Season 16: Episode 3 | The Sins of the Fathers (and Mothers): How Family of Origin Impacts Our Leadership
This week, Ruth and Steve delve into the topic of family of origin and its impact on leadership. Why do we need to do the messy work of untangling our childhood issues? How do we carry childhood wounds into our leadership? How can genograms help us do this work? Ruth and Steve share their thoughts on these questions and more in today’s episode.
This week’s practice invites you to sit with the following questions: What’s a family trait that was an asset to you? What is a family trait that was a liability? We encourage you to explore genograms, as well.
You can also access podcast on Stitcher and Spotify.
Listen to other episodes from Season 16 Access past podcast seasons
Steve Cuss Resources:
Steve’s website
Managing Leadership Anxiety, Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss
Calm, Aware, Present Journal kickstarter campaign
General Resources for Systems Theory:
Season 9 Episode 6 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast
Season 9 Episode 7 of the Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership Podcast
Family Systems and Congregational Life: A Map for Ministry by R. Robert Creech
Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue by Edwin H. Friedman
Extraordinary Relationships: A new Way of Thinking about Human Interactions by Roberta M Gilbert
Music Credit:
Kingdom Come by Aaron Niequist
Support the podcast! This season, patrons will receive exclusive bonus content that includes conversations with Ruth and Steve that delve into episode topics a little deeper. This week we will be sharing a more personal conversation with Ruth and Steve about parenting and systems theory. Become a patron today by visiting our Patreon page!
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Love the grace for our parents and all the contributing facts of their lives to their parenting style. The comments around getting stuck on self awareness is so true. The book the Critical Journey by Hagberg and Guelich describes this as being caged at stage 4 – getting stuck as God calls us inward and to go deeper with Him. Thank you for this great set of episodes!
The podcast conversations between Ruth and Steve couldn’t come at a better time in my own (family) life. I’d like to start creating a genogram while my mom is alive to help me. She has some health issues that cause me to want to hurry a bit. On the PodBean show notes were two links to genogram resources, but neither one worked. Can you help with that?
Also, I’d like to recomment The Leader’s Journey podcast by Drs. Tricia Taylor and Jim Herrington. Both of their stories are compelling in the area of living systems theory. They co-wrote the book by the same title with Dr. Robert Creech, who was a guest on the podcast for two episodes in Season 9. Steve has also appeared on their show. The Leader’s Journey is also Jim and and Tricia’s organization name where they provide training for groups and coaching for groups and individuals.