Seasons Change: An Evolution of The E-Word

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What if ancient wisdom held the keys to thriving in today’s world? In Season 3 of The E-Word, we’re expanding our focus from equity to eudaimonia, the Greek idea of living a flourishing, meaningful life rooted in truth, virtue, and excellence. Equity is still in the mix, but now it lives within a bigger conversation about what it means to live and lead well. 

Leadership strategists Karen McFarlane and Brittany S. Hale introduce Aristotle’s five intellectual virtues:

• sophia (philosophical wisdom)
• phronesis (practical wisdom)
• episteme (scientific knowledge)
• nous (intuitive understanding), and
• techne (artistry)

These ancient ideas offer a modern framework for navigating leadership, creativity, and connection with greater intention. Whether you’re making tough decisions, leading teams, or crafting a message that truly resonates, these virtues meet you where you are and invite you to question the difference between what it means to be and create successfully and what it means to flourish.

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• Follow Brittany on LinkedIn and learn more at BND Consulting Group.

Episode Transcript

Karen McFarlane (00:01):
Hey Brittany.

Brittany S. Hale (00:03):
Hi Karen.

Karen McFarlane (00:04):
We're back, we're back, we're back, and for
season three.
So excited.
Well, we made it past twoseasons, which a lot of podcasts
don't do, so you know we shouldcelebrate ourselves for that.

Brittany S. Hale (00:20):
Absolutely, absolutely.
You know what?
This would have been a greattime for us each to get a cake,
and a candle and do that, butit's okay, that's alright.

Karen McFarlane (00:32):
I'll go eat some chocolate after this.
Excellent, we should.
We learned a lot from our firsttwo seasons, and so we're
supposed to always upskill andgrow right.
And so we have a new twist forour listeners this season for

(00:52):
the E-word.
So let's just remind them ofwhat we were so we can talk
about who we're going to beright.
So if you've been listening tous, you know the E word standard
for equity.
It was the D in EEI thateveryone ignored, right, right.

(01:17):
But now we have learned fromour past two seasons.
We've grown together in sort ofthe topics that we're talking
about, and we wanted to redefinethe E word to be, I guess,

(01:38):
greater than before, and so wehave chosen a new word that
defines the E word, and thatword is, you say, it Eudaimonia.
There you go, eudaimonia Right.
And now the listeners might belike, why that word?
Okay, and what does that meanfor the E word?

Brittany S. Hale (01:56):
Unless you're Greek or studied Greek, in which
case I will say Yashu andEsharisto for listening.
Those are the only two Greekwords I know.
That's it.

Karen McFarlane (02:10):
Well, now we have a few more words to add to
the vocabulary.

Brittany S. Hale (02:15):
Exactly.

Karen McFarlane (02:15):
Exactly so, eudaimonia.
It means living a good,flourishing and meaningful life
through the pursuit of truth,virtue and excellence.
Truth, virtue and excellenceand basically that's what we're
trying to help everyone do islive in their truth, right, live

(02:40):
according to certain virtuesthat you believe in, but also,
at the end of the day, strivefor excellence, whatever that
means for you Right, absolutely.
And so eudaimonia is basicallyfrom some principles that are
founded by Aristotle, yeah, andthrough that, aristotle has five

(03:06):
intellectual virtues, and we'regoing to talk through the five
intellectual virtues for youtoday.

Brittany S. Hale (03:13):
Yeah, before we get there.
I just want to for listenerswho may say, okay, where does
this come from?
Well, we're connecting the two.
This really is scoping out fromwhere we started, right,
because these discussions werein service to the pursuit of
truth, virtue and excellence.

(03:35):
How do you show up at work, howcan you create better leaders,
better marketers, developstronger, more authentic
connections with your internaland external audiences and
really just show up in the worldin a way that improves it
instead of takes away from it?

Karen McFarlane (03:57):
right, absolutely.
I think that was the commonthread.
Obviously, we have our pointsof view on what's happening in
the world and we share them withyou for you to ingest and then
apply to your own beliefs andthinking right, and that's
really what we're here for.
But at the end of the day, justlike you said, we're all living
in this one world and we haveto interact with each other and

(04:20):
we all have connections indifferent ways, and so, you know
, this evolution of the E-wordis really just tapping into that
broader mindset and is a pointof growth for us and, hopefully,
a point of growth for all ofyou.

Brittany S. Hale (04:35):
Exactly, exactly and is a point of growth
for us and, hopefully, a pointof growth for all of you Exactly
, exactly so.

Karen McFarlane (04:45):
Karen, you teased it.
These virtues, let's tell thelisteners a little bit more.
Yeah, so we'll start off withone of them, which is practical
wisdom.
In Greek it is phrodesis, andthat means the ability to make
good choices in everyday life.
So it's knowing what to do,it's knowing when to do it and
how to do it ethically.
Now, that should feel veryfamiliar to everybody in terms

(05:05):
of what we've been talking aboutfor this.
It just has a framing.

Brittany S. Hale (05:12):
Yes, yes, and I'm sure a lot of people are
saying, oh well, why, why is itthe E word?
Just for ethics?
And again scoping out ethicsand service of what right?
A greater life experience.
Okay, Should we go into thesecond?

Karen McFarlane (05:30):
Yeah, why don't you give them number two?

Brittany S. Hale (05:33):
Number two is techne, or artistry, and it's
the skill of making or creatingsomething.
Well, you're thinking ofcraftsmanship, creative
expression, any sort of appliedknow-how, and I think about that
very often when I think of anysort of bespoke products that

(05:59):
you might buy or service thatyou might have.
The intentionality behind it isreally, really important,
something that I think is veryoften underutilized.

