197. Leading by Combining Care & Fierceness

START AN EXPEDITION

In this episode, Julia speaks with Anna Kalmer, a social entrepreneur. She is leading a yoga-based organisation supporting refugees, children in state care, mothers raising children with disabilities, and others facing adversity.

Anna shares how stepping into leading wasn’t a grand decision it happened when the organisation she created began to truly form, and people started looking to her for direction. Suddenly, she realised she wasn’t becoming the leader. She already was one, long before she felt ready for the title.

She talks about seeking coaching in the early years because she couldn’t even say out loud, “I am a social entrepreneur.” She thought she needed to adopt a louder, more traditionally “masculine” style of leading to be taken seriously. But as she describes beautifully, that didn’t fit. The journey wasn’t about changing herself. Rather it was about authorising herself. And about discovering an approach to leading that is both caring and fierce, collaborative and within boundaries.

This episode is a reminder that great leading doesn’t come from reshaping yourself into someone else’s mould. It comes from being anchored in who you are and being brave enough to stand firm in it.

About the Guest:

Anna Kalmár

Anna Kalmár is a social entrepreneur and mental health professional, the founder of the Budapest based mental health initiative, AdniJóga. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge and currently serves on the board of the Hungarian Coalition of Social Enterprises.

She has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Hungary and named one of the Top 100 European Women in Social Enterprise in 2023. She is passionate about understanding how systemic change happens and how we can shape more just and equitable societies.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.

In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.

Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.