Empowerment Minutes

Maurine Kwende
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Management
  • Biweekly

Empowerment Minutes is a podcast for learning and development, leadership, and coaching professionals, hosted by Dr. Maurine Kwende. The podcast was launched in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to empower others—especially women—to find their voice and use it boldly. Each episode shares practical insights, tools, and nuggets of wisdom to help listeners grow, lead effectively, and make a greater impact in their work and organizations. Dr. Maurine Kwende is the CEO and Founder of EMK Learning Solutions, a consulting firm focused on leadership development, coaching, facilitation, and learning solutions. She is also the founder of Girls Can Dream Big 2, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and girls to dream big and live boldly. 

  1. 1d ago

    The Strategic Pause: Why Effective Leaders Make Time to Think with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    The Strategic Pause: Why Effective Leaders Make Time to Think In this episode of the Empowerment Minutes Podcast, Dr. Maurine Kwende opens November’s theme, The Strategic Pause: Looking Back With Gratitude, Planning Ahead With Purpose. As the year comes to a close, many leaders respond to the pressure by moving faster. Dr. Kwende explains why a strategic pause is a leadership discipline rather than a break. She covers three signs that constant activity may be crowding out strategic thinking, along with three questions that help leaders separate what matters from what only feels urgent. Through a leadership scenario, she shows how one director found clarity on her priorities, her team, and her plans for 2027 by making time to pause and think. She also explains why looking back with gratitude is an important part of planning ahead with purpose. In this episode, you’ll learn: The difference between a strategic pause and simply slowing down Three signs you may need a strategic pause Three questions to bring into your thinking time Why looking back with gratitude strengthens your plans for 2027 How a leader’s pace shapes team culture This week’s action: Block 30 minutes for a strategic pause, answer the three questions, and choose one thing to act on and one thing to let go of. Ways to go deeper: Join the newsletter for weekly leadership insights and practical tools. Explore Becoming the Dream Leader, Dr. Kwende’s new book on leading with clarity and purpose.

  2. Oct 27

    Beyond Training: Turning Learning into Everyday Practice with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    In this finale of the Empowerment Minutes Podcast’s October series, Developing People for What’s Next: Building the Capabilities Organizations Need for 2027 and Beyond, Dr. Maurine Kwende explores what happens after the training ends and how organizations can turn learning into lasting capability. Dr. Kwende explains the difference between knowledge and capability. She shares a scenario showing how a well-received feedback workshop produced little change until it was redesigned around the real gap, practice, reinforcement, and measurement. She also explains why the principles of instructional design and adult learning are critical for designing learning around performance and impact rather than learning objectives alone. Finally, she describes how an agile learning culture, built on innovation, adaptability, and flexibility, sustains development over time. Ways to go deeper: Join the newsletter for practical strategies between episodes Order Dr. Kwende's new book, Becoming the Dream Leader and explore her other books

  3. Oct 20

    The Human Advantage in an AI-Driven World: 4 Capabilities to Build Now with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    Episode Title: The Human Advantage in an AI-Driven World: 4 Capabilities to Build Now In this episode of the Empowerment Minutes Podcast, Dr. Maurine Kwende continues October’s series, Developing People for What’s Next: Building the Capabilities Organizations Need for 2027 and Beyond. As AI takes on more routine work, many organizations respond by scheduling more tool training. Dr. Kwende explains why the first step is to identify the real capability gap, and she shares a scenario showing how an organization’s AI challenge turned out to be a gap in judgment and communication. She then outlines four human capabilities that grow in importance as technology advances, and the role leaders play in shaping how AI is used. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why you should start with the gap before investing in training How to recognize when an AI challenge is really a human-capability gap Four capabilities to develop as AI changes work: judgment and decision-making, human connection, adaptability, and working wisely with AI One practical way to strengthen these capabilities on your team this week Ways to go deeper: Join the newsletter for practical strategies between episodes Get your copy of Dr. Kwende’s new book, Becoming the Dream Leader, available now. Section 3, Chapter 10 goes deeper on the ideas in this episode. Join the live launch celebration on social media today at 12 noon Eastern Partner with EMK Learning Solutions on needs assessment, learning design, facilitation, and customized leadership and talent development, or explore leadership cohorts through the EMK Leadership Academy. Book a discovery call to find the right fit.

  4. Oct 6

    Are You Developing People for the Work Ahead? with Dr Maurine Kwende

    In this episode of the Empowerment Minutes Podcast, Dr. Maurine Kwende opens October's series, Developing People for What's Next: Building the Capabilities Organizations Need for 2027 and Beyond. As organizations move into workforce planning for the year ahead, development plans often fall out of step with strategy. Dr. Kwende explains why strategy can't be separated from people, what capability really means, and why what looks like resistance is often a readiness gap. She also shares three questions to help leaders connect workforce planning and development to the work ahead. In this episode, you'll learn: Why development should be part of strategy and workforce planning, not an afterthought What capability means and how it differs from today's skill set How to tell the difference between resistance and a readiness gap Three questions for connecting development to your 2027 priorities Ways to go deeper: Join the newsletter for practical strategies between episodes Pre-order Dr. Kwende's new book, Becoming the Dream Leader, launching October 20, and explore her other books Learn more about the EMK Leadership Academy, home of the Emerging Leaders Cohort and the Senior Women Leaders Executive Circle, or book a discovery call to find the right fit

