Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency

Delivered in partnership between Forum for the Future and Findhorn Foundation
18 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation (near Inverness, Scotland)
The severity of the crises occurring on our
planet, coupled with the acceleration of
human impact on the environment, can
leave many of us feeling helpless in our
businesses and not-for-prot organisations.
We know we have to do something to
change, but how deep are the changes
needed, and what is the rst step? What
does effective leadership really entail in the
profoundly challenging situation humanity is
now in?
Building on the success of the
Reconnections programme originally
created by Forum for the Future, and on
six well-received iterations of the Findhorn
International Forum on Sustainability, this
new programme tackles these questions
head on. Set in a unique eco-village
community, we combine expert input
from those working on the front-line of the
global transition to a sustainable future,
with an experienced audience and a
practical, solutions-focussed context.
Our aims:
1) To revisit, re-ignite and sustain our
own energy, passion, values and
focus.
2) To work together to gure out how
best to inuence others to bring
about the changes we need.
Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency | 18 - 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation
This experience aims to both challenge
and inspire, taking the opportunity to stand
back from the normal press of life to ask
big picture questions, debate solutions,
and immerse ourselves in the beautiful
Findhorn environs.
The programme will include news from the
frontline of sustainability from Jonathon
Porritt; facilitation and Mythodrama from
Robin Alfred; biodiversity and international
human impacts with Kosha Joubert; values
and systems with Kate Rawles, plus
experiential outdoor sessions in and around
the powerful Findhorn land and seascapes.
Throughout the course, there will be time
to reect, integrate and activate ideas and
solutions.
Key questions will include:
What does values-driven leadership
mean at this time of planetary
emergency and how do we embody it?
What values do we need to adopt in
ourselves, in our organisations and
economic systems?
How do we ignite and support lasting
change to the systems we are part of?
What does biodiversity loss really mean
for us, and how should we think and act
as a part of the natural environment?
The experience
Philosophising about life is interesting
but there is no alternative to the practical
demonstration of alternatives. The beautiful
and inspiring location of the Findhorn
Foundation provides a great place to
envisage a positive future, drawing on
the authority of lived experience. The
ideal outcome? A deeper understanding
of where we are; a strengthened
motivation to help lead the transition to
somewhere much, much better; and some
powerful insights into how to inuence
transformation within (and beyond) our own
organisations.
Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency | 18 - 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation
The team
Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency | 18 - 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation
Jonathon Porritt
Forum for the Future,
Founder Director and
Trustee
Robin Alfred
Findhorn Consultancy
Service, Founding Director
Kate Rawles
University of Cumbria
and freelance Outdoor
Philosopher
Kosha Joubert
Global Ecovillage Network,
President
Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer,
broadcaster and commentator on
sustainable development. He is also a
Non-Executive Director of Willmott Dixon
Holdings, is a Trustee of the Ashden
Awards for Sustainable Energy, and is
involved in the work of many NGOs
and charities as Patron, Chair or Special
Adviser.
He was formerly Director of Friends of
the Earth (1984-90); co-chair of the Green
Party (1980-83) of which he is still a
member; chairman of UNED-UK (1993-
96); chairman of Sustainability South
West, (1999-2001); a Trustee of WWF UK
(1991-2005), a member of the Board of
the South West Regional Development
Agency (1999-2008), and Chairman
of the UK Sustainable Development
Commission (2000-2009). Jonathon
was installed as the Chancellor of Keele
University in February 2012.
Robin Alfred is an organisational
consultant, facilitator, trainer and
executive coach and Chair of Trustees
for the Findhorn Foundation. Robin
worked as a trainer, educator and social
work manager for 15 years in London,
before moving to Scotland in 1995 where
he founded the Findhorn Consultancy
Service. He has 25 years of experience
leading and developing groups and
individuals across all sectors corporate,
public, and third sector.
Robin is trained in a wide variety
of approaches to personal and
organisational development including:
Appreciative Inquiry, the Frameworks
for Change Coaching Process, Process
Work, Spiral Dynamics and Tools for
Corporate Transformation. His facilitation
work draws on these processes as well
as Open Space, World Caf and other
innovative processes to maximize the
groups collective intelligence. He is also
an Associate and Lead Presenter for
Olivier Mythodrama Associates
Kate Rawles works as a senior lecturer
in Outdoor Studies, teaching big picture
environmental issues, environmental
education, sustainability and a bit
of sea-kayaking. Her freelance work
includes lecturing on ethics, values
and sustainability for Forum for the
Future, the University of Surrey, and the
University of Cumbria.
