Stop Waiting for It to Go Back to Normal. It Won't: Jillian Reilly on the Ten Permissions
My guest today is Jillian Reilly. Jillian Reilly is a founder, author, TEDx Speaker and keynote speaker. Having spent her 30-year career working in social, organizational, and individual change across Africa, Asia, and Central Europe, Jillian’s focus is on helping people unlock their ability to navigate change and accelerate growth and learning. Jillian’s upcoming book, The Ten Permissions, guides readers in permitting themselves to update how they operate in the 21st century and design lives that fully leverage the possibilities of this disruptive world. In this episode we discuss international development, African history, social change, agency and ethical leadership.
Website - https://tenpermissions.com/
IG - https://www.instagram.com/thetenpermissions/
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TenPermissions
The Ten Permissions Book - https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Permissions-Redefining-Adulting-Century/dp/1963827295?
In this episode you will learn:
1. Why change always fails when it comes from the outside in, and the uncomfortable truth Jillian learned watching millions of dollars flow into systems too rigid to adapt even when women came back bruised — After 30 years working across Africa, Asia, and Central Europe, Jillian learned one undeniable truth: you can bring the biggest idea, the biggest money, and the best intentions, but if the person hasn't given themselves permission to change, nothing will stick. The person you have to negotiate with the most is yourself. Real change is an inside job. Always.
2. Why the social contracts that shaped everything you know are unraveling right now, and why waiting for them to snap back is the most dangerous thing you can do — Jillian has watched this playbook unfold in Zimbabwe, Kosovo, Rwanda, and Mozambique, powerful figures fomenting division while capturing the state, and ordinary people fighting each other instead of seeing what's actually happening. She is clear: we are living through a rupture, not a blip. The rules that shaped our world are being ripped up. The only question is whether you get pulled under or start building something new.
3. What the Ten Permissions are, and why giving yourself permission to think and move differently is not a self-help luxury but an urgent survival skill for right now — Born from 30 years watching what actually creates lasting change, Jillian's Ten Permissions are small but radical flips of the outdated adult script: be willful, go astray, take it outside, experiment, feel your way, think small, look for trouble, travel light, and make believe. Not a checklist, a completely different relationship with change itself, built for the world we are actually in right now.
“I have to say, if I look back at 21-year-old Jill, she basically said yes to everything." - 00:04:56
"I think we are living within the profound unraveling of the social contracts that have shaped our worlds, our lives for multiple generations." - 00:45:13
"You need to give yourself permission because you are the one stopping yourself from engaging with this in a more creative, adaptive, expansive way." - 01:04:15
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