Finding the Funny in Hard Times: Exploring the Science of Well-being
Greater Good Conversations is a livestream series from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. Each session brings together leading researchers, authors, and practitioners to explore the science of well-being — and what it means in your life, work, and relationships.
What if having a sense of humor could actually make you a better person – more connected, more able to navigate life’s hardest moments?
Join UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center for a live conversation with comedian, author, and podcaster Chris Duffy and GGSC’s Kelly Rafferty, Ph.D., exploring humor not as an escape from life’s challenges, but as a way through them.
Drawing on scientific research and personal experience, Chris and Kelly will dig into the surprising ways that cultivating a sense of humor can make us more present, connected, and collaborative as we work together for the greater good, building a better future together.
This conversation will cover:
A live practice with Chris to get you laughing (and thinking) right away
A conversation drawing on the science of humor as a well-being practice
Research-backed tools for cultivating your own sense of humor
A live Q&A
Chris Duffy is the author of Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy and host of the podcast How to Be a Better Human. Kelly Rafferty, Ph.D., is the GGSC's Bridging Differences Content & Engagement Manager.
Come with curiosity, leave with a better sense of humor. We guarantee it.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Weaving Community: A Conversation with Tasneem Behardien
How do we build spaces where relationships flourish and collective healing can happen? Join us for a conversation with Tasneem Behardien, founder of Cape Town Stitch to Resist, to discover how shared spaces, creativity and storytelling allow us to cultivate belonging and resilience and build the relational foundation needed to transform the world around us.
Building community is one of humanity’s oldest and most essential practices. Yet in today’s fast-paced, fragmented world, many of us have lost the spaces and practices that anchor us. Loneliness and isolation are on the rise, and it can be easy to forget that the large-scale change we want to see in the world begins in the local spaces where we gather, share, and create together.
This is why we are delighted to welcome Tasneem Behardien, founder of Cape Town Stitch to Resist, to explore how creative practices, art, and storytelling can bring people together, strengthen relationships, and foster collective healing.
Together, we’ll explore questions such as:
What does it mean to weave community in a fragmented world?
How can creativity become a catalyst for connection and belonging?
What role do storytelling, art, and collective creation play in strengthening our bonds?
How can shared creative experiences help us build solidarity across differences?
Meet Our Speaker
Tasneem Behardien is the founder and creative leader of Cape Town Stitch to Resist (CTS2R), a Cape Town–based non-profit organisation working at the intersection of art, textile practice, cultural heritage, social justice and community connection. Through collaborative art, exhibitions, installations, workshops, heritage programmes and creative exchanges, CTS2R works with indigenous, marginalised and underrepresented communities, women, youth and diverse cultural groups. Tasneem’s practice explores how handcraft, storytelling and collective making can preserve cultural memory, strengthen creative agency and create dialogue around identity, belonging, decolonial practice, solidarity and resistance. CTS2R’s collaborative work has been presented locally and internationally.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Leading Through Polycrisis: What 63 C-Suite Leaders Told Us About the Future
What separates leaders who are merely reacting to today’s volatility from those actively shaping what comes next?
This new research from the International Leadership Association and the Center for Creative Leadership draws on roundtables and in-depth interviews with 63 C-suite leaders across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia that surfaced five trends redefining global leadership: from maximizing the human advantage and orchestrating human-machine systems, to radical collaboration, purposeful leadership, and cultivating tomorrow’s talent today.
Join ILA Board Chair Kevin Lowe as he moderates a conversation with Mike Hardy (ILA’s Past Board Chair) and CCL’s Sol Bukin, Elisa Mallis, and Anand Chandrasekar, who will unpack what these findings actually mean in practice and what they signal for leaders navigating a world where disruption is no longer an occasional shock, but a constant backdrop.
You’ll leave with a practical lens for leading through uncertainty—and a few provocations worth bringing back to your own leadership table.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Truth-telling as Organisational Practice: Building High-Trust Workplaces
Discover how truth-telling drives authentic cultural change, builds trust, and creates safer workplaces for all employees. Truth-telling is increasingly recognised as essential to building safe, inclusive, and high-trust workplaces. Yet many organisations struggle to understand what truth-telling means in practice and how to implement it authentically.
This session brings together research, evidence, and practical insights to show how truth-telling enables organisations to build genuine cultural change, address systemic injustice, and create workplaces where all employees—particularly First Peoples and other marginalised groups—feel safe, valued, and heard.