  5. Sep 29

    Built to Lead: What This Season Is Shaping in You with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    Episode Title: Built to Lead: What This Season Is Shaping in You In this finale to Empowerment Minutes Podcast's September series, Leading Through Change in an Evolving Era, Dr. Maurine Kwende turns the lens inward, asking not what leaders should do during change, but what a difficult season may be developing in them. Dr. Kwende reflects briefly on seasons in her own leadership that required decisions without certainty and steadiness she didn't yet feel, and invites listeners to examine what capacity, courage, or discernment their own recent season may have strengthened in them, without romanticizing the difficulty itself. In this episode, you'll learn: Why growth in leadership often goes unnoticed while it's happening How to honestly evaluate what a hard season has required of you, without minimizing its cost The difference between simply enduring a difficult season and intentionally carrying its lessons forward A reflective practice for identifying what to keep as things settle This week's action step: Take fifteen minutes to write down honestly what this season has required of you that you hadn't yet developed, then decide what you want to intentionally carry forward. Ways to go deeper: Join the newsletter Explore my books Learn more about the EMK Leadership Academy (cohort programs, or schedule a discovery call to find your fit)

  6. Sep 22

    Leading in the In-Between: The Messy Middle of Change with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    In this episode, Dr. Maurine Kwende continues Empowerment Minutes Podcast's September series, Leading Through Change in an Evolving Era, focusing on the part of change most leadership conversations skip: the middle, where the old way is gone and the new way hasn't fully arrived. Dr. Kwende shares a real scenario from the Senior Women Leaders Executive Circle, where a leader learned that steadying her team through a restructure meant clearly communicating what was known, unresolved, and worth focusing on now, rather than pretending to have certainty she didn't have. In this episode, you'll learn: Why teams need leadership especially in the ambiguous middle of change, not just at the beginning and end Why unaddressed uncertainty turns into speculation, and how that erodes trust A practical three-part communication tool: what's known, what's unresolved, what to focus on now Why protecting your own capacity matters while leading through ambiguity This week's action step: Identify one area where your team is in the middle of a transition. Clarify what is known, what is still unresolved, and what the team should focus on right now, then communicate those three things clearly.

  7. Sep 15

    Leading Without Authority: Why Change Doesn't Wait for a Title with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    Episode: Leading Without Authority: Why Change Doesn't Wait for a Title In this episode, Dr. Maurine Kwende continues Empowerment Minutes Podcast's September series, Leading Through Change in an Evolving Era, challenging the belief that leadership during change requires a formal title. Dr. Kwende makes the case that leadership is behavioral, not only positional, and shares a real scenario from her Emerging Leaders Cohort, where a participant learned that raising an idea and driving change didn't require waiting for a promotion, only the willingness to speak up from wherever she sat. In this episode, you'll learn: Why leadership during change is behavioral, not just positional Specific ways to influence change without a formal title Why waiting for authority can mean missing opportunities to lead in your current role How to lead from wherever you currently sit, without overstepping This week's action step: Identify one change you've been waiting for permission to lead, and take one step toward leading it this week without waiting for a title to make it official. For more leadership reflections, practical tools, and resources, subscribe to the EMK Learning Solutions newsletter: Subscribe

  8. Sep 8

    Deciding Without All the Answers-Leading Through Uncertainty with Dr. Maurine Kwende

    In this episode, Dr. Maurine Kwende continues Empowerment Minutes Podcast's September series, Leading Through Change in an Evolving Era, tackling one of the challenges of leading through change: making decisions without complete information. Dr. Kwende breaks down four practical distinctions leaders can use to decide well under uncertainty, and shares a real scenario from her work with the Emerging Leaders Cohort, where an emerging leader learned that the real barrier to moving forward wasn't a lack of information, but a lack of certainty that would never fully come. In this episode, you'll learn: The difference between a decision that needs more information and one that needs more courage Why reversibility should shape how much certainty you wait for How to use input from others without avoiding the decision itself Why communicating a decision as "for now" builds more trust than presenting it as final This week's action step: Identify one decision you've been sitting on. Determine whether it's an information gap or a courage gap, assess how reversible it is, and communicate your decision honestly, including the possibility that it may evolve. For more leadership reflections, practical tools, and resources, subscribe to the EMK Learning Solutions newsletter: Subscribe

See All (100)

About

Empowerment Minutes is a podcast for learning and development, leadership, and coaching professionals, hosted by Dr. Maurine Kwende. The podcast was launched in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to empower others—especially women—to find their voice and use it boldly. Each episode shares practical insights, tools, and nuggets of wisdom to help listeners grow, lead effectively, and make a greater impact in their work and organizations. Dr. Maurine Kwende is the CEO and Founder of EMK Learning Solutions, a consulting firm focused on leadership development, coaching, facilitation, and learning solutions. She is also the founder of Girls Can Dream Big 2, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and girls to dream big and live boldly. 

Information

  • Creator
    Maurine Kwende
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Empowerment Minutes