#80: What Are You Willing to See? Disruption, Fault Lines, and the Moments That Matter
In this episode, Joy Anderson reframes one of the most common narratives in moments of crisis: instead of asking how to stabilize and return to normal, she asks what disruption makes visible. Building on earlier conversations about systems opportunities, she distinguishes between disruptive events and the deeper structural patterns they expose, and highlights how moments of volatility can make long-standing dynamics of power, risk, and inequity harder to ignore.
The episode opens with a conversation with Rachel Sinha, a systems change practitioner and field builder, as the two explore the tensions inherent in building a field, from questions of legitimacy and power to who gets resourced and recognized. From there, Joy connects these themes to Criterion’s work on gender-based violence, feminist finance, and local capital, showing how disruption can reveal hidden costs and overlooked actors within financial systems. The episode ultimately challenges listeners to treat disruption as evidence and invites them to see systems more clearly and act with greater readiness.
Episode Highlights
00:00 - Introduction to Systems Change and Disruption
02:49 - Building a Field of Systems Change Practice
06:05 - Power Dynamics in Systems Change
09:05 - Understanding Systems Opportunities
11:47 - Disruption as Revelation
15:09 - Examples of Systems Opportunities
18:00 - Responding to Disruption
20:51 - The Role of Communities in Systems Change
23:58 - Conclusion and Call to Action
Relevant Links
Criterion Institute Website and LinkedIn
Joy's LinkedIn
Rachel Sinha’s Linkedin
Dive Deeper
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Fostering a Feminist Financial Imagination: A Radical Conversation about Finance, Feminist Futures,…
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Other episodes you might also like:
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#58: Check List or Trust List: Power, Performance, and the Politics of Procedure
#16: We Made This System Up, We Can Change It.
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