Nature Academy Learning Lab – History tells us that “Academia” was a forest outside Athens where Plato went and conducted educational dialogues about life’s biggest questions together with his students. Dia- means “through” or “flow,” and – logos means “logic” in Greek. The word ”dialogos” to see through to meaning, is a prerequisite for consensus and, thus, cooperation. Studies show that success and efficiency often rise or drop depending on the quality of the dialogue. Reflection in solitude has, during human history, been an important method for reaching insight and enlightenment. Naturakademin offers this via the programs Conscious Leadership and Nature Quests for personal development. Transformative organizational and societal development is offered through Learning Labs, were tools for reflection to support urgent questions for individuals and the group. If we have the opportunity, we can choose to employ nature as both a classroom and a teacher.
Our vision is to contribute daily to the work of a sustainable and fair world where development takes place in harmony between humans, society, and nature., to Nourishing Life.
Our broader Vision:
– ”A human being is part of the whole ca/led by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and his feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circ/e of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
– Albert Einstein
Our understanding is that knowledge of the basis of life and nature is as equally self-evident to learn and teach as the alphabet and mathematics fundamentals are to the world’s children. As profitability, leadership, and politics are to decision-makers.
In our vision, people learn in and from nature; we let ourselves be inspired to new exciting developments and innovations from the genius of life and nature. With this attitude, we begin to respect, revere, and be thankful for life for generations to come. In our vision, we all have, through our insight and knowledge about how everything is interconnected and all of our need of each other comes from the optical illusion of which Einstein wrote:
–”widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty…”
Nature Academy Get WiLD – New insights, old Wisdom applied on Leadership and in Dialogues 🦅
Dr. Peter Senge, the MIT systemic change specialist, advised Göran nearly three decades ago to listen, learn and translate indigenous #wisdom and their #regenerative worldview and lifestyles into our modern way of living. Based on years of experience in #transformativeleadership training, he saw a need for transformative leadership in a critical time of flux. His learning and insights evolved in a fruitful co-evolution in partnership with SoL (Society for Organization), Executive Education (Stockholm School of Economics), The Natural Step (the world-leading Sustainability advisor), and Perlan, the leading coaches in Gestalt Therapy.
Together with his indigenous teachers and partners, Mohawk Chief Jake Swamp, Sami Elder Laila Spik, Faithkeeper Oren Lyons, Miccosukee Elder Andy Buster, and Tracker John Stokes, the methodology of Nature Academy was created and #nature been his Learning Lab, classroom, and teacher since. Göran has also developed methods, tools, and programs for sustainable development, together with his friends and partner, professor Oren Lyons and John P Milton, the founder of Way of Nature, among many others.
As the founder of Nature Academy, Göran has been involved in several exciting internationally renowned organizations for over three decades. Examples of these are, for example, the Ekskäret Foundation, which in 10 years has had a global impact in terms of adult development, leadership, and societal development. Albaeco, as one of the founders of and in close collaboration with Stockholm Recilien’s center, has received international attention in the field of sustainability. Tällberg Foundation has been a unique Tink Thank with global top executive leaders who discussed the issue of ”How on Earth Can We Live together?”.
This film summarised his understanding then, and much hasn’t changed. -”To achieve development to really lead to results, we don’t need expert counsel, better consultants, or more committed managers; the key is rather to be found in our common, fundamental way of thinking.” Take a look at the film clip:
#natureacademy #regenerativeleadership #learninglab
Ekskäret Foundation – partner and member of the board
Ekskäret Foundation is a partner organization to Nature Academy, and Göran is a board member since the year 2011. The mission of the Ekskäret Foundation is to both to make sense of the world and create and allow brave spaces for people to explore and work on their inner growth. Studies show that having a ”safe place” in connection to nature, where we dare to challenge ourselves, can act as an important catalyst for the process of personal development. Ekskäret supports and contributes to these brave places by creating contexts and locations for transformative learning, where skills can be developed to better handle the rapid change and the constantly increasing complexity of our world. Skills can increase our capacity for deeper understanding and wisdom, engaging individuals to become active co-creators in the world we create. The board consists of representatives of collaborative partners who have contributed important skills and inspiration during the development of the foundation and its operations.
THE EKSKÄRET ISLAND – where it all began The island of Ekskäret (where the oak trees grow), located in the Stockholm archipelago in Sweden, is the actual place where the Ekskäret Foundation springs from. The island intends to offer a place to connect and re-connect with others, yourself, nature, and life. Enhancing the capacity and resilience of individuals to support the transformation of organizations and society. The island provides a breathtaking venue dedicated to curious and explorative initiatives, such as the Protus youth camps, courses in personal development, and other exploratory meetings for inner growth and social transformation.
29K – a non-profit, open-source, personal growth platform combining the best science-based tools with deep human connection – made available wherever you are, whenever you need it – for free.
