Nature-Based Leadership – like surfing the edge of chaos

In Bin by Göran Gennvi

More and more people understand that we stand on unsustainable foundations and that the future is not predictable. However, we have had a short window when caught in our industrial machine thinking, we built our society on the idea of predictability, which made us believe that the world and the future are certainly complicated but stable and plannable. Now this illusion is about to crumble. the future is at the door, where we realize that management methods from the past cannot be used to lead us into a future characterized by dynamic and generative complexity.

In a world distinguished by complex relationships where cause and effect relationships cannot be predicted and planned, new leadership is required that goes in line with Nature’s processes. This requires the capacity and ability to face the mental, social and existential crises that arise when the outdated worldview of existence falls apart while aiming to catch the next wave; to lead in flux is like surfing the edge of chaos and enjoying the next ride.

Naturer Based Leadership – The baseline
Our program aims to reset the participants’ natural ”source code” by deep-diving into the transformative power of practising nature-based leadership.

  • To lead is about sensing deep – to pick up the weakest signals from the outside and inside world – sensing!
  • To lead on the brink of chaos when you face the unpredictable – grounding!
  • To lead by making the journey yourself with others, not just pointing out the way – the skin in the game!
  • To have the courage and wisdom to admit when I, as a leader, do not know the way and to invite others’ perspectives – the beginner’s mind!
  • To guide others and practice with integrity and vision – Lead by Nature!

Ecolitrracy – Nature our teacher and classroom
Nature’s design creates conditions conducive to future generations’ lives. Everything in Nature leans toward supporting this purpose. Life has lived through five mass extinctions, and life is still thriving on this planet. It may not be the same mix of life or species, but life continues to regenerate and evolve. It is nature’s purpose. That’s why Nature is our best teacher and classroom, and that’s why Ecoliteracy is so important: to learn to read the book of Nature.

Ecoliteracy is concerned with understanding the principles of ecosystems and building a sustainable human society. It combines the sciences of systems and ecology and fosters learning processes toward a deep appreciation of nature and our role in it. Systems awareness is the embodied recognition of the world as an integrated whole rather than a collection of individual elements. Ecological literacy and systems awareness imply a recognition that all phenomena are part of a complex, dynamic network that defines the beautiful, living world.

Nature as a Teacher and Classroom
The Nature Academy Learning Lab uses nature as a teacher and classroom for transformative learning: how to lead and design resilient and thriving organizations. Through evolution, nature has formed a robust framework that can be found everywhere in ecosystems and among mature human-designed organizations that have developed in line with nature. By learning and drawing inspiration from nature, we can transform our assumptions, structures, and processes to become pathfinders in nurturing life to benefit the planet and all life. 

Nature Academy Learning Lab, now even in China
For more than thirty years, Nature Academy Learning Lab has developed and refined theories, methods and tools through collaboration with world-leading scientists, indigenous wisdom keepers. And, not least, everything we have learned by working with all the wise, brave and talented leaders through our coaching and consulting assignments over the years. We are therefore delighted that word of the method’s effectiveness is spreading around the world, for leaders, change agents and executive coaches.