Beth Green has lived many lives: activist, Marxist, spiritual channeler, intuitive counselor, and founder of the Healing Arts Network. In this moving and provocative conversation, she shares stories from her remarkable life—beginning with her expulsion from Smith College for protesting nuclear weapons at age 16—and the wisdom she’s gained through decades of navigating political and spiritual contradictions.

We explore how ego shows up in both activism and spirituality, and how Beth integrates the two by grounding them in a simple yet radical truth: our job is to care for people and the Earth. She challenges the commodification of human creativity, the spiritual bypassing of systemic injustice, and the failure of both capitalism and traditional leftist movements to recognize the deeper roots of human suffering.

This episode also features a powerful (and private) counseling session where Beth guides me through deep personal insight—so powerful that most of it didn't make it into the final cut. What remains, though, is the transformation that session catalyzed, and a conversation that just might do the same for you.

Links and Resources:

• Beth’s counseling and spiritual work: bethgreen.org
• Free books, music, and teachings: healingartsnetwork.org
• Beth’s nonprofit and activist platform: thestream.info
• The New Declaration of Independence: thestream.info/next-steps

Topics We Cover:

• The cost of courage in a conformist world
• The problem with both capitalism and spiritual escapism
• How ego hijacks politics and spirituality alike
• What it means to live “at the intersection of the human and divine”
• A radically compassionate vision for collective thriving

Zach Stone’s life arc runs from teenage “knucklehead” to crisis negotiator, trauma-informed facilitator, and head-of-product for thirty health-ed dev teams. In this rich, funny, and occasionally hair-raising conversation we drill down into the how of navigating chaos — on a subway platform, in a corporate boardroom, and inside your own nervous system.

Trigger warning: there's a conversation about suicide at about 15 minutes into the episode. Skip to minute 17 if you want to avoid this section.

Here's a tasting menu of our conversation:

Gang manuals & purple binders – How a Quaker-adjacent conflict resolution course turned a 15-year-old troublemaker into a group dynamics geek.

From union hall to board hall – Lessons learned refereeing SEPTA labor fights and why the same “rubber-and-glue” listening works on Zoom stand-ups.

OARS in rough water – Using Motivational Interviewing (Open questions, Affirmations, Reflections, Summaries) to defuse rage, whether from a bus driver or the voice in your own head.

Simulated danger, real breakthroughs – How well-designed role-plays can heal trauma if you hold the container (and what happens when a participant suddenly starts to undress).

Signs you’re in a chaotic system – Chronic absenteeism, cortisol tummy, “my work doesn’t matter” syndrome, and 70% burnout in tech.

Habit > culture – A shout-out to Paul Gibbons, Prochaska & DiClemente, and the myth of top-down culture change.

Martial arts as somatic therapy – TaeKwonDo to Muay Thai to boxing; what Zach saw when veterans laid down their canes and kids in shelters stopped fighting.

Virtual heartbreak – Coaching a Kharkiv dev team while missiles shook their bomb shelter.

Chaos surfing 101 – Why you don’t control chaos, you ride it; plus simple team-level practices to build collective resilience.

Name the elephant first. Start every workshop by voicing the resistance in the room; it evaporates faster than you’d think.

Watch for survival mode. Tight shoulders, skipped meals, rolling eyes? Slow down before you roll out another initiative.

Move the meat-sack. Five minutes of mindful movement (shadow-boxing, Tai-Chi, hallway laps) resets the neuro-chemistry better than another latte.

Change habits, not slogans. Draft tiny incentives that make the preferred behavior the easy behavior; culture follows.

Zach on LinkedIn – the easiest place to connect and geek out about behavioral science.

Red Kite Project – trauma-informed organizational change (Charlotte DiBartolomeo).

AFSC Help Increase the Peace curriculum

Peter Levine – Waking the Tiger

Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score

Paul Gibbons –

Garry Ridge is the former CEO of WD-40 and the co-author of Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It, a book about building high-performance cultures through servant leadership, emotional safety, and consistent values. In this conversation, Garry shares not just what he learned during his 25+ years at WD-40, but how he lived it—and how other leaders can too.

We talked about what it means to lead with a heart of gold and a backbone of steel, how culture can't be microwaved (spoiler: it's a crockpot), and why being a "dumbass" is actually a leadership superpower.

Garry tells stories about turning fear into learning, eliminating the word "manager," and why clarity around values—especially in a hierarchy—gives everyone the confidence to make the right decision, no matter their title.

We also explore:

• Why psychological safety isn't fluff, it's foundational
• How “the soul-sucking CEO” lives in all of us, and what to do about that
• What happened when Garry went back to school as a CEO
• How WD-40 went global using three simple marketing questions
• Why organizations should replace “failure” with “learning moments”
• The real-world power of love and belonging at work
• The “Maniac Pledge” and how it eliminates finger-pointing
• How even during COVID, WD-40’s engagement scores stayed sky-high

This episode is a warm bath of wisdom, humor, and hope for anyone who wants to lead—at work or in life—with integrity, humility, and heart.

• Garry Ridge's website: thelearningmoment.net
• Take the Dumbass Proficiency Quiz here
• Connect with Garry on LinkedIn
• Join the School of Dumb-Assery on LinkedIn
• Garry’s book: Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It