at Grand Prismatic Spring teaches us about integration: our history doesn't have to disappear to become part of how we move now.
Plans Rarely Go As Imagined: What a 17-Hour Travel Day Taught Me About Leadership
A cancelled flight, an overbooked plane, and a broken jet bridge: what one chaotic travel day reveals about leading through uncertainty with a regulated nervous system.
Is Leadership Coaching Right for You? A Guide for Every Kind of Leader
What leadership coaching is, how somatic coaching differs, and why “leader” includes far more people than you might think.
Authentic Leadership: What the GrassRoots Festival Can Teach Us About Letting Go
Art, rhythm, community, and a collective exhale: lessons on authentic leadership and letting go from the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance.
What Is Somatics, and Why Should Leaders Care?
Leadership doesn't just happen in the mind. It happens in the body. An introduction to somatics and embodied leadership.
Beyond "Serious Work": Why Play Is the Engine of Innovation
Play isn't the opposite of work; it's the engine of innovation. The science behind play, plus four simple practices for you and your team.
Get the Free Whole Human Leadership Wheel
Subscribe for insights on Whole Human Leadership, and receive the Wheel as a free gift: a handout you can download as a PDF.