What You'll Learn:
The evidence: How the Yoorrook Justice Commission's final report demonstrates that historical injustices continue to manifest in institutions and organisations today, perpetuating harm and deepening inequity
The practice: Practical, research-informed approaches to implementing truth-telling in your organisation
The impact: How truth-telling builds trust, accountability, and authentic cultural change
The next steps: Clear, actionable pathways for engaging authentically with truth-telling in your workplace
Why This Matters:
Truth-telling is not merely about First Peoples' history. It's a foundation for addressing the living realities of division, discrimination, and injustice in multicultural Australia. When organisations commit to truth-telling—acknowledging historical harms, listening to marginalised voices, and taking responsibility for change—they create the conditions for genuine healing, trust, and belonging.
Organisations that implement truth-telling develop safer workplaces, stronger cultures, and greater capacity to attract and retain talented, diverse teams. They become leaders in institutional accountability and reconciliation.
Who Should Attend:
Organisational leaders, HR professionals, managers, diversity and inclusion practitioners, and anyone committed to building safe, inclusive, high-trust workplaces.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Meet the Author: Danny Wareham
Who leads when the leader is not in the room?
Leadership has traditionally been associated with the individuals at the top of an organisation. But what if leadership wasn’t about a single person at all?
This month, Belinda is joined by psychologist, author and accredited coach Danny Wareham to explore the ideas behind his book, Constellation. Drawing on psychology, organisational science and original research, Danny challenges conventional thinking by asking whether leadership can become a property of the system itself, where purpose, culture, and context drive leadership instead of hierarchy.
What you'll learn:
Why leadership doesn’t always have to fall on one leader
What “leaderless” leadership looks like
The power of purpose and culture
Research-backed insights
Practical ideas for your organisation
Danny Wareham, Organisational Psychologist
Danny believes that happy bees make tasty honey. With a purposeful culture, strategy and support systems, high performance becomes a side effect. He is a psychologist, author, and accredited coach, whose work lies at the intersection of leadership, culture and personality, with a focus on individual differences – especially the “dark triad” traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. An expert in culture and leadership dynamics, Danny has been recognised among the Global Top 25 Thought Leaders on Culture and Leadership and has spent nearly 30-years in contact centre, retail and fintech industries. He is the founder of Firgun, a consultancy whose Hebrew name captures his core motivation: “the genuine, sincere and pure happiness for another person’s accomplishment or experience”, whose clients include Worldpay, M&G Investment Bank, and LEGO.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Leadership in a Disrupted World
Geopolitical instability, climate disruption and technological change are not temporary pressures, learn how to lead through disruption.
These changes are the new operating environment. Hosted by Dr Belinda Allen, this session draws on evidence-based research to explore what effective leadership looks like in this context. It will introduce innovative approaches to managing workforce fatigue without sacrificing performance, as well as practical insights into translating the latest leadership research into action across your organisation.
During the session, you'll hear evidence-based leadership strategies you can apply immediately to sustain performance and lead your organisation through complex, ongoing disruption.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassion at Work: Caring, Bereavement and Inclusive Leadership
Join us for this panel exploring how compassion, care and human-centred support can help build more inclusive workplaces, where everyone feels seen and supported through significant life moments.
More employees than ever are balancing work alongside caring responsibilities or returning after bereavement, yet many organisations still don’t feel equipped to support them effectively.
- Bereavement affects around 1 in 10 employees each year.
- Every day, around 600 people leave full-time work to care for a loved one.
In this session, we will explore:
- What practical steps organisations can take to embed a more inclusive culture around significant life moments.
- How culture, identity and family structure can shape people’s experiences of grief and caring.
- Where misunderstandings can happen, particularly for neurodivergent colleagues and managers.
Bringing together lived experience and practical guidance, this session will offer ideas to help you embed compassion into your approach to inclusion.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series: Empathy Doesn't Arrive — It Unfolds: How Storytelling and Story Listening Transform Clinical Presence
We tend to think of empathy and compassion as traits we either have or don't. But research tells a different story. Empathy unfolds. It deepens layer by layer as we encounter, sit with, and genuinely engage a human story. Which means that every time we interrupt, assume, or finish someone's story, we don't just miss information—we short-circuit the empathy process itself.
