By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 29 Mar 25
In an era of planetary crisis and a time when universities are increasingly under attack, an underlying question that has gradually moved to the center of attention is this: what is the role of universities in society, and what should their role be going forward?Historically, universities have been central to fostering social mobility. More recently, and disturbingly, we have seen them become vehicles for reinforcing privilege and inequality. In the face of these ecological and economic challenges, what should future universities look like? What do societies need universities for?This article explores that question from a historical point of view, looking both
In an era of planetary crisis and a time when universities are increasingly under attack, an underlying question that has gradually moved to the center of attention is this: what is the role of universities in society, and what should their role be going forward?Historically, universities have been central to fostering social mobility. More recently, and disturbingly, we have seen them
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 24 Mar 24
Thomas Hübl interviews Frederic Laloux, originally published on Point of Relation Podcast – YouTube On Point of Relation podcast, Thomas is joined by celebrated business thinker, social entrepreneur, Founder of “The Week”, and author of Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux. They discuss how hierarchy relies on certain people having power over others, and how this concept is antithetical to our true human nature, despite being deeply ingrained in society. They explore Frederic’s work to help organizations shift to a “self-managing” model, and what it takes to get people on board. Frederic has learned that by bringing people together to surface their
Thomas Hübl interviews Frederic Laloux, originally published on Point of Relation Podcast – YouTube On Point of Relation podcast, Thomas is joined by celebrated business thinker, social entrepreneur, Founder of “The Week”, and author of Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux. They discuss how hierarchy relies on certain people having power over others, and how this concept is antithetical to our true
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 30 Dec 23
Image by Kelvy BirdAs the year draws to an end and we head into 2024, I feel the need to close the feedback loop between all the challenges of 2023 and my own sensemaking. Here are three tangible things that stand out in hindsight:It has been the hottest year on record: Each month from June to November has broken previous ceilings.It has been a year of escalating polarization and conflicts: Europe (Ukraine/Russia), the Middle East (Israel/Gaza), Africa (the Sahel region, Somalia, Ethiopia), and Asia (Armenia/Azerbaijan, Korean Peninsula, South China Sea).It has been the year of AI: The arrival of generative AI is
Image by Kelvy BirdAs the year draws to an end and we head into 2024, I feel the need to close the feedback loop between all the challenges of 2023 and my own sensemaking. Here are three tangible things that stand out in hindsight:It has been the hottest year on record: Each month from June to November has broken previous ceilings.It
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 30 Dec 23
Read the article in Italian — in Traditional Chinese — in SpanishImage by Kelvy BirdAs the year draws to an end and we head into 2024, I feel the need to close the feedback loop between all the challenges of 2023 and my own sensemaking. Here are three tangible things that stand out in hindsight:It has been the hottest year on record: Each month from June to November has broken previous ceilings.It has been a year of escalating polarization and conflicts: Europe (Ukraine/Russia), the Middle East (Israel/Gaza), Africa (the Sahel region, Somalia, Ethiopia), and Asia (Armenia/Azerbaijan, Korean Peninsula, South China Sea).It has been the year of AI:
Read the article in Italian — in Traditional Chinese — in SpanishImage by Kelvy BirdAs the year draws to an end and we head into 2024, I feel the need to close the feedback loop between all the challenges of 2023 and my own sensemaking. Here are three tangible things that stand out in hindsight:It has been the hottest year on record: Each month from June
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 21 Dec 23
image by Jayce LeeFaced with accelerating disruptions and social and environmental breakdowns, traditional forms of philanthropic giving may be less effective than they once were. Confronted with societal divisions, wars, and the climate crisis, core actors in philanthropy have begun to ask how philanthropy can respond more effectively in moments of a polycrisis. How can philanthropy deal with new forms of hypercomplexity? What is the role of philanthropy in responding to breakdown, and how can it promote regeneration and transformation?Numerous experiments and innovations in the philanthropic sector are responding in various ways to these disruptive challenges — from trust-based funding to participatory grant-making
image by Jayce LeeFaced with accelerating disruptions and social and environmental breakdowns, traditional forms of philanthropic giving may be less effective than they once were. Confronted with societal divisions, wars, and the climate crisis, core actors in philanthropy have begun to ask how philanthropy can respond more effectively in moments of a polycrisis. How can philanthropy deal with new forms of