She was the academic director of the
original Reconnections programme
and runs regular outdoor philosophy
courses. In 2006 she cycled from Texas
to Alaska, chatting to North Americans
about climate change and has since given
Carbon Cycle talks to many diverse
audiences. The Carbon Cycle; Crossing
the Great Divide was shortlisted for
the Banff Mountain Festival adventure
travel award and was a runner up in the
Peoples Prize. Kate is a fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society and sits on
the Food Ethics Council.
Kosha Joubert was born and grew up in
South Africa. The system of Apartheid
deeply inuenced her lifes path. She
decided to devote herself to the study
and practice of trustful communication
and community building in diverse
settings.
She has been living in intentional
communities for the past 20 years and
currently serves as President of the
Board of the GEN-International and
Secretary General of GEN-Europe.
She co-authored the Ecovillage
Design Education Curriculum (www.
gaiaeducation.org). Today, she organizes
EDE-courses and trainings on social tools
internationally and works as a facilitator
and consultant. She co-edited Beyond
You and Me - Inspirations and Wisdom
for Building Community and is author
of a book on Collective Wisdom and
Collective Stupidity.
Forum for the Future
Established in 1996, Forum for the Future
is now the UKs leading sustainable
development charity, with 70 staff and
over 100 partner organisations including
some of the worlds leading companies.
Forum for the Future works with business
and government to inspire new thinking,
build creative partnerships and develop
practical solutions. They also share what
they have learned so that others can
benet and act. Working with pioneering
partners, this organisation transforms the
essential systems of food and energy to
secure a more fullling life for us and future
generations.
Over the past 15 years, Forum for the
Future has succeeded in changing the
debate about sustainable business by
highlighting the opportunities sustainability
offers, and has been instrumental in altering
the way leading companies operate. It has
trained thousands of leaders through its
master classes and Masters Programme,
equipping graduates to face global
challenges such as climate change and
shortages of vital resources, and promoted
long-term thinking and positive visions of
tomorrow with businesses, government
and NGOs, through its ground-breaking
futures and scenarios work. It has also
sparked the innovation of new products,
services and business models that will
make our world more sustainable.
The partners
Findhorn Foundation Community
The Findhorn Foundation Community
is over fty years old and is a growing
ecovillage of around 600 people. The
Findhorn Foundation is a living experiment
and centre of demonstration and education
for the notion of non-monetary, low
carbon abundance. This world-renowned
community has no ideology other than to
foster the highest in human potential, co-
creating with the rest of the natural world,
and taking inspired action. Its programmes
address both the externals of sustainability
and the importance of the inner life of
human beings in their search for meaning
and purpose. It is the birthplace and
home of seminars and trainings for CIFAL
Scotland, part of the United Nations
Institute for Training and Research and has
UN Habitat Best Practice designation.
Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency | 18 - 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation
Date: 18 22 May 2014
Time: Start on Sunday at 12.30pm, end Thursday 12.30pm
Location: Findhorn Foundation, The Park Ecovillage,
Findhorn, Scotland, IV36 3TZ
Cost: 1,500
Included: Four nights accommodation (Sunday
Wednesday), all meals (vegetarian), all programme content.
Available at additional cost: Bed & breakfast Saturday 17
and Thursday 22 May (35 per night).
Travel (not included): There is a sleeper train from London
and there are regular ights to Inverness.
Additional information: Findhorn is a strikingly beautiful
place with accommodation in charming community
facilities. Small groups of delegates share thoughtfully
designed residences that include kitchen and comfortable
lounge areas. All rooms are individual. Some bathrooms
and toilets are shared, but this co-location does give you
the opportunity to have breakfast at home with other
participants.
Delegates are encouraged to arrive on Saturday, taking
time to change gear and settle in before the course starts.
Bed & breakfast is available on Saturday 17 May (35) if
required.
Contact: For further information and to apply please email
edward.tsell@ndhorn.org.
Logistics
Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency | 18 - 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation
We look forward to engaging with you
in shaping a truly sustainable world.
Reconnections@Findhorn: Values-driven leadership for the planetary emergency | 18 - 22 May 2014, Findhorn Foundation