Karen McFarlane (06:12):
Yeah, and I think everybody is an artist in
their own way, right, if you'recreating something, whether it
be a physical good, whether itbe you know, some digital good,
whether you're just, you know,in your backyard you know
planting flowers, right, thereis some level of artistry that
is applied.
So this applies to everybody.
You don't have to be a CEO or,you know, marketing director,

(06:34):
like it's.
It's everyone in the worldessentially.

Brittany S. Hale (06:38):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And in furtherance of theeudaimonia, before we were
recording, I texted Karen and Isaid, hey, I'm picking lavender
right now and my goal is to dryit out and infuse it with oils
and all of these types of thingsand so going back to that sense

(07:00):
of flourishing, having thismeaningful life on multiple
levels, Exactly.

Karen McFarlane (07:11):
I think that leads nicely into the third
virtue, which is understanding,or in Greek that's pronounced
nous.
So that is really the deepintuition or insight into the
first two principles that wejust talked about, right Into
practical wisdom and artistry,and it also means that you're

(07:33):
instinctively recognizing truthsor the essence of a situation.
Right, so you are activelyseeking context and, I guess for
lack of a better wordunderstanding of a situation
before making you know judgmentsor decisions, and so that's
something we all need to strivefor, particularly in today's

(07:56):
society, right, like we need toget various sides of the story,
we need to do our research sothat we can have a fuller and
complete understanding of thesituations in front of us.

Brittany S. Hale (08:06):
And I think this is something noose is
something that is very oftenseen through kind of cynical
eyes, because we can'tnecessarily measure intuition in
a particular way.
We may all feel it, but it maynot guide us to the same place,

(08:28):
and so, because it's notsomething that's easily measured
, sometimes we throw it out.
But when I look at news I'mthinking, okay, this is leaning
into EQ, right, it's kind ofmoving into that emotional
intelligence piece and thinkingabout all of the different ways

(08:49):
that we can enhance ourunderstanding of a collective
experience.

Karen McFarlane (08:56):
I'm actually glad you pointed that out.
I mean, you know that intuitionor you're going with your gut.
I mean, obviously it can havesome negative consequences.
But for people who do have thathigh EQ, such as cancer, the
cancer zodiac sign since we'rein cancer season, right there
are times when you really doneed to trust your gut, right.

(09:19):
But you know you have toevaluate those situations and
see if you need to provide morecontext around it.

Brittany S. Hale (09:25):
So I'm glad you brought that up and almost
the exact opposite of it is ourfourth principle, our fourth
virtue, which is episteme Rootword, epistemology, things like
that.
But it's this reasoned, provenknowledge based on facts and

(09:47):
logic.
Anytime you've heard people sayfeelings aren't facts, they're
operating from a space ofepisteme and it's really
scientific knowledge.
It's what we know through studyand evidence and repeatable
processes, the whole scientificmethod of it all.

Karen McFarlane (10:06):
Yeah, and I think that all leads to our
fifth virtue, which isphilosophic wisdom, otherwise
known as Sophia, and basicallythat's the easiest one to
pronounce, by the way.
Sophia, that is the highestform of knowledge, that's

(10:30):
combining reasoning and insight,right.
And then you, ultimately, whenyou are applying philosophical,
philosophic wisdom, or Sophia,that is getting to a point of
where you have a deepunderstanding of life, purpose
and, hopefully, the entireuniverse.
That one's a little bit, youknow, we stretch a little bit

(10:52):
there, but you know.
But life and purpose aresomething that we all try to
focus on or should try to focuson, not only personally but also
professionally.
In marketing, we talk aboutpurpose all the time In business
, in terms of focusing on yourpurpose why do you exist in the
first place?

(11:12):
Right, and expanding what thatmeans in terms of not only your
customers but also your place insociety.
And again, that applies tobroader companies but also your
place in society.
And again that applies tobroader companies but also
individual people.
And when you add up thesevirtues and you're trying to get
to that place, you'reultimately reaching eudaimonia.

Brittany S. Hale (11:35):
That makes a lot of sense, right, right?

Karen McFarlane (11:40):
I mean, of course we think it makes sense,
we chose it right, but I hopethe viewer thinks it makes sense
.
But, again, it's really justpart of our own growth and
understanding of how we want toshow up for you, right, and how
we want to show up for ourselvesas well in this season of life,
as well in this season of life,and so I hope that this

(12:02):
resonates with everybodylistening who's followed us
before and who will continue tofollow us, and as you experience
this next level of growth forthe E-word.

Brittany S. Hale (12:13):
Yes, and tell a friend, tell two friends.

Karen McFarlane (12:17):
Exactly, exactly.

Brittany S. Hale (12:20):
So watch, maybe even five Exactly Exactly,
maybe even five Exactly.
One friend that you thinkembodies each of the virtues.

Karen McFarlane (12:28):
That's a good idea.

Brittany S. Hale (12:29):
Tell them to listen to this episode and say
you are Sophia.
Here's what that means.
You are Noose Such an epistemething to say.
Here's what that means.
You are noose such an epistemething to say.
Here's what I mean.

Karen McFarlane (12:47):
I love that.

Brittany S. Hale (12:47):
Maybe we'll be starting to threaten we'll have
our guests on that, you knowthere you go, there you go.

Karen McFarlane (12:58):
So there's a ton more to come in season three
.
This is just an introduction,so watch this space, subscribe,
as Brittany said, tell a friendAll right, and show up next time
when we, you know, flow intothis new framework of the E1.
See you then.