This session draws on original research into empathy decline in healthcare and the conditions that reverse it. Using complexity theory as a lens, participants will explore why empathy erosion is a wicked problem that resists single solutions, and why storytelling, story listening, and intentional reflection and structured debrief protocols are among the most powerful micro-interventions available. Grounded in both science and practice, the session uses story as both subject and method.
Participants will leave with:
● A new mental model: empathy as a dynamic process grounded in story
● A practical, repeatable storytelling, listening, and reflection protocol for clinical settings
● One insight they can apply in their next patient encounter
Designed for healthcare professionals, healthcare educators, medical students, and beyond, this free, interactive series equips participants with practical communication skills to strengthen relationships, navigate difficult conversations, and foster more compassionate, effective interactions with patients, colleagues, learners, and teams.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
A Strong Heart for Challenging Times with Rick Hanson, Estrella Fernandez and Sophie Sansom
We are delighted to offer this donation event exploring themes of resilience, compassion and self-compassion in our lives during these times. The evening will be a mix of guided practice and discussion offered by our trio of guest speakers who represent three different aspects of the Mindfulness Network charity: our Trustees, our close partners at Bangor University and our wider Network.
Our guests are Rick Hanson PhD, the world-renowned psychologist who founded the Global Compassion Coalition, is a Senior Fellow of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and a New York Times best-selling author; Estrella Fernandez, one of the Mindfulness Network's Trustees and founder of MBCT Spain; and Sophie Samson, co-director of the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University and Trustee Chair at BAMBA.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series - Narrative Humility: Listening Beyond Assumptions
Communication shapes every interaction in healthcare. Build the skills to make each one count.
UC San Diego's Center for Compassionate Communication invites you to the Fall 2026 Compassionate Communication Virtual Workshop Series.
Designed for healthcare professionals, healthcare educators, medical students, and beyond, this free, interactive series equips participants with practical communication skills to strengthen relationships, navigate difficult conversations, and foster more compassionate, effective interactions with patients, colleagues, learners, and teams.
Every person we meet carries a story—but no matter how much we know, we can never fully know another person's experience. Narrative Humility is a practice of approaching others with curiosity rather than certainty. In this interactive webinar, participants will explore how stories shape perception, decision-making, and relationships while learning practical tools for reducing assumptions, navigating uncertainty, and building stronger human connection.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Psychological Safety: Missing Piece of Safety Culture
Psychosocial hazards—such as ineffective leadership, harassment, excessive workloads, and exposure to traumatic events—can significantly impact employee well-being and organizational performance. Like other hazards, these risks demand systematic identification, evaluation, and control. Psychosocial risks are increasingly recognized in global standards (e.g., ISO 45003), and managing them effectively is essential for sustainable performance, regulatory compliance, and workforce resilience. This webinar synthesizes current insights into a cohesive introduction to psychosocial risk management.
Learning objectives:
Identify common psychosocial hazards across diverse work environments
Measure exposure and assess risk using qualitative and quantitative tools
Implement controls tailored to organizational context and workforce needs
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Trauma Sensitivity at Work: How to Lead Safe, Inclusive Teams
Join us for a behind-the-scenes talk with author Adriana Leigh! In this 30-minute conversation, you’ll explore how unresolved trauma drives burnout, conflict, and turnover, and discover practical, trauma-informed tools for embedding safety and trust into leadership, policy, and everyday organizational culture. We’ll save time at the end for questions from the audience, making this an interactive experience where you can connect directly with the author.
About the Book
Address burnout, conflict, and turnover with a trauma-informed leadership lens.
Trauma Sensitivity at Work is a clear, compassionate, and practical guide to building cultures of inclusion, safety, and trust by addressing an often overlooked driver of workplace challenges: trauma. Drawing on over two decades of global experience in workplace human rights, leadership, and policy advising — as well as her background as a human rights lawyer and her own healing journey — international changemaker Adriana Leigh shows why trauma sensitivity is a core leadership competency today, and how to develop it in practice.
The book helps leaders understand trauma responses and how unresolved trauma can show up at work, including as perfectionism, overwork, disengagement, and mental health strain. Leigh invites reflection on how trauma may shape leadership style and team dynamics, while grounding insights in research, real-world examples, and organizational practice.
