Leadership to Make Sense of the Complexity
The scale of complexity and conflict that reaches us on our screens every day is unprecedented. How can we make sense of all from the racial reckoning to the need for climate change? Though difficult, there are places and platforms, writers and thought leaders, to turn to for direction and insight. I’ll share several examples in this post.
For instance, next weekend, I’ll participate in an online event, “The State of Sensemaking,” curated and designed by the Rebel Wisdom online platform.
On Sept. 30, Jewel, Amiel Handelsman, and I will be in conversation with the founder of the Aligned Center, Matt Ludmer, about cultural intelligence as an integrative response to the complexities of the racial reckoning. And to navigate climate change, our friends and colleagues at the Post-Progressive Post have been providing inclusive, sophisticated perspectives to make sense and take wise action.
Here’s a framing of this weekend’s event from Rebel Wisdom:
The State of Sensemaking, Sept. 25 & 26
The pandemic has added a level of life and death importance to our existing problems of discerning reliable information. We are lost in echo chambers, manipulated by narrative warfare and the hacking of our attention by the big tech platforms. The problem of sensemaking is right at the core of many of our issues. How can we begin to solve our problems if we can't agree what they are, and have no shared sense of reality?
We need to learn how to make sense of this complex landscape so that we can have authentic, useful conversations with one another about the issues we're facing. But making sense isn't a skill we pick up and then apply - it's an ongoing, dynamic process. That's why we've designed this event as an immersive, participatory experience. It's a place to find the others and have authentic conversations. A space to experiment with cutting-edge practices and cognitive tools that help us navigate the weirdness, danger, and complexity of 2021.
Rebel Wisdom invites you to learn techniques drawn from the latest cognitive science with John Vervaeke. Zoom out and get a fresh perspective on post-pandemic culture with bestselling author Jamie Wheal. Learn game theory from former poker champion and scientist Liv Boeree. Hone your steelmanning skills with Sara Ness, develop your cultural intelligence with Greg Thomas. Drop into emergent dialogue with Pamela von Sabljar, practice psychedelic sensemaking with Alexander Beiner and get better at making sense of the media with David Fuller.
The State of Sensemaking will include multiple breakouts and group discussions so you can meet other people from around the world interested in these skills, and tap into your own agency, creativity and mental flexibility to apply what you're learning to your life.
Register for free here.
Using Culture to Make Sense of the Complexity of Race
Matt Ludmer, Founder of the Aligned Center
Last year, I taught a three-month course in collaboration with the Aligned Center, “Cultural Intelligence: Transcending Race, Embracing Cosmos,” that investigated how an understanding of culture helps us to expand our perspective from local to cosmic while gaining freedom from what my late friend Stanley Crouch called the “decoy of race.”
Starting on October 6th, I’ll co-facilitate a six-month course that extends from that foundation, “Stepping Up: Wrestling with America’s Past, Reimagining Its Future, Healing Together.” The Aligned Center event, on Sept. 30 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm, is a preview of the course, where we’ll discuss our intent and curriculum.
Here’s more info on the free event, which you can register for here:
Race in America is a complex topic. It’s hard to wrap our arms around it, particularly since our lives are filled with so many commitments. Even if you interact with diverse groups of people, conversations about race can feel abstract, especially because of loud voices and powerful emotions on all sides. Being part of the solution starts with curiosity about what racism and antiracism have to do with your life. It’s as much an inward reflection as about external problems. This isn’t easy, because it requires slowing down from a busy life long enough to put yourself in others’ shoes and wonder what they are thinking and feeling. It also involves questioning things we may never have asked hard questions about before. This can feel uncomfortable but also refreshing. It’s a chance to learn something new and explore the country you live in. As important, you get to be part of the solution.
Making this topic personal is key. Most of us have been exposed to good-faith attempts to heal this divide in open-hearted but incomplete ways. The traditional liberal school of “colorblind” thought (now adopted by many conservatives) correctly identifies the arbitrary nature of racial categories yet bypasses the exclusions and violence of American history. Many in the antiracist school rightly document how far we have to go yet deny real progress, get caught in shaming, and reinforce racial essentialism. Neither school of thought gives you a chance to make this personal while doing so in a respectful and open way. Getting where we need to go requires being part of a truly integral solution.
Greg Thomas, Jewel Kinch-Thomas, and Amiel Handelsman will talk with Matt Ludmer about how to explore these topics in a way that provides tangible results. Looking at American history, reflecting on our own experiences, and imagining a better future—in a safe environment that allows people to speak freely and honestly—helps us to create a better tomorrow starting today.
The Aligned Center will complete the conversation with an offer from Jewel, Greg, and Amiel to join them in Stepping Up, a six-month course starting in October and devoted to exploring these very topics in a personal and transformative way. Sign up for that course now to receive the early bird special, which ends on Sept. 21.
Better Understanding the Climate Change Debate
Cultural Intelligence, in which values and worldviews are considered as part of a developmental spectrum, can be applied to a range of issues, from race to politics to climate change. The post-progressive movement, which attends to the downsides of progressivism by including its merits along with the positive values of modernism and traditionalism, is a powerful drive toward integration. As applied to climate change, the approach of cultural intelligence finds expression at the Post-Progressive Post via an Issue Position paper and an excerpt from a book chapter by Boston College philosopher David Storey, “We Will Grow Together Or Grow Apart: Cultural Intelligence and Climate Change.”
If climate change is a concern, or you simply desire to envision how to approach such a complex issue in an integrative way, I urge you to check out these resources.
To reiterate, the Early Bird discount for the Stepping Up course is available through Sept. 21st. We invite you to take advantage of this opportunity.