In a complex, volatile and unpredictable world, many of our planning and predicting habits are a waste of time. Instead of trying to push for the future you want, create the conditions for it to emerge.
Cultivating Leadership                                                                                February 2016
Leading the unpredictable: Creating the conditions for emergence

In a world more complex and interconnected, more volatile and unpredictable, planning for the future can seem like a waste of time. But not thinking about the future at all seems somehow like abdicating leadership responsibilities and letting the tide just take you where it will. What's a leader to do?
We think about creating the conditions for emergence, which is a tricky idea but has an exciting set of consequences for leadership action. Emergence is what happens when things combine to create something different than the sum of the parts: a rainbow emerges; a sense of love or trust emerges; a best selling product emerges.

Notice that each of these is a combination of elements that could not be mandated or predicted, much like business results in today's unpredictable, volatile, and complex climate. If a leader's job is to create conditions for wonderful things to emerge, we have to think about leadership in a whole new way.
Check out our blog for more.

Check out our new Growth Edge Coaching website

It has become clear to us that two different sorts of businesses have emerged from the collective of us at Cultivating Leadership. Now we have websites that support that shift. Check out www.growthedgecoaching.com for information on Growth Edge Coaching--what its benefits are to clients, how to find a Growth Edge coach, how to learn how to be a Growth Edge coach, etc. We're hoping the new site will put everything you need at your fingertips. Let us know what you think.

(If you're in the Growth Edge Coaching Certification program, Diana will have contacted you about a new password and log in for the back office of our new site. Please be in touch with her if you haven't heard from her first.) 
New workshops, new places emerging

We have been paying attention to the forces that are in our present system, and trying to be responsive to what wants to emerge there. To that end, we're trying a few different things that we hope create the conditions for us to teach and learn alongside you in a wide variety of ways.
  • Coaching in Complexity has found a date and narrowed on a location: 15-17 April, northern California. Jennifer Garvey Berger and Catherine Fitzgerald are offering this new workshop for the first time. If the demands on your clients are becoming more complex and you'd like to get your head around some perspectives and practices for supporting them (and you) to lead in new ways, come along and let's see what we can create together. (If you haven't already, please let Diana know ASAP if you are interested in this workshop)
  • We've been teaching Conversations at the Growing Edge (or one of its predecessor) workshops for more than a decade now, but we've never taught one in the Middle East. Carolyn Coughlin along with Patrice Laslett will offer our first Conversations at the Growing Edge workshop in the Middle East May 1-3 in Dubai. Contact Diana for more information. (Sorry, the February workshop is full.)
  • Sometimes you need to make a change for new things to emerge. Please note that our advanced workshop, Expanding Client Horizons Openly (ECHO) will be 1-3 June in Towson Maryland. This is probably the only time Jennifer and Carolyn will teach an advanced workshop together this year, so please join us.
You'll find all of these workshops and more on our new website. And if you'd like a workshop to come to your location, let us know and we can try to make it work for you.

In addition to these workshops, Jennifer is pleased to be headed to Boston for two different events in the first half of the year. In April, she'll be at Harvard's Learning Innovations Laboratory to speak about the increasing demands for leaders to navigate paradox and polarity. In June, she'll be joining her friends at Mobius Leadership in Boston for a keynote in their Next Practice Institute.  
Be the next reviewer to win our books!

Our books are emerging new forms as well! Look for Simple Habits to come out in paperback next month and for Changing on the Job to come out in Chinese (thank you to translator and champion Joey Chan)! Want to be in the draw to win next time? Write us a new amazon.com review for either of our books and let Diana know--she'll draw a name out of a metaphorical hat before our next newsletter.

Simple Habits for Complex Times:
Powerful Practices for Leaders
by Jennifer Garvey Berger and Keith Johnston
Stanford Business Books
Hardcover
List Price: $35.00
Our Price: $23.29
Buy Now




Changing on the Job:
Developing Leaders for a Complex World
by Jennifer Garvey Berger
Stanford Business Books
Kindle Edition ~ Release Date: 2011-11-30
Buy Now

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