Leadership: Power and Love

“What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” Martin Luther King Jr.

This quote from MLK points to an interesting approach to leadership. In Adam Kahane's book, Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change, he describes the various roles of power and love in leadership styles and the importance of needing both power and love for effective leadership and social change. Within power there is "power to," which presents a viable force and "power over" which can be very destructive. Either power or love on it's own will not suffice for effective leadership. Kahane uses the example of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December 2009. At this world gathering he points out how the power from the government and business leaders did not mix well with the love and visioning approach of the civil society groups. The result was a disconnect between the two groups which resulted in neither side working effectively together towards a comprehensive agreement. 

In an age in which hundreds of leadership books and articles describe various leadership styles, it is refreshing to see the role of these simple attributes--power and love--and examine how they impact  leadership. This is particularly important as a way of understanding the drivers behind the negotiations on climate change and a myriad of other environmental issues that call upon us to cooperate and find common ground.

For a video segment describing the correlation between power and love, see Kahane's talk at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8ScJqk25yo 

Creating Our Own Sustainability Education Lens

“It's never enough just to tell people about some new insight. Rather, you have to get them to experience it in a way that evokes its power and possibility. Instead of pouring knowledge into people's heads, you need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses so they can see the world in a new way.”
--John Seeley Brown

In this age of executive summaries, bullet points and sound bites, we are overflowing with data and information. In the field of sustainability education, we quickly become numb to the facts and figures, many of which are quite depressing. So, how do we develop, as John Seeley Brown suggests, "a new set of eyeglasses... to see the world in a new way?" And in a way that is inspiring and uplifting to motivate us to find viable solutions?

Perhaps the first step lies in using the wisdom expressed by our environmental leaders and adapting it to our own lives. The Aldo Leopold Foundation’s Leopold Education Project (LEP) is a good example. Utilizing Leopold's essays from his book, A Sand County Almanac, teachers from throughout the US are helping students develop and clarify their own environmental values. The Leopold Education Project's high school curriculum encourages students to explore their environmental ethics while studying Leopold's essays in a natural setting. Students come away with a greater understanding of the meaning of stewardship and are able to adapt these concepts to their own daily life experience.

Using this type of approach students and teachers benefits by creating a space for students to take ownership of the material and adapt it into their lives. Perhaps this approach will spread as educators create a more flexible approach to the knowledge base in the complex issues related to sustainability. We keep the information aspect of the course material manageable and then build in flexibility and space for students to make it their own.

  

Being Human 2013

Last Saturday I attended the second annual Being Human 2013 conference in San Francisco's Nourse Theater. There were 1,400 people attending and we were all immersed with a dozen or so speakers and a couple terrific of performance artists. Described as "a daylong exploration of human nature in the light of cutting edge science, philosophy, and evolution," there were four main themes covered: The Biology and Psychology of Ethical Behavior, Human Emotions, Love and Sex, and The Future of Being Human.

Each of the presenters shared aspects of their research into the qualities that makes us human. Stories included: projects that quantify the brain activity during meditation, studies related to individual and global compassion, human behavior related to romantic love and sex, and efforts looking into longevity and data analysis of global communications. The presentations were also broken up by welcomes performances by hip hop dancer Marquese Scott and musician ELEW.

It seems like the explosion of recent research centers around new technologies that now allow us to peek inside the human brain. Using fMRI and other tools we are learning a tremendous amount about what areas of the brain are activated under a variety of circumstances such as meditation, feelings of love, happiness, depression, etc.

Kudos to Peter Baumann, The Baumann Foundation and Jeff Klein and their team for showcasing new advancements in understanding human behavior and giving us a glimpse of what's around the corner in innovations (some of it inspiring, some of it a bit scary...).

The entire daylong event was captured on video and can be viewed at: http://fora.tv/conference/being_human_2013/

3-D Printers

Today, I came across Heather Clancy's article, "How Jim Kor is revolutionizing car design with 3D printing," in Greebiz.com. Aside from Kor's aspiration to create the world's greenest car, which he named Urbee (urban electric vehicle), is his breakthrough in using 3D technology to design the car. 3D printers are in the cusp of mainstreaming. To have the ability to do small scale manufacturing and make spare parts for household devices from a personal computer will change the landscape of how we purchase and repair equipment.

