Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Jennifer Garvey Berger is a leadership coach, developmental psychologist, and the author of several books, including: Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps, Changing on the Job, and Unleash Your Complexity Genius.
In 2023, she was shortlisted as one of the top 8 coaches in the world by Thinkers 50.
In this conversation, we explore:
— Daniel Gilbert’s idea that human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished - and the implications this has for growth and development
— The 4 minds: self sovereign, socialized, self authoring, and self transforming - and how to know which stage you are at
— What it means to become a ‘complexity genius’
— The importance of continuously upgrading our mental models all throughout life - and how best to do this.
And more.
You can explore Jennifer’s work and books at https://www.cultivatingleadership.com.
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Jennifer Garvey Berger believes that leadership is one of the most vital renewable resources in the world. At a time when organisations are often forging the path rather than following the path of others, leadership is about creating the conditions for people to be their most creative, connected, intelligent selves. She is a founding partner and CEO of Cultivating Leadership, a consultancy that serves executives and executive teams in the private, non-profit, and government sectors around the world. Her clients include Google, Microsoft, Novartis, Wikipedia, and Oxfam International. Jennifer designs and teaches leadership programs, coaches senior teams, and supports new ways of thinking about strategy and people with clients facing these dramatic shifts in complexity, volatility, and change in their workplaces and markets. She blends deep theoretical knowledge with a driving quest for practical ways to make leaders’ lives better.
Jennifer also supports leaders one-on-one as a leadership coach. She supports clients to find their current growing edge and then make choices about how they want to grow, and she teaches coaches around the world transformational and developmental coaching approaches in her Growth Edge Coaching certification series. Jennifer speaks at leadership and coaching conferences, and she offers occasional courses for coaches at universities all over the world like Harvard University, the University of Sydney, and Oxford Brookes University.
Jennifer holds a doctorate in adult development from Harvard University, where she studied under and worked with acclaimed developmental psychologist Robert Kegan. She was an Associate Professor at George Mason University before she left the academy on a mission to connect powerful research and the people doing real work in the world. Jennifer is an American by birth, a Kiwi by choice, and finds herself living now in London, far from her beach house on the Tasman Sea. Wherever she might call home, she loves laughing with her two nearly-grown children, rolling on the floor with her dog, and writing about leading, coaching, and living.
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:24 - Coaching: Being vs Adding Value
02:17 - Light and Shadow Dynamics
04:38 - Overcoming the End of History Illusion
06:42 - Questions That Shape Life
09:42 - Growth Through Difficulty
13:12 - Adult Development Theory
17:36 - The Four Minds Map
22:02 - Finding Your Place on the Map
25:06 - The Self-Transforming Mind
26:35 - Applying Adult Development Theory
29:46 - Cancer and Developmental Growth
32:19 - Transforming Mental Models
39:57 - Perspective-Taking as a Superpower
43:16 - Giving and Receiving Feedback
45:45 - Relationship Superpowers
46:55 - Learning from Conflict
50:07 - Expanding Human Possibilities
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Interview Link:
— Jennifer’s website - cultivatingleadership.com
Jennifer Garvey Berger is a leadership coach, developmental psychologist, and the author of several books, including: Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps, Changing on the Job, and Unleash Your Complexity Genius.
In 2023, she was shortlisted as one of the top 8 coaches in the world by Thinkers 50.
In this conversation, we explore:
— Daniel Gilbert’s idea that human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished - and the implications this has for growth and development
— The 4 minds: self sovereign, socialized, self authoring, and self transforming - and how to know which stage you are at
— What it means to become a ‘complexity genius’
— The importance of continuously upgrading our mental models all throughout life - and how best to do this.
And more.
You can explore Jennifer’s work and books at https://www.cultivatingleadership.com.
---
Jennifer Garvey Berger believes that leadership is one of the most vital renewable resources in the world. At a time when organisations are often forging the path rather than following the path of others, leadership is about creating the conditions for people to be their most creative, connected, intelligent selves. She is a founding partner and CEO of Cultivating Leadership, a consultancy that serves executives and executive teams in the private, non-profit, and government sectors around the world. Her clients include Google, Microsoft, Novartis, Wikipedia, and Oxfam International. Jennifer designs and teaches leadership programs, coaches senior teams, and supports new ways of thinking about strategy and people with clients facing these dramatic shifts in complexity, volatility, and change in their workplaces and markets. She blends deep theoretical knowledge with a driving quest for practical ways to make leaders’ lives better.
Jennifer also supports leaders one-on-one as a leadership coach. She supports clients to find their current growing edge and then make choices about how they want to grow, and she teaches coaches around the world transformational and developmental coaching approaches in her Growth Edge Coaching certification series. Jennifer speaks at leadership and coaching conferences, and she offers occasional courses for coaches at universities all over the world like Harvard University, the University of Sydney, and Oxford Brookes University.
Jennifer holds a doctorate in adult development from Harvard University, where she studied under and worked with acclaimed developmental psychologist Robert Kegan. She was an Associate Professor at George Mason University before she left the academy on a mission to connect powerful research and the people doing real work in the world. Jennifer is an American by birth, a Kiwi by choice, and finds herself living now in London, far from her beach house on the Tasman Sea. Wherever she might call home, she loves laughing with her two nearly-grown children, rolling on the floor with her dog, and writing about leading, coaching, and living.
---
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:24 - Coaching: Being vs Adding Value
02:17 - Light and Shadow Dynamics
04:38 - Overcoming the End of History Illusion
06:42 - Questions That Shape Life
09:42 - Growth Through Difficulty
13:12 - Adult Development Theory
17:36 - The Four Minds Map
22:02 - Finding Your Place on the Map
25:06 - The Self-Transforming Mind
26:35 - Applying Adult Development Theory
29:46 - Cancer and Developmental Growth
32:19 - Transforming Mental Models
39:57 - Perspective-Taking as a Superpower
43:16 - Giving and Receiving Feedback
45:45 - Relationship Superpowers
46:55 - Learning from Conflict
50:07 - Expanding Human Possibilities
---
Interview Link:
— Jennifer’s website - cultivatingleadership.com
