Episode Description

In Part 1 of our conversation, we sit down with Dr. Kate Smith, President of Rio Salado College, to explore how culture, empathy, and innovation shape sustainable leadership in higher education.

Kate shares her personal leadership journey—from completing an Ironman to stepping into the presidency at a pivotal moment—and reflects on what it takes to intentionally steward culture over time. We discuss Rio Salado’s long-standing commitment to innovation, the Four Practices of Engagement (mindfulness, empathy, happiness, and resilience), and how those practices helped guide the institution through periods of rapid change.

This episode offers a masterclass in values-driven leadership, showing how culture doesn’t happen by accident—it happens through daily, intentional choices.

Key Topics / Show Notes

• Kate Smith’s leadership journey and Ironman story
• Stepping into the presidency during a moment of change
• Why culture must be intentionally shaped by leaders
• Rio Salado’s history of innovation and continuous improvement
• The Four Practices of Engagement:
• • Mindfulness
  • Empathy
  • Happiness
  • Resilience
• Building connection and belonging in a distributed, online institution
• All-employee engagement during COVID
• Launching Rio Salado’s first Alumni Hall of Fame
• Empowering students as partners in innovation
• Learning from other industries to fuel higher-ed innovation
• Creating space for experimentation and “productive messiness”

Reflection Question

Where in your leadership are you letting culture happen instead of intentionally shaping it?

Episode Description:
In the final episode of this series, Dr. Tom Lombardo challenges us to see the future as a shared act of creation. Wisdom, agency, and responsibility—at both individual and collective levels—are essential to shaping what comes next.

Key Topics:
- The future as participatory, not predetermined
- Wisdom as future-directed action
- Individual and collective agency
- Nurturing the future through conscious choice

Find Dr. Lombardo's work on his website at: https://centerforfutureconsciousness.com/

Episode Description:
In part two, Dr. Tom Lombardo explores science fiction as more than entertainment—it is the evolutionary mythology of the future. This conversation examines how stories shape our imagination, reflect cultural values, and expand our understanding of what humanity could become.

Key Topics:
- Science fiction as modern mythology
- Stories as tools for ethical and future thinking
- Cultural reflection through science fiction
- Utopian and dystopian visions

Find Dr. Lombardo's work on his website at: https://centerforfutureconsciousness.com/

Episode Description:
In part one of this three-part series, Dr. Tom Lombardo reflects on the experiences that shaped his lifelong curiosity about time, history, and the future. From childhood fascinations with dinosaurs and the Civil War to formative lessons learned through weightlifting, mentorship, and education, Tom explores how character, discipline, and imagination form the foundation for wisdom.

Key Topics:
- Learning from the past to understand the present
- Mentorship and finding your own voice
- Discipline, character, and creativity
- Why imagination matters for future thinking

Find Dr. Lombardo's work on his website at: https://centerforfutureconsciousness.com/

In this episode of the Engaged By Design Podcast, we welcome back Kathy Hagler and Robin Graham, co-authors of The ABCs of Murmuration.

Together, we explore Flock Logic—a powerful nature-inspired framework drawn from the mesmerizing behavior of starlings—and how it applies to leadership, teamwork, and learning organizations.

You’ll discover:

• Why high-functioning groups don’t need a single leader to move together
• The three natural principles behind murmuration: alignment, separation, and cohesion
• How those principles translate into human leadership behaviors: step up, step back, and step together
• Why trust, awareness, and connection matter more than control
• Simple practices leaders and educators can use immediately to create rhythm, flow, and shared responsibility

If you’re navigating uncertainty, change, or collaboration fatigue, this conversation offers a hopeful and practical path forward—one grounded in nature, humanity, and collective wisdom.

Podcast: Engaged By Design
Episode: Part 3 — Becoming Happy Now
Guest: Dr. Sylvia Nemmers — scientist, educator, department chair, survivor, and author of Happy Now.

Episode Summary

In this powerful final chapter of her story, Dr. Sylvia Nemmers discusses what it means to truly know yourself, especially after life has shaken the identity you’ve relied on. She describes the quiet courage of rebuilding life after an abusive marriage, the freedom and grounding she found living alone by the ocean, and the transformative experience of training with a guide dog—a moment that marked her return to visibility, agency, and authenticity.

Sylvia shares what “Happy Now” really means: not perfection, not the absence of struggle, but a steady alignment between truth and peace. She reflects on fearlessness—its strengths and its risks—and how she learned the difference between courage and recklessness. Her story reminds listeners that healing isn’t a single breakthrough. It’s a lifelong practice of listening inward, choosing authenticity, and allowing yourself to be seen.

Key Topics

• Reclaiming Identity After Trauma
  – Leaving an abusive marriage
  – Discovering safety, solitude, and inner listening
  – Unlearning fear-based habits
• Training with a Guide Dog
  – Choosing visibility after years of “not acting blind”
  – The emotional work of becoming independent again
  – Learning to trust herself as much as the dog
• Fearlessness vs Recklessness
  – Being named one of Iowa’s “Fearless Women”
  – The shadow side of fearlessness: pushing too hard, too far
  – Learning discernment and emotional boundaries
• Defining “Happy Now”
  – Happiness as alignment, not accomplishment
  – Peace as a practice
  – Choosing joy without ignoring pain
• Identity, Truth, and Leadership
  – What authenticity looks like in adulthood
  – Saying “no” to roles that shrink your voice
  – Using your story to empower others

Quotes

• “Spending time with myself, I realized: that doesn’t define who I am.”
• “If I'm everybody’s favorite flavor, am I my own favorite flavor anymore?”
• “I can’t do it the way everyone else does it — but I can figure out my own way, and that’s okay.”
• “Everything is possible — if you have the desire, the time, and the commitment.”