She bridges individual experience and systems change, showing how trauma-informed principles can be embedded into policy, training, and wellbeing initiatives to build safer, more sustainable workplaces. Through stories, prompts, and practical tools, she supports leaders in translating care into everyday decisions that strengthen retention, wellbeing, and performance.
Written for HR, DEI, and wellbeing leaders — and anyone navigating overwhelm or exhaustion at work — this book helps leaders reduce burnout and turnover by integrating a trauma-sensitive lens into leadership, policy, and culture.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Compassion Café: Morning UK A Place for Connection, Discussion and Restoration
A Place for Connection, Discussion and Restoration with Kathryn Lovewell. Compassion Cafe is a fortnightly, informal meet-up for the whole, global GCC family to come together. In a warm and welcoming atmosphere, you’ll find connection with others, support in your compassion practice and ideas for developing it, wherever you are in your personal journey.
This is a free space to learn, share and simply connect. So if you’ve ever wondered ‘am I knowledgeable enough to take part?’ or ‘do I have enough experience?’, please know that the only requirement to attend these get-togethers is for you to show up! You don’t have to be a GCC member. And if you just want to listen, that’s totally fine too!
Each meet-up will include some of the following:
Prompts to encourage some personal reflections
Practical suggestions and advice for developing your compassion practice
Free space for those that want to share their thoughts and experiences
Optional small group spaces for sharing
Inspiration for putting compassion into action in your personal life, your community and the wider world
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
Bridging Differences: A Conversation with Joan Blades
In a time of growing polarization and social fragmentation, how can we stay connected across our differences? Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Joan Blades, founder of Living Room Conversations, as we explore what it takes to build relationships across divides and strengthen the fabric of our communities.
This session marks the launch of Connectors: The Essential Toolkit, a brand new series offered exclusively as part of our brand new Connectors Program. These expert-led talks are designed to give you practical tools to bring compassion deeper into your own life and the lives of those around you.
Together, we’ll explore questions such as:
What allows people who see the world differently to stay connected?
How do we cultivate a sense of belonging without demanding conformity?
What internal capacities help us navigate tension and conflict constructively?
How can ordinary people actively help heal social fragmentation?
What to expect: The event will feature a one-hour moderated conversation followed by a 30-minute live Q&A, giving you the opportunity to engage directly with Joan.
Whether you’re deeply involved in community-building or simply looking for ways to navigate daily differences with greater curiosity and compassion, we hope you’ll join us.
Meet Our Speaker
Joan Blades is a co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org, an open-source effort to rebuild respectful civil discourse across ideological, cultural, and party lines while embracing core-shared values. She is also a co-founder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org, and co-author of The Custom-Fit Workplace (2011 Nautilus Book Award winner) and The Motherhood Manifesto (2007 Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize winner). Previously, she was a software entrepreneur and co-founder of Berkeley Systems, known for the Flying Toaster and the game “You Don’t Know Jack.” A mediator and attorney by training, she is a nature lover, artist, and advocate for rebuilding respectful civil discourse.
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.
What is Systems Leadership? Leading Across Complexity in Health and Care
This session will offer a practical introduction to systems leadership and will encourage you to reflect on your own leadership challenges.
Many of the biggest challenges in health and care don’t sit within one organisation. They arise across teams, services and institutions – shaped by complexity, interdependence and competing priorities.
So, what does it take to lead effectively in that reality?
In this free Lunch and Learn, Senior Consultants Mark Patterson and Matthew Rice will explore what systems leadership is, why it matters, and what it asks of leaders working across health and care.
Drawing on their experience of supporting senior leaders through the Top Manager programme (TMP), The King’s Fund’s longest running leadership programme, they will share practical insights into leading across boundaries, working without direct authority, and staying curious in the face of complexity.
This session will offer a practical introduction to systems leadership and will encourage you to reflect on your own leadership challenges and opportunities. It’s ideal for senior leaders who want to strengthen their ability to work across organisational boundaries and create change in complex environments.
This session will offer a practical introduction to systems leadership and will encourage you to reflect on your own leadership challenges and opportunities. It’s ideal for senior leaders who want to strengthen their ability to work across organisational boundaries and create change in complex environments.
You will learn:
what systems leadership looks like in practice in health and care
why it matters when challenges span organisations, teams and services
how to lead across boundaries when we you don't have direct authority
why leadership in complex systems is often a collective endeavour and what that means for how you work with others
Register here for this free online event. Please note, this event has been standardized to the Eastern Time Zone.