Mind & Life Podcast

Diana Chapman Walsh – Contemplative Leadership

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March 21, 2024

View or download a transcript of this episode

In this episode, Wendy speaks with educational leader, writer, and climate activist Diana Chapman Walsh. Diana had a long and successful career in public health at Boston and Harvard University, and then became the president of Wellesley College, a position she held for 14 years. Diana has become an icon in educational leadership, and advocates that education can be both an intellectual and a spiritual journey. This conversation covers many topics, including:

Diana Chapman Walsh, PhD
  • her path into contemplative practice and leadership;
  • the importance of knowing and questioning oneself;
  • vulnerability and responsibility in leadership;
  • how the qualities of a leader influence the system they are leading;
  • hierarchical vs. inclusive systems;
  • the five principles of trustworthy leadership;
  • interconnectedness as an underlying truth;
  • building community amidst the climate crisis;
  • how feedback loops can accelerate harm or spur change;
  • and encouragement to tell our stories.

Diana Chapman Walsh, PhD is President emerita of Wellesley College, which she led from 1993 through 2007. She is a life member emerita of the MIT Corporation and former member of its executive committee. She was the inaugural chair of the board of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and served on the boards of the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Mind & Life Institute, the State Street Corporation, and Amherst College. Before assuming the Wellesley presidency, she was the Norman Professor of Public Health and chair of the department of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health, and, prior to that, Professor of Public Health at Boston University and associate director of its Health Policy Institute.

Diana has published widely on social factors affecting the health of populations, and is known for a style of “trustworthy leadership,” attuned to inner integrity, grounded in reliable partnerships, in resisting the use of force, valuing differences, and weaving sustainable communities as systems of mutual support. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and co-founder of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, Diana writes, speaks, and consults on higher education and leadership and the crisis of climate change.

Resources

LinkedIn profile