27 & 28 August: Pause. Reflect. Share
Earlier this month, Nigel Topping, the UK’s High-Level Climate Action Champion, spoke about how hard it is to keep track of the forest whilst caring for the trees:.
‘Sometimes you have to break a big problem down into chunks to act, but if you lose sight of the whole because you’ve got so used to breaking down into chunks, then you start to make bad decisions because you make bad trade-offs or create unintended consequences.’
Isn’t this the case for all of us managing our multiple lives during this pandemic? There are few opportunities to zoom out to see the connections, to step outside for a moment from chunky actions to catch our breath, to reflect, to listen and learn? We invite you to take this opportunity, albeit briefly, to ‘zoom out’, before focusing back in and on the everyday demands, actions and decisions, all of which may alter as a result of our taking even a small space for ourselves.
And it is so very needed. We suggest that this kind of moment is a ‘purposeful disruption’ — a space to consider the connections between each other and the actions we plan to or are taking.
So we invite you to spend 90 minutes with us, in recognition of our need for continued connection and valuing of relationships that energise this global community of hope and action.
We’ll consider these lines of inquiry:
- What have you learned, or are you learning from your experience over the last six months?
- What leadership capacities in yourself are proving to be most useful right here right now?
- What qualities are you noticing in others during times of crises that can be useful when we are out of the immediate turbulence and uncertainty of the ongoing global pandemic?
- What can we do together that will make a valuable and enduring contribution to how we all think and act our way into a better shared future?
As well, we’ll continue to explore ongoing areas of exploration in motion with Cohort participants:
- How deans around the globe are engaged in and collaborating on transformative change for people, planet and prosperity
- Prototypes for globally responsible leadership, learning and education, and “business as a force for good” initiatives is high on everyone’s agenda.
- Reimagining learning and higher/management education — specifically in partnerships with business and societal stakeholders — in an age of disruption and need for fundamental systemic shifts.
Please see your inbox for calendar invites to join this 90-minute breathing space with the global GRLI Deans & Directors Cohort community.