Reflection Question

Where in your life are you being invited to choose authenticity over expectation?

Resources

• Book: Happy Now — Shattering the Myth of Happily Ever After (Amazon - https://amzn.to/49PHHYZ).
• Sylvia’s speaking & consulting: BeyondLimits.cc.
• Engaged By Design: MACRO Leadership resources.

Podcast: Engaged By Design
Episode: Part 2 — Faith, Culture & Courage Abroad
Guest: Dr. Sylvia Nemmers — scientist, educator, world traveler, multilingual mother, and author of Happy Now.

Episode Summary

In this second installment of our three-part conversation, Dr. Sylvia Nemmers takes us around the globe—Pakistan, Jordan, Greece, and beyond—to explore what happens when identity, faith, disability, and culture intersect.

She shares how falling in love with a Pakistani student reshaped her worldview, how a spiritual moment in St. Peter’s Basilica led to an unexpected conversion to Islam, and how living across cultures forced her to confront assumptions she didn’t know she held. Sylvia speaks openly about learning Arabic through immersion with children, navigating strict gender norms, raising her own children across borders, and discovering humility as a transformative leadership tool.

This episode illuminates what it means to be a cultural learner, not just a cultural observer. It shows that empathy can only flourish when we stop assuming our own lens is universal.

Key Topics

• Falling in love across cultures
  – Meeting international students
  – Recognizing shared identity as “outsiders” in academic settings
  – Navigating family expectations and early marriage
  – Beginning life in Pakistan
• Conversion to Islam
  – The pivotal moment in St. Peter’s Basilica
  – Faith as recognition rather than instruction
  – Joy, continuity, and spiritual belonging
• Life in Pakistan
  – NGO work in the Northwest Territory
  – Navigating conservative norms (“Don’t act blind; no one will respect you”)
  – Learning agency and self-advocacy in unfamiliar systems
• Jordan: Lessons in Humility
  – Raising children in multilingual, multigenerational households
  – Misunderstandings with in-laws and the power of listening
  – Learning Arabic through play and daily life
  – Major cultural adjustment: food, family, and rhythm of life
• Greece: A different kind of freedom
  – Experiences outside extended family structure
  – Observing different models of happiness and social life
  – Gaining a more global understanding of “normal”
• Universal Lesson: Unlearning Assumptions
  – Recognizing that each culture has internal logic and dignity
  – Learning to ask questions instead of drawing conclusions
  – Seeing disability differently in each country
  – Realizing humility is the beginning of wisdom

Quotes

• “When you live in another culture, you stop assuming the way you see the world is the only way.”
• “People have grabbed me on the street, and I’ve said, ‘I’ve been blind a long time. I’m very good at it.’”
• “As educators, we have expertise and resources—but the person we’re working with is the expert on themselves.”
• “Humility is what keeps curiosity alive.”

Reflection Question

What assumptions about people or cultures might you need to unlearn in order to see more clearly?

Resources

• Book: Happy Now — Shattering the Myth of Happily Ever After (Amazon - https://amzn.to/49PHHYZ).
• Sylvia’s speaking & consulting: BeyondLimits.cc.
• Engaged By Design: MACRO Leadership resources.

Podcast: Engaged By Design
Episode: Part 1 — Authenticity & Resilience
Guest: Dr. Sylvia Nemmers — scientist, educator, and author of Happy Now: Shattering the Myth of Happily Ever After

Episode Summary

From childhood blindness to becoming a scientist and department chair, Sylvia traces how authenticity, curiosity, and courageous mentors shaped her leadership. She shares her early life in an institution for the blind, the hard pivot to a mainstream Catholic school, and the creative lab workaround a professor designed that unlocked independence and confidence.

Key Moments

• Opening, Sylvia’s reveal (born blind; limited sight after age-4 surgery); framing authenticity and strength.
• “Happily ever after” myth vs reality; first vision (sunlight hurts; learning to adapt).
• Institution years: separation, “authentic me,” and the fire-escape slide (bare feet in the Iowa snow!).
• Transition to Catholic school: social codes, learning hurdles, stubborn hope.
• Father’s influence: math on car rides, love of chemistry, finding equal footing in science.
• Barriers & resolve: counselor skepticism; “evaluate my ability, the job is mine to find.”
• Mentor moment: Dr. Larry Davis’ notched-syringe hack enabling precise dilutions; lab independence.
• Universal design & the social model of disability; partnering with learners to remove barriers.

Quotes

• “At that school, I was authentically me… No one expected you to be normal, and that was a blessing.”
• “There are some things you can’t change… and then figure out ways to make it work.”
• “Words are powerful. What you say to your students can change their whole future.”

Reflection Question

How have you overcome your own limitations—or the labels that others have given you?

Resources & Links

• Book: Happy Now — Shattering the Myth of Happily Ever After (Amazon - https://amzn.to/49PHHYZ).
• Sylvia’s speaking & consulting: BeyondLimits.cc.
• Engaged By Design: MACRO Leadership resources.