Last Post for Now and New Book

Since 2010 I've been sharing my thoughts through this blog. Upon reflecting on my intentions for this blog and moving forward, I've decided to take a sabbatical from posting on this blog. Instead, I'll post my thoughts on LinkedIn.

Last summer I posted a piece, "How Do You Build A Regenerative Enterprise: Start by Going On A Camping Trip." on LinkedIn. Periodically, you can check out articles though my LinkedIn link at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andresedwards

I hope you have a great holiday break and wishing you the very best for 2015!
Be well,
Andres

New Book: The Heart of Sustainability

For this month's post, I'd like to share a new book project I've been working on for the last several years. I have a new book coming out: The Heart of Sustainability. This book completes the set of my two previous books (The Sustainability Revolution and Thriving Beyond Sustainability) by focusing on the human dimension of the sustainability movement. I'm looking at the role of personal development and the importance of human/nature connection in order to successfully deal with the global challenges that we face. As the consciousness and technological revolutions flourish, what is our role? What are the qualities of leadership and activism that we need? And how are individuals and organizations from around the world implementing mindfulness, compassion, empathy and creativity into their organizations. This book bridges the world of personal growth and sustainability and asks us to look within ourselves to see what calls us and inspires us to make change and create a better world.

The Heart of Sustainability will be published by New Society Publishers in the Fall of 2015, and I'm looking forward to sharing more about it as the time nears.

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 

Leadership and MOOCs

A couple of weeks ago I attended the "Emerge Leadership Workshop" at NatureBridge in Sausalito, California. This workshop was led by Kathleen O'Brien, John Cunningham, Ann Edminster and David Eiseberg. I found great value in looking at the different dimensions of leadership. Even though the examples and material was drawn form the building industry, the concepts applied to all sectors. In addition to the presentations, there was an amazing group of participants from the for-profit, non-profit, government and education areas. We had time for walks along the beach, reflection, working on case studies in small groups, and the presenting to all the participants. I'm a firm believer that improving the way the we work together in teams and developing our leadership skills is essential to solving the challenges that we face at a local, regional and global level. For more information, check out: http://www.emergeleadership.net/

I've also been researching MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course). MOOCs are web courses aimed at large numbers of students with open access. There's a huge wave of interest in MOOCs since some of the larger universities have entered the space. Stanford, Harvard, MIT and many universities are  offering classes through various platforms. Some of the platforms include Stanford's Class2go (open source), Coursera (with nearly 2.5 million members), edX (non-profit started by Stanford and MIT; edX's first class in circuits had 155,000 students), and Udacity. Futurelearn, a British firm, is developing an alliance with 12 UK universities to provide MOOCs. Additional players in the online education space include Khan Academy, which has an incredibly extensive learning modules, and Blackboard which provides online education tools. There are also other firms providing the social networks that facilitate the interaction between online learning communities including GoingOn.

What is interesting about this new online education revolution is that technology now makes it possible to reach millions and potentially a billion or more people with educational content. Many of the MOOCs are free and students from across the globe are enrolling in courses ranging from computer science, database management, history, etc. The potential is there for students to eventually design their own degrees or certificates by taking courses from these well known, prestigious universities.

One of the greatest advantages of MOOCs is that the learning increases dramatically due to the volume and diversity of interaction among the students from countries around the globe. Students enjoy interacting with their peers and learning from their different experiences and points of views. Some of the current challenges with MOOCs involve assessment and creating the necessary infrastructure to manage the sheer volume of questions when courses have tens of thousands of participants. To date, many of the students who enroll in MOOCs do not complete the courses.

Thomas Friedman wrote an insightful piece about MOOCs and online education in his New York Times column (Jan. 26, 2013), "Revolution Hits the Universities." As Friedman points out, "Nothing has more potential to lift more people out of poverty — by providing them an affordable education to get a job or improve in the job they have. Nothing has more potential to unlock a billion more brains to solve the world’s biggest problems. And nothing has more potential to enable us to reimagine higher education than the massive open online course, or MOOC..."

As with many new technologies, its still unclear how the online education market will evolve with these new tools. What's remarkable is how quickly a new education paradigm is unfolding.

Bioneers: Education for Action

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Education for Action working group at the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California. The objective of this group of about 40 is to find ways of leveraging sustainability education on a national scale. Quite an ambitious goal, yet as we broke it down into smaller chunks, we discovered that there were some aspects that were very doable!

It was intriguing that this group of leaders from the education, marketing, media, business and government sectors, among others, had deep experience and ideas on how best to engage a broad spectrum of people in sustainability education. The process our group underwent included working in smaller groups of about 7 people to drill down on a specific area which was then blended into the outcomes from the other groups. This is a long-term objective in which we focused on achievable goals. I'm excited to see what unfolds.

On a broader perspective, I'm thrilled to see how Bioneers is expanding its programs into: Dreaming New Mexico (a template for implementing regional sustainable practices); Food & Farming, Indigeneity, Women's Leadership and Education. One of the strongest aspects of The Bioneers is its network of people and organizations working of all aspects of sustainable practices. Leveraging this network into more specific programs is a wonderful way to turn the network into meaningful action.

Last year, I remember being pleasantly surprised to see TED talks on an airline flight. I look forward to seeing Bioneers talks in future flights, websites, television, radio and many other outlets. This is already underway as the 'Beyond Bioneers' phase of these ideas are mainstreamed.

Sustainable Leadership

As the term sustainability becomes more widespread, its meaning has undoubtedly morphed to mean many different things— living within nature's means; providing for future generations; protecting biodiversity, etc... What I see as emerging is the question: What can I do to make a difference in the world? And this question brings up the notion of leadership.

We may ask ourselves, what positive impact can I have in my immediate community? What can I do that has meaning and purpose? Recently, I finished reading Dan Millman's book, The Four Purposes of Life-- In his book, Millman describes the four purposes from an autobiographical perspective: first purpose: Learning Life's Lessons; second purpose: Finding Your Career and Calling; third purpose: Discovering Your Life Path; and fourth purpose: Attending to This Arising Moment. (FYI, Millman's well known book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior was made into a great film by the same name!).

An underlying theme in all the purposes, and indeed in finding our path, is slowing down and tuning into what resonates within us. It's definitely a challenge given the fast pace lives driven by technology, responsibilities, etc. Creating stillness and observing what's happening moment by moment...

Perhaps this is where sustainable leadership comes in: finding our purpose by creating the conditions that will clarify our life's path-- including, slowing down, observing, creating stillness, and being of service to others.

At a group level, David Logan has an interesting angle on Tribal Leadership. In his TED talk "David Logan on Tribal Leadership," he describes the different stages of tribal leadership and the importance of being able to communicate between the different stages.

Whether at the personal or tribal level, sustainable leadership appears to be gaining more visibility as we search for greater meaning in our actions.