Questions have also been raised about how environmentally friendly 3-D printers are. And it appears to be a mixed bag. (for more info. see: "Is 3D printing an environmental win?" by Jeremy Faludi. Greenbiz). One company the is making headlines in 3-D printing is Germany-based, Twinkind which will take a photo of you (and your family including your dog if you'd like) and turn it into a small statue ranging from 6"-13 costing $300-$1,700) What's remarkable is the amazing accuracy of these life-like mini statues. (for more info. see: "For $300, You Can Buy a Stunning 3-D Printed Version of Yourself" by by Kyle VanHemmert, Wired).

Perhaps 3-D printing is the next "plastics" of this century. And though it's still in the very early stages, there's much design work involved in creating a cradle to cradle system, that (unlike plastics) does no harm to the planet. This will require bright minds to work on the types of materials for 3-D printers that can be up-cycled when they are no longer needed.    

Starlings in Flight

For this month, I ran across some stunning videos of flying starlings. Thousands of starlings somehow not colliding and flying in unison. These movements are called murmations. Remarkable art in the sky!

I've seen a small version of murmations in Northern California, but check out this stunning video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eakKfY5aHmY

To see a collection of starling murmations videos, visit treehugger's article: "Nature Blows My Mind! 10 videos of the stunning, otherwordly flights of starlings."

Two Films: Elemental and Rebels with a Cause

In the last several weeks two documentary films have come out that highlight the determination and passion inherent in the leaders from the environmental conservation and activists movements: Elemental and Rebels with a Cause.

Elemental tracks the lives of three activists passionate about making change in the world: Eriel Deranger an activist leader from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation fighting the Tar Sands development in Alberta, Canada; Rajendra Singh, who commits to rejuvenate rivers in Rajasthan, India and to cleaning up the Ganges River; and Jay Harman, an entrepreneur and inventor of high efficiency fans and pumps and founder of Pax Scientific in San Rafael, California. Elemental provides a fascinating insight into the daily challenges that each of these leaders face on a daily basis including family responsibilities, financial challenges and political fights.

Rebels with a Cause, tells the story of the activists that fought to protect the undeveloped land in Marin and Sonoma counties in California. This film takes us back in time and brings forth the enormous pressures to develop the land north of San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. The rebels, including: Huey Johnson, Doug Ferguson, Marty Griffin, Phyllis Faber and David Brower among others, recount their strategies and battles to protect the undeveloped land in Marin and Sonoma Counties. Learning about their struggles provides a valuable historical context to the current parks and preserves surrounding San Francisco including the Point Reyes National Seashore, Muir Woods, Bolinas Lagoon, etc.

Both of these films beautifully describe the connection between the leaders' passion and commitment, and their accomplishments. A great tribute to past and current environmental leaders dedicating their lives for a better world.

Online Education: Live!

On of the powerful aspects of online education that really adds value is the live component. It is technically and logistically challenging to incorporate a live component into courses. However, the online classes that I've taken which have a live presentation and/or discussion make a world of difference.

To that end, CreativeLive offers many free live courses in the creative arts, including: software (photoshop, Dreamweaver...), photography, film and video, design, as well as business, etc. These are very practical skills that are well-suited to an online presentation. Even the business live presentation has the presenter with a small audience that asks clarification questions to keep the presentation alive and engaging.

The live component and the social interaction of participants is already changing how we learn and how we present information. The technology is still in its infancy, but as more tools get developed and the bandwidth expands so that hundreds of thousands can join in, the outcomes will improve over time.

Another online education firm that does not have a live component, but has honed the course material very well is Lynda. Lynda has numerous tutorials and training videos in topics including: accounting, software programming, social media marketing, digital publishing, finance, etc. These courses are more traditional tutorial in style, yet the diversity and simplicity make them a valuable resource. They've also developed a monthly membership business model that lets students take numerous courses for the flat monthly fee.

As the online education revolution unfolds, more and more firms will be experimenting with the combination of live and pre-recorded material. The potential for hundreds of thousands of students worldwide (as demonstrated through MOOCs, massive open online courses) has sparked the interest of Silicon Valley as investment opportunities. Now, with access to the internet, location is no longer a barrier to learning skills from some of the most talented teachers and practitioners worldwide.