Episode Notes

I am feeling reinvigorated after a six-week hiatus. I worked with more clients, wrote, and integrated some significant life events during this time. The break was well worth it, and I’m eager to bring more meaningful conversations and ideas to support the evolution of leadership that aims to improve our world.

How to End Injustice Everywhere: Understanding the Common Denominator Driving all Injustices, to Create a Better World for Humans, Animals, and the Planet is now my go-to reference as we strive to end injustice. Dr. Melanie Joy has a unique ability to break down complex concepts into practical and easy-to-understand nuggets, helping us gain a deeper understanding of the systems we participate in on a daily basis. This knowledge can help us positively create a better world for all – humans, animals, and the planet. She is today’s guest mentor. 

“We don’t help people see different things. We help them see the same things, differently.”

–Melanie Joy, Ph.D., and Other Pioneers Before Her 

The work of Dr. Melanie Joy has had a significant impact on me, as indicated by the quote above. When we see the same things differently, we change our lives and how we lead.

Since learning from her teachings, I have gained a new perspective on my dietary habits and transitioned to a plant-based diet, eliminating all meat, dairy, and egg products a few months before our first podcast conversation on June 7, 2021. Melanie has helped me comprehend the psychology and invisible systems that condition us to consume certain animals.

I feel physically healthier and more in sync with my ethical values. It no longer makes sense to me to harm animals when I have committed to not hurting myself or others. Why should I consume something with eyes if I am devoted to treating all beings with kindness and respect? This is my viewpoint; it doesn’t have to be yours.

My perspective has become clearer and more relational after reading Melanie’s research, attending her webinars, and listening to our podcast conversations. Melanie is an exceptional teacher, mentor, entrepreneurial leader, and advocate. Her distinctive understanding of oppression and social transformation in relationships offers an explanation for the dysfunction in our world and provides actionable steps to address it.

I greatly admire Dr. Melanie Joy and her brave efforts in leading a worldwide movement to awaken us from our oppressive state and guide us toward a more enlightened way of relating to ourselves, other humans, animals, and the planet. She embodies integrity and demonstrates respect for the dignity of every individual, and I encourage everyone to follow her example of practicing relational literacy.

When I was introduced to Dr. Melanie Joy.

My daughter Olivia heard Melanie on Simon Hill’s Plant Proof podcast a few years ago. After purchasing a few of Melanie’s books, like Getting Relationships Right, Beyond Beliefs, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, and Powerarchy, I emailed her assistant.

In June of 2021, I interviewed Melanie in two podcast conversations. I re-aired those conversations in 2022. You can revisit those two podcast conversations in the Episode Resources at wementor.com. We discussed Getting Relationships Right in one conversation.

She helped us understand how to practice integrity and honor dignity through connection, communication, security, and compassion. Those practices require us to be mindful, compassionate, and accountable in how we listen and what we say and do. 

In the second podcast conversation, we talked about Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows in the other. It was our introduction to carnism, a term Melanie coined to describe an invisible system that teaches us to eat certain animals.

Today’s conversation is focused on Dr. Melanie Joy’s new book, How to End Injustice Everywhere: Understanding the Common Denominator Driving all Injustices, to Create a Better World for Humans, Animals, and the Planet. Her seventh and newest book captures what she has learned traveling to 35 countries.

• If you are doing the vitally important work of ending injustice, her book and our podcast conversations are for you. Her formula for healthy relating will profoundly change how you lead.

• If you are tired of thoughtless political debates, this conversation will help you understand the polarities from a relational and nonrelational systems perspective.

• If you want to shift conversations into more constructive ones and improve each interaction, we discuss how to have ‘whole message’ conversations. The four parts of speaking in whole messages will expand your relational literacy and give you more options to stay connected during tough conversations.

• Suppose you wonder what lies at the root of injustice, oppression, and abuse across all forms. In that case, you can end injustice everywhere by practicing integrity and honoring dignity. Learn more from Dr. Melanie Joy. 

• If you want to understand why Dr. Melanie Joy is hopeful, tune in. She helps us understand the social psychology of invisible systems that make up nonrelational systems, and how to transform those systems into relational ones.

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