YTD - Best Of 2026: Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon & Ericka Stallings: From Equity to Liberatory Leadership
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YTD - Best Of 2026: Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon & Ericka Stallings: From Equity to Liberatory Leadership
In this special episode of The PlayFull Podcast, we’re revisiting a conversation between Kristine Michie and Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon, and Ericka Stallings from the Leadership Learning Community (LLC). Together, they explore the shift from standard equity work toward a deeper vision of liberatory leadership—moving past making unjust systems better to building ones that are truly life-giving and just. Part of the YTD – Best of 2026 series, the episode highlights LLC’s focus on network-building and collective learning, sharing how joy, play, and community care sustain leaders on the journey toward collective liberation.
Key Takeaways:
Liberatory leadership shifts the goal from improving unjust systems to building new systems rooted in freedom, justice, and collective flourishing.
Equity work remains important, but it is reframed as part of the pathway toward liberation rather than the final destination.
Leadership Learning Community operates as a learning organization that prioritizes experimentation, curiosity, and collaboration.
Network thinking, including practices like “closing triangles,” helps connect people working toward shared goals who might otherwise never meet.
Play and joy are not distractions from justice work but essential practices that help activate creativity, connection, and resilience.
The current moment includes a crisis of trust across institutions, communities, and within ourselves, making relationship-centered leadership more critical than ever.
Spaces for collective learning and shared experience help leaders remember they are not alone and reconnect with purpose.
"Our hope for the world is more human-centered connections - and more joyful human-centered connections." — Nikki Dinh
"Even in hard times, that practice of dreaming and building together can feed us and move us toward the world we want to see." — Iman Mills Gordon
"If you take something crappy and make it less crappy, it’s still crappy. Liberatory leadership shifts the goal—we’re not just making things less harmful, we’re working toward a liberated future." — Ericka Stallings
Episode References:
Leadership Learning Community – https://leadershiplearning.org
Network Weaver – https://networkweaver.com
More About Nikki Dinh:
Nikki Dinh is a leader at the Leadership Learning Community focused on community-driven solutions and liberatory leadership. Raised in a Vietnamese immigrant community in California, her background in legal aid, philanthropy, and nonprofits reflects her belief that communities are best positioned to solve their own challenges.
More About Iman Mills Gordon:
Iman Mills Gordon, from Oakland, California, brings a lifelong commitment to collective liberation shaped by family, community, and generational wisdom. At LLC, she helps strengthen liberatory leadership through collaboration, experimentation, and the principles of love and joy.
More About Ericka Stallings
Ericka Stallings, from Queens, New York, developed her commitment to justice through observing inequities across communities. At LLC, she cultivates spaces for leaders to grow and align their work with their values. She previously supported organizing and advocacy efforts across New York City.
Connect with Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon, and Ericka Stallings:
Website: https://leadershiplearning.org/
Connect with Kristine:
The PlayFull Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-playfull-podcast-with-kristine-michie-bringing-fun/id1676838213?action=write-review
Website: https://www.impactfullinc.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impactfull_inc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-breese-michie/
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