The Future of Leadership

Part I, May 9th: Creating Spaces for Connection & Engagement

Part Il, May 16th: Co-creating Spaces for Welcome, Safety & Belonging

We are the leaders we have come to find

In these times, in a disruptive world, each individual needs to step up as a Purposeful Leader. We can no longer wait for others so step up on our behalf. We are the leaders we have come to find. What is leadership from our perspective? We’ve always said a leader Is anyone who wants to show up to make a difference in this time. It is a very inclusive definition. If leadership is the art and science of stepping forward to make a difference, then purposeful leadership is the leader getting in touch with their purpose, and then convening is purpose shared.

We have a natural movement from leadership, defining leadership, then purposeful leadership and then convening. The future of leadership is all about relationships. It's all about one's one's relationship to others; convening is all about the art and the science of relations. So if we leadership is about relationship, convening is the skill in the practice, that's really you know, really going to set the future of leadership. The world is crying out for right relationships, crying out for people take the lead in the area of creating essential conversations of mutual trust and respect, to co-create a positive way forward.

In each Essential Conversations session we talk about The Art of Convening, following the pattern of the 9-Steps Convening Wheel. Let’s take a deeper dive into how this matters to your purposeful leadership. How do you use it in your life? Through the lens of Purposeful Leadership, based on the practices of The Art of Convening: 9 Steps to Collaboration, our focus is to:

• Develop Equitable Initiatives

• Designed by Convening Leaders

• To Create Engaged Communities

• For Sustainable, Equitable, Collaborative Strategies.

• In service to creating a just, inclusive, and interconnected world - a world that works for all

5/9 Part I: Creating Spaces for Connection & Engagement

Join Conversation Starters Craig Neal and our recently named Director of Art of Convening Programs, Mary Elaine Kiener to learn more about the Art of Convening leadership journey as a part of the future of leadership! You will have the opportunity to hear from AoC graduates and explore the role of relationships in being an impactful leader.

Mary Elaine and Craig will be joined by Art of Convening graduates Yvette Trotman and Rachel Soffer.

5/16 Part II: Co-creating Spaces for Welcome, Safety & Belonging

Are you passionate about relationships and serious about developing their role in creating safe, generative spaces?  When we use the words Welcome, Safety & Belonging*, what does it mean? A safe place and safe harbor, a safe place for us to begin to act with courage, or, you know, brave space; it's not just a place to hide, but it's a place to practice. It's safe enough for us to be vulnerable with each other.  It's entering into a space where topics can be brought up, that are not necessarily easily talked about... in a place where voices are respected. Then, we can be better able to take what we learned and take it forward into the world.

Mary Elaine and Craig will be joined by Kelly Chatman, Kiron Dawkins, and Coco Zhao.

*Used with generous permission from the Center for Leadership & Neighborhood Engagement