Phenomenal Conversation #15 - Activating Your Inner Pioneer with Carla de Ruiter

Key points include:

• Carla's leadership journey began with a profound spiritual experience in Florence, inspiring a more humane and connected approach to leadership.
• She emphasizes women’s leadership, encouraging women to embrace their unique gifts and step into authentic, impactful roles.
• Core qualities of pioneering leaders include:

• Stepping out of comfort zones and embracing the unknown.
• Practicing self-reflection and acting with unwavering integrity.
• Living creatively and in alignment with deeply understood values.

• Carla highlights the role of social impact, encouraging leaders to focus on solutions that create meaningful change.
• Her key question: "What does life want from me?" invites us to uncover purpose and contribute to a better world.

Listen now to explore Carla’s vision for pioneering leadership and its transformative power!

Findout more about Carla here;
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Phenomenal Conversation #14 Pioneering Regenerative Higher Education with Bas van den Berg

Higher education is at a crossroads. In this inspiring conversation, Bas van den Berg explores how reimagining education can help us build regenerative cultures that nurture both people place and the planet.

Key Challenges in Higher Education Today:1. A well-being crisis among students and staff.2. Limited interdisciplinary approaches to complex global intractable problems.3. Insufficient awareness of education’s overall environmental impact.

Bas champions regenerative education—an approach designed to restore relationships, cultivate well-being, and address systemic challenges through transformative practices.

Highlights from the Conversation:- Creating Space for Reflection: Incorporating dialogue, mindfulness, and nature-based learning to foster deep connection.

- Community-Centric Learning: Making the world the curriculum by tackling real-life "wicked problems" alongside communities. - Prioritizing Well-Being: Building team resilience through empathetic leadership, outdoor activities, and shared learning.

- Wisdom from Decay: Embracing pain and transition as part of both personal and societal growth toward life-affirming systems.

Takeaway:Higher education has the power to shape a regenerative future. By integrating well-being, community, and sustainability, we can prepare learners to thrive in a complex world and contribute meaningfully to its healing.

More About Bas ⁠here

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Phenomenal Conversation #12 with Mattias Ohlson on Agency, Climate Emotion and the Gigaton Challenge
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Mattias is a Swedish born, Zambia based, clean/green tech entrepreneur attempting to offer instantly verfiable carbon credits democratising this economy through tokenisation and blockchain‍

Key Insights from this interview

🚀 A Gigaton of Climate Impact Focused on reducing one gigaton of carbon emissions annually, the Gigaton Challenge promotes scalable, sustainable solutions, particularly in regions like Zambia, where Matthias Olson’s Emerging Cooking initiative leads the way.

🍃 Cleaner Cooking, Regenerative Impact Traditional charcoal cooking emits nearly a gigaton of CO₂ each year. Emerging Cooking offers a cleaner solution: biomass wood pellets from forestry waste, replacing unsustainable practices with renewable alternatives for healthier homes and a healthier planet.

💻 Technology for Equity & Transparency Using blockchain, Olson’s Supermoto platform aims to democratize the carbon market, allowing small players—like Tanzanian farmers planting trees—to directly benefit from their climate efforts. This tech-driven approach enhances transparency, reduces greenwashing, and makes carbon markets accessible to all.

🤝 Collaboration & Partnerships Matthias emphasizes that no one can tackle this challenge alone. By building partnerships across the Global North and South, and engaging local communities, the Gigaton Challenge ensures that solutions are context-specific, scalable, and community-driven.

🌐 Ethics and Equity in Climate Action The episode addresses ethical considerations around sustainability in the Global South: respecting local knowledge, avoiding extractive practices, and ensuring that climate projects genuinely uplift local communities and ecosystems.

🌱 A Regenerative Vision for Climate JusticeThe Gigaton Challenge invites everyone to join in building a regenerative, inclusive approach to climate action—one that values both impact and equity for a sustainable, just future.

Find out more here about Mattias' clean tech and carbon democratization work

⁠Supa Moto⁠

⁠Emerging Cooking Solutions⁠

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Phenomenal Conversation #13 The Unusual Art of Designing for Transformation with Lorenz Sell

Lorenz Sell’s journey into transformative learning started with a mystical experience, leading him to create Sutra—a platform that fosters deep human connection through relational learning.

‍Key Insights from Lorenz's Approach:
‍🌱 Transformation Through Presence "Transformation happens when people are deeply present with themselves and each other."
🔗 Relational CapacitySkills like attunement, deep listening, and inner coherence are essential for building authentic connections.
💻 Online as a Space for Connection "Online learning is like the difference between a book and a movie—different, but both valuable."
🔄 Prototyping for GrowthExperiment, iterate, and embrace failures as learning opportunities. The journey to creating impactful experiences is iterative
.📈 **Practical, Mindful Practices** Small moments of stillness and presence can transform group dynamics.Lorenz’s work reminds us that authentic connection is the foundation of transformation—whether online or in person.

More one Lorenz's and his wife Natasha's learning platform Sutra

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Phenomenal Conversation #11: Activating Soul Purpose with Sophie Wisbrun

Sophie Wisbrun is a nature-positive change catalyst, a sustainable business and leadership transformation coach, educator, speaker, purpose expert, and board advisor.

This was the last episode of the first season and had an altered format without the usual live audience.

We discussed several key issues in the call;

• Soul Purpose, Leadership and flourishing organisations
• Radical Honesty that is required for true transformation
• Embracing Wholeness being essential to genuine Sustainability
• Nature can guide and inspire Regenerative Practices

Sophie is the founder of ⁠Doing Business Doing Good ⁠& We Are Nature

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Phenomenal Conversation #10 Designing for Thrivability with Michelle Holliday

Michelle Holliday Thrivability Maven, Author Consultant and Facilitator pioneers the art the living systems design she terms Thrivability.