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 25 Nov 23
By Konrad Olesiewicz for Enlivening Edge Magazine For some it might be very challenging to fully embrace next–stage values and practices and embody them. It often requires a dramatic perspective shift beyond purely cognitive understanding. This article highlights why and how individual practice of Internal Family Systems® (IFS®) might be conducive to helping struggling team members or aspiring practitioners deeply understand and embrace the foundations of next–stage practices in organizational settings through direct personal experience. The basic premise of IFS® is that our personality is composed of parts that are like subpersonalities with their own qualities and perspectives. Another one
By Konrad Olesiewicz for Enlivening Edge Magazine For some it might be very challenging to fully embrace next–stage values and practices and embody them. It often requires a dramatic perspective shift beyond purely cognitive understanding. This article highlights why and how individual practice of Internal Family Systems® (IFS®) might be conducive to helping struggling team members or aspiring practitioners deeply
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 27 Sep 23
By Claudia Gross and Frank Spencer from Claudia’s emailed Life at Work // Weekly September 21, 2023 and viewable here. The move from VUCA to BANI expresses an evolution: The world is not only volatile, it’s brittle. People aren’t uncertain, they’re anxious. Life is not complex, it’s non-linear. Ambiguous is gone – the experiences are incomprehensible. Stephan Grabmeier has visualized the comparison between VUCA and BANI in a brilliant way. He also wrote about it more extensively – choose your medium: infographic or article. These three visuals show you the developments in a few words: from VUCA to VUCA, from VUCA to BANI and from BANI to BANI. When
By Claudia Gross and Frank Spencer from Claudia’s emailed Life at Work // Weekly September 21, 2023 and viewable here. The move from VUCA to BANI expresses an evolution: The world is not only volatile, it’s brittle. People aren’t uncertain, they’re anxious. Life is not complex, it’s non-linear. Ambiguous is gone – the experiences are incomprehensible. Stephan Grabmeier has visualized the comparison between VUCA and BANI in a
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 7 Sep 22
Circles of Radical Shared Presence in Times of CollapseFigure 1: By Kelvy BirdI am sitting in a train on the Räthische Railway riding back from Pontresina, high in the beautiful Swiss Alps. Surrounded by the presence of melting glaciers I reflect on two gatherings that happened here earlier in the week: the World Ethic Forum (WEF) with about 250 participants, and the annual meeting of the World Future Council (WFC), a gathering of 50 global change-makers from civil society, government, academia, and business. Both gatherings were convened with the intention to reimagine our path to a future that is regenerative, peaceful, and just.As
Circles of Radical Shared Presence in Times of CollapseFigure 1: By Kelvy BirdI am sitting in a train on the Räthische Railway riding back from Pontresina, high in the beautiful Swiss Alps. Surrounded by the presence of melting glaciers I reflect on two gatherings that happened here earlier in the week: the World Ethic Forum (WEF) with about 250 participants, and the
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 7 Mar 22
Putin and the Power of Collective Action from Shared Awareness: A 12-Point Meditation on Our Current MomentPart I: The Social Grammar of DestructionIn this blog, I invite you to join me in a meditative journey on the current moment. We start with Putin’s war in Ukraine, unpack some of the deeper systemic forces at play, look at the emerging landscape of conflicting social fields, and conclude with what may well be the emerging superpower of 21st-century politics: our capacity to activate collective action from a shared awareness of the whole.1. Crossing the Threshold“The world will never be the same.” These are, according
Putin and the Power of Collective Action from Shared Awareness: A 12-Point Meditation on Our Current MomentPart I: The Social Grammar of DestructionIn this blog, I invite you to join me in a meditative journey on the current moment. We start with Putin’s war in Ukraine, unpack some of the deeper systemic forces at play, look at the emerging landscape of
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 22 Nov 21
Decision-makers at the COP26 UN climate summit might do well to remind themselves of a game called ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’. Because only by understanding the interconnection of the world’s problems can we recognize how they can be rapidly solved by addressing them systemically at the root. Invented in the 1990s by three college students, ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’ was based on the idea that prolific actor Kevin Bacon has appeared in films with a vast number of other actors. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the movie ‘Dave’ with Laura Linney who was in ‘Mystic River’ with
Decision-makers at the COP26 UN climate summit might do well to remind themselves of a game called ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’. Because only by understanding the interconnection of the world’s problems can we recognize how they can be rapidly solved by addressing them systemically at the root. Invented in the 1990s by three college students, ‘Six Degrees of Kevin