Walk Talk Listen Podcast

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Karen Georgia Thompson (episode 127)

Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson is the newly elected General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. Rev. Thompson is the first woman and first woman of African descent to serve as leader of the denomination.
 
Prior to this call, Rev. Thompson served in the national setting of the United Church of Christ for 14 years – two years as Minister for Racial Justice, eight years as Minister for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations and four years as the Associate General Minister for Wider Church Ministries and Co-Executive for Global Ministries. She was elected as AGM in 2019. Her passion for justice and equity moved her work on behalf of the UCC into a global context, affording the opportunity to participate globally in efforts to reduce the marginalization experienced by African descendant peoples and other communities globally.
 
Before joining the national staff, Rev. Thompson served in the Florida Conference United Church of Christ as a Pastor and on the Conference staff as the Minister for Disaster Response and Recovery. She also worked in the nonprofit arena for over 10 years in senior leaderships positions.
 
Rev. Thompson earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College in New York, a Master’s in Public Administration from North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC, and a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York. She also studied Public Policy at Duke University and earned her Doctorate in Ministry at Seattle University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Heidelberg University.
 
Her book "Drums in Our Veins" can be purchased via this link.
Social Media links of UCC: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Karen Georgia is also on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
 
The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here. 
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS. 
 

WTL Special Series: What makes youth tick? with Mona and Hannah (episode 1)

The idea of roundtable discussions with youth, came to be because civil society is changing, and many NGOs aren’t adapting fast enough, they struggle to relate and fully engage with youth. This has clear long term sustainability issues of organizations, and we need to learn how to better adapt to this new generation of potential supporters and partners. We need to learn about why youth want to engage with civil society, how youth want to engage, and how we as NGOs can better relate to them to gain new, active participants in organizational activities, this goes beyond just donations.
 
Walk Talk Listen in collaboration with the CWS Innovation Hub is running a handful of discussions with students  and other young folks, predominantly in the US. We are looking to answer the ultimate questions of ‘why, how and how we’ by meeting with students and other youth and asking them to think about and answer “what drives you to engage with civil society?” We hope that these discussion will help us explore what pushes these students to get involved in civil society and will hopefully provide insights on how they want to shape and be involved with it. With our earth facing many challenges, these seem to be more important than ever. Hope you enjoy this new series called "What makes youth tick" and that it might be useful for both young and more seasoned people out there.
 
In these first episode we talked with two (foreign) students, Mona and Hannah, who study at a University in The Netherlands.
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS. 

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Patricia DiVecchio (episode 126)

Patricia DiVecchio has experience in building business capacity and entrepreneurial development over the last 20 years, working with numerous small and medium sized businesses and organizations. With a focus on international development, Patricia works as a business consultant, coach, and workshop facilitator to challenge outdated assumptions and exponentially build the capacity of business owners, executives, and staff towards quick and sustainable results. Her innovative approach emphasizes building self-mastery and critical thinking, defining a clear purpose and direction, and developing a strategic plan for long-term success.
Patricia holds a Master's Degree in Human Resources Development from George Washington University and has successfully started and run three businesses providing experience and lessons learned. She operates from the belief that everyone has work to do and that when we take into account our unique knowledge and wisdom, greater success and economic growth will happen. She has spoken at numerous domestic and international conferences. Over the last ten years, she has operated under the business name International Purpose LLC.
 
Patricia's book Evolutionary's Work (free for download): Click
For her website, click here.
For her Youtube channel, click here.
 
The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here. 
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS. 
 
 

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Gaya Herrington (episode 125)

Gaya Herrington is Vice President Sustainability Research at Schneider Electric (voted most sustainable corporation in the world in 2021). She studies how environmental, social, behavioral and economic trends interact and what systems changes are needed for achieving true global sustainability. Gaya is best known for her research on the Limits to Growth (LtG), and how it informs us about a more human and ecocentric economic system, one fit for the 21st century: wellbeing economics.  
Gaya has given keynote speeches and guest lectures around the world, and is an Advisor to the Club of Rome, an international 100-member club of scientists, economists, and other thinkers. She has a Master’s degree in Econometrics from the Liberal Amsterdam University and another Master’s in Sustainability from Harvard University. She lives in Washington D.C.
 
Recent interview with Gaya about her work: https://www.wired.com/story/gaya-herrington-avoiding-global-collapse/
Peer-reviewed journal article on Gaya’s LtG research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jiec.13084
Gaya’s book (free for download): https://www.mdpi.com/books/mono/6206
 
Social media: Gaya's Facebook and Schneider Electric's: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 
The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here. 
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS. 