Inner Development Goals – is a collaboration between the 29k, The New Division and Ekskäret Foundation. The IDGs provides an essential framework of transformative skills for sustainable development, a field-kit (in co-creation now) on how to develop these necessary skills – open source and free for all to use. The current IDGs framework represents 5 dimensions and 23 skills and qualities which are especially crucial for leaders who address SDGs, but fundamentally for all of us! It is the greatest possible accelerator to reach the Sustainable Development Goals and create a prosperous future for all humanity..
EKSKÄRET NATURE QUEST – Göran is one of the pioneers who introduced methods for transformative development in Sweden and Europe; through close collaboration together with people like John P Milton, he has conducted numerous ”Nature Quest” with both Swedish and international top leaders. Göran possesses unique knowledge about how these techniques work and are implemented, which is of high value for Transformative Leadership.
Albaeco – partner and member of the board
Albaeco is a partner organization to Nature Academy, and Göran has been a board member since the year 2014. Albaeco is an independent organization working since 1998 with strategic environmental communication, science communication, consulting, and environmental training for companies. The organization does everything from popular science writing to courses and strategic sustainability consulting for the public and private sectors. Our goal is to translate complicated research findings into communicative insights about the interactions between nature, society, and the economy. Some clients include UNEP, the Swedish Ministry of the Environment, the House of Sweden, Sida, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, SIWI, Norwegian EPA, Stockholm Environment Institute, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, The Swedish Research Council, H&M, Coop, ICA, Orkla Foods and Houdini Sportswear. Albaeco is connected to an extensive network of international researchers from both the natural and social sciences through long-term and close collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), based at Stockholm University. Albaeco co-founded the SRC in 2007 and has over the years, assisted SRC and many other research institutions in their efforts to reach out with research findings to the media, politicians, government agencies, and resource users at local, regional, and international levels.
Society for Organisational Learning – partner and member of the board
Nature Academy has been deeply engaged in Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) at MIT, Boston, since the middle of the ’90s and founded SoL Sweden in 1999, and Göran has been a board member since then. Göran became a driving force within the design team and created the first Core Course outside of the USA, taking place in Stockholm in 1999. He has worked together with Peter Senge, and Otto Scharmer as a facilitator. Inspired by the Organization Learning theories, he has been using these ”transformative learning disciplines” within a broad scale of projects. His work has ranged from community building, corporate strategic development, and leadership training. Working together with communities and decision-makers, Göran’s focus is on developing a balance between social ethics, environmental awareness, and sustainable economic development. In 2004 Göran co-facilitated the SoL annual meeting in Boston and the full-day keynote experience – Nature as the teacher and the classroom.
IFL Handelshögskolan Faculty (Executive Education)
Göran has also been faculty since the midst of the 90th and has been coaching Project Managers at SSE Stockholm School of Economics, in the Theory-U, by using Nature as the teacher and the classroom for advanced leadership training programs. (SSE is ranked as best in Nordic Region in the Financial Times executive education ranking). Nature Academy has been involved in different co-projects over the years.
IFL Learning Manifesto – a book that describes the essence of executive education to provide a source of inspiration and a contribution to the dialogue on how we create really effective ways of developing leadership to create one of the world’s best business environments. Göran, as one who has contributed to IFL’s knowledge-creation processes in various ways, was invited to contribute with his reflections and perspectives on the subjects of the book (see link).
See Learning Manifesto + Download PDF >>
Tällberg Foundation – Knowledge Partners and Senior Advisor
Nature Academy held a role as Knowledge Partner and Göran as Senior Advisor at Tällberg Foundation between 2005 and 2013. The Tällberg Foundation operates by designing learning processes to pursue new creative ideas and consciousness of the wider context. It operates through educational programs, reporting, and research. It also increasingly works in an advisory capacity. The Tällberg Foundation is a search organization improving the understanding of the wider global systems contexts – to inspire the designs of better logic, policies, processes, strategies, structures, technologies, and institutions. The end game is to provide operational answers to the question “How on earth can we live together – we humans and us with nature?”. Guiding The King on a Nature Walk in Tällberg – A mission I always will remember 🙏🏼
WiLD Pathfinder
Together with, and inspired by, professors and faith-keeper Oren Lyons and John P. Milton, Gennvi developed methods and tools for leadership training for corporate leaders that resulted in the concept of Transformative Leadership, Transformative Dialogue, and WiLD Pathfinders programs (Wisdom, Insight, Leadership, and Dialogue). Read more
United Spaces
Göran was invited as one of the co-founders and part-owners of United Spaces year 2000, probably the world’s first coworking space, now with ten offices in 5 major cities in Sweden and sold to Castellum in 2019.
Contact Göran: Phone +46 8 7163677, mail gennvi@naturakademin.se