Real stories about who we are, how we lead, and the world we're creating together. Life, Leadership and Change brings together entrepreneurs, creatives, academics, and changemakers for honest conversations that move from the deeply personal to the boldly systemic. Together, Kara and her guests everything from leadership, complexity and emotional intelligence to career fulfilment, social change, and the structures that shape how we live and work. If you're curious, purposeful, and believe in better, this show is for you.
Rising to the Occasion Bonus Ep 2:
Truth, Worldviews & Assumptions Shaping Complexity Leadership
Can there be multiple truths? Is truth only something only science can establish? Do postmodern and critical social justice worldviews represent more advanced stages of adult development? And when leaders struggle to stay clear under uncertainty, are they hitting a complexity ceiling, or is something else at play?
In our first Q&A episode, Dr Aiden Thornton and I tackled the practical questions. Now, we go deeper to unpack some of the assumptions, ideas, and evidence that sit beneath complexity leadership practice.
You will come away with:
A clearer understanding of what we mean when we talk about "truth" and why it matters for leadership in complex environments
New ways to think about the relationship between truth, evidence, science, and lived experience
Greater insight into the debate around postmodernism, critical social justice, and adult development
Practical perspectives on what may be happening when people struggle to communicate clearly under uncertainty
A deeper appreciation of how complexity leadership can help us navigate difficult questions without rushing to simple answers
From philosophy and leadership to adult development and communication, this episode explores some of the deeper questions that shape how we understand complexity and make sense of the world around us.
You can connect with Aiden here: https://au.linkedin.com/in/aidenmathornton (https://au.linkedin.com/in/aidenmathornton)
28 May 2026
Rising to the Occasion: Q&A Part 1: Practical Questions
You asked, we answered! This is the first of two bonus Q&A episodes following our four-part complexity leadership mini-series. Here, Dr. Aiden Thornton responds to your practical questions about leading in a complex world, addressing:
The five issues Aiden has his eye on as the most complex challenges facing leaders today, from the future of AI and work to the role of truth
A practical three-step framework for developing complexity leadership skills, and why daily practice often matters most
How to start untangling complexity when everything feels complex at once, including what to look for and where to begin
Why collective leadership is not automatically the best answer to complexity, and what the evidence actually suggests
How to navigate conversations about the culture wars without shutting them down or causing unnecessary offence
Whether you are new to the series or have been following along from the beginning, this episode brings the concepts to life with concrete, actionable insights you can start applying today.
This is Bonus Episode 1 of 2. Next up: your conceptual questions answered.
You can connect with Aiden here: https://au.linkedin.com/in/aidenmathornton (https://au.linkedin.com/in/aidenmathornton)
21 Apr 2026
Rising to the Occasion: Part 4: Truth: What it is and why it matters for leading in a complex world
We talk about truth constantly, be it directly or indirectly. We invoke it in arguments, base decisions on it, and build entire worldviews around it. But how often do we stop to ask what truth actually is, why it matters, and how we can reliably identify it?
In Part 4 of our complexity leadership mini-series, Dr. Aiden Thornton and I dig into exactly that. Working through four core questions, we unpack what truth actually means, why it matters for how we lead and live, how to identify or at least approximate it, and why the question of who gets to decide what is true might be based on a flawed premise entirely.
We cover:
- The crucial difference between truth, belief and meaning, and why conflating them can cause more harm than we realise
- Why the truth of our beliefs is what allows us to interact with both our internal and external world
- How to match the right method to the right claim when trying to identify or approximate truth
- Why "who gets to decide what's true" is actually the wrong question entirely
- Why a mature understanding of truth may be a necessary condition for the survival of our species in the 21st century
Episode 4 of 4. Thank you for joining us for the Rising to the Occasion mini-series! Stay tuned for our bonus Q&A episode, we would love to hear your questions.
Submit your questions here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/rQdcvQadga (https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/rQdcvQadga)
You can connect with Aiden here: https://au.linkedin.com/in/aidenmathornton (https://au.linkedin.com/in/aidenmathornton)
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