The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world ...
are the ones who do ~
So, who wants to come to Jackson Hole this fall?!
(Thanks Steve Jobs, for that quote … but we’re thinking of a different kind of change)
I’m super excited to share two events I’m honored to be co-creating and participating in here in the Tetons. Both aim to break down the walls of the old ways and open hearts and minds to new ways of being, relating, and working in the world. While one is business-focused and the other more personal, at their core, both are rooted in the idea that the shift in individuals and communities rather than top-down control will lead to the re-evolution our global community needs to flourish.
Changing technologies, polarization, wars, the transformation of businesses, institutions, and governments, and climate changes have created a profound sense of anxiety, a fear that things are out of control. What if this anxiety points to an essential truth about the world, that ultimately control and definitive prediction are strictly limited, and that we must discover new ways of being and acting?
I recently learned about the term “Gentle Action Theory” as a better way to deal with chaos and change. Like the Martial Arts expert who directs small movements to focus the opponent’s own momentum and energy in a new direction, Gentle Action acts in a highly intelligent and sensitive way to guide and refocus the energies and the dynamics of chaotic systems. Another way to think about it is how using small movements, we can float in a pond, where splashing about in a panic ensures that we might drown.
This theory (which puts words to what many know in their hears) is backed by recent scientific discoveries like relativity, quantum theory, chaos and systems theory, along with new insights in psychology, ecology, and economics. Gentle Action exposes the fundamental fallacy of our belief in definitive control while affirming our basic connectedness to the whole of creation. It’s very Taoist and no big news to Indigenous cultures.
In a world grappling with urgent social and environmental challenges, it’s time to transform our concept of business success and global stewardship as profoundly interconnected, not mutually exclusive. We’re saying goodbye to Milton Friedman economics (where the sole purpose of a business is to make a profit) and hello to values-based, purpose-driven organizations. We welcome a world where successful, healthy organizations have more open and organic structures and draw naturally upon the creativity of their employees, who are self-directed and satisfied because they are allowed to cultivate their natural creativity and initiative within a caring environment.
This event evolved in Jackson Hole thanks to our love and connection with our natural environment and unfettered desire to preserve it. Learn more and register @tetonleadershipcenter.org.
It is often said... If you want to fast, go alone –
if you want to go far, go together.
At Cascade, we are coming together with the shared purpose of accelerating our personal and collective expansion, toward the light. The power of coming together with a shared intention is that we all experience a quantum leap toward higher ground. This gathering (for men, women, and children!) is playing a part in the ascension of humanity, which simply cannot be done on an individual level any longer. Although this has the markings of a wellness festival, a conference, or a retreat – Cascade is an opening into the hearts of all who participate – this is a ground activation and human acceleration.
Last year, I was falling into a deep slump when this inaugural event (called at the time Across the Water) fell into my lap. I wrote about my experience in a post called Unleashed: What's been happening since an earthquake of sadness and fear arrived at my door?
Across the Water was a profound and transformational experience (both gentle and strong!), and so I stayed in touch with the brilliant founder Sita Daavettila, helped her secure funding from the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board, and am honored to be one of the presenters during the breakout session on Cultivating Dignity and How to Be a Better Ancestor.
Check out more details about the event @CASCADE.
I hope you’ll join me in Jackson Hole because if you have read this far, I know you are ready to become one of the healthy, whole, visionary leaders and change-makers of the future.
Both have scholarship and volunteer opportunities available.
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