The Great Adaptation: Zander Grashow's Vision for a Heart-Centered Future

“We need to figure out how people can be wrong, but not evil.” - Zander Grashow

In this episode, host Liz Logan engages in a heart-centered conversation with Zander Grashow, founder of Adaptive Leadership Plus and creator of Explorer Process. As a confidential advisor to presidents, activists, and change agents, Zander brings his extensive experience working with global business, philanthropic, entrepreneurial, and creative communities. The discussion explores what Zander calls "The Great Adaptation" – our collective realization that current systems are unsustainable and the need to envision new possibilities.

Zander shares profound insights on accessing wisdom from six sources: within ourselves, from others, the collective, through play, from nature, and the divine. Drawing from his personal experiences as a single father raising three children after losing his wife to cancer, he illuminates the balance between head and heart, the importance of approaching parenting as stewardship rather than ownership, and finding harmony amid polarization. The conversation highlights political division, environmental crisis, artistic expression, and the healing power of present-moment awareness, ultimately focusing on compassion and kindness as essential needs in our rapidly changing world.

Zander Grashow is the Founder of Adaptive Leadership+ and Creator of the Explorer Process, a recognized authority on leadership and transformation. For over two decades, he has served as a confidential advisor to presidents, activists, and change agents during critical transitions. With a broad reach spanning global business, philanthropic, activist, and creative communities, Zander designs uplifting, challenging programs rooted in the principle that adaptation is vital to human flourishing. His commitment to sharing effective approaches led him to co-author "Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing the World" from Harvard Business Press and the Harvard Business Review article "Leadership in a Permanent Crisis."

In this episode:

• (00:00) Guest Zander Grashow, his background and credentials as an advisor to leaders, philosophy on finding wisdom through play, nature, and the divine
• (03:30) The Great Adaptation: Zander shares his perspective on our broken systems and the need for a new collective vision to move beyond fear and polarization
• (10:46) Love as action versus fear as reaction: Exploring the concept of seeing opposition with compassion and the importance of dialogue over monologue in politics and relationships
• (18:04) The head-heart balance: Understanding trauma responses, learning to operate from the heart, and the transformative power of intentional gatherings and present moment awareness
• (24:20) Sources of wisdom and nature's harmony: Discussing the six sources of wisdom (self, others, collective, play, nature, divine) and how time in natural settings helps us reconnect to our essence
• (30:07) Parenting as stewardship and honoring love: Zander reflects on fatherhood as a journey of stewardship rather than possession, and shares about his wife's passing and raising children as a single father