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Future Search: Using the Wisdom of the Whole System
Richard M. Lent and Nancy Aronson

How do you get a diverse group of stakeholders with different perspectives and opinions committed to a common vision and actions? Hundreds of businesses, governmental agencies, educational institutions, and communities have used Future Search, a large-group, interactive planning process, to achieve shared goals and fast action around complex issues. In this session, Rick and Nancy draw on their experience running dozens of future searches across a variety of sectors to share their learning. During this session, you will have the opportunity to learn about how Future Search works; get first-hand experience with a few of its tools; and hear about specific applications in education.

Richard M. Lent, Ph.D., is an independent consultant and co-founder of Brownfield & Lent. He helps people in organizations learn, work, and change together to achieve better outcomes. As part of his work, he has used Future Search in various settings in the U.S. and elsewhere. A case study of one of his projects with Future Search in business will appear in the forthcoming Handbook of Large Group Methods.

Nancy Aronson, Ph.D., is an independent consultant and partner in Arsht/Aronson. In her consulting work, she brings practical, collaborative methods to organizations and communities facing complex issues. Nancy specialized in designing and facilitating large group interventions. She is a contributing author to Future Search in School District Change: Community, Connection and Results.

 

 

Partnering to Create Tomorrow’s Leaders: The Twin Cities
Latino Coalition
Sayra Pinto, Daniel Asquino, Ed Cronin, Neddy Latimer, Sergio Paez, and Angelita Santiago

Over the past several decades, the Latino population of the “twin cities” of Fitchburgh and Leominster, Massachusetts, has grown exponentially. Nevertheless, dynamics of racism and poverty have limited the integration of Latinos into the mainstream community. The Twin Cities Latino Coalition has been applying systems thinking concepts in building cross-sectoral alliances with the aim of ensuring that Latino families achieve their highest potential. Focusing on organizational structures already engaged in some kind of systemic change effort, organizers have introduced dialogue and values alignment to help stakeholders talk with and understand each other. Hear from community leaders as they tell how diverse institutions have come together to build leadership capacity in the Latino community.

Sayra Pinto is the director of the Twin Cities Latino Coalition. Daniel Asquino, Ph.D, is the president of Mt. Wachusett Community College. Ed Cronin is the chief of police in Fitchburg, MA. Neddy Latimer is Executive Director of the Spanish American Center in Leominster. Sergio Paez, Ph.D., is Language Acquisitions Director of the Leominster Public Schools.

 

 

Re-evolution: Youth Are the Experts on Youth
Tim Merry and the Re-evolution Youth and Deborah Frieze

What does it take to engage young people in the critical issues of our time? In many of today’s dominant systems, young people feel their actions have little or no impact. How can we support young people in shifting from breakdown or apathy to peer leadership and self-reliance? How can we amplify the youth leadership that is already there? This session will be co-hosted by five grassroots youth leaders who are stepping forward to make a difference in their community. Using a leadership model called the “Art of Hosting,” we will participate in conversations around how to engage youth in our own communities and organizations.

Tim Merry and the Re-evolution Youth have traveled to the conference from the Shire in Nova Scotia, Canada. Tim is a master host of conversations that matter and one of the founders of the global Art of Hosting movement. The five Re-evolution Youth are participants in a 12-month program at the Shire to support high-potential, high-risk youth in becoming positive role models and peer leaders in the Yarmouth community.

Deborah Frieze is co-president of the Berkana Institute, a global non-profit leadership organization started by Margaret Wheatley. She arrived at Berkana to launch the Berkana Exchange, which connects leadership learning centers, such as the Shire, around their shared commitment to making a difference in and beyond their communities. Debbie has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

 

 

Uncovering the Will to Create the Future We Want: The “U-Process” in Practice at Nissan
Tracy Huston and Sherry Immediato

How do we develop both the capacity and the will for change, in harmony with the changing global context and our own aspirations? For Nissan and other members of the Society for Organizational Learning, one key may be the “U-Process” of transformational change discussed in the book Presence, by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers. Learn about Nissan’s innovative leadership development work with a cross-cultural group of executives, who are entering this “presencing” space to uncover the individual and collective will to both adapt to and shape the future.

Tracy Huston joined Nissan in 2002 to design their first global executive development program for high-potential employees. She recently returned to her consulting practice, focusing on leadership development and executive coaching in support of personal and systemic transformation. Tracy continues to coach Nissan executives and is Nissan’s SoL Liaison Officer. She is a member of the design team for the SoL-MIT cross-sector innovation project, Emerging Leaders for Innovation Across Systems (ELIAS).

Sherry Immediato is the president and managing director of the Society for Organizational Learning. Prior to joining the SoL staff, she founded Heaven & Earth Incorporated in 1996. Her clients have included public sector and non-profit enterprises in healthcare, education, and other areas of community service, in addition to divisions of Fortune 500 corporations. Sherry was a Principal with Innovation Associates. She has also worked in venture capital and economic development in both industry and government.