WTL Special Series Enough 4 All - Linda Hartke (episode 27)

Linda Hartke is currently serving as the Interim Vice President of Operations at CWS and is a consultant who supports not-for-profit organizations.  Her previous professional experience includes:  President and Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; Executive Director (founder) of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (Geneva, Switzerland); Deputy Executive Director of CWS; Country Director of CWS Cambodia; Chief of Staff to Congressman Chet Atkins; and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.  In a volunteer capacity, Linda has served on several not-for-profit Boards of Directors, including:  the Center for Migration Studies; the World AIDS Campaign (chair); Amnesty International USA (chair); and the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (on behalf of the ELCA).  Linda graduated from Smith College with a double major in Government, and Religion and Biblical Literature (New Testament) and she is active in a local congregation in Massachusetts where she lives.
 
Many of the guests are asked to come up with song that reminds them somehow about CWS, these selected songs are part of a special Playlist #CWSsongs.
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Tosca Bruno - Van Vijfeijken (episode 124)

Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken  is an experienced INGO and philanthropic actor-focused consultant, leadership development trainer and coach, change management expert, author, evaluator and analyst with strong knowledge of international development, civil society organizations, leadership development, organizational development/organizational change, social development and gender and leadership. Excellent strategic, organizational, team management, communication and mentoring skills. Strong analytical, research and evaluation skills. Co-author of ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’, with Hans Peter Schmitz and George Mitchell, and published by Oxford University Press (July 2020). Co-author of several academic articles in peer reviewed journals; author of many practitioner-oriented reports, blog posts and essays. Podcast host of ‘NGO Soul+Strategy’. Tosca is a Dutch national who has worked in multiple regions around the globe and who currently is living in the United States.
 
Tosca’s experience spans think tanks, NGOs, the World Bank, UN and academia. She has worked on civil society issues and social development since 1988. Prior to being the Principal Consultant at Five Oaks Consulting, Tosca worked in a European think tank focused on governance in Sub-Sahara Africa and the Caribbean; various UN agencies and an American NGO in Cambodia; as Social Development Specialist in the World Bank; and as ‘pracademic’ at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Management at Syracuse University, USA, where she directed the Transnational NGO (TNGO) Initiative. The TNGO Initiative focuses on the governance, leadership development and effectiveness of transnationally operating NGOs.
 
Social media: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Do check her blog.
 
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The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here. 
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS. 

Virtual WalkTalk Listen with Chrissa Pagitsas (episode 123)

Chrissa Pagitsas is a keynote speaker and strategic advisor to senior executives and boards on driving business value through global sustainability and ESG strategies. She is Principal and Founder of Pagitsas Advisors and a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Co.
 
Recognized as a “Green Bond Champion” by the Climate Bonds Initiative and a recipient of the US Green Building Council Leadership Award, Chrissa led the Green Financing Business at Fannie Mae and was the Head of ESG. Her leadership and product innovation has made Fannie Mae the world’s largest issuer of Green Bonds, with over $110 billion issued through 2022.
 
Chrissa’s best-selling book Chief Sustainability Officers at Work (Apress, 2022) explores the unique business opportunities and challenges tackled by the Chief Sustainability Officers and Heads of ESG of Fortune 500 companies including BlackRock, Coca-Cola, Duke Energy, and Procter & Gamble.
 
Chrissa holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia and a BA from Johns Hopkins University.
 
Her Twitter and Instagram.
 
The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here. 
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this new series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS.  The 11th 100 mile walk campaign will continue until the summer, find more info via de 100mile.org website. Or go straight to our fundraising page.

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Chat GPT (episode 122)

Yes, you read it correctly, we are experimenting in this episode and put many of our usual questions in front of Chat GPT! This is part of our learning and hope you enjoy it. Despite the "robot" voice, we hope that you pull throught the whole episode, because Chat GPT comes up with some interesting answers. Let us know what you think. 
 
Chat GPT is a language model developed by OpenAI, capable of answering a variety of questions on a broad range of topics. The discussion that was held ranged from an overview of its creation and purpose, to thoughts on societal and ethical implications of AI, to perspectives on personal development and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Since Chat GPT is an AI model and not an individual or an organization, there are no social media handles. However, you can go to OpenAI's social media accounts or website if you are interested in learning more about the work being done in the development of advanced AI models like Chat GPT. As of its knowledge cutoff in 2021, OpenAI's website is www.openai.com.
 
The Chat GPT continued to remind me that while it can generate responses to a wide array of prompts, Chat GPG doesn't have beliefs, desires, or consciousness, and its responses are generated based on patterns and information in the data its was trained on.
 
The songs picked by all our guests can be found via  our playlist #walktalklisten here. 
 
Please let me/us know via our email innovationhub@cwsglobal.org what you think about this series. We would love to hear from you.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org.  We also encourage you to check out the special WTL series Enough for All about an organization called CWS.  The 11th 100 mile walk campaign will continue until the summer, find more info via de 100mile.org website. Or go straight to our fundraising page.