32. Ryan Maxwell: The Host Becomes the Guest - The Table Is Turned (and So Is the Mic!) - Feat. Felicia Lee

This week, we're turning the tables — or in this case, the microphone.

I'm Ryan Maxwell, and today, I'm the guest.

Guest hosted by Felicia Lee, founder of Campana Leadership Group, who leads executive coaching. Years ago, Felicia coached me to see myself more clearly — so there is no one better suited to hold this microphone.

This one is personal. And a little uncomfortable. And honestly? That's probably why it might be worth listening to.

We explore stories that shaped my path. A brother school completely failed. A friend bused 35 minutes across Milwaukee to find a better school. Two kids sleeping in a median in Ecuador who begged for a bag of milk — and a school in the hills of Quito where kids terrace-farmed, calculated crop yields, and ran a community's economic engine. Origin stories. The sparks for the work.

From there, we go deep on:

• What a glowing introduction really feels like — and why it can feel like "one painting" of who you are
• The barbed wire of mission-driven work, and how to keep going without losing yourself
• Finding your crew — and why leading in community is the only sustainable strategy
• Body, mind, spirit — and the coaching that helped me finally understand what the question was even asking
• Creativity, anxiety, music parties that end with Leonard Cohen, and a solo retreat to the Porcupine Mountains
• Dreams deferred — and the audacious ones I'm leaning into now

Ryan Maxwell is the host of Exceptionally Good, striving to use his talents and skills for social good — in classrooms in Oakland and Chicago, in national nonprofit leadership at EL Education, and now leading a small but might LLC focused on coaching, consulting, and school design.

Links:

• Campana Leadership Group — Felicia Lee's coaching firm
• EL Education
• AmeriCorps
• National Equity Project
• Win Every Argument by Mehdi Hasan
• Greg Brown — singer-songwriter from Iowa
• Kinship — (not Kindred) - local Milwaukee food pantry
• Rabindranath Tagore — "I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I woke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy."

So let’s dive in together!