Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
“If we thought we knew the answer, we’d be lying to ourselves. And if we definitely knew the answer, we’d already be there.”
Alexander Beiner has been posing this statement as a sort of koan. An invitation for us to grapple with the reality of this moment. I find it to be the perfect way for me to invite you into a conversation about where we go from here.
I have been quite moved by your words over the last few months. Many of you who have worked with me over the years have reached out to thank me. The frameworks I've been sharing. And the experiences we've had together. Are helping you turn towards the volatility and uncertainty of what is unfolding.
A lot of my recent writing has focused on the spiritual nature of the challenge before us. But your words have encouraged me to share some of the frameworks and ideas that you have found most useful as we navigate these challenging times.
This week I tried to produce a video of the essential concepts that I teach when your organizations bring me in to facilitate. But I found it hard to do so without anyone there to actually talk to. I was frustrated with the process, then a lightbulb went on - why don’t I actually invite some people into the conversation?
So that’s what I’m doing right now.
I want to invite you into two different but related conversations focused on “where do we go from here?”
First: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA)
On Thursday, March 13 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM East
If you have already worked with me, this one will feel more like a review. If you have not been in organizational or movement space with me, this will be an introduction to the foundational frameworks that define my approach to work and life #inthesetimes.
I will briefly introduce the Evolutionary Leadership Framework. And then go on to talk about this paradigm shift and what it takes to live and thrive in times of VUCA.
Second: A Post-Liberal World Order
On Friday, March 21 from 12:00PM to 1:30PM East
This is more recent evolving thought. For a while, I have been holding the stake for liberalism. I’ve been thinking about it as the antidote to our tribalist instincts. As a precious and rare development that allows us to live in a world that values human rights and democracy. Even if it fails to fulfill them.
I am not just talking about the Right’s real and immediate threat to liberalism. But also about my discomfort with cancel culture. With speakers not being allowed to speak at universities. With language policing and other illiberal tendencies on the Left.
But now, I am starting to think that we are in a post-liberal world whether we like it or not. The Right is currently executing on a well articulated vision of what it wants the world to look like after liberalism.
We should be thinking about what we want, and it has to be more than going back to the way things have been.
I am not saying that we should not do our best to save and protect the best of what liberalism has promised. Evolution transcends and includes. But I am saying that we need to crack open our imaginations. Unprecedented times call for not-yet-imagined solutions.
Neither of these conversations will be about our immediate emergency response to the crisis at hand. Both will aim to help us frame our thinking so that we can better meet the moment and be who we need to be #inthesetimes.
They will both be recorded and published for those who are interested but cannot join. The calls will start with me presenting, and will close with us in facilitated conversation.
I really hope you can join.