Mobius Executive Leadership

Dear Friends:

Delighted to celebrate together what we hope is the arrival of a restorative Summer and to share herein the June issue of our newsletter, where we offer our top recommendations for what to read, watch and listen to in the field of transformational leadership and organizational change.  

This month we showcase the work of Azim Khamisa, Paul Zonneveld and Mieke Jacobs – all of whom are faculty for this year’s Next Practice Institute. We’re also delighted to feature a new book for young leaders from McKinsey consultant and Mobius Friend Kayvan Kian. Finally, we share with you this month’s special release from the Keynote video series from author and Mobius Executive Coach Gina LaRoche on The 7 Laws of Enough: Creating a Life of Sustainable Abundance. 

I also wanted to alert you that spaces are fast filling for the coming December's  Next Practice Institute.  Please visit the website for the week’s full program including the list of immersive learning tracks, keynote presentations, panel discussions and special workshops.  

Warmest best, 

Chief Executive Officer,  Mobius Executive Leadership 

 IDEAS WORTH SHARING

Restorative justice: Azim Khamisa's journey

When suffering gets converted into an offering for a better world

In 1995 Azim’s only son was shot dead by a boy who went on to be the first ever 14-year-old to be tried as an adult in the state of California. In this beautifully produced podcast, we hear first-hand from Azim about how the tragedy happened and how it started his journey toward restorative justice – for his family, the boy who went to prison, the boy’s family, and for both their communities, all of which led Azim to set up a foundation in his son’s name. The Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF) is dedicated to teaching and inspiring forgiveness, hope and peace in a social system that often neglects and damages children who go on to commit dehumanizing acts of violence. Since it first started TKF has connected with over 500,000 youth communities and has had a profoundly reparative effect on many lives. We are deeply honored to have Azim with us at this year’s Next Practice Institute to share with us what he has learnt about the heart of compassion and the Principles of Group Coherence and Restoration. In the interim, we strongly recommend listening to the inspiring podcast of Azim’s story.

Taking on the system

The system is perfectly designed to deliver the results it is delivering now.

In Azim’s story he explains his anger wasn’t directed at the boy who killed his son, but with the limits of a judicial system to “help right wrongs” and with systemic violence in a society that left both his son and his murderer vulnerable to tragic outcomes. As part of our spotlight on understanding how systems work, this month we feature a guide to systemic intelligence from Mobius Transformational Faculty Members Paul Zonneveld and Mieke Jacobs (both of whom lead the week-long learning track Systemic Intelligence and Organizational Constellations at this year’s NPI on how seemingly small interventions lead to breakthroughs in complex problems.) In this guide, Paul and Mieke outline the forces at work in any system – be it organizational or societal and at every level of a system. Using four principles they uncover how we might work with and intervene in the systems around us. For more on understanding systems, see also the January and May newsletters. 

What is Water? How Young Leaders Can Thrive in an Uncertain World

Six pieces of wisdom for life’s biggest decisions, and its mundane, daily difficulties.

We are thrilled to celebrate the publication of McKinsey & Company consultant and Mobius friend Kayvan Kian’s new book on leadership for young people today. Based on Kayvan’s observations of increased anxiety among 20- and 30-year olds and a “crisis of confidence” among young people to individually and collectively tackle some of today’s most pressing problems, Kayvan founded the Young Leaders Forum. Since then he has distilled six timeless pieces of wisdom captured in his new book What is Water? How Young Leaders Can Thrive in an Uncertain World. These apply to life’s big and everyday decisions – including how to discover the “why” that helps us to bear almost any “how.”  To celebrate Kayvan’s book, McKinsey has published a blog to introduce the six lessons. 

Special Release: Keynote series 

The Myths of Scarcity 

Throughout 2019 we are releasing keynote talks representing emerging voices, distinguished thought leaders and pioneering experts in the field of transformational leadership who inspire and advance our learning. We recorded these talks at last year’s Next Practice Institute. In June we released The Myths of Scarcity from Mobius Executive Coach Gina LaRoche’s inspiring keynote address on the laws of “enough” – practices that help us break free of the corrosive habits that have us working too hard, spending too much, and living with too little joy, while depleting the world’s resources. The talk is based on the book The 7 Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance which Gina co-authored with Mobius Transformational Faculty Member Jennifer Cohen (both founders of Seven Stones Leadership). It exposes the myths of scarcity to show us how abundance operates in our lives and all that we must do to let that flourish. To enrich the quality of our lives, Gina introduces seven pathways that draw upon deeper resources within ourselves and our communities to make better choices with our time, our money, in our relationships – with all that we already have. Click here to watch the keynote address. To read an excerpt from Gina and Jennifer’s seminal book, see the Fall 2018 edition of the Mobius Strip.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Please visit our website for the calendar of upcoming learning events and other professional development opportunities. 

The 2019 Next Practice Institute takes place outside of Boston December 8-13. Registration is now OPEN.  

Please contact our editor, Nathalie Hourihan, if you’d like to suggest a topic or materials for future editions of the newsletter.