An audio of this live in person gathering, includes some contributions from participants. Some of what was shared in the interview exploring this important topic includes;

• Almost anyone will have an intuitive sense of what it means to thrive
• The difference between Sustainability and Thrivability
• The design of livings systems as the blueprint for thrivability
• How communities and ecologies of care are foundational to being able to thrive
• A practical case study that flips the core assumptions of vacation sites
  
  About Thrivability here;⁠https://ageofthrivability.com/⁠
  ‍About Michelle here ⁠https://michelleholliday.com/⁠

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Phenomenal Conversation #9 on 'The Unusual Business of Death' with Susanne Duijvestein

Susanne Duijvestein a young entrepreneur, death doula, funeral entrepreneur, ceremony leader, educator and guide.

Susanne is a notable pioneering reformer, as she wishes the industry and it's clients to become more ecological or sustainable, holistic, psychologically informed and more conscious about how to handle our own and loved ones departure from the world.Whilst not recorded, some interesting highlights from the following group discussion included:

- Loss bereavement and the decline of the earth is calling to grieve fully and extensively
- Encountering death and it's reality is a key to human maturity
- True mourning or grieving is not only episodic it connects to all of the losses in our lives thus is it's underlying tapestry
- Facing the inevitability of death is to be in touch with reality
-Those who surrender to death can become a light unto themselves and others
- Whether we admit it or not every transition every shift or loss is a minor encounter with death and it shapes the whole of our life

More about Susanne's work you can find here ⁠https://www.bijafscheid.nl/⁠
Her Dutch book can be bought here;⁠https://libris.nl/boek?authortitle=su...⁠

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Phenomenal Conversation #8 The Urgent Need for Radical Organisations with Jose Leal

Jose Leal - Cofounder of Radical Purpose and co-signatory to the Radical Declaration of Interdependence. Shares his views on the total necessity of organisational reform to create more radically human and planetary centric organisations

Topics covered included;

• Comparing the Power of Purpose and the Power of Force
• Activating people's natural intrinsic motivation
• Creating conditions for aligning with life and not acting against it.
• Taking full responsibility and as a step ofdevelopmental maturity.

More about Jose here: ⁠https://www.radicalpurpose.org/⁠

Phenomenal Conversation #7 The Adventure of Eldership in an Age of Disruption with Dorothe Liebig

Dorothe Liebig psychologist and systemic consultant, in dialogue about Eldership. About it's developmental phases, it's role, it's obligations, as well as the intimations and possibilities that the current moment might offer in advancing the Adventure of Eldership. We explore issues and questions similar or identical to;

• Erik Erickson's developmental model of late stage adulthood
• The dynamic phases and tensions when more towards maturity
• How might elders consciously preserve and conserve, the good, the true and beautiful? How possible is it to, refashion conceptions and expressions of Eldership, so they might offer faith and existential confidence, in living fully, even as human self destruction seems imminent.

More about Dorothe here: ⁠https://www.aeon-group.com/de/about/p...⁠

Phenonemal Conversation #6: The Art and Practice of True Collaboration with Robyn Whittaker

In this dialogue we covered and explored

• How collaboration in education systems in South Africa is crucial for creating a more functional and effective system.
• How active citizenship, social networks, and working together are key to addressing the challenges faced.
• Emphasized the importance of collective thinking and relationship-based learning.
• Highlighted the need for a relational approach to collaboration, that invites multiple stakeholders, to co-create a shared understanding of the problem and desired outcomes.
• How the interior condition of the convener (or facilitator) influences practicing collective thinking.

Phenonemal Conversation #5 Deep Learning in a Shallow World with Monica Sulecio Alvarez

We explored various dimensions of Deep Learning related to Guatemala where Monica lives, to online digital learning and designing education to impact head heart and hand.

Main points included;

• Meaningful learning, reflection, and inner development goals.
• Releasing the learner's own passion for the topic
• Embodied learning, transformative growth, and collaboration between teachers and learners.
• E-learning and its limitations.

Phenomenal Conversation #3 The Unexpected Benefit of Exploring Wonder in a less than wonderful world with Joeri Kabalt PhD

In this interview Joeri explains how cultivating the transformational capacity of Wonder connects deeply to life even in turbulent times

Areas covered in the dialogue include;

• Origins of her journey into Wonder and finding the ordinary in the extraordinary
• The value of Wonder in a world in a global state of emergency?
• The variety of dimensions of Wonder
• Awe and Wonder in relationship to self other and nature
• Expectation, presupposition, openness, unknowingness and Wonder

Phenomenal Conversation #2 Grounded Hope : Reimagining Business and the Economywith Graham Boyd

In this Phenomenal Conversation #2 Graham Boyd outlines his perspective that Grounded Hope offers a North Star or navigation point to assist us in these tumultuous and chaotic times. Key points in include

• Paralells between apartheid South Africa and Corporate Captalism.
• Blame and blamelessness in the current commerical context.
• Grounded Hope, Hop-ium, Engaged Activism and Emergence.
• Key growth elements to usefully encounter the polycrisis.
• The limitations of linear logical thinking and systems transformation.
• The living sentience of regenerative economies

In this very first interview of the Phenomenal Conversation series we speak with:

Amir Freiman who is the author of 'Spiritual Transmission' and is a PhD researcher into Living Transcendence. He has been interviewing spiritual exemplars/masters from diverse backgrounds, faiths and approaches, to explore the manifestations of spirit in the world and writing academic papers on the subject.

We try to explore the relevance of his studies to a world in the crisis facing collapse or extinction.